For all those following the Genesis 1:29 primarily raw, plant-based diet, the term "healthy" as it relates to eating means focusing on a diet of living foods. Healthy means fueling the body with essential minerals, vitamins, nutrients and enzymes that come from the living plants of the earth and avoiding all else. In the supermarket, however, a nutrition label of "healthy" - even one that follows FDA guidelines - can be misleading to even an expert shopper. It can include dead, processed food, artificial sweeteners, saturated fat and even more.
Redefining the Term 'Healthy'
In an effort to help consumers make better and more informed choices when shopping for food, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration aims to redefine what the term "healthy" on nutrition labels truly entails, according to a government press release. These changes will address the lack of nutrition in the majority of Americans, as well as the concern of added sugars and various types of fat versus total fat. To modify this criteria and definition, the FDA has asked for the help of the public, creating an open comment period.
This process follows two other initiatives that have recently sought to keep up with the changing culture of diet, the refined Nutrition Facts label and the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, according to the FDA.
Even once food manufacturers must meet the new criteria to label their products as "healthy" however, these FDA guidelines will not necessarily mean that foods are free of "cell-destroying material" as our Hallelujah Diet team explains.
The Real Problem with Defining Labels
As followers of the Hallelujah Diet will understand, the problem is not with defining terms on packaged food labels, but rather with the processed and packaged foods themselves. The food that you consume should have no package or labels at all, as eating the living foods of the earth is how God intended that we as humans sustain and nourish ourselves. Over the years, though many modifications to nutrition labels have been changed and redefined - such as the aforementioned "healthy" term - the food industry has only made it easier for Americans to get pulled into the Standard American Diet and subsequently, endure the health complications that come as a result.
Rev. George Malkmus discussed the problems with promoting the original food pyramid created by the USDA in his book, "The Hallelujah Diet." Most of the suggested pyramid consisted of non-living food and failed to highlight that carbohydrates are most beneficial when consumed in their whole form. Even in the advised servings of fruits and vegetables, there was no mention of the benefits of consuming raw fruits and vegetables.
"In essence, they handed us a fork and told us to dig our own graves with it," Rev. Malkmus wrote.
The good news, from a biblical diet point of view, is that today, a plant-based diet is a major part of the recommendations of the 2015-2020 USDA Dietary Guidelines. Though they are not yet completely up to par with the primarily raw plant-based diet of the Hallelujah Diet and Lifestyle, it is a step in the right direction.
