Obviously all the foods we eat can be traced back to the beginning of creation;dont believe me? Just check your Bible. Read on as Marla Xeno shares some bible foods that heal.
4 Bible Foods That Heal
Apples – Song of Solomon
No biblical food is more famous and none has gotten a worse rap than the apple – despite the fact that Adam and Eve probably didn’t even see an apple, much less munch on one.
The Bible never says exactly what fruit the serpent used to tempt Eve in the Garden of Eden. Tradition holds that it was an apple, but many scholars who have studied the botany of the Bible think it was more likely an apricot – maybe even a citron, an orange or a quince, a central Asian fruit that resembles a hard-fleshed yellow apple. But else where in the Bible, the apple gets high marks for its healthful, healing powers that modern science has since confirmed.
The Ancient Greeks who lived during Bible times believed the apple healed all ailments. An Arabic author from the same era wrote: “Its scent cheers my soul, renews my strength and restores my breath.”
An article in American Medicine magazine has praised the apple as “… therapeutically effective in all conditions of acidosis, gout, rheumatism, jaundice, all liver and gallbladder troubles, nervous and skin diseases caused by sluggish liver, hyperacidity and states of autointoxication.”
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Modern researchers at Michigan State University call the apple “… the all-round health food.” Here are some of the potent healing powers of apples:
• They lower both bad cholesterol and high blood pressure
• The juices in apples are highly effective virus fighters
• They help stabilize blood sugar, an important factor in controlling diabetes.
• They suppress the appetite without robbing the body of necessary nutrients, so they’re great for dieters.
• Depending on the need, they prevent constipation or help treat diarrhea.
Nutritionists suggest that eating two or three apples a day can boost the body’s protection against heart disease thanks to the fruit’s amazing ability to reduce blood pressure and lower dangerously high cholesterol levels. In fact, they say, the higher the cholesterol, the greater the benefits will be if you increase your consumption of apples. Apples also contain chemicals that scientists believed are vital in stopping cancer, and they also prevent tooth decay.
The apple’s ability to keep our hearts healthy and pumping has been confirmed by U.S., French and Italian researchers, among others. An animal study at the Institute of Physiology in France came to the startling conclusion that a diet heavy in apples actually lowered heart-damaging cholesterol levels anywhere from 28 to 52 points.
Fish – Luke 24:42-43
Fishing on the Sea of Galilee and the River Jordan was a huge industry. During their exile in Egypt, the Israelites learned to prize fish from the Red Sea, and for the people of the Old Testament, there were precise dietary laws for seafood.
We know today that fish is low in cholesterol and contains healthy polyunsaturated fats. Since there was no way of preserving fish (except by salting), most people in Bible times ate their fish fresh – a wonderfully rich source of protein, potassium, vitamins and minerals with only a moderate amount of sodium.
We also now know that eating fish:
• Thins the blood • Protects arteries from damage
• Inhibits blood clots (anti-thrombotic)
• Reduces blood triglycerides
• Lowers LDL blood cholesterol
• Lowers blood pressure
• Reduces risk of heart attack and stroke • Eases symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis
• Reduces risk of lupus
• Relieves migraine headaches
• Fights inflammation
• Helps regulate the immune system
• Inhibits cancer in animals and possible humans
• Soothes bronchial asthma
• Combats early kidney disease
The key to the healing powers of fish lies in the omega-3 fatty acids. These are particularly concentrated in cold-water fish such as anchovies, bluefish, herring, lake trout, mackerel, sablefish, whitefish, bluefin tuna, salmon and sardines.
For more than 200 years, cod liver oil was prescribed for a number of ailments, including rheumatism and arthritis, because it was believed it could “lubricate the joints.” But it wasn’t until 1985 that doctors writing in the New England Journal of Medicine recommended that arthritis sufferers could benefit from eating fish once or twice a week.
In the case of arthritis, the omega-3 oils do “lubricate” the joints by reducing painful inflammation. The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases says the oils “unquestionably are anti-inflammatory agents.”
