You are what you eat. A proverb that holds a greater kernel of truth than one would believe. Healthy nutrition is essential and has a significant influence on well-being, susceptibility to illness and, last but not least, life expectancy. Two studies of Seventh-day Adventist dietary standards show striking results.
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The car is often better taken care of than your own body
For most of our contemporaries, nutrition is one of the less-noticed everyday activities. Not only the rush in the early morning before work, but also habits and ignorance contribute to the fact that more fillers are often pushed into the body than food. One often has the impression that the car is cared for more than one’s own body using the “best” and, above all, expensive ingredients.
The so-called civilization diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes continue to increase. However, the reasons are not reported in the way that is actually necessary. It’s just the way it is and the pharmaceutical industry has the right remedies ready.
Anyone who pours dirty petrol, rancid oil and viscous cooling water into their car need not be surprised at its poor condition and the fat end. But who does that, after all, the vehicle should do well. However, there is no rational justification for why this attitude should not apply to one’s own body either.
In a nutshell: Anyone who constantly eats rubbish will also feel like one big heap of rubbish one day. Not to mention the diseases due to the accumulation of huge amounts of toxins. Healthy nutrition is therefore essential for all-round well-being.
In Southeast Asia, for example, breast cancer is much less common than in Europe. A correlation would be e.g. the frequency of consumption of milk or milk products. A causality study would be interesting.
Studies on the effects of different diets and lifestyles already exist. Thus, decades ago, the lifestyle of the Seventh-day Adventists was adopted. They eat very consciously because of the biblical guidelines. The diet is mostly meat-free, mostly vegetarian, and many are vegan. A summary of the study is available here.
Diet mortality study
The Adventist Mortality Study (1958-1966) included 23,000 Adventists in California, ages 25 and older. The results are as follows:
- The average age of women in an Adventist church is 3.7 years higher and that of men 6.2 years
- The cause of death from cancer is significantly lower among Adventists than among non-Adventists. Overall, women died 25 percent less and men died 40 percent less from cancer.
- Adventists are 79 percent less likely to have lung cancer, colon cancer 38 percent, and breast cancer 15 percent less than non-Adventists
- While eating eggs increased all-cause mortality, eating green leafy vegetables regularly reduced it
- Vegetarian Adventists are less likely to suffer from heart disease than non-vegetarians
- Cause of death from heart disease affects Adventists 2 percent less (women) and 36 percent less (men).
Diet health study
The first California Adventist Health Study (1974-1988) on the susceptibility to disease associated with different Adventist diets and lifestyles included 34,192 participants over the age of 25 years. The study showed the following results:
- Diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure were less common among vegetarians than among meat eaters among Adventists. All-cause mortality was lower among vegetarians.
- The risk of prostate cancer was reduced by 40 percent in men with high tomato consumption
- The risk of prostate cancer was reduced by 70 percent in men who drank soy milk every day
- Legumes significantly reduced the risk of colon cancer
- The risk of colon cancer was 88 percent higher among non-vegetarian Adventists than among vegetarian Adventists
- Whole wheat bread reduced the risk of non-fatal heart attack by 45 percent compared to white bread
- Nuts reduce the risk of a heart attack by up to 50 percent
- Red meat significantly increased the risk of fatal heart attack
- Reducing or eliminating red and white meat reduced risk of colon cancer
- More than 5 glasses of water a day reduced the risk of heart disease by up to 50 percent
- On average, Adventist women lived 4.4 years longer and men lived 7.3 years longer
Diet based on biblical information
It is obvious that eating meat and consuming animal products is rather detrimental to health. A balanced plant-based diet contains all the necessary nutrients such as carbohydrates, protein, fat, vitamins, minerals and trace elements. Basically, there is also the fact that Seventh-day Adventists reject stimulants or addictive substances such as tobacco, coffee and alcohol. Another life-prolonging factor.
A look at the Bible also reveals very quickly how the God-given diet (originally) was.
Genesis 1:29:
“And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.”
Eating meat first appeared after the Flood. Easily explained by the fact that after the flooded earth there was hardly anything left of the plant splendor at first. However, this only applied to the pure animals and e.g. the pig is definitely not one of them. It is therefore a misconception that clean and unclean animals have only been valid since Moses and the people of Israel. Noah was called to take different numbers of clean and unclean animals into the ark.
So there are more than enough reasons to avoid Wiener Schnitzel, burgers and steaks.
Bible verses from King James Version
