October 14, 2025 • 34 mins
What if the “healthy” choices we’ve been sold are quietly making us sick? We pull back the curtain on the food deception—how modern diets drifted from God’s design and why so many of us feel inflamed, foggy, and dependent on quick fixes. With a clear, Scripture-rooted lens, we define real food as God made it, unpack the meat debate without the culture-war noise, and examine how our plates changed over the past 200, 100, and 50 years as factories, seed oils, sugar, and convenience reshaped the way we eat.
I share my own AIP journey, practical shopping strategies, and simple meal ideas that prove real food doesn’t have to be complicated, bland, or expensive. We talk about the hidden loop that links processed food to chronic conditions—and the medications that often follow—then lay out small, doable steps to opt out: reading labels without obsessing, shopping the perimeter, choosing grass-fed and wild-caught when possible, and prioritizing organic for high-spray crops. We also tackle the bread question head-on, exploring what changed with wheat, why so many feel “gluten sensitive,” and how home milling and slow fermentation point back to a more nourishing pattern.
Beyond nutrition, we address the spiritual side of eating—gratitude, stewardship, and the quiet rebellion of choosing food that gives life. You’ll leave with reflection prompts, a calmer plan for your next grocery trip, and hope that every home-cooked meal is a step away from confusion and toward clarity. If this resonates, share it with someone you love, subscribe for more faith-and-health conversations, and leave a review to help others find the show.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Rebecca Twomey (00:32):
Hello and welcome back to the Radiant
Mission Podcast.
My name is Rebecca Twomey, andI haven't said this for a while,
but we are on a mission toencourage and inspire you as you
are navigating through yourlife and with your relationship
with Christ.
Today we are continuing in ourhealth series with one of the
(00:55):
biggest lies ever sold, the fooddeception.
If you joined last week, wetalked about Tylenol and how our
healthcare system profits fromsickness instead of healing.
So today, I'm asking an evendeeper question.
What if the food that we areeating is making us sick in the
(01:19):
first place?
Now let me be clear.
This is not about guilt.
This episode is not aboutguilting you in any way.
I am not a perfect eatermyself.
I have not lived the cleanestfood life, but I am now learning
(01:42):
on my journey.
And it's okay for us to learnand make mistakes.
This episode is really focusedon truth.
And again, this is a biblicalpodcast.
So that's the lens and theframe of this episode.
Because God created our bodiesand our food to work together
(02:03):
perfectly.
This is something that's veryinteresting to me and that I
want to understand, just likebirth.
And I went through the wholething.
If you've been listening tothis podcast, you know I've been
through the ringer.
I did birth the way that theworld does birth.
And then I studied birth theway that God designed our
bodies.
(02:24):
That's what we're doing herewith food.
And what I am discovering isthat the enemy has taken what
God has made good and twistedit.
So if that seems interesting toyou, some of the things that
we're gonna unpack today arewhat real food really is.
(02:47):
I mentioned that last time.
Real food is something thateven I had to learn what real
food is.
What does the Bible say aboutnourishment and what we should
eat?
The history of how our diet haschanged over time.
This is a huge thing that hasbeen on my mind since I've been
(03:10):
doing AIP is wow, people used toeat so differently.
We have everything at ourfingertips today, and that's not
really how our bodies werenecessarily designed.
So that leads to then theconnection between food and
(03:35):
modern diseases andpharmaceuticals.
And then there's a littlesubtopic here of food that I
really want to talk about, andthat's why even something as
simple as bread has beencorrupted.
And then last, we're going tokind of circle back to how to
start returning to God's design.
Even in a fake food world, itcan be done.
(03:59):
So let's just get into it.
Let's start with what is realfood for the context of this
discussion.
Again, Bible-based, real foodis food that God created, food
that God made, not scientistsand not corporations.
(04:20):
God in Genesis 129, it says,Then God said, I give you every
seed-bearing plant on the faceof the whole earth, and every
tree that has fruit with seed init, they will be yours for
(04:42):
food.
So that's extremelyinteresting.
Real food is alive and it comesfrom the soil that breathes,
animals that roam, from waterthat flows, and plants that grow
as he designed them.
And if you think about it, westarted in the garden eating all
(05:07):
these beautiful, deliciousfoods from the garden.
And when God made creation, hethis is one of the things that
really blows my mind.
He made every nutrient with apurpose, every vitamin working
in harmony with one another.
The food that he gave us isfull of enzymes, minerals, and
(05:31):
fibers that our body instantlyrecognizes.
But when food is created in alab, when it is stripped, it's
processed, it's sprayed, it'sdyed, it's boxed, it confuses
our bodies and it can make usreally sick.
(05:53):
Not to mention that thesefruits and vegetables that the
Lord created have also beencorrupted, have been genetically
modified, and are grown insituations where they're also
sprayed with poison and thengiven to us.
So it's crazy out there.
(06:14):
And it's kind of like trying torun a car on perfume instead of
gasoline.
Like, all right, it smellsnice, but you're not gonna get
anywhere.
You're not gonna get very far.
Now, before we move on, I alsowant to address what the Bible
says about meat because this isan interesting one.
There are so many food accountsand diet accounts and health
(06:37):
nutrition that come up that sayeating plants is the best, don't
eat meat.
Or the reverse (06:42):
only eat meat and don't eat plants.
And again, this is about whatwe are told in the Bible.
So let's talk about meat for asecond.
When God first created theworld, he gave humans plants for
food.
And that was clear, as Imentioned in Genesis 1.29.
Behold, I've given you everyherb-bearing seed, every tree in
(07:06):
which the fruit of the treeyielding seed, this is food for
you.
Okay.
In the beginning, creation wasperfect.
There was no death, no decay,and there was no need for
killing.
Every nutrient the body neededwas found in the abundance of
(07:29):
what the earth was producing atthat time.
And our bodies were wereworking harmoniously with this.
But then sin entered the world.
In Genesis 3, God declared,cursed is the ground because of
you.
Through painful toil, you willeat food from it all the days of
(07:54):
your life.
