W.W.J.E.? (What Would Jesus Eat?)

To stay healthy, adopt the kind of diet Jesus would have followed - not the rich potluck fare of church socials, a doctor advises.

For years, Christians have been asking themselves, "What would Jesus do?" Now an Orlando physician wants them to ask, "What would Jesus eat?"

"We seek to follow Jesus in every other area of our lives," says Don Colbert. "Why not in our eating habits?"

Following in Jesus' dietary footsteps may be more difficult for some than keeping his—moral commandments. After all, contemporary roads to Damascus are often lined with fast-food restaurants.

"Americans may very well be the most overfed, yet undernourished, people on Earth," says Colbert, who has written 21 "Bible Cure" books. "The three most commonly consumed foods are white bread, coffee and hot dogs."

According to Colbert's new book, "What Would Jesus Eat? The Ultimate Program for Eating Well, Feeling Great, and Living Longer" (Thomas Nelson, $22.99), Jesus would have observed the kosher guidelines of his time. And based on scriptural references, he probably ate whole-grain breads and yegetables, avoided meat, except for special occasions, and shunned rich desserts, Colbert said.

In other words, not the kind of dishes you find at church socials.

After drawing from the Bible's references, Colbert incorporated his 14 years of medical research and devised a diet that fits contemporary lifestyles.

Colbert advocates replacing processed foods in the diet with whole-grain breads, fruits, fresh vegetables, fish and olive oil.  Eating such a plant-based diet centered around fruits and vegetables of the region would be a healthy plan, says Christ Rosenbloom, department chair of nutrition at Georgia State University.

There have been several books that have looked at the historical perspective, such as what the cave man would eat and what our ancestors would eat," she says. "It would make a lot of sense, but you have to put it in perspective with the lifestyles of the times.  People walked everywhere then.  A Mediterranean diet is higher in fat.  It's healthy olive-oil fat, but it's still very caloric."

Still, says Colbert, 45, he has seen how his diet in combination with exercise can reduce health risks.  "One thing we can prove is that people who continue to eat processed foods, sugar and mats with high fat content increase their chances dramatically of dying from one or more degenerative diseases," Colbert says.  "And we're seeing an epidemic of Type 2 diabetes."

But what about the good churchgoing people who consume the fried chicken, potato salad and sinfully rich desserts at church socials?

"We can't condemn them for the church suppers," says Colbert, laughing. "I just tell them that we're all going to heaven.  They're just going to get there a lot quicker."

Religion writer Gayle White contributed to this article in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution March 9, 2002