Food laws that bring health

It’s the Chinese New Year season and it is the time of the year for Chinese families to get together as well as catching up with relatives and friends. During my visits, I have noticed a few of my relatives and friends’ children, and even hear of friends’ friends’ children, suffering from severe eczema or allergic rashes.

It is quite sad to see children suffering from such misery at such a young age. Surprisingly, they have flawless face skin but very dry and itchy hands and legs which caused them to scratch and bleed. While medication only suppresses the symptoms, I don’t know of any cure. People could try and boost their immune system so that the symptoms do not return and that they stop eating toxic food found in nature and processed food.

I have never heard or seen anyone with skin problem when I was young. Not even one case. Now, it is too common, with children as well as adults. As the result of this observation, I began to wonder about the food laws described in the Old Testament of the Bible and began to dig for information over the net. I have always known that the laws were logical but not exactly know the scientific details. The Jews adhered to them, the Muslims practice some of them but I don’t know personally of any non-Jewish Christians (who put the laws into practice although I have on rare occasions hear isolated cases where they avoid certain food based on the wisdom in the ancient text.

The only reason I can think off why our parents and grandparents hardly suffer from these symptoms is because they hardly eat meat or seafood, and if they do, it is only on special occasions. (And of course, they do a lot of manual work and sweat it out – which also helps remove some toxin from the body.) While they may lack calcium and other minerals as a result, and lose their teeth early in life, this could have saved them from a lot of unhealthy as well as toxic elements being ingested.

The food laws in the Old Testament could be found in Leviticus 11.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus+11&version=NIV

While I don’t mind not eating insects and birds, I will surely miss my favourite seafood especially shellfish such as crabs, oysters, clams (lala) and prawns. Fish with fins and scales can be eaten but those without them are not to be eaten. So, the pomfrets (ikan bawal), catfish (ikan keli) and sharks are also not to be eaten.

Some websites point out that these shellfish and fish species contain high levels of heavy metals. Is there any wonder why some people are allergic to them?

One website says that these shellfish and fish species are actually made by God to clean up the ocean, lakes and rivers. In other words, we are eating garbage when we eat them. By depleting them, we are also destroying the environment.

The Biblical food laws also said that we are not to eat the blood and fats of meat. Ok, this is understood because blood could transmit diseases while fats clog up the arteries.

Pork is of course, not to be eaten too. I will miss my “char siew” and “siew yoke.”

I wish I can say that I can totally avoid these foods. It will be hard. But I will definitely reduce eating them from now on. I will particularly miss raw oysters and escargot even though I hardly eat them.

While times have changed, the laws are still relevant to our lives. Healthy people as well as those who suffer from eczema should avoid the foods mentioned in Leviticus 11. More than that, we should also avoid as much as possible deep fried and processed food. Processed foods are man made food (as opposed to God-made food or food source directly from nature) which includes nuggets, burgers, sausages, ham and cheese. These processed foods (unless real meat slices with no additives or preservatives are used) as well as canned food, many fermented food, food with colourings, additives and preservatives should also be avoided as much as possible. From my observation, those with auto-immune diseases such as mentioned above as well as those with asthma and arthritis, eating such foods can trigger inflammatory symptoms.

A few years ago, I had overheard a conversation in an organic food café of a woman sitting next to my table that she had gone to another organic food café to have a meal and after the meal, her eczema returned and she suffered a great deal and had to go on organic fruits and vegetables juice fast for three days to de-tox. She had been going to the café where we were and had no problems with the food and had told a friend with her that she did not know why her symptoms returned when she had eaten organic food from the other cafe. (She could only eat organic vegan food due to her condition.) I could not help listening to her conversation and decided to politely budge in and told her that the café used organic vegetables but not organic sauces or natural seasoning. She was shocked to hear that. I really felt sorry for her because food providers sometimes do not bother to label their food.

Basically, we all need clean food, not just for hygienic or faith reasons but also food that are safe from heavy metals, preservatives, colourings, additives, fats and carcinogenic recycled frying oils.

The recommendations above are not a substitute for proper medical or dietary advice and shall not be construed as a cure for any specific disease or health condition. Readers are advised to check their specific dietary needs and requirements with their doctor if in doubt.