And the fall really didn't justaffect humanity's spirit, it
also altered the world or thenatural world as we might know
it.
And the interpretation here isthat the soil became harder to
work, plants became moredifficult to cultivate, and the
(08:16):
earth's environment began tochange.
And then something veryinteresting is that by the time
of the flood, the world wascompletely different.
In Genesis 7, it describes thefountains of the great deep
bursting open and the windows ofheaven pouring forth water, a
(08:37):
cataclysmic event that reshapedthe whole earth.
So afterward in Genesis 8.22,it records God saying, While the
earth remains, seed time andharvest, cold and heat, summer
and winter.
And this is the first mention,first distinct mention.
(09:00):
This is the first mention ofdistinct seasons.
And many scholars believe thatthis first points to the start
of climate variation and perhapsreduced vegetation in certain
regions.
And it's right after this thatGod extends his provision.
(09:20):
So in Genesis 9, 3, it says,every moving thing that lives
shall be food for you.
As I gave you the green plants,I give you everything.
Now I want to be clear thatthis is not a contradiction to
God's earlier design.
It is an expansion of hismercy.
(09:41):
The earth was no longer thesame, and plant growth and
available nutrients, you know,everything had changed.
And now we're talkingpost-flood.
Things are very different.
So God essentially is providinga new form of sustenance to
meet humanity's needs in thisfallen post-flood world.
(10:02):
So from that moment, meatbecame a God-given source of
nourishment.
Now later, God gave Israelspecific dietary instructions in
Leviticus to distinguish cleanfrom unclean animals.
And this wasn't a punishment,this was protection.
Clean animals were generallyherbivores that ate and filtered
(10:27):
naturally, producing meat thatwas wholesome for the body.
And when you look at modernnutrition, that makes perfect
sense.
Meat from animals that eatgrass, grass-fed, and live
freely, they are rich inessential amino acids, iron,
zinc, and B12.
And those are nutrients thatcomplement what plants provide.
(10:51):
And so think about wild caughtfish as well.
You know, this is a protectionfor us.
So the Bible's picture of foodis about balance and
stewardship.
God created both plants andanimals to nourish his people.
And the problem isn't meatitself, it's really what
(11:14):
humanity has done to it.
And the same thing can beapplied to fruits and
vegetables.
So we've taken God's gooddesign, we have corrupted it
with industrial farming, withhormones, with antibiotics, with
feedlots, and we've tradedlife-giving food for profit and
convenience.
If we really want to betruthful about this, God's
(11:38):
design was very simple.
Food should give us life, nottake it away.
So when we eat animals that areraised as he intended, eating
the grass, seeing sunlight, andliving in peace, we are still
honoring his creation.
But when we are eating from asystem that abuses and
(11:59):
manipulates life for gain, weare participating in the
corruption of that design.
This might sound a little wildto you, and you might be going,
Well, I don't know how to eatlike this, I can't afford to eat
like this.
You know, we are in a societywhere we function in similar
(12:40):
ways to those people that arearound us.
And so if you think aboutgroups of people that are
farming, they're not going tooperate the same way as a
society that stops at McDonald'sto get food or other fast food
places.
And so perhaps we just have totake on a different hat.
And this is honestly what AIPdid for me was allowed me to
(13:04):
view it from that lens.
And it got me thinking abouthow people must have eaten many
years ago.
And I don't want to go too farback, but this is something that
I've been thinking about whiledoing AIP.
I'm eating meat and I'mchoosing to eat good meats, by
the way.
If I'm eating fish, it's I'mchoosing wild caught, which is
(13:29):
not easy to find.
I've got a the whole whole,I've got to go to Whole Foods
for that.
And then I'm also eating goodcuts of meat, of beef and
whatnot, vegetables and fruits.
And I gotta tell you, it's likepeople say, isn't that really
boring?
Isn't that bland?
And it honestly is not becauseI have made it work for me.
(13:53):
I prefer to have a smoothie inthe morning, so I put a bunch of
fruit in there.
I use coconut yogurt and Ijuice some oranges, and then at
lunch I have a salad, and I liketo put a lot of stuff in my
salad, so I have mixed lettuce,but I put a bunch of fruit in
there and avocado and chicken.
And something that I havethought about as I'm doing this
(14:17):
is like if I was living hundredsof years ago, I would not be
eating a salad that has grapes,strawberries, blueberries,
cucumber, cilantro, all of thesethings, all of these fruits and
vegetables.
And then for dinner, having avariety of a meat of my choice,
(14:41):
right?
Like I could have anything.
I live in 2025.
I could have flé mignon, Icould have chicken, I could have
ground beef, I could have fish.
If this was hundreds of yearsago, I would have had to catch,
well, the men would have caughtor killed or whatever, whatever
meat there was.
(15:01):
The vegetables would be thingsthat are local, you know, stuff
like that.
I was really thinking aboutthis.
So I want to kind of let's walkthrough this for a second.
If we want to talk about 200years ago, so we're talking
1800s, people were eating whatthey grew or traded at that
(15:22):
time.
Meals were seasonal.
You know, you're not eatingblueberries 12 months of the
year, you're eating blueberriesfor a short period, or
watermelon, or strawberries, ortomatoes, and bread was made
with stone ground whole wheat.
Milk was raw, sugar was veryrare at that time, and it was
(15:45):
expensive.
So not everybody had sugar, andmeals took time and community.
There were certainly nodrive-throughs, and there were
no preservatives, and there wereno preservatives, and there
were really almost no chronicdiseases.
Now let's talk about 100 yearsago, which is not that long ago.
(16:08):
We're talking about 1920s tothe 1930s.
That is really when factoriesbegan producing food.
They were producing white flournow, canned goods, and
margarine.
That was the new thing thatcame out.
Processed sugar became reallycheap and widespread at this
(16:29):
point in time.
And then people, they stillcooked, but industrialization
was beginning to creep into thekitchen.
Now, 50 years ago, we'retalking 1970s.
Convenience became king.
Now we're talking microwavedinners, seed oils, processed
(16:51):
snacks replaced home cookedmeals.
