WFPB (whole food plant based)
...."the food which caused the sickness..."
St. John Chrysostom
Hebrews 10:2-9
excerpt on verse 7
Reading this part of the homily, I remembered an incident from sometime soon before covid. One Sunday coffee hour after liturgy, an older catechumen complained about his high blood sugar and having to restrict himself eating sweets. I told him that there is now a cure known for type II diabetes, He was very interested to know it, but when he found out that the cure is the same as our strict Church fast, his excitement totally deflated. Apparently, he considered the cure just as onerous as the disease.
He asked how long will it take. Well, it depends on the degree of compliance, but Dr. McDougall would take his diabetic patients on a 10-day cruise and have them off all medications by the end of the cruise. His next question: "Then, after that, can I go back to eating regular?"
Hebrews 10:2-9
excerpt on verse 7
. . . . Tell me now, if when you have been well for forty days after a long illness, you should again give yourself up to the food which caused the sickness, have you not lost your former labor too? For if natural things are changed, much more those which depend on choice. As for instance, by nature we see, and naturally we have healthy eyes; but oftentimes from a bad habit [of body] our power of vision is injured. . . . .
Reading this part of the homily, I remembered an incident from sometime soon before covid. One Sunday coffee hour after liturgy, an older catechumen complained about his high blood sugar and having to restrict himself eating sweets. I told him that there is now a cure known for type II diabetes, He was very interested to know it, but when he found out that the cure is the same as our strict Church fast, his excitement totally deflated. Apparently, he considered the cure just as onerous as the disease.
He asked how long will it take. Well, it depends on the degree of compliance, but Dr. McDougall would take his diabetic patients on a 10-day cruise and have them off all medications by the end of the cruise. His next question: "Then, after that, can I go back to eating regular?"
What are these foods that cause illness? It's clear to me it is the non-fasting foods: meat/dairy/oil. (Wine is considered medicinal, — ok for serious illness and even mild indigestion.) Our Church used to know this. Somehow we have forgotten. So many diseases are caused by the rich western-American diet: including glaucoma which is caused by fats/oils, and non-diabetic (nuclear) cataracts which are caused by excess proteins. Also look at the wording: ...when you have been well for forty days after a long illness... This implies that fasting was normally used as a treatment for serious diseases. Remember that in the old days, rich diets caused "king's diseases," like gout. The peasants who ate roots and barley and potatoes did not get "king's diseases." Our Church fasting fare is ancient wisdom which we have somehow forgotten, maybe we deliberately suppressed it. It is interesting that St. John uses the word "injured" when speaking about the cause of vision impairment. This is the same language the wfpb doctors are using — that we "injure" ourselves by eating fats/proteins, that we do violence to our organs and our brain.
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