I’ll admit that in the second post of this series (Reclaiming the Sound of Silence) I went into great detail about what everyday life would have been life two thousand years ago but I wasn’t overly prescriptive. As a therapist I am not really a fan of prescriptions anyway. At the same time, I recognize that I made some strong assertions that those of us who struggle with decadent or compulsive eating would somehow be helped by immersing ourselves in such a world. So unless you recently invented a time machine designed to cast you a couple millennia into the distant past, this might be a tall order.
Then I realized that you actually don’t need to bend the space-time continuum to find yourself in a place similar to where Jesus walked. In fact, there are still a number of places on the earth inhabited by people who live a decidedly “basic” existence. Places where mechanical sounds are completely absent. Settings that are populated by people who eat only what they grow, hunt, or gather. Many locations that time has forgotten, though slowly slipping away, still exist.
I have heard at least two stories about missionaries who traveled to such untouched places and then released many pounds, seemingly without effort. One man recounted how, while living in Papua New Guinea in a rural village, his weight simply fell off. This lead me to the thought that much of what makes the “Jesus Diet” special has little to do with Jesus at all, but rather with the world he created; the ancient world or parts of today’s world that remain untouched by modernity. The following points about that ancient world and its inhabitants offer crucial lessons to us if we are simply willing to terraform our own personal ecosystems to match.
The ancients were naturally constrained by few dietary choices
Among hunter-gatherer groups, people searched for whatever they could find on the earth: berries, fish, or whatever was available locally. For example, in the arctic the traditional Inuit diet was extremely limited in that it was high in only a few sources of fat and protein and even fewer carbohydrate sources. Though the Arizona-based Pima Indians also had a relatively limited palate, their traditional diet that was 70-80% carbohydrate. Their food was also very plain and simple by our standards. Much of the world historically consisted on “staple foods” that did not change much from day to day. So diets were basic and this is still the case in many corners.
Modern studies highlight the impact of “food specific fullness” which suggests that as the variety among the foods you eat increases, the more you will consume in general. So novelty is not our friend when it comes to weight. In biblical times and places, “treats” were really just that: very occasional and often reserved for traditional festivals or celebrations like weddings. What of you decided that you would only eat decadent foods during truly special occasions and at no other time? Rather than 1100 fancy or novel meals per year, you would enjoy perhaps 15-20. I think it is fair to say that this would change your dietary landscape!
What you can do: pick your own “staple foods” to consume most of the time. These are healthy, simple foods that you eat most of the time. This would allow you to routinize your meals in a way that would lead to a greater sense of control.
The ancients experienced an absence of shiny, hyper-palatable food cues
There were very few artificial signals to eat in the world of old. Walking back from the fields you might encounter the smell of something cooking on a fire; a well deserved meal after a day of physical labour. I am sure that there would have been some markets selling various kinds of food as well, but these were relatively limited in scope. Conversely, the Western world is a kaleidoscope of advertising, drawing us toward many kinds of tasty food. Ultra-processed, hyper-palatable foods are in large and immediate supply, all the time. This is also true in many of our homes. We see it on TV, online, and sitting on our kitchen counters- bright and colourful packaging designed to catch our eye. We need to be careful what our eyes see. There is even a study that demonstrated that people who leave cereal boxes on the counter are more likely to be obese than those who keep them tucked away in the cupboard. I have personally noticed this to be true. I am far less tempted by my wife’s baking if she simply covers it with a dish towel as it cools in the kitchen.
Food nowadays is also engineered to cause our taste buds to reach a “bliss point” when we eat it. These foods naturally lead to overeating. Many studies demonstrate that hyper-palatable foods artificially increase the amount we desire to eat. Even the addition of salt can increase the amount of something you eat significantly. We have overprivileged palates. Every day is now “cruise ship living”. We eat better than the kings and queens of the past.
What you can do: Keep shiny, hyper-palatable foods out of the home. If you can’t keep some of these out entirely, store them in “low-traffic” areas of the kitchen or even in another space such as a garage. Consciously chose to reduce the “bliss” factor of the foods you eat. I have personally cut out all sugar and sweeteners. I also avoid foods I know will tempt me to overeat.
The ancients were not distracted
Life in the past was decidedly grounded in tangible activities. Labour was almost exclusively physical. People used their bodies and physical senses constantly. They were keenly in touch with what their bodies could do. Life was geared toward human needs; foot paths, small buildings, close resources. By contrast, today’s world necessitates advanced technology like the internal combustion engine. Cities are built based on the automobile. If anyone doubts this consider how long it would take you to walk to work or the mall from your home! In the past, mind-based activities were also centered non-technologically-enabled human capacities.
Even intellectual discussions happened in physical people groups. And the ancients were keen-minded and did not rely on technological aids. They could do a good deal of math in their heads and had a strong oral tradition. In fact, writing things down (as opposed to thinking and speaking from memory) was considered the sign of a weak mind in ancient Greece. Nowadays, we switch from thing to thing to thing in a flurry of comparatively frantic and disjointed actions, mostly happening on screens. In the past, people mattered most. Humans were the point of the matter. Now, “things” have taken over as the dominant concern for many of us and there are now a great many things. We are awash in complexity and therefore perennial distraction.
What do modern distractions have to do with food and compulsive eating? Perhaps everything. For one thing, solving the riddle of compulsive eating requires that we each learn to quiet our own thoughts, introspect, and focus on what is actually happening within us during times of temptation. You have to be willing to pay attention. This means slowing down. It means stepping back, clearing your plate (so to speak), and adopting a “less is more” philosophy so that you have the margin and presence of mind needed to provide that needed attention.
Life-defining, introspective tasks (thinking through your life) requires a measure of both undistracted time and emotional discomfort but dissociation provides an easy escape and tragically a barrier to meaningful change. The next urgent thing is easier to reach for instead of doing the often painful mental work necessary to change. I would also add that the distractive technologies that distract us from the deeper parts of ourselves also sever us from meaningful relationships with others. Finally, modernity and its trappings are themselves chronically stressful and therefore can cause us to eat in unthoughtful ways.
What you can do: decide what distractions you can cut out. That might mean getting off social media. It might mean turning off ALL notifications on your phone. Perhaps it means scheduling a digital sabbath each week or a digital “sunset” each day. Plan a special multi-day retreat to get away from absolutely everything for the sole purpose of thinking and praying through your issues with food.
I could go on and on. Some other things the ancients had going for them that I believe led to a healthier relationship with food includes being regulated through natural systems (seasons, day-night cycles), expending way more calories through physical work, and being unable to hide socially around food (no sneaking off to Dairy Queen). Let’s look to the past to improve our futures!