Sugar has now found its wayinto everything, and low fat
became the marketing lie of thecentury.
Fat was now demonized, andchemical substitutes were what
was being pushed in its place.
I have talked a lot about thechanges in food with my mom and
(17:14):
my family and my grandma andstuff, and just how things have
changed.
And it's so, so interesting.
My dad has this joke that hesays, my mom was rich.
Like he was like the rich, shewas the rich girl because she
had frozen dinners when theymet.
And you know, he had never hada frozen dinner.
(17:35):
But then over the next 10years, now frozen dinners were
anybody, everybody could havethem.
And obviously he was joking,but they were really into frozen
and canned, and like this was anew thing for them.
And now, think about it.
I mean, that's a dime a dozen.
If you're gonna make something,you're grabbing canned food,
(17:56):
you're grabbing frozen food,you're grabbing anything that's
ready to go.
Nowadays, we are eating fakefood, and our great-grandparents
would not recognize this.
You know, they were stillpulling stuff from the earth.
Now, I did speak with mygrandmother about this, who she
has passed away.
(18:17):
Um, she lived to into her 90s,and even she, in I'm talking
like 30s, 40s growing up, wasnot really growing food.
She was, you know, getting foodfrom the store and all of that.
So that's why I say greatgrandparents.
(18:40):
We are now two generationsremoved from how food was is
grown and the whole process.
Now everything is within thefood system.
I say everything, but nearlyeverything.
There are people farming, thereare people growing things in
their yards and on their farms,which is beautiful.
(19:03):
But I'm kind of being a littlebit more general with how I'm
communicating about this.
What is the result of this?
The food system.
Americans are heavier, sicker,and more medicated than ever
before.
But here's the truth that thesystem doesn't want you to see.
(19:24):
Our food is making you sick,and then the same system with
the same people involved, sellus the drugs to manage it.
We eat processed,chemical-laden foods, our
organs, our liver, pancreas,kidneys, our heart, they become
overworked and inflamed by allof this.
(19:46):
And then we're told we havehigh cholesterol and high blood
pressure.
And then instead of fixing thefood or looking into our diet,
we are given pills.
And people are now on lifelongmedications for issues that
could often be reversed bysimply eating the way that God
designed.
High cholesterol, for example,is the body producing extra
(20:12):
because it's inflamed from seedoils.
Diabetes, type 2 diabetes, is areaction to sugar overload and
insulin resistance.
And then heart disease, it'soften tied to processed fats,
not the natural fats, theprocessed ones.
(20:33):
And then we've got autoimmunedisease.
That's the gut being underconstant assault from chemicals,
dyes, gluten, all the above.
And our organs were never builtto handle all of this.
The liver can detox.
Thank God he created it thatway, but not nonstop.
And the pancreas can balancesugar, but not when every meal
(20:58):
is dessert.
Not when every meal has sugarin it.
The gut can heal, but not whenit is bombarded with daily
chemicals.
The American diet isessentially slow poison.
That's it.
It is slow poison.
And then we are told to trustthe same industry that made us
(21:18):
sick to save us withpharmaceuticals.
And it's the same deception,it's just wrapped in a prettier,
crinkly, delicious, you know,package.
Okay.
So so far we have talked aboutfruits and vegetables and meat
and gotten a little bit into theprocessed food stuff, but I
(21:38):
also want to address glutenbecause this is a very
fascinating topic.
And I think that it's somethingthat we don't talk about beyond
the surface necessarily,because this is honestly, it's
been pretty new for me, too.
I think that when you don'tthink you suffer from a gluten
(22:03):
issue, it doesn't become a topicof conversation that's
interesting to most people, butI gotta tell you, it is
interesting.
So let's chat about it for asecond.
People love to say thateveryone is suddenly allergic to
bread, but it is not the bread,it is what we have done to the
bread.
God created wheat as anourishing plant.
(22:27):
Let's make that clear.
It is rich in fiber, vitamins,and minerals.
And for centuries, bread wasthe symbol of life and
community.
And in fact, Jesus calledhimself the bread of life.
But the wheat that we areeating today is not the same
(22:49):
wheat from the Bible.
Modern wheat has beenhybridized, it has been
genetically altered to producehigher yields and stronger
gluten content for industrialbaking.
So this means that it isdenser, it's harder to digest,
(23:10):
and it is often sprayed withglyphosate, which is an active
ingredient in Roundup, rightbefore harvest to dry it out
faster.
So when people say that theyhave gluten intolerance, what
they are really reacting to isthe chemical residue, the
(23:33):
hybridization, and thedestruction of the wheat's
natural structure.
And then, of course, on top ofthat, modern bread is made with
bleached, stripped flour thathas had all of its natural fiber
and nutrients removed.
And so to compensate, companiesfortify, that's what they say,
(23:55):
they fortify it with syntheticvitamins.
And this is another man-madebandage on a self-inflicted
wound.
It is not that humans suddenlyforgot how to eat bread, it's
that the food has changed.
Our food has changed.
And something that I loveseeing is all of these wonderful
(24:16):
folks who are now milling theirown wheat.
And yes, you can get wheatberries.
You can order them from Amazon.
Not that I'm promoting Amazonright now, but just saying.
And you can get them withoutglyphosate sprayed all over
them.
Mill them at home with your ownmill.
(24:38):
And boom, you now have a muchcloser to biblical wheat than
you did when you bought that bagof flour.
I myself am interested to go onthis journey, but I am not
eating any wheat right now.
So I'm not quite there.
But hopefully soon.
(25:01):
If you do have questions aboutmilling your own wheat, Rachel
is a great resource, my sister.
So send me a message.
I would love to link you upwith her.
If you need anything, she has amill, she mills her own stuff,
she makes her own bread.
And yeah, lots of folks aredoing that now.
All right.
All of this said, how are wegoing to balance?
(25:25):
How do we balance fake and realfood?
You know, this fake food iseverywhere, literally
everywhere.
And it's hard to avoid it.
It's way harder to eat realfood than it is to eat fake
food.
