Religion News Blog is a non-profit service providing academics, religion professionals and other researchers with religion & cult news

Religion news articles about religious cults, sects, world religions, and related issues

Navigation:

Search

The Jesus diet

ReligionNewsBlog.com • Sunday December 8, 2002

Orlando Sentinel, Dec. 5, 2002
http://www.sunspot.net/n
By Mark I. Pinsky, Orlando Sentinel staff writer

Don Colbert, family physician and nutritionist, thinks we’d all be better off by adopting one of the world’s oldest diets.

What Would Jesus Eat? is the title of his newest book, which has sold more than 120,000 copies, bringing total sales of his health-related books to nearly 2.5 million.

“Do we want to eat as Jesus ate?” he asks in the introduction. “Why shouldn’t we? We seek to follow Jesus in every other area of our lives. Why not in our eating habits? If we eat as Jesus ate, we will be healthier. He is our role model for good habits in eating, exercising, and living a healthy, balanced life.”

Colbert spends long days spreading the gospel of nutrition, vitamins and exercise, from his busy Longwood clinic to church pulpits to religious television. A strong believer in charismatic Christianity, the 46-year-old doctor is on a nationwide crusade to convince skeptics among the faithful — as well as among the medical profession — that there are effective supplements to healing.

Like maybe step out of the line waiting for a miracle and start eating like the French.

“Jesus ate like the French,” Colbert says. While they may not pray, they do take plenty of time to enjoy their meals, and they drink heart-healthy red wine.

* * *

Careful readers of Don Colbert’s books will recall that the Bible suggests that Jesus followed a full and healthy diet. With some judicious interpretation, the doctor’s suggested menu includes:

Loaves (made from whole grains) and fishes (fresh, from unpolluted waters); red wine; organic and unprocessed fruit and vegetables (especially beans and lentils); eggs and pure olive oil; yogurt, milk and honey.

Lamb, beef and chicken, in sparing amounts and under certain conditions. That is, if slaughtered according to the traditional Jewish ritual called kashrut that drains off most of the blood; trimmed of fat; and without hormones or preservatives.

Oh, and once a year, at Passover, the bland crackers known as matzohs.

And what wouldn’t Jesus eat?

Again, courtesy of the Bible’s Old Testament:

Anything from a pig; all shellfish; horses and camels; birds of prey and all carnivores; and any creepy-crawlies.

Anthropologists note that that the average life of a First Century Jewish peasant such as Jesus was fairly short, due largely to poverty and disease. Still, “it’s the healthiest diet in the world,” says Colbert, whose book is subtitled The Ultimate Program for Eating Well, Feeling Great, and Living Longer.

How Jesus ate is as instructive as what, he says. So fast food is definitely out. The ideal eating experience, he says, involves relaxation, laughter, conversation — and prayer. Like the French.

At lunch at the Macaroni Grill in Lake Mary, Colbert seems to practice what he preaches. Dressed in a tropical sport shirt, his wife, Mary, by his side, he lingers over a meal of bread and olive oil, grilled chicken and a few sips of red wine.

The physician also acknowledges that his efforts at combining faith and healing in a series of best-selling books may provoke ridicule and criticism.

“Absolutely,” he says.

With a title such as What Would Jesus Eat? — and a companion cookbook — that just comes with the territory, he says.

Arthur Caplan, chairman of the department of medical ethics at the University of Pennsylvania, says he has no problem with “using spiritual values in motivating people to change their behavior for health.”

But he says packaging such as What Would Jesus Eat? may be on “the slick side of religion.”

Colbert shrugs off such jibes. What Would Jesus Eat? — both the title and concept — were brought to him from one of his publishers. He liked the approach, because it dovetailed with his own nutritional beliefs. If there is laughter among skeptics and non-believers, it doesn’t bother Colbert, who is often quoted in national newsmagazines and appears frequently on both religious and public television.

Although there is no biblical evidence to suggest that Jesus took (or needed) vitamins, Colbert has joined a growing number of physicians — and most chiropractors — in selling vitamins and dietary supplements. He also “prescribes” and passes out inspirational and motivational books and tapes.

This physician has healed himself. Along with healthy eating and vitamins, Colbert is a strong advocate of regular exercise. That combination cured his own chronic fatigue and skin ailments as a younger man, he says.

“For most people,” he writes, “the most beneficial exercise is walking, which is the way Jesus got His exercise on this earth.”

Colbert says he considers what he does “a bridge between prayer and medicine,” and he is the first to acknowledge the contrasts in his life. He is part of a charismatic religious tradition that strongly believes in faith healing, yet he has become a medical doctor, attending college and medical school at Oral Roberts University.

Understandably then, Colbert admits to a certain amount of frustration after participating in a “miracle service” led by former Orlando evangelist Benny Hinn. If many of those waiting in line — some for hours — would only spend half that time each day exercising and watching their diets, they’d probably see more lasting results, he says.

A faithful following

While Colbert operates largely on faith, there are some things he does not believe in at his Divine Health Wellness Center — like group health coverage and malpractice insurance. And because of the interest in his nutritional treatments, he no longer acts as a family practitioner, requiring patients to have and keep their own primary care physician before making an appointment.

Still, none of this has had any discernible impact on his patient load. The wait for an appointment is now about four months, in part because of Colbert’s extensive speaking engagements in churches and on television to support his books. He sees patients only three days a week at his Longwood clinic.

