EATING STYLES

An eating style is different than a "diet" because it does not have a beginning and an end. Rather an eating style is a permanent part of a person's lifestyle. Eating styles are adopted either by cultural programming, personal habit, conscientious choice, or a combination.

Below is a listing of common eating styles and their general descriptions. Naturally, there are variations on all of them, too numerous to show here. Which eating style do you practice? Are you happy with your eating style?

OMNIVOROUS: The omnivorous eating style includes ALL sources of edible plant or animal. An omnivore may be of the SAD variety, of the Natural Food variety (far less common), or anything in between (see below). All animal flesh foods are DEAD food and are very hard on the human body. They are major sources of saturated fat and cholesterol and provide no dietary fiber. For at least two decades, study after study after study has shown irrefutable evidence that meat and other animal products contribute to heart disease, many cancers, and a host of other maladies. Meat, if eaten at all, should be consumed sparingly. If you want to know the FACTS, not hype, on this issue, probably the most important book you can ever read is John Robbins' Diet for a New America.

OMNI-SELECTIVE: The selective omnivore eats SOME flesh, but not ALL flesh. This flesh-eating style includes poultry, fresh water fish, and seafood but excludes "red meat" (beef, pork, lamb, rabbit, wild animals). Like the omnivore, the selective omnivore may also eat natural foods, may only eat small quanitities of non-red animal flesh, or may be living on the full-blown SAD (see below).

VEGETARIAN: The vegetarian eating style is marked by abstinence from eating all forms of animal flesh. A person who eats fresh water fish or seafood may call him- or herself a vegetarian, but that person is confused. Vegetarians may consume eggs, dairy, or both or products made with eggs and/or dairy. There are many, many variations of the vegetarian eating style. Some vegetarians are junk-food junkies: they consume the SAD or low-fat SAD (see below), only minus the meat. Others are very health-conscious and eat mostly whole, natural foods along with eggs and/or dairy. For vegetarians, the line is drawn to favor those foods which do not require the killing of an animal.

VEGAN: Pronounced "vee�-gun" or "vej�-un", the person with this eating style is also referred to as a "pure" or "strict" vegetarian. Vegans exclude ALL animal products from their diet, including all flesh, all dairy items, all animal milks, all eggs, honey, gelatin (including gelatin capsules used for vitamins and other supplements) and any other edible thing that comes from an animal. Like the vegetarian, vegans come in all varieties, from the sugar- fat- and processed food-addict to the natural food enthusiast. The support for this eating style choice includes hatred for unnecessary killing and cruel treatment of animals, personal and/or world health concern, environmental issues, or all of the above. Many vegans also refuse to wear or use anything made from leather or other substances involving the killing, mutilation, cruelty, or exploitation of animals. Veganism goes far beyond the issues of personal health and eating to encompass many other issues, including world hunger and use of natural resources. The vegan lifestyle is typically compassionate, wise, and well-founded. But it can be and is taken to extremes by some where spiders, insects and parasites are assessed to have equal value (and rights) as animals or even human beings.

STANDARD AMERICAN DIET (SAD) / STANDARD WESTERN DIET (SWD) -- This eating style is characterized by emphasis on meats, eggs, dairy products, white breads, fried foods, convenience foods, processed snack foods, and sweets. Fruits and vegetables may be inlcuded, but often as a guilt-driven add-on or afterthought. Veggies are often cooked to death and coated with copious amounts of artery-clogging butter, cream, and/or cheese, and salt. Similarly, fruits may be cooked, processed, canned, and soaked in sugar-water and preservatives. High calories, high fat, high sugar, high sodium, and high additives and artificial ingredients are the hallmark of this style. Over-processed, refined, pre-prepared, pre-packaged foods in cans, jars, packets, envelopes, plastic containers and boxes are common fare. God did not make these foods any more than He made bombs. People make bombs out of things that God made. Similarly, people piece together edible products out of foods that were once natural and whole--the outcome tending to be highly destructive to human health and well-being. Priority is placed on taste with little regard for health rammifications. The U.S., Canada, the U.K. and other parts of the world consuming this type of food as an eating style are losing greater and greater numbers of people to heart disease, cancers, diabetes, multiple sclerosis and other killers as a result.

