Discover the foods, rhythms, and habits of Scripture that nourish the body, honor God, and build lasting strength.
Diet in America is a big deal. There are so many variants of ‘diet’ that sometimes it is hard to figure out what or how to eat. It is confusing to go to a book store and try to find the best guidance when one wants to lose weight or get in shape. The fitness industry is growing, and people in the industry feed on others’ needs and desires to get them to buy their program, each one coming with a promise to make their client the next Adonis.
That’s not why this is written! “Whether therefore you eat or drink, or whatsoever you do, do all to glorify God”. 1 Cor 10:31
Generally, I have always been health conscious. In high school, I practiced ‘intermittent fasting’ without knowing that is what I was doing. Then, I got into ‘body building’ or ‘weight lifting’ or ‘working out’. My diet then became about trying to put on lean muscle, and I did. In a little over a year’s time I went from about 165 pounds to 190 pounds. Some of that was a little height I added as a late bloomer, but the bulk of it was new muscle mass. For a long time, I maintained weight at about 195.
When I hit about 40, I started putting on extra weight. Not a bunch, and I was never obese, but it was a surprise one day to see myself in a photo, as I looked bloated in the face, to me. Since then, I have experienced the familiar midlife cycle of gradual gain and deliberate correction — not dramatic swings, but enough to notice., until I get back down to my ideal weight between 195 and 200.
All of that has been while I am on a biblically ‘kosher’ diet. I stopped eating pork and shrimp and other abominable foods when I read the scriptures at 22 years old concerning what ‘food’ is in the Bible, in the book of Leviticus. So, I have always eaten basically healthy foods. Yes, I splurge occasionally, but generally, I eat what my body needs most of the time, and then occasionally what I want. (Mexican food, Italian food, sweets). The key, for me, has been ‘moderation’.
But, of late, I have had to reduce calories to below 1500/day, in order to stay at just above my ideal body weight of 195, hovering around 205 most of the time.
All the while, I have had it in my mind for the last ten years or so that the Biblical diet is way more than just ‘kosher meat’. I started seeing ‘clues’ about what is ‘good’ to eat, ‘when’ is good to eat, and ‘how much’ is good to eat.
Some people say that the ‘paleo diet’ is more biblical because it is ancient; but it’s more of an ‘evolutionary diet’ based on the wrong notion that all of humanity was hunter/gatherers for a very long time. That is not true. Civilizations appeared very early in the Biblical record. In fact, when Noah got off the ark about 4900 years ago, he immediately planted a vineyard and settled down. (Evidence of the oldest vineyard in the world is found right on top of where Noah settled, coming down off of Mount Ararat, from the time period! The oldest shoe was found there, too!) Wild hunter-gatherers were local to groups that did not want ‘civilization’, leaving it behind to seek to establish their own lives, driven by the immediate change in language at the Tower of Babel, a civilization that was created very quickly after the flood.
Some people assert that the Biblical people were ‘vegan’, eating no meat, saying that is the most healthy diet, and the most compassionate. They forget that God commanded mankind to eat meat after the flood (Genesis 9:2-4) when He put enmity between man and beast so the beasts would survive the new ecosystem. The notion that Galileans and others did not eat meat is simply not true. The number of lamb bones found in Jerusalem excavations is staggering. At Passover, all the Jews ate lamb. Yeshua told the story of the father killing the ‘fatted calf’ to celebrate his son’s return. Occasional meat was very much a part of their diet in Galilee and the rest of Israel. Fish was very near a daily repast, and three of the Talmidim/Disciples of Yeshua made a living as fishermen. Yeshua fed people fish on multiple occasions! Israelis are meat eaters. This doesn’t even account for the priesthood, who ate beef and other red meats, daily while they were at the Temple for seven days up to two weeks.
But, biblical food is more than just kosher meat.
