When the Bible speaks to the issue of the healing of our physical bodies, it illustrates clearly a supernatural aspect and a natural aspect of divine health. There are natural, practical things that God wants us to do in order to walk in divine health. In Exodus 23:25 God said that He would “bless your bread and your water, and I will remove sickness from your midst.” This clearly indicates that the practical aspects of people’s nutrition contribute prominently in being free of sickness.
Let’s take a look at nutrition from a biblical perspective. In the fifteenth chapter of Exodus, God entered into a healing covenant with man:
He said, “If you diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will not afflict you with any of the diseases with which I have afflicted the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.” (Ex. 15:26).
Immediately after establishing this covenant of healing with His people, in the sixteenth chapter of Exodus God addressed the issue of nutrition by providing manna to His people. This supernatural, nutritionally sound substance sustained the Israelites for the 40 years that they wandered in the wilderness. When the Israelites reached the Promised Land, they discovered a land rich in nutrition, filled with all the natural provisions of God to enable them to develop the sound, nutritious meal plan that has today become known as the Mediterranean Diet.
The things we eat have always had a direct bearing on the condition of our health. Four of the 10 leading causes of death in this country today deal with the issue of what we eat.
God made a healing covenant with His people, but then in the next chapter (Ex. 16), He inexplicably began describing in detail what nutritional practices the Israelites were to follow. This shows that for God, and therefore for us, there is a correlation between our health and our nutrition. It is only recent research that is pointing us to God’s reason for and emphasis on nutrition.
The typical American diet only plays into this; it actually leads directly to chronic inflammation. Trans fats, sugar, artificial sweeteners and many more common products in the diet of most Americans can increase the level of inflammation in your body. This means fried and fast foods, baked goods and even white bread can lead to inflammation.
This can sound daunting. Each of these products can be difficult to avoid today, but remember God has given us guidelines on healthy foods through His Word.
It is a myth that it is impossible to succeed at weight loss! According to a paper published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2005 that tracked the success of weight loss over time, there are individuals who have successfully lost at least 10 percent of their body weight and kept it off, with the average individual losing approximately 70 pounds and keeping it off for five years.
Their pathway to successful weight loss was through changes in their diets and exercise patterns. You can succeed despite your genetic profile. Although 70 percent of the people involved in a 1997 study had at least one parent who was significantly overweight, some still saw success in losing and maintaining weight loss.
You can succeed despite your cravings. The people in these studies didn’t give up sweets altogether—they just drastically limited their intake.
You can succeed without taking harmful diet drugs. These people modified their lifestyles rather than sending their bodies on a roller-coaster ride of highs and lows that many diet drugs cause.
You can succeed by finding God’s pathway to healing (and weight loss) designed just for you. {eoa}
Reginald Cherry has practiced diagnostic and preventive medicine/alternative medicine for over 40 years. Frustrated with the limited number of people he could help, he was led to expand his outreach through ministry with weekly television, books and other materials. He is the author of numerous books, including The Bible Cure and The Doctor and the Word. This is an excerpt of his new book, Hidden Bible Health Secrets.
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