God's Own Healthy Food Recipe

Going through the bible, I came across an interesting piece which I tagged “God’s Own Healthy Food Recipe” If you ask me, I will gladly tell you that the bible is a nutritional reference book having no rival. Each day I keep learning something new from this historical, scientific, and nutritional book. The creator of the universe and author of life himself released a recipe in Exodus Chapter 12 verses 8 – 10.
“And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire and unleavened bread and with bitter herbs, they shall eat it. (9) Eat not it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs and with the purtenance thereof. (10)And ye shall let nothing remain until the morning and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire”

Obviously, the Passover is being referred to in this verse, which we are quite familiar with. The description of way and manner of the preparing is what caught my attraction here. The instruction was handed over to the children of Israel through Moses in the course of their final Exodus from the land of Egypt. I would like to share the nutritional insights from this scripture from the following perspectives:

The Content of the Recipe :
a) Flesh – Animal protein
b) Unleavened bread (carbohydrates)
c) Herbs
d)The mode of Preparation – Roasting
e)The leftover

What is a healthy food?  I will personally say that a healthy food is one with complete amino acids and meets the nutritional requirement of the body at a given time. The creator of the Universe and the author of life is actually concerned with what we eat, and how we eat it. The Experts in nutrition will agree that the content of what was referred to as the Passover was a complete food recipe given by God himself. While some are of the opinion that they could survive alone with only plant diet. I am not a member of that school of taught because most plants do not have the complete amino acids that enables our body utilize all that we take in as food.

Why Flesh in the Content
There was need for flesh in the recipe to provide for complete protein. These are needed to help build strong bodies, complete protein refers to the amino acids, There are twenty amino acids need by the body to form new proteins for building new cells, muscles and body tissues. We are told the body could manufacture 12 of this twenty whereas the other 8 must came from the external i.e foods we eat daily.  The 8 are always referred to as essential amino acids, not because the others are not essential anyway.


Animal protein is more similar to protein found in the human body, it is used up more rapidly than those found in plants. The protein from flesh have all the essential amino acids needed by the body to function effectively. The problem many of us are having nutritionally today is getting enough absorb-able protein in its natural state. Children, Youth, men, women and the aged are all deficient in protein, contributing to health problems like diabetes. Protein is the building block, amino acids are the building materials. God understands the need of the body he has made for us. He gave specific instruction to Moses, flesh must be part of the diet, and as a matter of fact, in the order of their importance; flesh was number one, followed by bread i.e carbohydrates and finally the bitter herbs. I am not saying that this is all we need to know about nutrition, but that, there are many lessons to learn here by the health conscious people, by natural food enthusiasts and by nutritionist too. Let us endeavor to give our bodies the right building materials especially at the growing stage of the human life i.e children and the younger ones.

Why Bread in the Content:
The health status of bread was becoming controversial especially when it is considered, that it contributes to excess acidity in our body due to yeast and several additives and preservatives that  comes with it, but when we consider that it was part of this recipe, and even contained in what Jesus used in feeding 5 thousands and other records of it in the bible, we have a rethink, again the mode of preparation and the ingredients is important. It is usually the kind of modern additives and preservatives that makes bread a more controversial diet when prescribing a healthy diet.

The bread in this recipe contained no yeast: It is difficult to find yeast free bread, except you bake it in your kitchen. It is a great source of energy required for a healthy body too. God added this as an energy source for the children of Israel. We need to learn from this too. We cannot operate without carbohydrate. Some of us try to remove start and carbohydrate from our diet and found the result is even more disastrous than what we could imagine. It should however not be in excess. Look at the order, it came second in the recipe for the Passover. Let us also learn from it. More protein, less carbohydrates especially as we age.

What of the Bitter Herbs
There are several herbs in our own region here, but the mention of bitter herbs reminds me of the bitter leaf. A powerful herb, abundant in Nigeria, yet many are not familiar with it or neglect it completely. The children should be taught to develop appetite for occasional bitters, not sweet all the time. God knows that too much sweet is harmful to the body he made for us.Click here to read: Health benefits of bitter leaf
He therefore include bitters in this recipe. Let us learn from it. Bitter leaf could be eaten raw, i.e after washing it for at least in clean water for at least three times changing the water each time. I love eating it that way. It could be cooked in the form of soup with ingredients like other soups with a thickener for a little thickness or blend. Click here to read: Bitter Cola health benefits
 
Mode of Preparing the Recipe: Let us observe again, that they were asked to roast it. When last did you roast your food. Instead, we develop a method of frying almost everything. And these are the source or cause of most health problems we encounter today. Roasting is definitely a good way to prepare certain dishes like in this case. Roasting the flesh definitely gives a leaner version of it, and God our Creator knows this too well .

The Leftover
Truly speaking most of what we call healthy today are far from it. Most families for convenience prepare foods that will last for weeks, stocked in the freezers for convenience and continues to have them as healthy. These foods includes proteins, vegetables , herbs and spices. It is better and healthier to eat your foods fresh everyday, the version in the recipe here were meant to be finished the same night and if any left over, it should be destroyed. If  possible let there be no left over, healthy foods are best eaten fresh except, it is fermented otherwise, this Gods healthy food recipe has some lessons for us and it will pay us to learn from it. This is not to say that our leftovers should be burnt or destroyed, but that the nutrients are best on the first day of the cooking. Proteins are even worst, if they are eaten as left overs. I think God knows and understand nutrition better than all of us.
Summary:  Maintaining a healthy body is a duty we owe ourselves and our creator as well, let us endeavor as we learn new facts about nutrition to continue to improve, share with others  and work to maintain a healthy body.  Also read: Sickness and Disease; Not in His Plan for you
Ref:  Holy Bible: Exodus Chapter 12 vs 8 – 10