LOW-FAT SAD: The Standard American Diet only lower in fat. Many "diets" are really just the SAD with reduced fat or designated "diet-foods". A person might lose weight on such a "diet", but he or she will not enjoy much improved health nor suspend dependency on addictive refined foods. Generally, people who lose weight while following a low-fat SAD "diet" do not keep the weight off.

HIGH PROTEIN & FAT / LOW CARBOHYDRATE: Although it is possible to eat a high protein vegetarian diet, most people practicing the high protein & fat / low carbohydrate eating style are either omnivorous or omni-selective. Such people may ingest enormous amounts of meat and other animal products. Carbohydrates, even the nutritious complex variety, are purported to be the cause of the overweight condition, in spite of or in ignorance of the fact that God created the human body to function primarily on clean-burning complex carbohydrates. Evidently, some people do lose weight when practicing this eating style due to low calorie intake and an unhealthy condition called "ketosis". However, they may also experience fatigue, nausea, low blood pressure and reduced mental clarity after a season. Long-term ingestion of excess protein, especially animal protein, contributes to osteoporosis and other diseases. There is a vast amount of research showing that this style is not a health-promoting one. Check out unbiased studies (studies done by people or organizations that are not financially benefitting from weight-loss book sales nor by the industries supplying food products nor from the medical community that benefits from disease) before you adopt this eating style.

CHRONIC DIETER: The chronic dieter eating style is what it says. This person is so consumed with losing weight that other health concerns are exceedingly trivial. Even taste and meal enjoyment frequently lose out to weight loss efforts. Usually, a chronic dieter gains and loses weight over and over and over again, that is if they lose weight at all. The "chronic dieter" may have many health problems, or ones that are "waiting in the wings". Disappointment and despair are avoided or covered up with the excitement surrounding starting a new "diet." Only shallow investigation into the health efficacy of any "diet" occurs, as evidenced by the flitting from one style to the next. This person tends to believe anything they read or are told, or at least hopes it is true and is willing to take the risk. Over the course of years or even his/her entire lifetime, the chronic dieter may eat the SAD or the low-fat SAD, abstain from some or all meats, consume enormous or very low amounts of protein, abstain from dairy, abstain from breads and grains, eat nothing but breads and grains, eat only 2 or 3 foods for weeks, fast on water, fast on juice, eat only fruits, eat only vegetables, eat only rice, eat only raw food, eat only "diet" or low-calorie foods, and on and on and on ad infinitum.

NATURAL / WHOLE FOODS: Although some would argue that eating meat or animal products is NOT natural or healthy and therefore excluded from this eating style, I will include SOME who do. My definition for the natural / whole foods diet style encompasses vegans, vegetarians, and flesh-eaters who either do not eat red meat or eat very little AND who ingest meat and other animal products more as a flavoring and condiment rather than as a main dish. A true natural / whole foodist would rarely, if ever, sit down to a slab of flesh on a plate with a smattering of veggies on the side. In contrast, this diet style capitalilzes on fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, seeds, nuts, herbs, spices, and water. With this eating style, equal value can be placed on taste AND nutrition, since with experimentation, effort, and practice foods can be found that both taste exquisite and are exquisitely good for you. Although few natural / whole foodists go without using ANY canned, boxed, or jarred foods, the preference is consistently toward self-prepared meals and snacks made from fresh, whole, minimally processed ingredients. Fresh, live, raw foods and juices are esteemed highly, but variations of the natural / whole foods eating style differ on the ratios of raw to cooked foods. People practicing this eating style tend to eat less fat, fewer calories, and are much healthier than their counterparts. Although obesity does exist in this community (over-eating any type of food and a sedentary lifestyle will promote the overweight condition), a healthy, attractive body size is a natural bi-product of self-control, regular exercise, adequate rest, loving relationships, spiritual fulfillment, and the natural / whole foods eating style.

RAW FOOD: The raw food eating style is inherently vegan and comprised of natural whole foods. The raw foodest is after live "enzymatically active" foods and consumes 70% to 100% raw and 0% to 30% cooked vegetables, fruits, grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, herbs, spices, and water. This eating style is naturally very low-fat and highly nutritious, if not easy to adhere to. Many raw foodists, let down by the medical community, turned to this style to combat serious, even terminal illnesses and met with success. Live food is the best food for live organisms including people. Cooked food is dead food. All other eating styles may be improved by incorporating more raw foods.

Are your eating habits destructive?
Check out Renovation: Overcoming Eating Disorders Through the Born-Again Spirit for Scriptural answers.

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