The Ten Commandments Of Diet

Growing up in a Christian family, I used to read the Bible regularly and with great interest. And of course I also knew about the Ten Commandments. However, admittedly I had never realized that there was something in the Old Testament such as the Ten Commandments concerning diet. To be exact, 75% of these food “Commandments” are given in the Torah. What made me even more excited was to find out that all of these food recommendations were vegan. But it even got better after Suzanne Somers had pointed out in her book that all these vegan foods were extremely effective in preventing cancer-related diseases. Gradually, modern medical science is starting to rediscover those ancient foods with their awesome health benefits. Don’t you think it’s time that you should also benefit from these biblical vegan food recommendations with their almost miraculous health impact? If so, make sure to read the entire article until the end. It will be definitely worth any minute of your time. Promised!

“Just the other day I was at my local health food market flipping through a popular health food magazine and I stumbled upon an interview with Suzanne Somers.

She was promoting her new book about cancer prevention and I was absolutely stunned to see that about 75 percent of the supplements, herbs, and spices that she spoke about are mentioned in the Torah.

We all know that the Torah is the blueprint for creation. But now, we’re really beginning to see the enormous depth of Torah knowledge coming into the world. It’s just awe inspiring to think about it!

In today’s feature article I’ll be going through ten medicinal foods and herbs that are highlighted in the Torah, and that modern science is uncovering as potent cancer preventives and health promoters.

The ten medicinal foods and herbs that I’ll be discussing are Aloe, Cinnamon, Clove, Peppermint, Garlic, Pomegranate, Oregano, Flax, Olive, and Walnut.

Let’s start with Aloe:

Aloe Vera

The Aloe Vera plant is best known for its healing effect on the skin, but its healing benefits are actually very far reaching and in many cases, almost miraculous. Aloe is dramatically effective on burns of all types, and is also excellent for cuts, insect stings, acne and blemishes, poison oak, skin ulcers, and eczema – really any type of inflammation on the skin. It’s wise to keep aloe in your kitchen just in case you suffer a painful burn while cooking.

Just as with the skin, Aloe Vera is exceptionally healing to inflammation internally as well, specifically with regard to the colon. Taken internally as a juice, Aloe is known to aid in the healing of stomach disorders, ulcers, constipation, hemorrhoids, colitis, and all colon problems. You can make a cocktail of diluted Aloe Vera juice with flax seeds that have been ground into a powder. This winning combination can be a miracle for periodically cleansing the colon of impurities.

Oregano

Oregano is a flavorful and pungent culinary herb with a wealth of health benefits behind it. It contains aromatic oils that are antibacterial, anti-oxidant, and anti-inflammatory. In fact, oil of oregano extract is known to be one of the most potent antidotes to the common cold and flu. When you feel a cold coming on or you have been exposed to a lot of coughing and sneezing, take three or four drops of oil of oregano in a teaspoon of honey and keep this up for 24 hours, as needed. This is a very powerful remedy that should not be used with children.

The Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry in November 2001 had a cover story:
Herbs a Rich Source of Healthy Antioxidants; Oregano Ranks Highest

Oregano ranked even higher in antioxidant activity than fruits and vegetables, which are known to be high in antioxidants. In comparison to the antioxidant activities of a few select fruits and vegetables, the potency of oregano ranks supreme: Oregano has 42 times more antioxidant activity than apples, 30 times more than potatoes, 12 times more than oranges and 4 times more than blueberries.

For example, one tablespoon of fresh oregano contains the same antioxidant activity as one medium-sized apple, she says.

The most active phenol component in oregano is rosmarinic acid, a strong antioxidant.

Antioxidants have become synonymous with good health. They are a class of compounds thought to prevent certain types of chemical damage caused by an excess of free radicals, charged molecules that are generated by a variety of sources including pesticides, smoking and exhaust fumes.

