106: Should We Eat Pork and Shellfish?
Like many of us, I’ve taken Mark 7:17-19 where Jesus declares all foods clean at face value. Jesus says it’s clean - it’s clean, right? But is that what He meant? OR did He mean we are spiritually clean - that no food can come between us and God?
Did the food God forbid His people to eat, calling it “detestable” according to some translations, suddenly become fine? Does Yahweh change?
Honestly, I haven’t wanted to dig deeper because, well, bacon. And lobster. And scallops. And, dadgummit, I finally learned to love eating raw oysters.
What I discovered is that there is no consensus on this topic. And in this week’s podcast I’m not trying to sway you one way or the other. Instead, we’re talking through some of the specifics of God’s directive and considering why He may have warned against pork and shellfish. I would love to hear your thoughts once you take a listen!
EPISODE 106: Should We Eat Pork and Shellfish?
SHOW NOTES
(0:00) Intro
Hello my friend, welcome back to the club!
Today we’re talking about if we should eat pork and shellfish as Christians.
When we had Dr. Axe on, he said he does not eat pork or shellfish.
I knew then, that it was time to dig in for more information.
Please take this food for thought and do what you want with it, this is not a food prescription!
(3:47) Digging into the dietary food laws:
Leviticus:
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 2 “Say to the Israelites: ‘Of all the animals that live on land, these are the ones you may eat: 3 You may eat any animal that has a divided hoof and that chews the cud.
The animals the Bible specifically mentions that do not make that cut because they do not meet both of these criteria (they might meet one but not both) : the camel, the hyrax, the rabbit and the pig. And the Bible says:
8 You must not eat their meat or touch their carcasses; they are unclean for you.
When it comes to the seafood the Bible says:
9 “‘Of all the creatures living in the water of the seas and the streams you may eat any that have fins and scales.
12 Anything living in the water that does not have fins and scales is to be regarded as unclean by you.
The Bible also say it is : Detestable to you - pretty strong language
Mark 7:14-19
Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. 15 Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.” [16]
17 After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. 18 “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? 19 For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)
There’s an interesting passage in the Bible where God uses overcoming food rules to teach Peter a lesson. In Acts 10:9-16, Peter has a vision of all kinds of animals descending from the heavens - some that would have been considered “clean” by Jewisy dietary law and some that wouldn’t. There came a voice that said,
“Rise, Peter; kill and eat.”
But Peter said, “By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.”
And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.”
This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven.
This was puzzling to Peter and while he was wondering what God was trying to tell him about meat, he was called to the house of Cornelius, a Gentile, who believed in Jesus and wanted to be a follower.
Turns out, Peter’s vision was not about unclean meat but about “unclean” people. People outside the Jewish religion and culture were considered unclean. The disciples had been targeting fellow Jews in spreading the message of Jesus. But just because the Gentiles were not following Jewish ways, including dietary habits, God was telling Peter that Jesus is for everybody.
(8:20) Scripture continues to to guide us:
1 Corinthians 8:8
Food will not make us acceptable to God. We are not inferior if we don’t eat, and we are not better if we do eat.
Romans 14:1-3
Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them.
We all know that Jesus declared all foods clean and that we are not bound by any religious laws about what we should eat. Nothing that you eat can come between you and the Lord. But does that mean the actual food is clean?
“I the LORD do not change - Malachi 3:6
I don’t think Jesus ate pork or shellfish.
Let’s also remember that Jesus sent a bunch of demons out of a man and into a herd of pigs.
Matthew 5: When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. 7 He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!” 8 For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!”
9 Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”
“My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” 10 And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.
11 A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. 12 The demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.” 13 He gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.
(12:12) What’s wrong with pigs?
Well let’s start with the two criteria given by God - they must have split hooves and they must chew the cud. However, some of the animals meet one of the criteria but not both and that includes the pig which does have a split hoof but does not chew the cud. The camel, on the other hand, chews the cud but does not have a split hoof.