So how are we going to livewisely?
How do we do this withoutbecoming overwhelmed?
(25:47):
And you're in the right placebecause I would say that let's
start with awareness.
Read labels.
If it has more than fiveingredients, or it's words you
can't pronounce, if it is notwhole stuff, then it's probably
fake.
And if it has preservatives,look up what that what those
preservatives are.
How is it made?
You know, what what is thesignificance?
(26:09):
Another tip, and this issomething I learned a long time
ago, and I certainly this is howI'm shopping right now, is to
shop the perimeter of the store.
The real food is on theoutside.
It is the produce, meats, eggs,and dairy.
The stuff that's in the middle,you're gonna find it's the
processed stuff.
The whole middle of the storeis all processed.
(26:30):
The outer ridge is where thebetter stuff is.
And then this is something thattook me a minute, and I had to
really change my life to dothis, but you've got to cook
more at home.
And I really resisted thisbecause I felt like I didn't
(26:51):
have the time.
I was like, there's no way thatI'm gonna have time to cook
home, cook home cooked meals.
I have four kids, I work afull-time job, I've got to keep
up with all this, the house andall the stuff.
I don't have time to cook.
And that was when thedrive-thru started coming in and
the takeout and all that stuff.
And I said, I don't have time.
(27:13):
Let me tell you something.
When you cook really simply, itactually takes less time than
it would to get in the car andgo get fast food or pick up
takeout.
Because if you're eatingchicken, for example, if you're
eating a simple meal, I'll giveyou an example of an AIP dinner
for me.
It would be a steak with avegetable.
(27:36):
So steak and broccoli, chickenand zucchini.
How long does that really taketo cook?
If you put it in the air fryer,you don't even have to do
anything.
You just stick it in there, and20 minutes later it's done.
If I have zucchini, I put it ina pan and it takes a couple
minutes to cook it.
Or steak, you know, we'retalking five, six minutes each
(28:00):
side.
So 12 minutes or so, 15minutes, you have a meal.
It is not that complicated.
Now, my salad, yeah, they takea little bit to assemble, but
you can batch some of theingredients and then you know,
get it together.
It does not take as much timeas we think it does.
And I listen, I'm saying thisas somebody who was on the other
(28:22):
side, the other extreme, andnow I'm making myself every
single meal.
I have only gone out to eat twotimes in the past two months,
twice.
That's it.
Everything else I have made athome.
So you can do it.
You can do it.
Because remember this thatevery meal you make from scratch
(28:42):
is one less meal that the enemysystem is profiting from.
Boom.
Next, buy organic when you canor when possible, especially for
high spray crops like wheat orberries or leafy greens.
You can actually do a search onthis, you can ask Chat GBT,
whatever you want.
(29:02):
Like, what are the mostimportant foods to eat organic?
And check that out.
And if you're thinking, like, Ican't afford to eat organic, I
can't afford to eat healthyfood, it's too expensive.
Let me tell you, we have savedmoney since we started eating
healthier because we're noteating out.
(29:23):
Eating out is expensive.
Even to get fast food, it's 50bucks, 40 bucks to go eat out,
and it's not even good food, andyou're hungry an hour later.
But I actually have been justordering from Whole Foods.
Prior to this, we were groceryshopping at the regular grocery
store and also eating out.
We were spending twice or more,three times as much as we are
(29:45):
now.
And I'm getting healthy food, abunch of stuff that's organic.
So just saying, don't knocktill you try it.
You may try comparing this now.
If you are eating in a budgetedway right now and you're not
eating out, you don't Have a lotto take out, then yeah, maybe
there might be some trade-offshere.
But what is your health worth?
Is your health worth an extra20-50 bucks a week?
(30:10):
It are there other things thatyou can give up because of that?
Just a couple of thoughts.
Okay, the next one that Iwanted to share is praying
before meals.
Most of us do this, right?
We pray before we eat, but youknow, ask God to bless and
purify what you're eating.
(30:31):
And prayer really it can changethe atmosphere, even over our
imperfect food.
Now, if you're eating, youknow, your pizza and chicken
nuggets and whatever, like Lordbless bless this food and give
us some nutrients from it.
I mean, miracles can happen,but definitely praying over our
food is good.
And then give yourself somegrace.
(30:52):
We cannot escape everything.
We can't escape all the toxins.
This world is crazy.
We can't escape it all.
So please do not get caught upin perfectionism when it comes
to your eating or any of thisstuff.
Just remember that we cansteward our choices and that
God, He is looking at our heartsto learn about Him and to seek
(31:17):
Him.
And He's honoring that effort.
The goal is not perfectionism,it is discernment.
And so each step back towardsreal food is a step that you're
taking closer to God.
All right.
That said, I want to take aquick minute to talk about the
spiritual side of food.
(31:37):
Okay.
So Satan's first deception wasin the garden and it was about
food, right?
He convinced Eve to eat whatGod said not to eat.
And that deception, in myopinion, is continuing on today
because the truth is when wenourish our bodies the way that
God intended, we're honoringhim.
And when we choose what giveslife instead of what destroys,
(32:02):
we're waging spiritual waragainst a system that profits
from our pain and our sickness.
And if we want to tie this backto my favorite topic, the
Nephilim, that they once sharedforbidden knowledge and they
manipulated God's design.
And today that looks like GMOs.
Lab grown meat, gross,synthetic vitamins, and chemical
(32:28):
preservatives.
And the goal is the same: corrupt creation and control (32:28):
undefined
humanity.
But we're not helpless.
We can resist and we can chooseto walk in wisdom and we can
say no, thank you, and we canopt out.
All right.
As we close up today, fewreflection questions to think
about this week as you are goingthrough your week.
What foods in my life bringlife and which bring confusion
(32:49):
or exhaustion?
How has convenience replacedgratitude in the way that I eat?
And what's one change that Ican make this week to begin
returning to God's design?
So that said, thank you so muchfor joining me for this
episode.
I hope that you found thishelpful or interesting.
