1. The foods approved by God as recorded in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 superceded "the Genesis Diet" found in the first chapter of the Bible. God declared, "These are the animals which you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth" (Lev. 11:2). Abraham, Moses, Jacob, and Jesus ate biblically clean meats. We aren't in the Garden of Eden, so we all need animal protein. The Bible is specific as to the type:

  a. The meat of animals with a cloven or split hoof that also chew the cud (Lev. 11:3) can be eaten. This includes cows, goats, sheep, oxen, deer, buffalo, and so forth.

  b. Avoid animals, such as the camel, that chew the cud but do not have cloven or split hooves (Lev. 11:4). This includes, but is not limited to, horses, rats, skunks, dogs, cats, squirrels, and possums.

  c. Do not eat swine (pigs). They have divided hooves, but they do not chew the cud. These are unclean animals (Lev. 11:7-8). In fact, pigs are so unclean that God warns us not to even touch the body, meat, or carcass of a pig. The Hebrew words used to describe "unclean meats" can be translated as "foul, polluted, and putrid."* The same terms were used to describe "human waste" and other disgusting substances.

2. Eat any fish with fins and scales but avoid fish or water creatures without them (Lev. 11:9-10). Those to avoid include smooth-skinned species such as catfish or eel and hard-shelled crustaceans such as crab, lobster, or clams.

3. Birds that live primarily on insects, grubs, or grains are considered clean, but avoid birds or fowl that eat flesh (whether caught live or carrion). They are unclean. (See the extensive list in Leviticus 11:13-19.)