Looking back on several age-old religious traditions, Some of these are showing to be beneficial to health. If you are a Kosher eater, then you know in addition to not eating ham, some foods may not be eaten together, particularily milk and meat roducts. This makes the digestive process easier. Although many Kosher rules are simply made to be followed, such as the cheeses that are allowed, (generally, mostly soft cheeses, most hard cheeses are forbidden) others make sense. There are rigorous methods to be followed when slaughtering the meat, and the meat must be carefully examined after death. In addition, who the food is prepared and the cleanses of dishes is important when cooking a Kosher meal. As any modern day cook can tell you, this can prevent the spread of disease. Others were perhaps done for cultural reasons: camel meat is not kosher, perhaps because the camel had to many purposes in life to kill for food.
Yoga is a form of excercise that originated most likely in the Hindu religion in India, and possibly amongst Bhuddists, as a spiritual excercise. Today, it is recognized for health benefits, such as releiving stress, and reducing the risk of disease. It is possible that these benefits were noticed, perhaps accidently or indirectly, by the ancient practicers. For example, yoga includes breathing excersizes, which calm you down. When a person is upset, they will take deep breaths. Maybe this was seen as approaching "nirvanna" or simply being closer to the deity. Perhaps they saw disease as being caused by demons, so yoga appeared to keep that demon away.
Fasting is a practice that is enforced in numerous ancient religions. As I did research for this part of my blog, I realized how little I understand about medice and the human body, so this will be simple: I will list the benefits, and then say how it relates to old religions. First, it can help you loose weight. "Well duh." I know. However, it also curves your appetite for food, so you are not hungry. It also gives your digestive organs a break, so that you have more energy. It cleanses your body of toxins, helps with addictions, ( I suspect those last two are connected) and is suspected to help with diseases such as diabetes, lupus, and cancer. In religion, it is used to teach self control, and awareness. It has also been used as a form of protest, which is why Ghandi was so thin.
All of these traditions were created for religious reasons, yet today have been shown to have health benefits as well. I do not believe that this is a coincedence. As a modern society that's main focus is science and modern medicine, we do not give enough credit to old cultures, particularily ones fucused on religion. I do believe that these came about not only due to the written works of the given religion, but also because they were shown to have benfits outside the spiritual realm. Some may argue that it is merely coiencidence, but I do think these cultures were smart. They kept with these traditions for a simple reason: they worked. Perhaps, instead of turning straight to modern medicne, pills, surgery, etc. we should give some of these methods a try. Enroll in a yoga class, try fasting for a day or two each month, and see if Kosher food is really a benefit to your health. If anyone practices these, or any other religion-based health code, leave me a comment telling me if you think it worked or not.
Finally, a quick disclaimer: do reasearch on what your doing, and perhaps talk to a doctor first, particularily with fasting. Please do not use my blog as your sole method of information. If you would like to see the websites I looked at for the writing of my blog, let me know and I will send them to you.
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Yoga most likely originated from Tai Chi or other "soft" martial arts. To the best of my knowledge yoga isn't it's own thing but a branch of another, much larger, martial arts family.
There's another virtually never followed rule in the bible that you may not eat any fruit that is less than five years old. Meant so that you can show appreciation for all the work, effort, and time that went into feeding you. Anyways that helps with both your spirtual and physical health in many ways.
Nothing is True, Everything is Permitted
Do you mean a fruit that has been created in the last five years? Because that would show problems with genetically engineered fruit, and actually makes a lot of sense.
Fasting can help with your heart as well, as new research shows. However, I don't think fasting should be explained as a way to lose weight, because THAT can be counterproductive. If you starve your body of nutrients, then your body will switch to save mode, and all the excess that you eat will turn to fat. Which means you'll be much, much worse off in the long run.
~C
Check out the latest entry in the Between The Lines column!