Foods To Avoid & Why

There are key foods to avoid in order to maintain your best health and prevent disease; as well as biblical precedence for not consuming them. I was raised consuming much of these foods, but as an adult I have become aware of nutrition and learned that my health is my responsibility.

I appreciate access to emergency care, helpful technology, and medical breakthroughs, but I'm not satisfied or impressed with the conventional way of treating sickness.

As my husband and I learned about the nutrition and purpose of such foods and food sources, we had no problem changing our diet to reduce or completely eliminate them.

The Dirty Dozen by Jordan Rubin

Sorry, but pigs didn't make it on God's approval list (Leviticus 11). However, they rank well on His list of foods to avoid and for good reason. They are not clean animals. I'm not talking about mud on their bodies; I'm referring to the quality of their carcass for human consumption.

God does not make regulations for no reason or just for fun. Nor are they just fanciful religious rituals to appease Him. It is because of a lack of understanding that many people boast in their detestable diet and lifestyle that promotes disease and death. Until their eyes and hearts are open, they will continue to not take responsibility for their health and the outcome of their life.

God knows why He made what He made and what is best for us. If we are wise and want to be healthy and enjoy life, we will live by all of His principles and we will welcome both His supernatural power and practical principles into our lives. That's why it's important to know which foods to avoid.

Pigs are scavengers. Their purpose is to clean up that which would harm us if exposed to. Pigs don't limit their diets to cleansing vegetation. They will eat anything including their own young and sick or dead pigs. I can't think of a single person I know that would eat a buzzard, but pigs are in the same category. And, it's not as simple as "cooking out the bad stuff".

Unlike the three stomachs and more than 24-hour process of a cow's digestion, a pig's digestive system is very short and simple, with only one stomach, and they are not built to be proficient in releasing toxins from their bodies. Because of this, they are far from being good candidates for making it to our plates.

Elmer Josephson, a minister, cancer survivor, and author of God's Key to Health and Happiness wrote that many authorities conclude that much of the cause of the poor health of Americans is a direct result of our love for the flesh of pigs. Josephson mentioned the following diseases: "blood diseases, weakness of the stomach, liver troubles, eczema, consumption, tumors, cancer, etc."

By digesting meat from unclean animals, highly poisonous bi-products are developed. What does that mean? It means that when you eat pig, your body produces death enzymes; specifically cadaverine and putrescine. They are very beneficial in nature for the use of breaking down a corpse, but as Josephson put it, "terribly inconvenient in a living human body."

I just wanted to be clear in case you thought God's diet plan was out-dated, irrelevant, or exclusively tied to Jewish people or Old Testament times.

These foods to avoid include catfish, shark, eel, crabs, lobster, clams, shrimp, oysters, etc. According to Lev. 11:9-10, fish and sea creatures that do not have both fins and scales are foods to avoid. Coincidentally, such animals happen to be toxic to our bodies. Actually, it's no coincidence; it's just that what God has said can be trusted.

This can come in the form of margarine, shortening, and lard and is an ingredient in vast amounts of grocery store foods. It shows up as partially or fully hydrogenated oil.

Hydrogenation is the process of injecting liquid fats with hydrogen gas at high temperatures under high pressure to make them solid at room temperature. They are also referred to as trans-fatty acids.

Hydrogenated fats have been connected to cancer, diabetes, obesity, atherosclerosis, birth defects, sterility, and problems with the immune system, vision, bones, and more.

So why are oils hydrogenated? To make them more shelf-stable. If the food lasts longer until purchased, companies enjoy more profit (at your health's expense).

Fake sweeteners are aspartame (packaged as NutraSweet and Equal), saccharin, sucralose, and acesulfame K. They have carcinogenic properties and are used in popular products such as sugar-free foods and diet soda.

If you want to be healthy, use natural sweeteners such as Stevia, honey, etc. in small amounts. What I see unhealthy people doing as a whole is they attempt to solve one problem caused by unnatural habits with an unnatural solution which just heaps one problem on top of another. Clear it all away, purge your body, and start over to re-incorporate living foods while restricting these foods to avoid.

White flour was among the first foods to avoid that we removed from our kitchen. During processing, white flour loses most of its original, healthy vitamins and minerals as well as fiber and antioxidants.

White flour is chemically bleached for a nice, uniform, pleasurable to look at, poisonous and virtually worthless powder. It is used for so many recipes and products because it is cheap, cheap, cheap.

You get what you pay for.

White sugar is similar to white flour in that they are carbohydrates that cause pancreatic damage resulting in your pancreas's inability to regulate sugar levels.

During a trip to a bookstore with my mom, I flipped through a book about DIY home projects. Upon reading about acid-etching concrete floors, one acid mentioned was phosphoric acid.

The book stated that these acids are very poisonous and should be handled with care. Funny, seeing as phosphoric acid is a main ingredient for many sodas. Phosphoric acid "etches" or erodes your bones and inhibits the absorption of nutrients!