Here are the foods that we can ‘discover’ in the Bible, and they give us a great palette for a diet:
Lamb (Passover; everyday herding life)
Goat (milk, meat)
Beef / cattle (less common than sheep/goats but present)
Fish (Galilee; coastal Israel)
Raw milk (“milk and honey”)
Butter / cream / curds (Hebrew ḥem’ah)
Raw honey (from combs, not processed)
Sourdough bread (leavened except during Unleavened Bread)
Salt (covenant symbol; food preservative)
Olive oil (dietary staple, not just ritual)
Figs
Pomegranates
Barley (poor man’s grain; Ruth; Judges)
Wheat (preferred grain)
Spelt / emmer (Ezekiel 4:9) (sprouted grains/legumes for bread)
Lentils (Esau; Daniel)
Beans (Ezekiel 4:9)
Chickpeas (likely included in “pulse”)
Grapes
Raisins
Dates
Apples (likely apricot or quince, but a sweet fruit)
Almonds
Pistachios
Walnuts
Wild game (deer, gazelle)
Birds (doves, quail)
Eggs (implied but not emphasized)
Garlic
Onions
Leeks
Coriander
Mint
Mustard seed
Hyssop
Cumin
Wine (common, ‘choice’)
Vinegar
Fermented milk products (curds, yogurt-like)
Given the nature of Israel’s agriculture, the produce listed above was cyclical. Our Jewish people consumed these foods rhythmically. They did not have constant access to all of them all the time:
Spring
Barley harvest
Lambing season
Fresh greens
Unleavened bread (reset period)
Early Summer
Wheat harvest
Milk abundance
Fresh fruit begins
Priests (all seasons)
Beef, Lamb, Goat
Cakes of bread, leavened/unleavened
Parched Grain
Wine
Late Summer / Fall
Grapes → wine
Olives → oil
Figs, dates, pomegranates
Meat preservation
Winter
Dried fruit
Stored grain
Fermented dairy
Less meat overall
Meat was not daily, except for a few occupations. For most people, it was celebratory, seasonal, or pastoral—not constant, except in the Temple for the priests who were there 1 to 2 weeks at a time.
An ideal diet would include all or most of these foods, with the following core principles governing their consumption, which we can derive from the Scriptures: eat whole foods, not processed foods. Consume naturally fermented foods, eat seasonally, and as much as possible buy locally (to control allergies), moderately consume meat, unless one’s job is physically very demanding, eat animal fats and olive oil, do not consume ‘refined’ sugar or ‘industrial grains’.
The daily foods of ancient Israel were whole grain sourdough bread, olive oil, fruits (fresh or dried) fermented dairy products, herbs, and vegetables. Frequently they ate fish, and eggs. Occasionally they ate lamb, goat, or beef, for personal celebrations, for Biblical feasts, when making an offering (after travelling to the Temple), or wild game.
Rarely, they ate their delicacies: honey and desserts made from dates, figs, and nuts.
In ancient Israel, food was not a moral imperative, it was not ‘governed’ by strict religious observance. Rabbinic laws that were added later were absent from biblical life. Food was, however, received with gratitude, as God told them to ‘give thanks’ after they have eaten and been satisfied. God often boasted how ‘bountiful’ the land was with the foods listed above. Those foods were a ‘gift’ to Israel to meet their need, to satiate hunger. And they thanked Him after eating. It was a custom also to give thanks before, however, as we see Yeshua doing multiple times in the NT scriptures. Gluttony and overindulgence was condemned, and occasional fasting was as important as the requisite feasting. This all creates a ‘rhythm’ of eating, and not ‘restrictions’.
Most people intuitively know how important food is. But, many people do not realize how integral to faith it is, how food is woven into the fabric of the worship of our Creator.
At Creation, in Genesis 1 and 2, mankind was given food not as a necessity, but as a pleasure. It was a gift, and not ‘earned’. Food was abundant in the garden, and there were no restrictions on it. Food was, however, only plants, fruits, and other ‘seed bearing’ plantlife, including nuts and grains. Meat was not classified as food just yet. (Gen 1:29). It was not until after the fall of mankind that food changed, because death came into the world, and ‘health’ was suddenly an issue, a concern. One fruit was forbidden before the fall, and no one really knows which one that was, as it was from a very particular tree in the garden. (Genesis 2:16) That tree may not even exist outside the confines of Gan Eden, God’s ‘paradise’ on earth, which He closed off to mankind. (Genesis 3:17-19) The thing to note concerning the fall is that sin itself was brought into mankind by ‘the misuse of food’. The enticement to be more ‘like God/s’ was leveraged through food. Instead of being a ‘gift’, it became a temptation. And that temptation was not through ‘hunger’ or ‘need’, but through grasping at the unattainable. Suddenly, after the fall because of the misuse of food, mankind now has to ‘work’ to ‘earn’ his food. It is no longer a gift and a pleasure, but a necessity, because man ‘died’ that day, becoming ‘mortal’.