Garlic

Garlic, as well as onions (which are both mentioned in the Torah) have been used since the dawn of civilization to treat a host of illnesses. They are broad-range antibiotics that combat bacteria, viruses, and intestinal parasites. Garlic and onions lower blood pressure, blood cholesterol, and prevent dangerous blood clotting. Both are on top of the list as cancer-preventing foods.

Garlic, a member of the lily family, may be the most important herb to strengthen the immune system and detoxify the body of harmful chemicals that can cause cancer. Diallyl sulfide, organosulfides, and selenium are compounds of garlic that have been shown to remove potent carcinogens from the body.

Garlic has immune-enhancing allium compounds (dialyl sultides) that appear to increase the activity of immune cells that fight cancer and indirectly help break down cancer causing substances. These substances also help block carcinogens from entering cells and slow tumor development. Diallyl sulfide, a component of garlic oil, has also been shown to render carcinogens in the liver inactive. Studies have linked garlic — as well as onions, leeks, and chives — to lower risk of stomach and colon cancer.

Dr. Lenore Arab, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill reported her findings in the October 2000 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. According to the report, people who consume raw or cooked garlic regularly face about half the risk of stomach cancer and two-thirds the risk of colorectal cancer as people who eat little or none. Their studies didn’t show garlic supplements had the same effect.

It is believed garlic may help prevent stomach cancer because it has anti-bacterial effects against a bacterium, Helicobacter pylori, found in the stomach and known to promote cancer there.

Detoxifying the body is becoming more and more important in our modern world due to the large amounts of chemicals, pollutants, and bacterium in our environment – and itsn’t it wonderous that a food from the Torah is even more effective and important NOW than it was three thousand years ago!

Keep in mind, raw garlic is more powerful than cooked. The volatile oil in garlic contains allicin, which is inactivated for the most part when heated.

Enjoy raw garlic in pesto, blended with walnuts, fresh basil, extra virgin olive oil, and a little sea salt. Or make a delicious olive tepanade with raw garlic blended with green olives, fresh cilantro, and extra virgin olive oil. Blend it into butter or flax oil and spread it on toast, or toss it into pasta. My children treasure these yummy treats!

Pomegranate

Unsweetened pomegranate juice is really second to garlic as one of the most important supplements for detoxification. For centuries, the pomegranate has been valued as a symbol of health and has been an important element of Torah tradition.

In 1998, modern medical researchers went into high gear to understand the health benefits of pomegranates. This research has involved a number of top scientists from leading universities around the world, including a Nobel Laureate. So far, 47 total studies, including 14 clinical studies, have been published in peer-reviewed journals.

Professor Michael Aviram, DSc Head, Lipid Research Laboratory at the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, is one of these researchers. He is quoted as saying the following about pomegranate:

“Different fruits and vegetables contain different types of antioxidants (e.g., vitamin E, vitamin C, beta Carotene, Lycopene, as well as polyphenols such as tannins, anthocyanins, flavonoids and phenolic acids). Although they all share the same name (Antioxidants), they are very different in structure and functions, and they interact with different types of free radicals that induce oxidative stress in the human body. Pomegranates contain several antioxidant molecules ,mainly ellagitannin polyphenols (such as punicalagin), and their derivatives and metabolites that can protect against all types of oxidants, not just against only one.”

Every day, your body is exposed to free radicals, unstable molecules that can damage the cells in your body in a process often referred to as oxidative stress.

Where do they come from? Everywhere. Not only does your body produce them as part of normal metabolism, there are also many external sources such as air pollution, alcohol, pesticides, sunlight, tobacco smoke, drugs and fried foods. Even our stressful lifestyles are related to excess oxidative stress.

That’s where antioxidants come in. Antioxidants are scavengers that neutralize free radicals. Although your body produces its own antioxidants, they are often insufficient to protect against the total oxidative stress we all experience. In fact, scientists have already linked free radicals to many different types of diseases.