Research funded through the institute demonstrated that these oils blocked the formation of something called leukotriene B4, which triggers inflammation. The institute reported “… a significant correlation between the drop in leukotriene B4 and decrease in the number of tender joints…” after the oils were pres
Grapes – Numbers 12:23
Grapes were the first things Noah planted after the flood. Grapes were eaten fresh, dried and eaten as raisins just as we do today and pressed into cakes. But most of the crop of the vineyards was made into juice, wine and vinegar.
One reason this delicious fruit was so important in the diet thousands of years ago was because of its high content of boron, a mineral that we now know helps ward off osteoporosis. Boron is now sold as a dietary supplement in health food stores, but the people of the Bible had to get theirs from natural sources.
Aside from preventing osteoporosis, grapes offer many healthy benefits. A cup of raw grapes contain only 58 calories, 0.3 grams of fat; zero cholesterol and vitamins A, B and C. Grapes also contain important minerals such as boron, calcium, potassium and zinc.
They also fight tooth decay, stop viruses in their tracks and are rich in other ingredients that many researchers believe can head off cancer. That’s because grapes are packed with things called polyphenols and tannins, both of which appear promising as antiviral and antitumor agents.
Recently, a team of Canadian scientist reported that grapes destroyed diseasecausing viruses in test tubes. To test that potential, they examined grapes, grape juice, raisins and red, rose and white wines. They added certain viruses to a grape extract made from pulp and skins; other viruses to the grape juice and raisin mixture; and a third set of viruses to the wines.
All three substances seemed to effectively fight the viruses, but they were especially potent against the viruses that cause polio and herpes simplex. The reason is because grapes contain tannin, a virus fighter that is absorbed directly into the intestinal tract where it does the most good.
The grape tannins can survive digestion and quickly circulate through the blood, perhaps attacking deadly viruses. Grape juice also kills bacteria and dramatically restricts tooth decay.
Grapes also have extraordinarily high levels of something called caffeic acid, which has been shown to be a strong anti-cancer substance. And raisins, which are dried grapes, were definitely associated with the reduced rate of cancer deaths among one group of American senior citizens.
In biblical days, grapes provided all of these health benefits. People didn’t know what the grapes did – they just knew that they were equally delicious eaten raw right off the vines, dried as raisins, boiled down into a sweet grape honey or fermented into wine.
Milk – Exodus 3:8
Milk nourished the spirits as well as the bodies of the biblical peoples. Milk and honey together symbolized good health, prosperity and blessings from God. Milk and milk products were an important part of the daily diet of biblical times. But it was difficult to keep the milk fresh. The solution was to use the same fermentation process with milk that was used to make wine or sourdough bread.
The result was what we today call yogurt, cheese and what is sometimes called curds in the Bible. Butter was seldom used for cooking then. Olive oil was used instead.
But even though the chosen people relied heavily on milk, they were hardly the first. Milk has been considered necessary for survival – for perhaps millions of years.
It has been called “the perfect food” because it provides so many of the nutrients we all need to grow, to fight off disease and to stay healthy.
Here are some of those recently discovered health benefits found in milk and milk products:
• Calcium builds bones in children and helps prevent or slow the development of osteoporosis in older women.
• Ingredients in milk lower high blood pressure and cholesterol, major factors of heart disease.
• Milk attacks bacterial infections, especially those that cause diarrhea. It soothes stomach linings irritated from drugs or harsh foods.
• Milk helps prevent dental cavities and chronic bronchitis.
• Researchers now say that while milk is stopping some cancers from developing, it’s also giving us a boost in mental alertness and energy.
With all this, it’s no wonder that this “perfect food” was so important in the lives of biblical people who had to depend on natural foods as healing medicines.
Milk can act like an antibody in fending off infections that attack our gastrointestinal system – something that was a matter of life or death in biblical times when penicillin and other drugs weren’t available.
These anti-infection chemicals help stamp out childhood diarrhea – which was very dangerous in ancient times and is still often fatal among infants in underdeveloped parts of the world.
Yet, for all its miraculous benefits, milk is not for everyone. People who suffer lactose intolerance know they have to avoid it. Lactose is a sugar found in milk and may produce intestinal and bowel disorders in people who are lactose intolerant.
Information by: Marla Xeno
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