And if you did, be please shareit with a friend or a loved one
(33:11):
or someone that you know youwant to have a conversation with
about this topic.
And if you want to follow alongoutside the podcast, you can do
so on Instagram at the RadiantMission, on Facebook at the
Radiant Mission Podcast, and onYouTube by searching for my
name, Rebecca Toomy.
And my last name is spelledT-W-O-M-E-Y.
(33:34):
I wonder if you guys likereally remember that because I
keep saying that every singleepisode.
TWOMEY.
Maybe I should come up with asong or something, a jingle.
All right, today we're gonnaclose with 1 Corinthians 1031.
So whether you eat or drink orwhatever you do, do it all for
(33:56):
the glory of God.
Wishing you a radiant week.
I'll see you next time.
Bye.
Hello and welcome back to the Radiant
Mission Podcast.
My name is Rebecca Twomey, andI haven't said this for a while,
but we are on a mission toencourage and inspire you as you
are navigating through yourlife and with your relationship
with Christ.
Today we are continuing in ourhealth series with one of the
(00:55):
biggest lies ever sold, the fooddeception.
If you joined last week, wetalked about Tylenol and how our
healthcare system profits fromsickness instead of healing.
So today, I'm asking an evendeeper question.
What if the food that we areeating is making us sick in the
(01:19):
first place?
Now let me be clear.
This is not about guilt.
This episode is not aboutguilting you in any way.
I am not a perfect eatermyself.
I have not lived the cleanestfood life, but I am now learning
(01:42):
on my journey.
And it's okay for us to learnand make mistakes.
This episode is really focusedon truth.
And again, this is a biblicalpodcast.
So that's the lens and theframe of this episode.
Because God created our bodiesand our food to work together
(02:03):
perfectly.
This is something that's veryinteresting to me and that I
want to understand, just likebirth.
And I went through the wholething.
If you've been listening tothis podcast, you know I've been
through the ringer.
I did birth the way that theworld does birth.
And then I studied birth theway that God designed our
bodies.
(02:24):
That's what we're doing herewith food.
And what I am discovering isthat the enemy has taken what
God has made good and twistedit.
So if that seems interesting toyou, some of the things that
we're gonna unpack today arewhat real food really is.
(02:47):
I mentioned that last time.
Real food is something thateven I had to learn what real
food is.
What does the Bible say aboutnourishment and what we should
eat?
The history of how our diet haschanged over time.
This is a huge thing that hasbeen on my mind since I've been
(03:10):
doing AIP is wow, people used toeat so differently.
We have everything at ourfingertips today, and that's not
really how our bodies werenecessarily designed.
So that leads to then theconnection between food and
(03:35):
modern diseases andpharmaceuticals.
And then there's a littlesubtopic here of food that I
really want to talk about, andthat's why even something as
simple as bread has beencorrupted.
And then last, we're going tokind of circle back to how to
start returning to God's design.
Even in a fake food world, itcan be done.
(03:59):
So let's just get into it.
Let's start with what is realfood for the context of this
discussion.
Again, Bible-based, real foodis food that God created, food
that God made, not scientistsand not corporations.
(04:20):
God in Genesis 129, it says,Then God said, I give you every
seed-bearing plant on the faceof the whole earth, and every
tree that has fruit with seed init, they will be yours for
(04:42):
food.
So that's extremelyinteresting.
Real food is alive and it comesfrom the soil that breathes,
animals that roam, from waterthat flows, and plants that grow
as he designed them.
And if you think about it, westarted in the garden eating all
(05:07):
these beautiful, deliciousfoods from the garden.
And when God made creation, hethis is one of the things that
really blows my mind.
He made every nutrient with apurpose, every vitamin working
in harmony with one another.
The food that he gave us isfull of enzymes, minerals, and
(05:31):
fibers that our body instantlyrecognizes.
But when food is created in alab, when it is stripped, it's
processed, it's sprayed, it'sdyed, it's boxed, it confuses
our bodies and it can make usreally sick.
(05:53):
Not to mention that thesefruits and vegetables that the
Lord created have also beencorrupted, have been genetically
modified, and are grown insituations where they're also
sprayed with poison and thengiven to us.
So it's crazy out there.
(06:14):
And it's kind of like trying torun a car on perfume instead of
gasoline.
Like, all right, it smellsnice, but you're not gonna get
anywhere.
You're not gonna get very far.
Now, before we move on, I alsowant to address what the Bible
says about meat because this isan interesting one.
There are so many food accountsand diet accounts and health
(06:37):
nutrition that come up that sayeating plants is the best, don't
eat meat.
Or the reverse (06:42):
only eat meat and don't eat plants.
And again, this is about whatwe are told in the Bible.
So let's talk about meat for asecond.
When God first created theworld, he gave humans plants for
food.
And that was clear, as Imentioned in Genesis 1.29.
Behold, I've given you everyherb-bearing seed, every tree in
(07:06):
which the fruit of the treeyielding seed, this is food for
you.
Okay.
In the beginning, creation wasperfect.
There was no death, no decay,and there was no need for
killing.
Every nutrient the body neededwas found in the abundance of
(07:29):
what the earth was producing atthat time.
And our bodies were wereworking harmoniously with this.
But then sin entered the world.
In Genesis 3, God declared,cursed is the ground because of
you.
Through painful toil, you willeat food from it all the days of
(07:54):
your life.
And the fall really didn't justaffect humanity's spirit, it
also altered the world or thenatural world as we might know
it.
And the interpretation here isthat the soil became harder to
work, plants became moredifficult to cultivate, and the
(08:16):
earth's environment began tochange.
And then something veryinteresting is that by the time
of the flood, the world wascompletely different.
In Genesis 7, it describes thefountains of the great deep
bursting open and the windows ofheaven pouring forth water, a
(08:37):
cataclysmic event that reshapedthe whole earth.
So afterward in Genesis 8.22,it records God saying, While the
earth remains, seed time andharvest, cold and heat, summer
and winter.
And this is the first mention,first distinct mention.
(09:00):
This is the first mention ofdistinct seasons.
