The Paleo Mama

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paleo and christianity

Wait…You’re Christian and You Eat Paleo?!

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caveman

Throughout my week, I get quite a few emails and Facebook messages from my followers. The truth that I am a Christian bleeds out onto my blog posts and often into my daily encouragement to others. I just can’t help it! 😉 Many say to keep your beliefs and political opinions off your page, but I can’t sometimes, and never will change who I am…let alone what I want to say. I am not very good at holding my tongue…in good situations and in bad. A majority of my emails are from others who are confused on how I can be a Christian at the same time as being Paleo. Many give me encouragement for being the first Christian Paleo that they have ever known. And then others are, well lets just say, are not so nice. You see, people link Paleo to evolution.  You might be surprised to hear that I do believe in the evolution of some species. I do not believe in the evolution of our ancestors from mangy looking, hunched over, cavemen to straight and upright human beings. I don’t know how old the earth is, nor do I very much care or ever want to end up in a heated debate over it.  I do know how long it took to be created.

Whatever the case may be…

I am Christian.

I am Paleo.

You can be both.

You can be Christian and you can be Paleo because Paleo, is just a way of eating…nothing more.

So before I write anything else, here’s my disclosure: I am not writing this to debate religions, creeds, or claims. I am not writing this to convince you that Christianity is the only way. I am not writing this to start a fight or argument.

I am writing this because I want to encourage those who are Christian that eating Paleo can compliment a Christian lifestyle.

But how can I be a Christian and follow Paleo? 

1. Paleo is not a religion . First of all, I’ve never scrutinized this before…nor I have I ever thought that I couldn’t eat Paleo because I am a Christian. I don’t think Paleo is a religion, thus I feel I can be a Christian and follow the Paleo way of eating without betraying one-or-the other. Both are completely different. Christian is who I am. Paleo is what I eat. Christian is what I believe. Paleo is something I just credit as useful and makes my body feel good. One is something I cannot change…not even on a bad day. The other is something that DOES and CAN change, depending on if I want to indulge and eat a brownie. One I can’t walk away from. The other I can walk away from….and very easily.

2. “Well, didn’t Jesus eat grains?” I don’t hate bread, nor do I think it’s evil. I just don’t eat bread and grains because they are, to me, an inferior source of nourishment. They are, mostly, genetically modified and DO NOT resemble the grains that were spoke about in the Bible days. After eliminating them from my diet, then adding them back in moments of “indulgence”, I am now aware of the effects they have on my body. So, I choose not to eat them. This article at Wellness Mama talks in-depth about what, specifically, the Bible says about grains. A few points:

  • the grains of the Bible are much different from the grains of today
  • the grains of the Bible were prepared much different from the grains of today
  • grain consumption didn’t begin till after the Fall
  • grains were eaten in times of hardship
  • meat is linked with times of celebration or redemption
  • Jesus is the Bread of Life

3. I believe my body is a temple so I treat it well. I am attracted to eating Paleo because it is a very clean way of eating. Eliminating processed foods, growing and harvesting your own food, eating foods that are good for your body…all fall under the eating Paleo. Eating Paleo has grown in me a love for real food…a love for our local, hard-working farmers, and a love for cooking good, healing foods for my family. It has made me conscious about what I feed my children, about what I feed my pets, and about what I feed myself. I’ve had amazing results from eating Paleo. It has helped with depression, it has helped me lose over 60lbs, it has helped my energy levels and helped me sleep better. Should I discredit those results because some people believe that the Paleo diet is the same diet as our “pre-human” ancestors?  When you hear testimonies like mine, does it matter if I believe in evolution or creation? 

4. There is nothing in the Bible that tells me not to eat a Paleo diet. In fact, in Genesis 18 God, personally, sits down and has a meal with Abraham. What did he eat? He ate red meat, butter, and raw milk (He, also, ate very high quality, properly prepared bread…this is how things have changed). I believe that God has given us a perfect menu on this beautiful earth He has created. I believe He gave us things to eat that would nourish our bodies, grow our bodies, keep our bodies healthy, and build strong beings. I believe He created natural remedies for sicknesses and that the food He created should be our medicine. I don’t believe in changing the genetic molecule of our foods. I don’t believe in filling our foods with unnatural preservatives. And I don’t believe in filling our foods with garbage.

5. Eating Paleo complements my Christianity. It has taught me to appreciate the whole animal. It has taught me to consume all the animal and not waste anything. It has brought about a respect for God’s creation that just, simply, being a Christian never did. It has taught me to source our meat and love our food that we eat. The day will come that we will start butchering our own chickens, rabbits, pigs, and cows. Paleo has taught me to treat them well and to show gratitude to them for providing nourishment for our bodies; to give them a good life for the food they will provide for my family. As Christianity bleeds onto every aspect of my life, so has eating Paleo.

Conclusion

Paleo is not a religion and to treat it as one is just ridiculous. The main reason people cannot get over the whole “how can you be a Christian and Paleo?” is because of the evolution aspect. Once again, Paleo isn’t a religion, nor is evolution a religion. Just as grains should not be the focus of Christianity, evolution should not be the focus of Paleo. The beautiful part of eating Paleo is that you are eating the cleanest your body, probably, ever has. You are making steps towards limiting processed foods, sourcing good, sustainable meats, shopping as organic as possible, and, maybe, you are even growing a garden now.

Paleo changed my life. Christ has changed my life. Because of Paleo, we are now homesteading, raising goats, chickens, and growing organic food. Because of Christ, we are living our life to the fullest, acting upon our dreams, and celebrating the beautiful life God has given us. Christianity fulfills me spiritually, whereas, Paleo fulfills me morally and ethically when it comes taking care of God’s creation. It also fully fills my belly!

For more reading on this topic:Â