Manna Diet

The Israelites had departed from Egypt and floundered in the desert for 40 years. Unable to find enough meat, they had to exist on God’s provision, “manna from heaven.” [Exodus 16] The Israelites sent scouts throughout the land to survey potential aggressors before entering Canaan, and found a race of large men, located southwest of Jerusalem. [Deuteronomy 2: 11, 20] It is said that these giants made the Israelites feel as small as “grasshoppers.” [Numbers 13:33] The giants were a vanishing breed by the time the Israelites came out of Egypt. They were likely a meat-eating tribe of people. The largely plant-food diet of the Israelites may have resulted in shorter stature but also may have lengthened their life span and given them other advantages over their adversaries.

Though the Israelites complained of the harsh experiences in the desert as they wandered for 40 years before entering the Promised Land, their sparse diet was preparing them for what lay ahead. Similarly, during World War II the British were forced to ration meat, dairy and alcohol, which resulted in improved health and decreased mortality. [The London Times, 7/7/99]

Obviously the Israelites had acquired tastes for the foods they had in Egypt and longed for them, but they were now in the desert and had to live off a different land. They “grumbled” against their leaders, who made them aware that their unhappiness was against God. First, families of quail arrived to provide the hungry Israelites with meat. Then something uncommon happened. A layer of dew was observed around the Sinai desert camp in the early morning, and as it evaporated, it left a “fine flake-like thing” on the ground. They asked: “What is it?” Moses said, “It is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat.” They gathered it every morning, and had to eat it readily since it became “wormy” quickly. The manna was baked, boiled, ground in mills, or beaten in a mortar. [Exodus 16:23 and Numbers 11:7] The whole nation of 2 million had to exist on it for 40 years. It was described as like honey and oil. Historians have suggested that manna may have been similar to droppings from certain shrubs or trees, which have been collected by Beduoins, but Smith’s Bible dictionary says “manna was always regarded as a miraculous gift directly from God, and not as a product of nature.” Whatever the manna from heaven was, it had to have been an unusual provision that only existed for a time. R.H. Harrison, in Healing Herbs of the Bible [1966], suggests manna may have been a provision from God as a species of algae or lichens.

In modern times the nutritional qualities of algae are well known. Well-known algae species, such as spirulina and chlorella, provide important B vitamins, minerals, vitamin A from beta carotene, essential fats and other nutrients. [Healthy & Natural Journal June 1997] However, these are dark-green species of algae. The manna in the Bible is described like coriander (greyish in color). F.S. Bodenheimer, in the Biblical Archaeologist (1947) suggests that manna may have emanated from a species of insects that secrete a honeydew-like substance rich in carbohydrates. Beduoins today gather a secretion of a small insect off the twigs of the tamarisk plant. The Beduoins gather it early in the morning, just as the Israelites did, before the ants have a chance to get to it. In good times, a man can gather up to four pounds each morning. [Food in Antiquity, The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1969] There is good reason to believe the manna from heaven was a product of nature, though not a common one. The more that Christians continue to disregard natural explanations for these Biblical explanations, the more difficult it is for many to believe in the Scriptures.