And many scholars believe thatthis first points to the start
of climate variation and perhapsreduced vegetation in certain
regions.
And it's right after this thatGod extends his provision.
(09:20):
So in Genesis 9, 3, it says,every moving thing that lives
shall be food for you.
As I gave you the green plants,I give you everything.
Now I want to be clear thatthis is not a contradiction to
God's earlier design.
It is an expansion of hismercy.
(09:41):
The earth was no longer thesame, and plant growth and
available nutrients, you know,everything had changed.
And now we're talkingpost-flood.
Things are very different.
So God essentially is providinga new form of sustenance to
meet humanity's needs in thisfallen post-flood world.
(10:02):
So from that moment, meatbecame a God-given source of
nourishment.
Now later, God gave Israelspecific dietary instructions in
Leviticus to distinguish cleanfrom unclean animals.
And this wasn't a punishment,this was protection.
Clean animals were generallyherbivores that ate and filtered
(10:27):
naturally, producing meat thatwas wholesome for the body.
And when you look at modernnutrition, that makes perfect
sense.
Meat from animals that eatgrass, grass-fed, and live
freely, they are rich inessential amino acids, iron,
zinc, and B12.
And those are nutrients thatcomplement what plants provide.
(10:51):
And so think about wild caughtfish as well.
You know, this is a protectionfor us.
So the Bible's picture of foodis about balance and
stewardship.
God created both plants andanimals to nourish his people.
And the problem isn't meatitself, it's really what
(11:14):
humanity has done to it.
And the same thing can beapplied to fruits and
vegetables.
So we've taken God's gooddesign, we have corrupted it
with industrial farming, withhormones, with antibiotics, with
feedlots, and we've tradedlife-giving food for profit and
convenience.
If we really want to betruthful about this, God's
(11:38):
design was very simple.
Food should give us life, nottake it away.
So when we eat animals that areraised as he intended, eating
the grass, seeing sunlight, andliving in peace, we are still
honoring his creation.
But when we are eating from asystem that abuses and
(11:59):
manipulates life for gain, weare participating in the
corruption of that design.
This might sound a little wildto you, and you might be going,
Well, I don't know how to eatlike this, I can't afford to eat
like this.
You know, we are in a societywhere we function in similar
(12:40):
ways to those people that arearound us.
And so if you think aboutgroups of people that are
farming, they're not going tooperate the same way as a
society that stops at McDonald'sto get food or other fast food
places.
And so perhaps we just have totake on a different hat.
And this is honestly what AIPdid for me was allowed me to
(13:04):
view it from that lens.
And it got me thinking abouthow people must have eaten many
years ago.
And I don't want to go too farback, but this is something that
I've been thinking about whiledoing AIP.
I'm eating meat and I'mchoosing to eat good meats, by
the way.
If I'm eating fish, it's I'mchoosing wild caught, which is
(13:29):
not easy to find.
I've got a the whole whole,I've got to go to Whole Foods
for that.
And then I'm also eating goodcuts of meat, of beef and
whatnot, vegetables and fruits.
And I gotta tell you, it's likepeople say, isn't that really
boring?
Isn't that bland?
And it honestly is not becauseI have made it work for me.
(13:53):
I prefer to have a smoothie inthe morning, so I put a bunch of
fruit in there.
I use coconut yogurt and Ijuice some oranges, and then at
lunch I have a salad, and I liketo put a lot of stuff in my
salad, so I have mixed lettuce,but I put a bunch of fruit in
there and avocado and chicken.
And something that I havethought about as I'm doing this
(14:17):
is like if I was living hundredsof years ago, I would not be
eating a salad that has grapes,strawberries, blueberries,
cucumber, cilantro, all of thesethings, all of these fruits and
vegetables.
And then for dinner, having avariety of a meat of my choice,
(14:41):
right?
Like I could have anything.
I live in 2025.
I could have flé mignon, Icould have chicken, I could have
ground beef, I could have fish.
If this was hundreds of yearsago, I would have had to catch,
well, the men would have caughtor killed or whatever, whatever
meat there was.
(15:01):
The vegetables would be thingsthat are local, you know, stuff
like that.
I was really thinking aboutthis.
So I want to kind of let's walkthrough this for a second.
If we want to talk about 200years ago, so we're talking
1800s, people were eating whatthey grew or traded at that
(15:22):
time.
Meals were seasonal.
You know, you're not eatingblueberries 12 months of the
year, you're eating blueberriesfor a short period, or
watermelon, or strawberries, ortomatoes, and bread was made
with stone ground whole wheat.
Milk was raw, sugar was veryrare at that time, and it was
(15:45):
expensive.
So not everybody had sugar, andmeals took time and community.
There were certainly nodrive-throughs, and there were
no preservatives, and there wereno preservatives, and there
were really almost no chronicdiseases.
Now let's talk about 100 yearsago, which is not that long ago.
(16:08):
We're talking about 1920s tothe 1930s.
That is really when factoriesbegan producing food.
They were producing white flournow, canned goods, and
margarine.
That was the new thing thatcame out.
Processed sugar became reallycheap and widespread at this
(16:29):
point in time.
And then people, they stillcooked, but industrialization
was beginning to creep into thekitchen.
Now, 50 years ago, we'retalking 1970s.
Convenience became king.
Now we're talking microwavedinners, seed oils, processed
(16:51):
snacks replaced home cookedmeals.
Sugar has now found its wayinto everything, and low fat
became the marketing lie of thecentury.
Fat was now demonized, andchemical substitutes were what
was being pushed in its place.
I have talked a lot about thechanges in food with my mom and
(17:14):
my family and my grandma andstuff, and just how things have
changed.
And it's so, so interesting.
My dad has this joke that hesays, my mom was rich.
Like he was like the rich, shewas the rich girl because she
had frozen dinners when theymet.
And you know, he had never hada frozen dinner.
(17:35):
But then over the next 10years, now frozen dinners were
anybody, everybody could havethem.
And obviously he was joking,but they were really into frozen
and canned, and like this was anew thing for them.
And now, think about it.
