Foods We Must Eliminate To Experience Health

Some people believe that all they have to do to improve their health is start adding something healthy to their diet and lifestyle like vitamin or mineral supplements, some healthy foods, or exercise, and that these additions will improve their health. But in reality, it takes more than adding something in order to improve health… the primary thing we must do in order to improve our health is STOP doing those things which caused our poor health – the lifestyle choices that caused the problems! Some years ago a man in my church who was severely overweight and experiencing many physical problems came to me asking my help. I shared with him the Hallelujah Diet and he adopted it. But believe it or not, he continued to gain weight and experienced further exacerbations of his physical problems. Why didn’t he experience improvement on the Hallelujah Diet like most who adopt it do? Here is what I learned: While he did adopt most of the Hallelujah Diet, he continued to consume some of the SAD diet foods that had originally caused his weight gain and physical problems. It is of vital importance to add good nutrition and supplements — and exercise — if we want to improve our health. But the most important thing we need to do is identify and eliminate what caused the physical and/or psychological problems we are experiencing. I’m going to take us back for a moment to a song we sang during World War II, during the war years 1941-1945. Believe it or not – I remember the song well! The words and music are by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer:

You've got to accentuate the positive Eliminate the negative Latch on to the affirmative Don't mess with Mister In-Between

The fact of the matter is: no matter how many “positive” improvements we make in our diet and lifestyle, unless we “eliminate the negative” – the things that are bad for us and that are causing the problem – we will never experience true health or the results we so desperately desire.

Rungs On The "Diet Ladder"

Most people, at least in America, but increasingly around the world, have been raised on the Standard American Diet (SAD) or at least a similar diet. This typical way of eating includes lots of meat, dairy, refined sugar and refined grains, table salt and caffeine, hydrogenated oils and trans-fats. As you know from previous Health Tips, these substances are the cause or contributing cause of most of the physical and even psychological problems being experienced today. The Standard American Diet (SAD) is on the bottom rung of our diet ladder because it consists primarily of these causative substances. Here are the most dangerous causative substances and reasons to avoid them:

Reasons To Avoid Animal Source Foods

• Cooked animal fat – Found in both flesh and dairy (pasteurized milk is cooked milk) not only make people fat, but this fat builds up on artery walls hindering blood flow, causing high blood pressure, need for blood pressure drugs, stents and by-passes, leading to heart attacks and strokes, and premature death.
• Cooked animal protein – Found in both flesh and dairy. The high amounts of protein in these animal products feed cancer. In fact, Dr. T. Colin Campbell tells us in his book The China Study that providing cancer with the protein casein found in cow milk, is like pouring gasoline on a fire.
• No fiber – Devoid of fiber, animal source foods require a very long transit time through the 30 foot digestive tract contributing to constipation. And while on its 3-4 day journey where the temperature is nearly 100 degrees Fahrenheit, the undigested foods putrefy, causing body odor. But of even greater concern, this rotting animal flesh is the primary cause of diverticulosis, diverticulitis, IBS, Crohn's, colitis, ulcerative colitis, and colon cancer.
• All animal source foods are acidic – Cancer as well as other diseases have great difficulty surviving in an alkaline environment, but proliferate in an acid environment, and all animal source foods are acidic.
• Growth hormones and antibiotics – Growth hormones in animal flesh and dairy lead to early puberty. The earlier puberty, the greater the risk of breast cancer. While antibiotics kill friendly bacteria in the gut contributing to yeast infections.

I could go on, but there is not a single redeeming feature in consuming anything of animal origin. And remember that all the protein and other nutrients found in animal source foods originated in the living grass or plants the animal ate. So why not eat the living plant before they go through the animal? When we eat the animal to get these nutrients, we are getting them secondhand. And except for the absence of growth hormones and antibiotics and less fat in grass fed organic flesh, all the other negatives shared above are also found in organic meat and dairy products.

Reasons To Avoid Refined Sugar

• Immune system suppressant – God in His infinite wisdom placed in each of us an immune system to protect us from germs, viruses, bacteria and cancer. Refined sugar seriously compromises that protection. This is one of the reasons why people who consume refined sugar suffer with colds, the flu, and numerous other physical problems.
• No fiber – Refined sugar contains zero fiber, and joins animal source foods in contributing to constipation.
• Extremely acidic – Acid foods are the primary cause of osteoporosis, because in an effort to reduce acidity the body draws calcium from the bones which lead to porous bones. And as we shared above, disease proliferates in an acid environment. Artificial sugars such as aspartame should be avoided like the plague. Artificial sugars are not only toxic but contribute to weight gain.
• Causes weight gain –If a person consumes just one 12-ounce can of sugar sweetened soft drink a day for one year their weight gain will be about 15 pounds.
• An addictive drug – To top it all off, refined sugar is an addictive drug that upsets body chemistry, affecting a person not only physically, but also mentally, and has been found to be a major cause of aggressive behavior and emotional upset. Many of the emotional, physiological, and depression problems being experienced today can be traced to refined sugar.

It should be noted that although fresh raw fruits are a better source of sugar because the fiber contained in the fruit slows sugar uptake, even the natural sugars found in fruit (fructose) can present problems if consumed in large amounts.