The most popular dark brown sodas containing this acid have various helpful and interesting uses:

-Many highway patrol-people use coke to remove blood from the highway after car accidents
-If you soak a T-bone steak in coke, it will be gone in two days (Might be a good, educational experiment for my daughter) ;)
-Removes rust spots from chrome bumpers
-Cleans toilets
-Cleans corrosion from car battery terminals
-Removes grease from clothes
-Dissolves a nail in about four days

Besides this, sodas are full of sugar, some have caffeine, and other unhealthy ingredients definitely making them one of the best foods to avoid.

First of all, many modern dairy farmers pump growth hormones into their cows to make them produce more milk. These hormones, as well as antibiotics, transfer into our systems when we drink it.

Pasteurization involves heating milk at high temperatures to destroy bad bacteria. It also destroys healthful organisms and essential enzymes. It changes the milk's structure and inhibits our ability to use and benefit from it. On the contrary, we are harmed.

Homogenization is the process of passing milk under high pressure through a tiny orifice so the fat particles in the milk remain suspended instead of separating and rising to the top. If you leave a tub of raw milk alone for a while, the fat would rise to the top; forming a layer of cream.

Homogenization breaks up the fat "globules" and keeps them mixed in for consistency while storing milk. The fat wouldn't be digested, but it very well may go through your intestinal wall and into the blood stream. Certain additives are added to skim milk to make it look thicker and seem healthy.

I once heard Jordan Rubin say, "Have you ever seen skim milk come out of a cow?" I thought to myself No! Why? Does it look gross?! His point was that it doesn't. Whole milk comes out. We should consume raw, whole milk from healthy animals; preferably goats.

High fructose corn syrup is a highly-processed, clear liquid used to sweeten many foods. The problem with it is that, unlike natural sugars, when HFCS is consumed, it doesn't signal your brain to tell you to stop eating. It becomes stored as fat in your liver. It has been associated with diabetes, obesity, and other diseases. Additionally, it's concentrated sweetness encourages cravings for more.

Like white flour and sugar, manufacturers love HFCS because it's cheap, really sweet, and extends product shelf-life, regardless of what it does to your health.

Hydrolyzed soy protein is made by boiling soy in hydrochloric acid and then neutralizing the solution with sodium hydroxide. The acid breaks down the protein into amino acids.

One harmful amino acid contained in the HSP is monosodium glutamate (MSG). MSG is a flavor enhancer used in many processed foods and depending on how sensitive you are to it, promotes certain unwanted effects such as weight gain, diabetes, stroke, epilepsy, MS, stomach disorders, fatigue, depression, headaches, migraines, nausea, ADD/HD, and much more. An example of foods to avoid containing HSP is imitation meat products.

Artificial coloring may seem too tiny to make the cut for foods to avoid, but it has been known to contribute to child hyperactivity and ADD.

The color I have heard and read more about is red-40. The number of children sensitive to red dye is low, but studies have shown that children who eat red dye are more likely to be out of control because additives like this one can cause behavioral changes.

Personally, my husband and I completely stopped drinking alcohol, and put it on our own list of "foods" to avoid, early in our marriage. That was not for health benefits, though, but because we felt strongly that God directed us to not have anything to do with it and that it has no part in our lives as Christ followers.

However, I am referring to Jordan Rubin's list of foods to avoid which only speaks of excessive alcohol. The following encourages both completely eliminating alcohol from your diet and life and, naturally, the disadvantages of excessive consumption.

Alcohol contains a lot of calories, has no essential nutrients, and the immediate and potential harmful effects outweigh any supposed good. Alcohol is a drug that depresses the brain and clouds your reasoning skills. Many people drink to relax and "let go", but this drug-induced relaxation holds the powerful potential of causing you to make poor decisions and is a superficial cover-up for the roots of your stress, fear, depression, and other mental and emotional problems.

Among the physical health drawbacks, alcohol prevails as a substance that continues to overcome people; wreaking havoc in relationships and individuals of a wide range of ages. It's my opinion that we'd all be better off without it - period.

There are many natural, non toxic ways to improve your health and there is never a good enough reason to start drinking alcohol.

Foods to Avoid Linked to Poor Health

There are clear links between eating these foods and developing poor health and disease. Instead of embracing these foods to avoid, I challenge you to significantly or altogether remove them from your diet.

Unlike popular belief, your health is not "out of your hands". Actually, it is indeed in your hands, your gut, and throughout the rest of your body.

What if you began to take responsibility for your health? What if you choose today to follow a simple road map to great health and wellness? What if you trusted God in every area of your life; and not just to send a miracle every time you come down with a disorder that could have been prevented by staying away from these foods to avoid.

Familiarize yourself with, memorize, and stay away from these foods to avoid and you will have made a giant leap in your journey to great health.

Return to Whole Food Diet from Foods To Avoid

Go to Cancer Fighting Foods from Foods To Avoid

Go to Simple Living