I mean, that's a dime a dozen.
If you're gonna make something,you're grabbing canned food,
(17:56):
you're grabbing frozen food,you're grabbing anything that's
ready to go.
Nowadays, we are eating fakefood, and our great-grandparents
would not recognize this.
You know, they were stillpulling stuff from the earth.
Now, I did speak with mygrandmother about this, who she
has passed away.
(18:17):
Um, she lived to into her 90s,and even she, in I'm talking
like 30s, 40s growing up, wasnot really growing food.
She was, you know, getting foodfrom the store and all of that.
So that's why I say greatgrandparents.
(18:40):
We are now two generationsremoved from how food was is
grown and the whole process.
Now everything is within thefood system.
I say everything, but nearlyeverything.
There are people farming, thereare people growing things in
their yards and on their farms,which is beautiful.
(19:03):
But I'm kind of being a littlebit more general with how I'm
communicating about this.
What is the result of this?
The food system.
Americans are heavier, sicker,and more medicated than ever
before.
But here's the truth that thesystem doesn't want you to see.
(19:24):
Our food is making you sick,and then the same system with
the same people involved, sellus the drugs to manage it.
We eat processed,chemical-laden foods, our
organs, our liver, pancreas,kidneys, our heart, they become
overworked and inflamed by allof this.
(19:46):
And then we're told we havehigh cholesterol and high blood
pressure.
And then instead of fixing thefood or looking into our diet,
we are given pills.
And people are now on lifelongmedications for issues that
could often be reversed bysimply eating the way that God
designed.
High cholesterol, for example,is the body producing extra
(20:12):
because it's inflamed from seedoils.
Diabetes, type 2 diabetes, is areaction to sugar overload and
insulin resistance.
And then heart disease, it'soften tied to processed fats,
not the natural fats, theprocessed ones.
(20:33):
And then we've got autoimmunedisease.
That's the gut being underconstant assault from chemicals,
dyes, gluten, all the above.
And our organs were never builtto handle all of this.
The liver can detox.
Thank God he created it thatway, but not nonstop.
And the pancreas can balancesugar, but not when every meal
(20:58):
is dessert.
Not when every meal has sugarin it.
The gut can heal, but not whenit is bombarded with daily
chemicals.
The American diet isessentially slow poison.
That's it.
It is slow poison.
And then we are told to trustthe same industry that made us
(21:18):
sick to save us withpharmaceuticals.
And it's the same deception,it's just wrapped in a prettier,
crinkly, delicious, you know,package.
Okay.
So so far we have talked aboutfruits and vegetables and meat
and gotten a little bit into theprocessed food stuff, but I
(21:38):
also want to address glutenbecause this is a very
fascinating topic.
And I think that it's somethingthat we don't talk about beyond
the surface necessarily,because this is honestly, it's
been pretty new for me, too.
I think that when you don'tthink you suffer from a gluten
(22:03):
issue, it doesn't become a topicof conversation that's
interesting to most people, butI gotta tell you, it is
interesting.
So let's chat about it for asecond.
People love to say thateveryone is suddenly allergic to
bread, but it is not the bread,it is what we have done to the
bread.
God created wheat as anourishing plant.
(22:27):
Let's make that clear.
It is rich in fiber, vitamins,and minerals.
And for centuries, bread wasthe symbol of life and
community.
And in fact, Jesus calledhimself the bread of life.
But the wheat that we areeating today is not the same
(22:49):
wheat from the Bible.
Modern wheat has beenhybridized, it has been
genetically altered to producehigher yields and stronger
gluten content for industrialbaking.
So this means that it isdenser, it's harder to digest,
(23:10):
and it is often sprayed withglyphosate, which is an active
ingredient in Roundup, rightbefore harvest to dry it out
faster.
So when people say that theyhave gluten intolerance, what
they are really reacting to isthe chemical residue, the
(23:33):
hybridization, and thedestruction of the wheat's
natural structure.
And then, of course, on top ofthat, modern bread is made with
bleached, stripped flour thathas had all of its natural fiber
and nutrients removed.
And so to compensate, companiesfortify, that's what they say,
(23:55):
they fortify it with syntheticvitamins.
And this is another man-madebandage on a self-inflicted
wound.
It is not that humans suddenlyforgot how to eat bread, it's
that the food has changed.
Our food has changed.
And something that I loveseeing is all of these wonderful
(24:16):
folks who are now milling theirown wheat.
And yes, you can get wheatberries.
You can order them from Amazon.
Not that I'm promoting Amazonright now, but just saying.
And you can get them withoutglyphosate sprayed all over
them.
Mill them at home with your ownmill.
(24:38):
And boom, you now have a muchcloser to biblical wheat than
you did when you bought that bagof flour.
I myself am interested to go onthis journey, but I am not
eating any wheat right now.
So I'm not quite there.
But hopefully soon.
(25:01):
If you do have questions aboutmilling your own wheat, Rachel
is a great resource, my sister.
So send me a message.
I would love to link you upwith her.
If you need anything, she has amill, she mills her own stuff,
she makes her own bread.
And yeah, lots of folks aredoing that now.
All right.
All of this said, how are wegoing to balance?
(25:25):
How do we balance fake and realfood?
You know, this fake food iseverywhere, literally
everywhere.
And it's hard to avoid it.
It's way harder to eat realfood than it is to eat fake
food.
So how are we going to livewisely?
How do we do this withoutbecoming overwhelmed?
(25:47):
And you're in the right placebecause I would say that let's
start with awareness.
Read labels.
If it has more than fiveingredients, or it's words you
can't pronounce, if it is notwhole stuff, then it's probably
fake.
And if it has preservatives,look up what that what those
preservatives are.
How is it made?
You know, what what is thesignificance?
(26:09):
Another tip, and this issomething I learned a long time
ago, and I certainly this is howI'm shopping right now, is to
shop the perimeter of the store.
The real food is on theoutside.
It is the produce, meats, eggs,and dairy.
The stuff that's in the middle,you're gonna find it's the
processed stuff.
The whole middle of the storeis all processed.