Reasons To Avoid Refined Grains

• No fiber – Refined carbohydrates, just like animal sourced foods and refined sugar, contain no fiber, and also contributes to constipation.
• Converts rapidly to sugar – This causes the same problems associated with refined sugar above, and because it has no fiber to slow sugar uptake, refined grains can also trigger addiction.
• Extremely acidic – Because it is so acidic, refined grains cause the body to draw calcium from the bones in an attempt to neutralize acidity like the refined sugar above, thus contributing to osteoporosis.
• Causes weight gain – Because refined grains convert so rapidly to sugar, the body will not be able to burn it all and will store the excess sugar as fat.

Alternatively, unrefined organic grains are an excellent source of a wide variety of nutrients, but like the fruit, it is not advisable to consume too much of them. Certainly they should not be consumed every day. Make sure these whole grains are organic, as many of the commercially grown grains are sprayed with Roundup. Any diet that contains any of the above listed so-called foods (other than unrefined organic grains) deserves bottom rung position on our diet ladder because the above listed foods are not only the cause of our physical problems, but also because they hinder healing. And the more a diet contains any one of these foods, especially the animal source foods, the lower the rung position it deserves.

The Hallelujah Diet Deserves The Top Rung!

If we want to obtain the best healing results and maintain those results over the long haul, we must eliminate all substances that cause or hinder us from obtaining those results. The above are the main items that must be eliminated, but I would also add all white table salt, food dyes, preservatives, trans-fats and hydrogenated oils. Celtic and Himalayan salts are ok in small amounts. In order for a diet to be placed on the top rung of our ladder of "best diets", it must require that the harmful substances and poor lifestyle that cause the problems be eliminated. Theoretically that makes a lot of sense, but the application is not quite so simple for many people…at least until they give the Hallelujah Diet a fair try! Because the Hallelujah Diet discourages the inclusion of all animal source foods, refined sugars, and refined carbohydrates, along with caffeine, table salt and other listed items, this alone helps qualify it for top rung placement. But when a person replaces all foods with a diet consisting of 100% plant-based foods — the very foods God told us we should consume to nourish our bodies with in Genesis 1:29 — you can better understand why the Hallelujah Diet merits top rung placement over all other diets available today.

Outstanding Pillars of The Hallelujah Diet

The Hallelujah Diet teaches that the healthiest foods we can place into our bodies are those foods God told us we should eat in order to properly nourish our glorious, God made, physical vessels. God clearly articulates what these foods are in Genesis 1:29.

“And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb (vegetable) bearing seed; which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for food.”

~ Genesis 1:29

Increasingly, modern, forward-thinking health care professionals are saying “amen” to that statement and endorsing consumption of these foods found on the Hallelujah Diet. Even science is beginning to catch up with what God told us we should eat so many thousands of years ago.

Raw Vegetables

Raw vegetables contain enzymes, antioxidants, protein, natural sugars, vitamins and minerals, which in turn provide the body with the living nutrients God designed our living bodies to run on. Raw vegetables are the primary and most abundant foods found in the Hallelujah Diet. A large raw vegetable salad is the main course of the evening meal each day, followed by a cooked vegetable. A raw vegetable salad may also be consumed for the noon meal. Raw vegetable juices, raw green smoothies, and raw blended salads make up a significant and vital part of the Hallelujah Diet.

Raw Fruits

Raw fruits contains enzymes, protein, natural sugars, vitamins and minerals, which provide nutrients and fuel for the physical body. But we must be careful to not consume too much of today’s fruit because of the high sugar content. Much of the fruit today is grown without a full complement of nutrients being available to it in the soil and is usually picked long before it is ripe. This produces a product that we must be very careful about consuming too much of. But we do recommend some raw fruit in the blended green smoothies which provide breakfast nourishment, including raw leafy greens sweetened with raw frozen fruit. Hallelujah Acres recommends that never more than 15% of the total volume of our daily diet consist of these fruits, and if a person is experiencing diabetes, hypoglycemia, or yeast problems, it would be best to not consume any fruit until the problem is resolved.

Raw Seeds and Nuts

Raw seeds and nuts are very high in protein and fats. They are also difficult for the body to digest and should not be consumed in large quantities. If they are going to be consumed it is best to soak them in distilled water overnight prior to consuming to help break down the protein and make them more digestible.

Cooked Foods

The Hallelujah Diet allows for 15% of the vegetables being consumed daily to be in cooked form. Though all raw sounds like it should be the ideal, we have learned from personal experience and the testimonies of thousands of people that all-raw does not always provide the best results. Why? Because some people become too skinny on all-raw while others find it difficult to consume enough veggies to obtain enough calories. If enough calories are not consumed, there is an excellent chance of becoming too skinny, having insufficient body energy, and even a deficiency in protein. To make sure there is not a lack of calories, baked sweet potatoes, steamed vegetables, brown rice, whole grains, baked squash and beans are consumed in cooked form following the large evening salad.

Exercise

No matter how good the diet a person consumes, without vigorous, daily, physical exercise, a person will never experience the ultimate health God designed for these God designed physical bodies we each possess. And any program that omits daily vigorous exercise also falls short of top rung position on our diet evaluation ladder. Hallelujah Acres recommends that every person who adopts the Hallelujah Diet, begin a daily walking program if they are able. Its fine to start with a slow walk and build up speed until a 15-minute mile is obtained. The goal is 4 miles in 60 minutes daily. Adding stretching and resistance exercises should also be included as a person is able to perform them. That’s an overview of the basics of the Hallelujah Diet! Next week, the good Lord willing and if the creeks don’t rise too high we will return with another exciting issue of the Hallelujah Health Tip. Trust you will join us and that you will share these Health Tips with friends and loved ones.