Food changed again after the flood.
The flood happened because sin became the norm instead of the exception. Mankind’s thoughts were only evil continually, fornication and adultery drove the day, and people were utterly violent against people. So God destroyed the earth, and the earth’s original ecosystem. Before, the earth was watered from beneath. After the flood, cycles and seasons prevailed, and the earth is now watered from above instead of below. This means that there is now less water in the sky and less beneath the earth, as the water moves between earth and heavens now, and the oceans are more full.. So, man is subject to more radiation because of the lack of a water barrier in the sky. This could be the scientific reason why God commanded mankind to eat meat after the flood, although that is both untestable and unprovable. Nonetheless, the covenant with mankind included a broader, specific diet of red meat.
In Genesis 9:3-4, God had to put ‘enmity’ and fear between man and beast, because He commanded mankind to begin eating meat. But, he commanded mankind, at the same time, not to eat the blood of animals. “The life is in the blood”. Eating itself now brings about death, and God had to restrain it, regulating our appetite and our consumption of animals.
We see the patriarchs eating the ‘new’ diet of plantlife and meat. Food was used in Genesis 12-50 to demonstrate hospitality, to enter into covenant relationships, both for man-to-man covenants, and God-to-man covenants. Food was also used to seal general promises where one party promises something to another (not a two-way covenant). In fact, food consumed together was seen as ‘entering into peace’ with another person. It implied friendship/fellowship. And on one level, it was divine.
A few generations after the flood, mankind had to be disciplined again through language, separating people into many different groups, creating the later civilized societies after Ur of the Kaldees, where Abraham was from. And not long thereafter, Abraham’s descendants became slaves in Egypt.
During His process of delivering them from Egypt, He gave them a very particular meal to eat, to function as the symbol of their trust in God to bring them out of captivity. They were to eat Lamb, proportionally, and bitter herbs, and unleavened bread. After it served as a symbol of their trust, immediately it became a symbol of memorializing the event. Their ‘redemption’ was secured and now re-lived through the experience of eating. God changed the calendar of Israel, based on the timing of a meal. (Exodus 12).
When they were rescued by God, the first thing they complained about against Moses was not having water, and then food. To show God’s abundant provision, and to show them when the Sabbath is, God gave them “Manna from Heaven”. He used food to train them quite literally ‘one day at a time’, to teach them restraint in the temptation of gluttony by punishing them if they hoarded this ‘bread’, and to set the rhythm of Sabbath observance, to ‘see’ if Israel would obey God’s Torah. (Exodus 16:4, 18, 20) Food was integral to the inculcation of basic Torah practice. One could call it ‘spiritual pedagogy’.
After freeing them, then God gave them His specific instructions on how to be His “Holy, Royal, Priestly” nation. (Exodus 19). Food then actually became a national identifier, since Israel would become very ‘distinct’ from other nations, not eating all the meats available to mankind, as commanded after the flood, but only the ‘clean animals’ that No’ah brought through the flood in sets of seven, and not just pairs of two (Genesis 7:2). Laws in the Torah were created to govern ‘what’ to eat, and ‘how much’, where gluttony becomes abominable (over-eating, which was punishable by death (Deut 21:18-21), as God did in Torah (Num 11:33, where ‘Kivrot ha’ta’avah’ is ‘graves of craving/gluttony’ is the name of the place where they were punished for indulgence), and later, according to the due paid to Eli’s two sons who ‘got fat off of the sacrifices of the people’ and died. Food, then, to Israel, was a boundary to make them ‘distinct’ from other nations, not a measure of superiority.
God indeed promised them that if they were obedient, the land would always be abundant. So, like after the Garden fall, food was now a conditional gift. He described their promised land as ‘abundant’, ‘flowing with milk and honey’. These two foods were used for babes, and meant that there were both herds (from where milk comes) and plants (flowers/fruits) aplenty in the land (from where bees generate honey). God told them it was a land of ‘grain, and choice wine’, adding to the menu a wide variety of foods. They would always have this ‘food square’ in plenty, if they maintained covenant faithfulness with God. They never had to doubt His provision. He warned that if they became prosperous and ungrateful, there would be scarcity, to counter their gluttony. It was a check on their gratitude and acknowledgement of God in their lives.
