Page 6 - Central Connection online Magazine2. January 2020 (1)

WHOLE FOOD

PLANT-BASED

Written by Imelda Leyva
million dollar vegan

Now that the year 2020 is upon us and we all have started on our 11). An in-depth study of the Spirit of Prophecy reveals that soon even
new year’s resolutions, I thought I would mention FOOD! Let’s clean animals will be harmful to eat due to inhumane preparation and
face it, we ate a lot of it these past few months and we are all now distribution. Did you know one of the fastest growing diets in Western
on that dreaded D word! Let’s see, there’s the; Nutritarian diet, culture is the vegan diet?
Adkins diet, Flexitarian diet, the Mcdougall diet, Mediterranean Vegans exclude animals products as well as eggs and dairy from their
diet, Jenny Craig diet, and the popular Keto diet plus many more. diet. Vegan and veganism are new buzz words! Even though this way
As the battle of the bulge continues to increase in the U.S. with of eating has been around for decades, it is fast becoming the latest
over 70 million adults considered obese, it certainly is an issue we craze. Who is popularizing this trend? According to “Million Dollar
as Seventh- day Adventists should pay heed to. Hopefully we are Vegan” yogi enthusiasts, celebrities, and Millennials (aged 21-38) are
already striving to follow the eight principles of health including; more likely to go vegan than any other group. Whether it is for weight
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Nutritionutrition, ExerciseExercise,, Water,Water, SunshineSunshine,, TemperanceTemperance, , AirAir, , RestRest, , and and loss, animal rights, or environmental reasons, it is easy to see why the
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Time with Godime with God.. These are principles we should include into our rise of the vegan.
lives not only temporarily but for a lifetime. In Galatians 5:22-23 But wait, what about eating healthy for God? After all, wasn’t this God’s
we are given a powerful message that if we are to become effective plan from the very beginning, Let's give credit where credit is due.
witnesses of God’s goodness and mercy then we are to bear good In Genesis 1:29 God gave us herb bearing seeds and fruit. Later, He
fruit and that includes self control. included vegetables into our diet. It was only after the flood that flesh
The old adage, “you are what you eat” rings true in a sense. If foods were allowed due to lack of vegetation from the flood waters. It
we eat food that is highly processed with MSG (mono sodium was, however, only intended as a temporary solution. God knew histo-
glutamate), artificial sweeteners and colors, and growth hormones, ry would repeat itself as far as sin is concerned so he decreased the life
it will affect our frontal lobe and interfere with our self control. expectancy to 100 years thereafter, basically to save us from ourselves.
The frontal lobe is where God has interaction with us-attempting Unfortunately, meat eating and gluttony continued throughout the
to bring us from glory to glory as we grow in Christ and build our Exodus and after much murmuring and complaining God allowed the
characters to that of what God intends. This is where God can sit Hebrews to wreak the havoc of their own lustful desires. Needless to
and reason with us as we listen to God’s still small voice. This is say, for the past 4,000 years ,culture and tradition have insisted that in
where we can discern the Holy Spirit; guiding, teaching, rebuking, order to be healthy one must eat meat. Not surprising to us, science is
and exhorting us to form a more perfect spiritual and sanctified just now catching up to what inspiration told us decades ago. Meat is
self. no longer safe to consume.
Which brings me to a question. If what we eat is so important that If you are curious enough, they will find lots of mainstream documen-
the Bible mentions it over 100 times, are Adventists eating well? taries teaching this. “Forks over Knives”, “What the Health” and the re-
According to research, we are! Well at least 30% of us are. But are cent documentary “The Game Changers” (which I caution viewers due
we sharing the secrets we know? We have an abundance of health to some foul language) are just a few. These documentaries are giving a
resources at our fingertips- E.G. White gives us precious insights whole -food -plant -based diet a new era of exposure to healthful eating
into healthful living in “Ministry of Healing" and “Counsels on habits. Each time I dive into a new educational video about whole foods
Diet and Foods." So what type of diet does the Bible recommend? and hear the popular doctors such as, Neal Barnard, Michael Greger,
It is a whole foods plant based diet (see Gen 1:29.) While John Mcdougall, Caldwell Esselstyn, and Neil Nedley, I can’t help but
eating meat is permissible (not ideal), the Bible clearly prohibits get absolutely excited about them mentioning Seventh-day Adventists.
eating unclean meat such as pork, lobster, and catfish (see Leviticus Talk about free advertisement! These doctors have done extensive
6 Staying Focused on Christ 2020 Vision