Leviticus 11:7 And the pig, though it has a divided hoof, does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you.
(12:55) So what is the significance of chewing the cud?
Animals that chew their cud are known as ruminants.
Ruminant animals are herbivores - meaning they only eat plants - and they have a unique digestive system - Instead of one compartment to the stomach they have four.
The largest compartment and the main place for digestion is the rumen. It’s filled with billions of tiny microorganisms that are able to break down grass and other tough plant matter that animals with one stomach (like humans, chickens and pigs) cannot digest.
Ruminant animals include cattle, deer, goats, antelope, bison, buffalo, moose and elk which would all be acceptable as food according to God’s law.
The bacteria in the rumen help the animal digest, extract nutrients and turn their food into energy. We as humans have some of that going on in the large intestine but ruminants are uniquely adapted for microbial fermentation in the rumen to be able to process plant matter in a way that we as humans cannot. The rumen is like a big fermentation factory.
This is why they can eat grass and other plant roughage that we cannot. And because they are able to do that, we as humans reap the benefits of the plant nutrition by way of the animal as an intermediary that processes it for us through this specially designed stomach where all of this magic happens.
The earth nourishes the animal and the animal, in turn, nourishes us. What we cannot digest, these ruminants can, and so we get nutrition by eating both plants and animals.
Pigs process their food in about four hours - unlike a ruminant which takes closer to 24 hours - so there’s not a lot of detox time to help filter out these bad bacteria, tapeworms and other parasites and they end up getting stored in the pig’s body, especially in the fat.
Both animals and humans store toxins in fat - we’re designed this way to help keep toxins away from our vital organs. The fat acts as kind of a buffer.
Animals also store toxins in their fat and other parts of their body so, overall, we do run the risk of ingesting them when we eat any pork.
Another thing we have to remember is that pigs eat dirty. They are scavengers. They will eat just about anything including their own poop and the carcasses of other dead pigs.
We are what we eat EATS so that can be a problem for us as pork eaters.
(19:24) Considering the types of fatty acids:
Another point we want to consider with pigs is that their meat is typically higher in Omega-6 fatty acids than ruminants like cattle. Too many Omega6s in the diet create inflammation in the body.
You know how I’m always talking about how unhealthy vegetable and seed oils are? Well that’s mostly because they are high in Omega-6 fatty acids which are pro-inflammatory.
Now, we need omega-6s in the body but we don’t want to get too many and we don’t want to get too many out of ratio to Omega3 fatty acids. It’s why you hear so much about the importance of getting Omega’s 3 like fish oil because they are anti-inflammatory.
Pork has a high concentration of Omega-6. Part of that is because of the way pigs digest - which is different from ruminant animals - and part of it is because of the way pigs eat and are fed.
They are fed high amounts of soy and corn which are high in Omega-6 and because they lack the benefit of the rumen for processing, it ends up more directly in the meat on your plate. And a side note here, it’s the same with chicken.
Ruminants have a better omega 6 : omega 3 ratio - they have less Omega 6s.
For instance: Pork bacon has 8000mg of Linoleic acid (which is an Omega-6 fatty acid) whereas beef only has 159mg. That’s a huge difference.
One more thing about the benefit of ruminant animals. Through the bacterial fermentation process that happens in their rumen, they actually make a beneficial Omega-6 fatty acid - one that is good - called Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA). Studies also show that it is:
Anti-carcinogenic
Reduces atherosclerosis
Enhances immune system
Helps Prevent diabetes
Enhances bone formation
(24:28) Let’s talk scripture on shellfish:
Leviticus 11:9-10
“Everything in the waters that has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the rivers, you may eat. But anything in the seas or the rivers that does not have fins and scales, of the swarming creatures in the waters and of the living creatures that are in the waters, is detestable to you. You shall regard them as detestable; you shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall detest their carcasses. Everything in the waters that does not have fins and scales is detestable to you.”