Consuming a diet rich in natural antioxidants may help protect against free radical damage.

The combination of the multiple types of pomegranate polyphenols makes their antioxidant activity better than other antioxidants by having a wider spectrum of action against several types of free radicals. Thus, pomegranates are superior to other antioxidants in protecting LDL (“the bad cholesterol”) from oxidation, and as a result, it inhibits atherosclerosis development, as well as its consequent cardiovascular events, better than any other nutritional antioxidant. Furthermore, pomegranate antioxidants are unique in their ability to increase the activity of the HDL (“the good cholesterol”) – which breaks down harmful oxidized lipids in the atherosclerotic plaque. Finally, the unique antioxidants in pomegranates beneficially affect two additional important atherosclerotic processes by decreasing blood pressure and by attenuating blood clotting.

Olive

The Jewish people have benefited from enormous health benefits from olives for thousands of years. The most potent medicinal properties of olive are extracted from the actual leaf of the olive tree, although there are numerous benefits from using olive oil as well as olive oil and leaf extract combinations.

Recently, numerous reports have come out on the immune-boosting and cancer preventing properties of olive leaf extract. It has a very high antioxidant rating. The New York University School of Medicine completed definitive tests that show that olive leaf extract is able to change the pathways of HIV type infections and may even reverse these conditions.

The University of Durban-Westville in South Africa has concluded that one of the benefits of olive leaf extract is that it decreases hypertension especially in cases where the condition is related to salt-sensitivity.

Research has also been done regarding the antioxidant benefits of olive leaf extract and show that it possesses extremely high anti-oxidative qualities. Not only does this herb serve to remove free radicals from the system but it also helps to add protective qualities for the heart and circulatory system.

Through eliminating free radicals in the system olive leaf extract also helps reduce the productions of micro-toxins in the body that can eliminate many of the colds, flues and other respiratory issues that are problematic around the world.

Female-specific benefits of olive leaf extract extend to eliminating yeast and other vaginal infections as well as helping reduce the symptoms of PMS and migraine headaches.

Olive leaf contains a series of phytochemicals known as secoiridoids. The most important of these – and the major active ingredient in olive leaf – is Oleuropein which in itself is comprised of 95 different compounds. When Oleuropein is extracted out of olive leaves, along with the other phytochemicals, it works as a very wide spectrum natural antibiotic.

Studies have shown that this active ingredient is responsible for the numerous health benefits of olive leaf extract. It has been determined to be part of the olive tree’s powerful disease resistant structure.

This extraordinary herb is very safe to use. There have been not been any reports of adverse reactions or other side effects, except that a few people experience moderate headaches – this is due to a detoxification effect and is not a counteraction to the herb.

Benefit of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Certain micronutrients contained in olive oil and other foods could be responsible for the Mediterranean diet’s well known heart-healthy effects (The so-called “Mediterranean Diet” is one of FOUR Gentetic Nutrition-Types that I test for in my coaching).

These compounds, known as phenols, have been shown in laboratory studies to have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and blood clot preventing powers. The intake of food high in phenols compounds could improve cardiovascular health and protect the heart.

Flax and Walnuts

Flax Seeds, Walnuts, and Fish are all mentioned in the Torah as being “special” in some way. What do they have in common? They are the three foods with the highest potencies of Omega-3 Essential Fatty Acids. So let’s take a moment to delve into the subject of Omega-3 fats.

Over the past 20 years many studies have been carried out on the metabolism of omega-3 fats.

Today we now know that omega-3 fats are ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL for normal growth and development and also in the prevention and treatment of coronary artery disease, hypertension, diabetes, arthritis, other inflammatory and autoimmune disorders, and cancer. The problem is, we’re not getting enough of them.

You must know that omega-3 fats are CRUCIAL to your health and the health of your children. The human brain is also highly dependent on DHA, which is an important component of omega-3 fats – low DHA levels have been linked to depression, memory loss, and a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s.”