Archive for Single Adult

“I was amazed at what I was learning about the power of a WFPB diet to reverse many diseases I had seen as an ICU nurse”

By Jane Birch · Comments (7)
Saturday, October 19th, 2024

By: Jessica Clark

My mom took me to an OBGYN when I was 15 years old because I had not started mensurating. I was diagnosed with PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome), and the doctor recommended I take birth control and metformin. My mom didn’t feel good about having me take metformin, but I did take birth control for 6 months.

Since PCOS can be associated with the development of type II diabetes, and my grandma had this disease, my mom and I also went to a doctor who specialized in diabetes management. He suggested I follow a low-carbohydrate diet.

While this doctor had good intentions, I found the advice difficult to follow. I learned to count carbohydrates but found it challenging to stick to the 30 g and 15 g recommendations for meals and snacks, respectively. I have always had a hearty appetite, and I wondered how I would ever be satisfied with this dietary recommendation. I discovered that meat, cheese, eggs, and peanut butter were all high-protein, low-carbohydrate foods, and I primarily relied on these foods to get full. I largely avoided fruit, as I believed it had too many carbohydrates.

The advice wasn’t all bad: I stopped eating most foods with refined sugar and increased my vegetable consumption. I ate lots of salads (all with animal protein), and most people said I had a healthy diet.

The diabetes doctor also recommended I engage in 30 minutes of intense exercise daily. I did some sports in high school but did not enjoy regular exercise out of season. Looking back, I realize I did not generally feel great or consistently have energy for regular, high-intensity exercise.

I went to a naturopath for several years, who reinforced the diabetes doctor’s recommendations to avoid sugar consumption. She also said my thyroid health was not optimal, although it was not bad enough to show problems on conventional blood tests (my thyroid labs were low and barely within the normal range). I believe this may have contributed to my general feelings of sluggishness. Between the naturopath and my efforts to consume a healthy diet, I did okay for many years.

While in college, I studied nursing. I remember one lecture discussing atherosclerosis (plaque buildup in the arteries). The teacher said this buildup could not occur if one didn’t eat fat.

His statement made me reexamine and reevaluate my diet. As mentioned, all the foods I relied on to get full and stay satisfied were high in protein, and I realized they were also high in fat. I thought it was weird that the diet I had been recommended for diabetes prevention (low carbohydrate) could be bad for heart health. Nevertheless, I stopped buying the blocks of Costco cheese and tried to eat more chicken instead of beef or pork. I also ate some legumes (beans and rice or split pea soup) because they were cheap, which I appreciated as a college student.

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“That is when my healthy world came crashing down”

By Jane Birch · Comments (6)
Saturday, September 26th, 2020

By: RandyLynn Barron

All my life I have been the beneficiary of what I thought was good health, which I promptly and consistently took for granted. I was not raised as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That enormous blessed rescue came to me when I was 37 and in the U.S. Navy. I have always had a “feeling” about what was good for my body to do, eat and drink and what was not good for it. Let’s call it what it is, personal revelation, even for a not yet member! I have experienced these “feelings” even as a little person three years young.

As a young person, I trained for the Olympics as a sprinter (100m, 220m and 440m relay) for about 8 years, played women’s professional football in the 1970s, and generally stayed very athletic all my life. I bore and raised two children and have two grandchildren. Even as I aged, I was not experiencing the same illnesses of my age peers. I entered my 72-year on August 22, 2020.

In my youth, I wanted healthy options at the meal table, but that was very seldom granted, except from my mother who was British. She believed in a little fresh veggies and fruits, and cooked them too. My father, a Cajun, influenced those choices of preparation by cheering Mum when she cooked things like Roast Beef, Pork Roast, Lemon Meringue Pie, and Dirty Rice (a dish with one or more meats—chicken, pork and beef, a few veggies like onion, green pepper and celery, and of course pepper and other Cajun seasonings).

Once I left home at age 19, I started to get that “feeling” to experiment with not eating meat, drinking more water and green drinks, and I felt better. I was still eating overly processed sweets and pastry (gobs of butter, dairy, salt and sugar), and when the fast food market was spreading like wild fire I jumped right into it. Even so, I still enjoyed basically good health. However, I was anxious a lot of the time and had lots of problems focusing my attention for more than a few seconds or minutes.

One day, I injured my back on the track. I lost my timing of 11.0 seconds for the 100m and still kept training. I could not get my time past 11.3, which for a sprinter is like minutes for a long-distance runner. My body forced me to stop training, and my coach agreed. Fortunately, I never took any of the drugs doctors wanted me to take and never accepted the “exploratory surgery” they strongly advised. As the years passed, I still worked out for my health because it just made sense to me, and it made me feel better.

