When Christians eat healthy
– really healthy
As I sat with a group of 20 or so women in a Hallelujah Diet Canada test kitchen in Toronto staring at a sign that said RAW, I couldn’t help wondering what I had
got myself into. Raw veganism is a thing?
It’s a big thing. Some would say a Christian thing.
Farming has been my family’s profes-
sion since before the Irish potato famine.
Meat and potatoes are food groups where
I come from. My grandparents’ table
groaned with food right from the garden,
field, cow or goat, or was preserved by
hand. Most of my life I’ve consumed
prepared, precooked and canned alterna-
tives. When I was diagnosed with an in-
tolerance to sulphites, a common preserv-
ative, I was forced to research my
cook-from-scratch heritage.
I get the desire to eat better.
The Hallelujah Diet workshop promotes a living-plant-based diet (no dairy,
meat or animal/fish by-products, refined
sugar or wheat – and 70 per cent of food
consumed should be raw). Raw food
veganism, they say, is a biblically-based
diet. Memories of washing carrots with a
garden hose and eating them straight
from the garden flick through my mind
– I could do raw.
I stare at a cucumber slice topped with
pumpkin and sunflower seed cheese with
chive flowers on top (because crackers are
dead – and that’s bad). Seed cheese is an
acquired taste, I discover. I politely pass
on the seconds.
The Hallelujah Diet is one of many
Christian healthy eating plans out there.
Christian diners can choose from a smorgasbord that includes the Eden Diet,
Daniel’s Diet (not to be confused with the
Daniel Plan that includes Daniel Strong
gear), the Weigh Down Diet, even Take
Back Your Temple (with an online “Do
you have the faith to change?” quiz to get
you started).
A MEAT- AND POTATO-LOVING WRITER VISITS A
CHRISTIAN RAW FOOD TEST KITCHEN TO EXPLORE
A POPULAR EATING TREND. By Lisa Hall-Wilson
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