In some cultures, pork has been a food that’s been eaten for centuries. It all started from slavery in which the typical diet was cornbread and pork. Slaves did not dine on the best cuts of meat; they typically ate scraps or the parts of the pig that were left over like the snout, ears, intestines, feet, and whatever else was not eaten by the slave owners. Today, some of us still eat these pork parts in addition to pork roast, bacon, and ham.
You may notice that many of the fast food commercials advertise something with pork..the Wendy’s Baconator, the Burger King Cheddar Bacon King, etc. It’s delicious and juicy, right? About 1,000 calories in one burger. It’s been a tradition to eat pork at certain times of the year. Tradition or not, eating pork is unhealthy for these reasons:
- Most High instructed his people not to eat pork (Leviticus 11:7-8). For those that are Bible readers, this is the most important reason. We are not to eat it or even touch it according to scripture because it is unclean.
- Pigs eat anything. We know that cows eat grass; however, pigs will eat ANYTHING from dead bodies (humans and animals), leftover table scraps, bugs, and their own feces!
- Pigs carry parasites. The worm Trichinella spiralis is a larva found in raw or undercooked pork. The larvae form cysts and embed themselves in muscle. When a person eats raw or undercooked pork, stomach acids dissolve the cysts and the larvae move to the small intestine. The larvae become adult worms and produce more. The larvae move to various muscles in the body and the cycle starts again.
- Spirits can possess certain animals. We’ve all seen movies like The Exorcist or Fallen in which spirits inhabit people and/or animals. Luke 8:29-36 describes a man possessed with many demons. The demons left the man and entered into some swine, causing them to run into a lake and drown. If spirits could inhabit pigs at that time, the same can be true today.
- Eating pork is unhealthy. Pigs don’t have sweat glands, which means that impurities stay in their bodies. The majority of African-Americans have high blood pressure. That condition usually is accompanied by high cholesterol and diabetes. Because people don’t opt to change their diet, they become dependent on prescription drugs, which all have side effects.
It’s hard to make a behavior change if that is the only known behavior. However, for those of you that suffer from high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes and want to become healthier, using faith-based health coaching is a start in the right direction, Clients learn to have faith in themselves to start a path to positive behavior change. Once I stopped eating pork, my health improved dramatically. To learn more, please feel free to book a free Discovery Session with me at https://havefaithandlivewell.com/discovery-call/. Be well!