Evangelical Christians are increasingly turning to natural foods, viewing such a diet as the biblical way of living.
The turn to health foods among evangelicals and charismatics is evident in such a popular magazine as Charisma, where ads and columns on herbal remedies and natural food products sometimes jostle with announcements of prophesy and healing conferences. The Ft. Worth Star-Telegram (May 14) reports that a new natural food regimen for evangelicals called the “Hallelujah Diet” is finding plenty of converts in the U.S. South. The diet is based on the Old Testament verse of Genesis 1:29: “I give you all plants that bear seed everywhere on earth and every tree bearing fruit which yields seed; they shall be yours for food.”
Diet creator George Malkmus, whose book “Why Christians Get Sick,” has sold 200,000 copies, says that the Bible has physical as well as spiritual advice. Christians, he said, have been “turning to the world for answers about our physical problems, and it’s killing us.” The diet stipulates a strict fruit and vegetable diet and Malkmus calls conventional medicine toxic, reports Yonat Shimron in the Religion News Service-based article.
Malkmus has trained 1,042 people in his philosophy
