The National Lunacy manifests disproportionately in dietary behaviors.
A discernible subtext of the Bible is that people grow less spiritual (or, at least, less attentive to their relationship with God-Truth-Justice-Compassion) to the extent that they focus obsessively (and/or non-negotiably) on the "material" issues of diet.
I do not know the biblical time-line, but dietary restrictions -- and other purificatory rites -- became such an Israelite obsession by Y'eshua's time that in the first (and shortest) of the four canonical gospels, he issues the following admonition:
Mark 7
God’s Law and Human Traditions
1 Some Pharisees and some teachers of the law came from Jerusalem and gathered around Jesus. 2 They saw that some of his followers ate food with hands that were not clean, meaning that they did not wash their hands in a special way. 3 The Pharisees and all the other Jews never eat before washing their hands in this special way. They do this to follow the traditions they have from their great leaders who lived long ago. 4 And when these Jews buy something in the market, they never eat it until they wash it in a special way. They also follow other rules from their people who lived before them. They follow rules like the washing of cups, pitchers, and pots. [a]
5 The Pharisees and teachers of the law said to Jesus, “Your followers don’t follow the traditions we have from our great leaders who lived long ago. They eat their food with hands that are not clean. Why do they do this?”
6 Jesus answered, “You are all hypocrites. Isaiah was right when he wrote these words from God about you:
‘These people honor me with their words, but I am not really important to them.
7 Their worship of me is worthless. The things they teach are only human rules.’
7 Their worship of me is worthless. The things they teach are only human rules.’
8 You have stopped following God’s commands, preferring instead the man-made rules you got from others.”
9 Then he said, “You show great skill in avoiding the commands of God so that you can follow your own teachings! 10 Moses said, ‘You must respect your father and mother.’ [b] He also said, ‘Whoever says anything bad to their father or mother must be killed.’ [c] 11 But you teach that people can say to their father or mother, ‘I have something I could use to help you, but I will not use it for you. I will give it to God.’ 12 You are telling people that they do not have to do anything for their father or mother. 13 So you are teaching that it is not important to do what God said. You think it is more important to follow those traditions you have, which you pass on to others. And you do many things like that.”
14 Jesus called the people to him again. He said, “Everyone should listen to me and understand what I am saying. 15 There is nothing people can put in their mouth that will make them wrong. [d] People are made wrong by what comes from inside them.” 16 [e]
17 Then Jesus left the people and went into the house. The followers asked Jesus about what he had told the people. 18 He said, “Do you still have trouble understanding? Surely you know that nothing that enters the mouth from the outside can make people unacceptable to God. 19 Food does not go into a person’s mind. It goes into the stomach. Then it goes out of the body.” (When Jesus said this, he meant there is no food that is wrong for people to eat.)
20 And Jesus said, “The things that make people wrong are the things that come from the inside. 21 All these bad things begin inside a person, in the mind: bad thoughts, sexual sins, stealing, murder, 22 adultery, greed, doing bad things to people, lying, doing things that are morally wrong, jealousy, insulting people, proud talking, and foolish living. 23These evil things come from inside a person. And these are the things that make people unacceptable to God.”
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An aside: The chief outcome of America's obsession with nutritional supplements is that gringos have the most expensive urine in the world.
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Parents Allegedly Starve Baby Because of Obesity Concerns
Christopher and Mary Sultze are charged with felony child neglect for allegedly starving their infant daughter.
An Appleton, Wis., couple faces charges of felony child neglect after authorities say they intentionally starved their infant daughter because they feared she would become obese.
According to the Associated Press, prosecutors allege the girl weighed nearly eight pounds when she was born in July 2010 and in 14 months, gained only five pounds.
The girl’s parents, Christopher and Mary Sultze, were each charged with one count of neglect. They each face up to a year in prison and a $25,000 fine if convicted. They were released on bond, but ordered to stay away from the daughter they are accused of starving. Mary Sultze, 36, previously pleaded no contest to misdemeanor battery for biting another daughter on the arm after the girl bit her older sister.
Prosecutors also allege that the parents were frustrated by doctors who expressed concern over the baby’s weight, insisting they fed her enough. Doctors convinced the Sultzes to admit their daughter to a hospital in August and in one day, the baby gained eight ounces. Tests revealed the infant had no medical issues that could be causing an inability to gain weight.
Christopher Sultze, 35, was worried the baby would get fat in the hospital and said he didn’t want obese children. He later told a doctor and a social worker that his family follows a low cholesterol diet, and he had surgery to treat a blocked artery when he was just 25 years old.
Dr. Eugene Hershorin, chief of the division of general pediatrics at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine, said a child who is only 13 pounds at 14 months of age is suffering from “very significant failure to thrive.” He is not involved in the Sultze case.
“On average, a baby should double its weight by six months and triple it by a year. That’s the normal amount of weight a baby should gain,” he said.
Proper nutrition in the first year of life, he explained, is critical to a child’s development, since that’s the time when brain growth is at its peak. An infant’s diet should consist of a lot of calories and fat to help the brain develop.
“Nutritional deprivation can alter development, including neurologic development and body growth,” Hershorin added. If there is any damage to the developing organs, it can possibly be reversed by getting proper nutrition later, but in many cases, injuries to the brain cannot be reversed later on.
The American Academy of Pediatrics, he continued, says a child’s diet should not be modified in the first two to three years of life, even if there are concerns about weight.
Christopher Sultze’s attorney wouldn’t comment on the case, but the attorney for Mary Sultze, Brandt Swardenski, told the AP there are “serious reservations about whether there’s any criminal activity here or just misguided parenting intentions.”
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