From the outside, the one-story, brick colonial building with white shutters is unassuming. Inside, there is a Bible verse on the wall of the waiting room and soft rock, contemporary Christian music on speakers. But non-religious magazines far outnumber Pentecostal titles like Charisma on the racks. A tall, glass case features Colbert’s books and award citations.

Beyond the reception desk, the doctor is a walking advertisement for the lifestyle he advocates — tall, buff, sandy-haired and soap opera handsome. He is dressed in blue V-neck scrubs, white socks and brown suede pull-ons, wearing a gold Rolex Submariner. Throughout the day, Colbert pads among eight examination rooms, including one for VIPs — often Hollywood show business personalities his office declines to name. A large print on the wall portrays a biblical Jesus at the side of a surgeon in a modern operating theater.

In a soft, soothing, sympathetic voice that retains the faint traces of a native Mississippi accent, and unflappable mien, he dispenses standard nutritional gospel — sugar and salt are big enemies, drink plenty of filtered water — seasoned with a spiritual dimension.

His model is what nutritionists call the “Mediterranean diet,” which Jesus likely followed, and his primary goals are to improve digestion and eliminate toxins from processed foods. Together with regular exercise, this diet can help boost the body’s natural immune system, he says. In the process, he also tries to get patients to talk out negative feelings — like anger, guilt and hostility, which he says research indicates contributes to bad physical health.

Colbert uses what he calls “forgiveness therapy” to eliminate these he calls these “deadly emotions.” He focuses on grievances against parents, siblings, sweethearts, teachers and coaches — “all the traumatic events in their life,” he says. “That’s a real important part of healing.”

Healing the spirit

Colbert’s interaction with an 85-year-old woman with advanced Alzheimer’s disease and her family is typical of his method. The doctor goes through a check list of the woman’s diet and then he compliments her husband and daughter for the love and high quality of care they are giving.

“You are both saints,” he says. “Love her every day. That’s the best thing you can do.”

The white-haired patient, who is immaculately groomed, smiles from her wheelchair, her eyes sparkling. Usually, Colbert prays with patients only when they ask. But because he already knows from past visits that the family is very religious, the doctor asks the patient’s husband and daughter to join him in laying hands on the woman and praying for healing.

Practicing medicine this way, he says, “opens more doors to teach people about Jesus and the Bible,” but “I don’t ram religion down any of my patients’ throats.” For those who are amenable, he suggests that they be anointed with healing oil by church elders. Colbert also prescribes non-religious therapy as well: funny movies and clean joke books to help recovery from surgery, for example.

Like the woman in the wheelchair, many of the patients who come to the Divine Health Wellness Center are at a dead end, although they are not necessarily terminally ill. They have run the course of treatment of what they call “secular medicine” without success, and their physicians have thrown up their hands. Frequently, they make appointments with Colbert after seeing him on religious television.

Although often desperate, Colbert says, “they aren’t looking for miracles,” and he doesn’t promise any. Rather, he says, “I give people hope, even when there is no hope. But we don’t offer false hope.”

Darlene Yelvington, 51, of Daytona Beach, was overweight, with allergies, fatigue, aching joints and what she felt was the beginning of an auto-immune disorder. After four months of treatment at the Longwood clinic, her symptoms were dramatically affected.

“I believe in my spirit that there is more to health care than going to the doctor and getting medication,” she says. “Dr. Colbert tries to treat the cause.”

But successful treatment must be a partnership, she says.

“You’re the one that has to do the work,” she says. Otherwise, “it’s easier to take a pill and grab a hamburger.”

And Yelvington swears by What Would Jesus Eat?

“I’m not in bondage to what I eat,” she says. “I fed myself what that book says.”

Biblical prescriptions

If the weather is nice, Colbert and his staff can lunch behind the office, at a stone picnic table. For him, a typical meal is sliced turkey, brown rice, asparagus and water.

Diet, vitamins and exercise are not Colbert’s only prescription for good advice. He is also the author of a series of 24 small paperbacks called The Bible Cure, published by Siloam Press of Lake Mary, a division of Strang Communications. Colbert is also a columnist for Charisma magazine, which is also published by Strang.

Topics of the Bible Cure books, which sell for $7, include stress, back pain, skin disorders, prostate disorders, hepatitis and irritable bowel syndrome. All are subtitled Ancient Truths, Natural Remedies and the Latest Findings for Your Health Today.’ The Bible Cure series, which combines standard medical advice with Scripture passages, inspirational messages and dietary suggestions, is published by Strang Communications and has sold nearly 2 million copies.

But convincing readers that medical care is intertwined with spirituality is not an easy task. Although many evangelical Christians believe in healing by faith, they can still be as skeptical of other alternative approaches to healing as conventional medical practitioners. What Colbert wants to do is to convince them that they need not choose between their beliefs and effective therapies.

Esther Zink, 61, of Jacksonville, is one of Colbert’s true believers. The retired school media specialist, brought a friend from North Carolina to Longwood, and then sat in the examining room with her.

“People don’t understand the holistic approach – which is the biblical approach, I believe,” she says. “When you’ve tried it all, and nothing works, try a man of God who also knows the medical arts and nutrition. I hope the day will come when alternative medicine can be accepted freely.”