(26:30):
The outer ridge is where thebetter stuff is.
And then this is something thattook me a minute, and I had to
really change my life to dothis, but you've got to cook
more at home.
And I really resisted thisbecause I felt like I didn't
(26:51):
have the time.
I was like, there's no way thatI'm gonna have time to cook
home, cook home cooked meals.
I have four kids, I work afull-time job, I've got to keep
up with all this, the house andall the stuff.
I don't have time to cook.
And that was when thedrive-thru started coming in and
the takeout and all that stuff.
And I said, I don't have time.
(27:13):
Let me tell you something.
When you cook really simply, itactually takes less time than
it would to get in the car andgo get fast food or pick up
takeout.
Because if you're eatingchicken, for example, if you're
eating a simple meal, I'll giveyou an example of an AIP dinner
for me.
It would be a steak with avegetable.
(27:36):
So steak and broccoli, chickenand zucchini.
How long does that really taketo cook?
If you put it in the air fryer,you don't even have to do
anything.
You just stick it in there, and20 minutes later it's done.
If I have zucchini, I put it ina pan and it takes a couple
minutes to cook it.
Or steak, you know, we'retalking five, six minutes each
(28:00):
side.
So 12 minutes or so, 15minutes, you have a meal.
It is not that complicated.
Now, my salad, yeah, they takea little bit to assemble, but
you can batch some of theingredients and then you know,
get it together.
It does not take as much timeas we think it does.
And I listen, I'm saying thisas somebody who was on the other
(28:22):
side, the other extreme, andnow I'm making myself every
single meal.
I have only gone out to eat twotimes in the past two months,
twice.
That's it.
Everything else I have made athome.
So you can do it.
You can do it.
Because remember this thatevery meal you make from scratch
(28:42):
is one less meal that the enemysystem is profiting from.
Boom.
Next, buy organic when you canor when possible, especially for
high spray crops like wheat orberries or leafy greens.
You can actually do a search onthis, you can ask Chat GBT,
whatever you want.
(29:02):
Like, what are the mostimportant foods to eat organic?
And check that out.
And if you're thinking, like, Ican't afford to eat organic, I
can't afford to eat healthyfood, it's too expensive.
Let me tell you, we have savedmoney since we started eating
healthier because we're noteating out.
(29:23):
Eating out is expensive.
Even to get fast food, it's 50bucks, 40 bucks to go eat out,
and it's not even good food, andyou're hungry an hour later.
But I actually have been justordering from Whole Foods.
Prior to this, we were groceryshopping at the regular grocery
store and also eating out.
We were spending twice or more,three times as much as we are
(29:45):
now.
And I'm getting healthy food, abunch of stuff that's organic.
So just saying, don't knocktill you try it.
You may try comparing this now.
If you are eating in a budgetedway right now and you're not
eating out, you don't Have a lotto take out, then yeah, maybe
there might be some trade-offshere.
But what is your health worth?
Is your health worth an extra20-50 bucks a week?
(30:10):
It are there other things thatyou can give up because of that?
Just a couple of thoughts.
Okay, the next one that Iwanted to share is praying
before meals.
Most of us do this, right?
We pray before we eat, but youknow, ask God to bless and
purify what you're eating.
(30:31):
And prayer really it can changethe atmosphere, even over our
imperfect food.
Now, if you're eating, youknow, your pizza and chicken
nuggets and whatever, like Lordbless bless this food and give
us some nutrients from it.
I mean, miracles can happen,but definitely praying over our
food is good.
And then give yourself somegrace.
(30:52):
We cannot escape everything.
We can't escape all the toxins.
This world is crazy.
We can't escape it all.
So please do not get caught upin perfectionism when it comes
to your eating or any of thisstuff.
Just remember that we cansteward our choices and that
God, He is looking at our heartsto learn about Him and to seek
(31:17):
Him.
And He's honoring that effort.
The goal is not perfectionism,it is discernment.
And so each step back towardsreal food is a step that you're
taking closer to God.
All right.
That said, I want to take aquick minute to talk about the
spiritual side of food.
(31:37):
Okay.
So Satan's first deception wasin the garden and it was about
food, right?
He convinced Eve to eat whatGod said not to eat.
And that deception, in myopinion, is continuing on today
because the truth is when wenourish our bodies the way that
God intended, we're honoringhim.
And when we choose what giveslife instead of what destroys,
(32:02):
we're waging spiritual waragainst a system that profits
from our pain and our sickness.
And if we want to tie this backto my favorite topic, the
Nephilim, that they once sharedforbidden knowledge and they
manipulated God's design.
And today that looks like GMOs.
Lab grown meat, gross,synthetic vitamins, and chemical
(32:28):
preservatives.
And the goal is the same: corrupt creation and control (32:28):
undefined
humanity.
But we're not helpless.
We can resist and we can chooseto walk in wisdom and we can
say no, thank you, and we canopt out.
All right.
As we close up today, fewreflection questions to think
about this week as you are goingthrough your week.
What foods in my life bringlife and which bring confusion
(32:49):
or exhaustion?
How has convenience replacedgratitude in the way that I eat?
And what's one change that Ican make this week to begin
returning to God's design?
So that said, thank you so muchfor joining me for this
episode.
I hope that you found thishelpful or interesting.
And if you did, be please shareit with a friend or a loved one
(33:11):
or someone that you know youwant to have a conversation with
about this topic.
And if you want to follow alongoutside the podcast, you can do
so on Instagram at the RadiantMission, on Facebook at the
Radiant Mission Podcast, and onYouTube by searching for my
name, Rebecca Toomy.
And my last name is spelledT-W-O-M-E-Y.
(33:34):
I wonder if you guys likereally remember that because I
keep saying that every singleepisode.
TWOMEY.
Maybe I should come up with asong or something, a jingle.
All right, today we're gonnaclose with 1 Corinthians 1031.
So whether you eat or drink orwhatever you do, do it all for
(33:56):
the glory of God.
Wishing you a radiant week.
I'll see you next time.
Bye.
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Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.