In the rest of the scriptures, the role of food remains part and parcel of their worship system. The Wisdom Literature (Writings) speaks of moderating one’s own diet, to eat joyfully but not in excess, to limit ‘delicacies’ carefully. So, the exercise of ‘wisdom’ is partly measured by one’s ability to practice moderation in diet.
People in the Judaic and Messianic walks today tend to get over-enthusiastic about the religious ‘rules’ concerning ‘kosher’ eating. The word ‘kosher’ is not in the Bible as food is concerned. It is a later Rabbinnic term to explain the use of clean foods, and to distinguish them from unclean foods. The problem is, Rabbinnic law goes well beyond scripture, adding restrictions on food combinations, use of special dishes, and in some Rabbinnic circles, special/separate kitchens for different foods, primarily meat or dairy. These laws are all post-Second Temple laws that were added long after Yeshua. They separated meat and dairy based on a gross overinterpretation of one verse, to include waiting periods between those two food groups. They added rigorous slaughter rules, separations of utensils and kitchens, and Rabbinnic certifications systems. All of which do nothing but make life unpleasant in regard to food, and make people judgmental of one another. These halakhic additions did develop as protective traditions, but they were not practiced in biblical times.
In regard to the consumption of meat, The Torah instructs that we are to eat clean meats, and not eat unclean meats. We are not to eat the blood itself. We are not to mix species. We are not to eat ‘carrion’, animals that are not slaughtered, but die by other means. These food laws in scripture were written to separate Israel from the nations, to mark their holiness, and they were never, ever part of ‘salvation’, and they still are not salvific. They were covenant markers of holiness (Exodus 19:6), not instruments of justification. There is no ‘mystical food energy’, there should be no ‘health fad’, and certainly no one is superior to others because of their special, ‘kosher’ diet. In Torah, gluttony is treated as far worse than a slipup in ‘what’ someone eats.
So, from the scriptures, a pattern of eating emerges, examples of ‘how’ to relate to food are replete in the Biblical narrative. The Scriptures do not give us a daily calorie chart, but a food relationship and rhythm. Food is tied to gratitude, distinction, strength to work, feasting and fasting, and avoidance of excess. Following this pattern would take away our ‘obsession’ with eating. The goal is ‘order’ so that the human body can serve God, rather than causing us to ‘serve’ the body, where our flesh has rulership over us.
The first thing to do to right one’s diet is to be simple. Make the clear distinction between clean and unclean, as those meats that are listed in Leviticus 11 and in Deuteronomy 14. These passages expect of us simple obedience to God, but we now understand better why this is an expression of His care for our bodies as our designer. In simplicity, knowing those chapters, and seeing the other foods and patterns in the Bible, we are then ‘free’ to eat fish that has fins and scales, beef, lamb, and goat, poultry, and eggs for clean protein sources. These foods sustain muscle, increase satiety, stabilize the appetite, and support overall physical strength. They should form the foundation of every meal.
Ancient Israeli meals were not grain-dominant, as some suggest. Grain was offered at sacrifices and in celebrations, but the strength of the Jewish meal was a plate built around protein first. Everything else was secondary. Protein was present either in fish, red meat, eggs, or fermented dairy. When protein is the foundation of a meal, hunger stabilizes, cravings diminish, overeating decreases, and fat is less likely to accumulate around the waist.
There was a cycle of daily meals, as ancient Jews did not ‘graze’ all day long. Breakfast was some form of protein only, with minimal sugar. The midday meal was protein and vegetables, and low in carbohydrates. The evening meal was again built around protein, but it was accompanied by sourdough bread, root vegetables, and seasonal fruit. Thus, carbohydrates were eaten in moderation and with proteins and fat, and usually only in the evening and not throughout the day. Eating in this pattern supports insulin sensitivity, muscle preservation, and better sleep. Further, it reduces the amount of stored abdominal fat.
The kinds of carbohydrates consumed by ancient Jews were very different than today. Modern ‘industrial’ flour that we consume today is digested and treated just like sugar. Ancient bread, however, was fermented, very dense, simple, and limited in quantity. “Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with my allotted bread.” (Proverbs 30:9) The choices we need to make today must be similar; we need real sourdough bread and not ‘soft’ bread, and we need to moderate our portions.
Root vegetables like turnips, carrots, rutabaga, and sweet potatoes are consistent with the biblical diet, and help to stabilize the metabolism.
