Hallelujah diet

The Hallelujah Diet, also known as the Hallelujah Diet and Lifestyle, was created as an attempt at a biblically based diet. The diet consists of predominantly raw food and is vegetarian.

The diet is promoted by Rev. George Malkmus through his company, the Hallelujah Acres Foundation, based in the USA.

History
Malkmus developed the diet while suffering from a number of physical ailments, including claimed colon cancer. Quackwatch claims that it is not clear whether in fact Malkmus ever had cancer, as "he never consulted a cancer specialist for diagnosis but had relied on nutritionists and chiropractors".

After a year of living a new lifestyle and following the Hallelujah diet, Rev. Malkmus reported that his baseball-sized tumor had disappeared. This claim is the basis of his book Why Christians Get Sick (1996).

In 1986 Rev. Malkmus purchased a 50-acre farm in Eidson, TN, which eventually became the first home of Hallelujah Acres.

Hallelujah Acres
On February 12, 1992 Rev. Malkmus opened Hallelujah Acres restaurant and health food store in Rogersville, Tennessee with his wife, Rhonda Jean.

In 2009 Hallelujah Acres expanded its health-food store to include a juice and smoothie bar, and opened a café.

Overview
The diet consists of raw fruits and vegetables, carrot juice, a dehydrated barley grass juice, raw nuts and seeds, olive oil, flax seed oil, cooked vegetables, whole grain products, tubers, and a vitamin B12 supplement. All animal products including eggs and dairy products are eliminated. Other foods that are excluded are refined flour, refined sugars, refined, bleached, and deodorized vegetable oils, hydrogenated fats, and table salt. Soy products and legumes are consumed very sparingly.

Reception
Stephen Barrett has written of the diet on Quackwatch: "Although low-fat, high-fiber diets can be healthful, the Hallelujah Diet is unbalanced and can lead to serious deficiencies."