Pentateuch Diet

Genesis 1: 29: “Behold I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you.”
The Israelites had departed from Egypt and floundered in the desert for 40 years. Unable to find enough meat, for awhile they had to exist on God’s provision, “manna from heaven.” [Exodus 16] The Israelites sent scouts throughout the land to survey potential aggressors before entering Canaan, and found a race of large men, located southwest of Jerusalem. [Deuteronomy 2: 11,20] It is said that these giants made the Israelites feel as small as “grasshoppers.” [Numbers 13:33] The giants were a vanishing breed by the time the Israelites came out of Egypt. They were likely a meat-eating tribe of people. The largely plant-food diet of the Israelites may have resulted in shorter stature but also may have lengthened their life span and given them other advantages over their adversaries.
Though the Israelites complained of the harsh experiences in the desert as they wandered for 40 years before entering the Promised Land, their sparse diet was preparing them for what lay ahead. Similarly, during World War II the British were forced to ration meat, dairy and alcohol, which resulted in improved health and decreased mortality. [The London Times, 7/7/99]
The Israelites eventually entered the land of Canaan, which was a land of wheat, barley, vines, fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey. [Deuteronomy 8:8] Melons, grapes, diluted wine, fish, and flaxseed, were also commonly grown and consumed. They ate nutritious whole grains, not the processed grains eaten today. The recipe for “Ezekiel bread” of the Old Testament consisted of wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet and spelt (a form of hard-grained wheat). [Ezekiel 4:9]
Meat not with milk
There was a prohibition against eating meat cooked in milk. This is repeated three times in the Bible. "Thou shall not seethe a kid in its mother’s milk.” [Exodus 23:19; Exodus 34:26; Deuteronomy 14:21]. Milk contains substances (lactoferrin) that inhibit the absorption of iron. Meat provides the richest source of iron and is an essential nutrient, particularly required for growth of children and for fertile women. Milk and iron-rich foods are not compatible during the growing years, nor for fertile women, and should not be consumed at the same time. When dairy products are consumed with hamburger at the same meal, iron absorption is reduced by 50-60 percent. [European Journal Clinical Nutrition 46: 317, 1992] Modern science again confirms this Biblical dietary law.
The Passover meat
The first Passover instructions were clear. The Israelites were to eat meat from a young lamb, and it was to be “roasted with fire” and consumed with bitter herbs, and leftovers were not to be eaten the next morning. [Exodus 12: 5-10] The bitter herbs would likely provide natural disinfection of any tainted meat. In recent times Americans have been aware of outbreaks of food poisoning from undercooked meat.

The Bible Diet

The Bible Diet (also known as the Maker's diet) is a diet based on the idea that certain foods are either forbidden ("unclean") or acceptable ("clean") to God. Which heading a food source falls under depends on certain factors such as how the food was raised, cooked or cleaned; how a particular animal lived, such as if it was a so-called "creeping" animal or not; and its physical form, such as whether a certain fish had fins and scales or not. The rules for determining clean and unclean foods are derived from certain passages from the Bible in the books of Genesis, Proverbs, Luke, Paul, Exodus, Peter, Leviticus, Judges, Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Corinthians, Habakkuk, and Daniel.

The main promoter of the Bible diet is Jordan S. Rubin, who claims that the diet was responsible for his recovery from Crohn's disease at the age of 19. As of 2008, there are no peer-reviewed scientific journal articles that evaluate this diet. In 2004 the United States Food and Drug Administration ordered Rubin's company, Garden of Life, Inc., to stop making unsubstantiated claims about eight of its products and supplements.

Misconceptions of the Bible Diet

Misconception #1: The Bible supports the vegetarian diet as being healthy.
Truth: “Many false teachers claim that Adam and Eve were vegetarians…The bible does not say Adam ate only vegetables in the Garden of Eden. The Bible says Adam should not eat of the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil”. Other than that no other food was forbidden.

Misconception # 2: The Bible says milk and honey are preferred foods.
Truth: This myth arises from the Bible verse that mentions Israel as the land flowing with milk and honey.

Misconception # 3: Grains are great because Jesus fed the people loaves of bread.
Truth: “Jesus performed a miracle with some fish and loaves of bread by increasing the amount to feed the crowd of 5,000 followers. People today use this story to claim that grains are highly recommended foods since Jesus used grain to feed the people.”

Misconception # 4: The Bible says not to eat pork or shellfish. “The Old Testament certainly does say the children of Israel should not eat many different forms of animal life, including swine and shellfish.”
Truth: This myth has some truth because this was a common practice for the people in the Old Testament. However we are not living by the laws of the old but under the present day covenant of the New Testament.

Misconception # 5: Alcoholic drinks were not forbidden in the Bible.
Truth: “Myth arises due to the term the consuming of wine in Israel.” In other words, The wine term used here does not link with alcohol.

Therefore, the bible diet may be a good alternative for those who are looking to change their eating habits.