There are two groups of shellfish:
Crustaceans (such as shrimp, crab and lobster)
Mollusks (such as clams, mussels, oysters, scallops and octopus).
And fish that don’t have fins or scales include things like catfish, sharks, rays and eels.
A big hangup I have with this commandment is that some of these shellfish are good sources of protein and amazing sources of certain nutrients like zinc with oysters and iodine with shrimp.
Shellfish are high in selenium which, along with iodine, are so important for the thyroid.
There’s a lesser known crustacean called krill that is a good source of Omega-3 fatty acids - some people take krill oil to get that. Krill oil also contains a very potent antioxidant called astaxanthin - taking a supplement with astaxanthin helps prevent sunburns.
(28:45) Why did God pack these little creatures full of nutrients that we need and, in some cases, are hard to come by, but then forbid his people from eating them?
Crustaceans (which include shrimp, lobster and crab) are scavengers - kind of like pigs. They’re like the pigs of the ocean if you will.
Dr. Jockers describes them as the “cleanup crew that breaks down dead and decaying matter.” Actually, Dr. Jockers describes lobsters as the vulture of the ocean. God’s people are also directed not to eat vultures and I assume it’s for this same scavenging type reason which, in general, put these animals at a greater risk of toxic load which could be passed on to us.
Shrimp, lobster and crabs are bottom dwellers that sweep along the ocean floor and eat debris and things that have died and floated to the bottom.
Toxic industry products like plastics and pesticides and other environmental pollutants end up at the bottom of the water where the bottom dwellers hang out.
These have xenoestrogens which are compounds that act like estrogen in the body and can lead to estrogen dominance and hormonal disruption. So there is potential for them contributing that to your body as well.
Shellfish are a top allergen and apparently send more people to the hospital each year than any other food allergen response.
(30:49) What about mollusks? What about clams, oysters, scallops and even squid?
Dr Jockers explains that “mollusks are found in coastal areas, streams and lakes and are considered filter feeders. They are stationary creatures who don’t hunt out food, but instead they pump water over their gills, trapping pieces of salt, silt, bacteria, plant debris, viruses and parasites to consume. They are the ultimate filter feeders that exist to help purify the water.”
It’s great that they help purify the water, but it’s not so great that they consume the impurities of the water. Their toxic load includes the heavy metals that accumulate in our oceans.
The bottom line is that there is the potential of more exposure to bad bacteria, parasites, heavy metals and xenoestrogens.
(31:58) Birds and Bugs
Of the birds, the following ones must not be eaten: the eagle, the vulture, the kite, the falcon, the raven, the owl, the hawk, the osprey, the stork, the heron, the hoopoe and the bat. Lev 11:13-19
You can eat locusts, crickets and grasshoppers but every other flying insect that has four feet is detestable to you. Lev 11:22
I wanted to quickly touch on bug protein because I think it’s interesting and we know John the Baptist ate locusts and honey.
It reminds me of studying the work of Dr. Weston A Price, a dentist who traveled the world in the 1930’s studying nutrition of isolated indigenous people
Dr. Price found native people all over the world eating different foods based on location, season and availability which did include things like pork and shellfish.
(36:21) Closing Thoughts:
I want to reinforce as we wrap up here that I’m not telling you what to do one way or the other.
What I do know is that there is no food that can come between you and the Lord - it has no bearing on our salvation. We are not bound by food rules. You are not a better or worse person if you eat or don’t eat any of these foods or even if you live off of sugar and white flour.
The discussion is more about - are these the ideal foods for our body? Do they present problems for our health and potentially more problems than we are aware of and that our all-knowing God laid out these guidelines knowing what would be best in the long game?
I’m really interested to hear what you think about all of this and if it changes the way you will approach your food.
I’m glad you were here for the information - Dr Axe and Dr Jockers are both Christian health practitioners whom I follow and are good sources of information about this on their websites if you’re interested in reading more.
(39:49) Outro & Disclaimer
Additional Resources:
Thanks for listening! Have a healthy and blessed week!