“The Bible mentions olive oil 190 times, and canola oil was not mentioned once.” This is a statement villainizing seed oils from a creator who endorses “biblical eating,” a concept you’re probably seeing a whole lot of these days.A growing number of influencers are encouraging followers to base their diets on foods mentioned in scripture. The trend has inspired everything from Christian-branded protein bars and energy drinks to creators sharing Bible-approved Botox or methods to “melt visceral fat” — two topics I don’t remember coming up in Sunday school.If that sounds less like first-century Judea and more like modern wellness culture with a biblical twist, that’s because it is, according to Josh Howard, an American Evangelism and American History research assistant at Emory University.You’ll often see biblical eating influencers praising “grass-fed” beef, “organic” produce or “clean” foods as though they’re recovering a simpler, more biblical way of eating. But according to Howard, those are modern wellness concepts that people in biblical times wouldn’t have used to describe their diets.“Biblical eating content uses modern categories to create an image of an ancient diet. ‘Organic’ or ‘grass-fed’ or ‘pure’ foods were not categories people used to understand their diets in biblical times,” he shared. Howard argues that what we’re seeing today is “a modern American interpretation of what a biblical diet should mean.”HuffPost spoke with nutrition experts, food historians and religious scholars about what biblical eating actually is, why it’s suddenly everywhere, and what consumers should know before looking to scripture for their next meal plan.What Is Biblical Eating?Biblical eating doesn’t have a single set of hard-and-fast rules. Instead, followers pull their meal plans from the Holy Book, noshing on foods that get name-dropped in scripture and eschewing ultra-processed products because, well, they weren’t “God-given.”But which foods qualify as “God-given” appear to be up for debate. One popular seven-day biblical eating plan includes coffee, vanilla, blue spirulina, coconut yogurt, chocolate and nut butter, while another popular creator includes chocolate chips, protein bars, protein powder, creatine and pasta in her What I Eat In A Day videos. “Biblical eating is touted to be a mix of plant and animal proteins such as legumes, fish and grass-fed beef, vegetables, fruit, healthy fats such as avocado and olive oil, and raw milk or ‘nourishing’ dairy,” Sue-Ellen Anderson Haynes, a registered dietitian and owner of 360 Girls & Women, told HuffPost. So basically the good stuff, right?Tanned and toned influencers show off sumptuous plates of figs, bottles of raw dairy and cheese, and freshly prepared fish, with Bible verses overlaid on the photos and captions proclaiming that “The Bible wasn’t just a spiritual guide. It was a food guide.”Why Is It Happening Now?While biblical eating may feel like a new social media phenomenon, the impulse behind it is much older. “People have been trying to eat following the Bible from the minute those words were written down,” said Ken Albala, food historian and professor at the University of the Pacific.What is new is the cultural moment.If you’ve noticed a broader cultural push to go back in time — whether to the 1950s, the Middle Ages, or some vaguely defined era when life was supposedly simpler — you’re not imagining it. According to Howard, “Biblical Eating dovetails within other traditionalist online cultures, such as ‘trad wives.’ There’s this emphasis on a ‘return’ to some before time, when life was simpler, and humanity was more in line with God’s design.”Since most of us aren’t going to start a homestead, churn our own butter, or otherwise opt out of modern life, the easiest way to connect to that imagined past is through the everyday choices we make. Food, Howard argues, offers a particularly accessible way to express that longing.What Nutritionists Think Of The TrendI can already imagine the comments: What’s wrong with eating whole, unprocessed foods? Isn’t that what we’re supposed to be eating anyway? According to registered dietitian Julie Pace, the concern isn’t around what’s on biblical eaters’ plates but more about the moralizing that often accompanies them. “People should not feel guilt, shame or spiritual inadequacy if their eating patterns don’t align with what is being promoted under the label of ‘biblical eating,’” she said. “Nutrition guidance should support health and well-being without assigning moral or spiritual value to specific foods.”For Roxana Ehsani, a registered dietitian nutritionist, the bigger issue isn’t figs, fish, or olive oil — it’s the credentials, or lack thereof, of the folks recommending meal plans, diets and even weight-loss strategies. Social media has made it easier than ever for influencers to call themselves health coaches or nutrition experts, regardless of their training or credentials. “Nutrition guidance and information should always be coming from qualified health experts such as registered dietitian nutritionists and not from influencers or ‘health coaches,’” she explained. Combined, those factors can create a slippery slope for some followers. Like proponents of other restrictive eating philosophies — including paleo, Whole30 and clean eating — biblical eaters may begin to assign moral value to certain foods or to avoid others altogether.Anderson-Haynes cautions that, when taken too far, that mindset can contribute to an unhealthy relationship with food. “I also agree that if these philosophies or health beliefs are misused or abused, some people may be led down the path to develop an unhealthy relationship with food which may lead to a host of other health issues like disordered eating or perhaps eating disorders,” she said. How Did This End Up Becoming Political?Even though you won’t find many MAGA hats or explicit political slogans when scrolling through biblical eating content, the trend is emerging at a moment when conservative Christianity, wellness culture and Republican politics increasingly overlap in American life.But according to Howard, the appeal of biblical eating runs deeper than any one political movement. “Biblical eating fits into a longer history of American Christians using the language of purity and tradition to offer an escape from the anxieties of modern life,” Howard explained. Think raw milk straight from the cow, grass-fed beef from a small family farm, heirloom produce picked fresh from the garden, and foods untouched by industrial agriculture. Part of the appeal is the promise that the solutions to modern problems can be found in older ways of living. As Howard put it, “Buying something that is somehow less tainted by the ‘impurities’ of modern life can be appealing to consumers.” If biblical eating feels political, it may be because food, faith and identity have become increasingly difficult to separate in modern American life.