Along with these, one source of fat per meal is best. We need to choose either olive oil or butter, but not both at one sitting. Piling fat on top of fat can be disastrous. Nuts are a biblical food, but not to be eaten all the time, but as a delicacy, as they make it easy to overeat and consume too much fat. Fat is necessary and nourishing, but excess fat is stored as energy you did not use, in your fat cells.
The next thing to address is overeating. The Torah actually condemns craving, but not hunger itself, and there is a difference. Gluttony, then, is not so much about overeating as it is about being ruled by one’s appetite. Paul wrote, “All things are permissible for me, but all things are not advisable; indeed, all things are permissible for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.” To be brought under the power of appetite is gluttony. The pattern we see in scripture is to have 2 to 3 structured mealtimes, with very little ‘grazing’. Treats are reserved for meals, and not in between meals. This helps regulate the appetite and maintain weight stability.
Another part of our daily routine should be gratitude, and not anxiety. Modern “kosher” eating does more to create anxiety, as do the ‘diet plans’ of many modern programs. Biblical instructions about food were meant to provide a sense of distinction from unbelieving peoples, and identity as a holy people, and self-discipline. They were not the boundaries of a spiritual competition, a spiritual hierarchy, or meant to generate a whole certification industry. We are simply instructed to eat clean foods, to avoid excess, to give thanks, and then get back to our lives. This model maintains peace in the mind and heart, and thus maintains a healthy body.
If we were to establish a daily, biblically recommended eating pattern, it would look like this:
Breakfast would be eggs or another source of clean protein, coffee or tea with minimal sweeteners, and no ‘sugar heavy’ foods.
Lunch would be 5-8 oz of clean protein, vegetables, a small amount of olive oil, and little to no bread (sourdough only if taken).
Dinner would consist of 6-8 oz of clean protein, root vegetables, one or two slices of real sourdough bread, and small amounts of fruit if desired. Treats would be small and deliberate, only with dinner.
For those who work out or have physically labor intensive workdays, more meats and larger portions are recommended to resupply the body. The goal for everyone is not a thin waist, but a strong body, which would naturally produce a smaller waist. Priests carried large sacrifices, fishermen hauled in heavy nets, the Talmidim of Yeshua walked miles and miles every day. So, the ideal biblical body is strong and capable, lean, not indulgent, and not overweight. In fact, Scripture associates spiritual decline with indulgent excess, even among priests (1 Samuel 2:29; 4:18). Those two sons of Eli gorged themselves on ritual food for the pleasure of it, and they died suddenly and young.
The Scriptures do not prescribe calorie counting. They tell us to have self control: “You will be kadosh, as I am kadosh.” “Whether you eat or drink, do all to the glory of God.” “Do not join those who gorge themselves.” It is not about being obsessed with manmade food laws, it is about making our diet subject to the Spirit that God put within us such that we follow His Word, even in regard to our eating. We partake of simple food, clean and natural sources, moderate portions. We partake of the proteins He commanded all of mankind to eat when He changed the atmosphere; we time our carbohydrates wisely, and we always eat with gratitude.
Again, the Scriptures do not give us a calorie chart.
They give us a pattern.
Food in the Bible is never merely fuel. It is:
- Gift (Genesis 1:29)
- Test (Genesis 3:6)
- Covenant (Exodus 12)
- Discipline (Exodus 16)
- Distinction (Leviticus 11)
- Abundance (Deuteronomy 8)
- Fellowship (Luke 24:30)
- Gratitude (1 Corinthians 10:31)
The biblical pattern is not obsession, nor indulgence.
It is rhythm.
It is strength without gluttony.
It is enjoyment without enslavement.
It is gratitude without anxiety.
Yeshua ate fish and bread.
He attended feasts.
He fasted forty days.
He gave thanks before eating.
He was never ruled by appetite.
The goal, then, is not thinness for vanity.
It is not strictness for superiority.
It is not rabbinnic precision nor modern diet culture.
It is this:
That the body serves the spirit,
and not the spirit the body.
A Priestly–Galilean pattern of eating is simple:
- Clean food.
- Moderate portions.
- Structured meals.
- Occasional feasting.
- Periodic restraint.
- Constant gratitude.
“Man shall not live by bread alone…” (Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4)
But he does live by bread.
And by fish.
And by lamb.
And by oil.
And by wine.
And by the disciplined joy of receiving them as gifts.
Eat clean.
Eat gratefully.
Eat moderately.
And let your strength reflect your obedience.