Everything in the area of my health was going peachy, or so I thought, until in the summer of 2015 when I purchased some meat from a local butcher, cooked it and ate it. That is when my healthy world came crashing down. I got a nasty case of pinworms. I mean nasty. I tried some natural type remedies that did not fully kill them, so I took myself to a doctor. He gave me a drug, which I took for two weeks. I was told to come back after that time. I did. He told me, “The worms are no longer a problem for you.” I said, “I think they are.” He said, “Well, you are fine now.” I did not feel fine.

For the next four and half years, I experienced getting weaker and sicker. My intestines and bowels were painful almost all the time. I had an intense itching, which started in my abdomen and eventually included my back, legs, arms, brain, head, neck and the bones in my rib cage. My brain was really foggy. I had almost no energy. My weight climbed to 178 lbs (I am 5’8”).

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“I love the way I feel. I love my way of life!”

By Jane Birch · Comments (5)
Saturday, September 7th, 2019

Helen Jessup Before and After

By: Margie Burton for her sister, Helen Jessup

My sister Helen was born nearly 72 years ago. Mom had a challenging pregnancy after months of infertility treatments. The premature delivery was a difficult one requiring forceps that damaged both frontal lobes of Helen’s brain. Her infant and toddler milestones showed slight delays but all seemed to be progressing reasonably well until a sudden seizure at the age of three. She had been riding her tricycle in the driveway when she slumped over and fell to the ground, not breathing. Mom, an obstetrical nurse, ran out and immediately began CPR while driving her to the nearest hospital. Helen was revived, but being without oxygen for some time caused more brain damage. She was never able to ride her tricycle again.

Helen went to regular public schools for kindergarten and elementary school. She had difficulty and repeated a grade when she did not develop number sense and could not read well. When Helen was ten and starting 4th grade, the teacher declared that she could not have her in class as she was too far behind in her learning. In those days, school districts did not have accommodations for disabled learners. My parents were dismayed as the options in our little New Hampshire town were limited. They finally found a boarding school in Massachusetts that catered to students with limited academic abilities. It was expensive, but my parents could not find an alternative willing to accept her.

Helen had been quite sheltered in her 10 years of life, and she felt abandoned by her family at the boarding school. She did not understand what she had done to be sent away from her loved ones. She slowly progressed in her academics but emotionally life was very difficult for her.

During Helen’s teenage years she began to put on quite a bit of weight. My mom seemed to look the other way, declaring that Helen enjoyed few pleasures besides food. At the age of 20 she graduated from her school program with a certificate of completion and came home to live. My parents tried to find places for her to go and things for her to do, but she continued to find comfort in food.

Our dad passed away quite suddenly in 1973 at the age of 62. Helen was devastated. He had been her comforter and her strength. When our mom died 25 years later, Helen became my responsibility. By then, her eating pleasures had taken a big toll on her health. She had type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. She also suffered from emotional instability and severe depression. She went through various testing to see what public services were available. She could talk like an 8 year old but problem-solved at a two-year old level. That would never change.

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“My divine tap on the shoulder”

By Jane Birch · Comments (11)
Saturday, February 2nd, 2019

By: Marjorie Rice

On March 3, 2015, at age 76, I was diagnosed with breast cancer, a 8mm mucinous carcinoma in the right breast. It was especially devastating news because almost nine years earlier my husband George had suffered a massive brain bleed that left him completely paralyzed on one side. He was in a wheelchair with the use of only one hand, and I was his full-time caregiver; he needed me 24/7.

Five days after my diagnosis I watched a 10-minute video by Chris Wark, a young man who beat stage 3 colon cancer at age 26 by switching to a primarily plant-based diet. Ten years later he was still healthy and cancer free. That same day, my husband and I watched the documentary Forks Over Knives and were convinced of the scientific evidence of several physicians in the film showing that most, if not all, of the life-threatening diseases that afflict us can be prevented, or even reversed, by rejecting animal-based and processed foods and eating a whole-food, plant-based diet. Further, every nutrient our bodies need for optimal health is found in plants—vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, seeds, and nuts. I believed what I saw and heard.

I went to Doctrine and Covenants 89 and read again the Word of Wisdom and other scriptures that counsel us concerning food. Those scriptures confirmed everything I had just heard in the documentary. George and I were both convinced that we should follow this whole-food, plant-based (WFPB) way of eating.

Since my husband’s stroke I had been religiously following the American Heart Association’s diet: low-fat dairy, very little lean red meat, skinless poultry and fish, whole grains, and fruits and vegetables. Included was some processed foods, canned soups, etc. I felt it was a fairly healthy plan, but WFPB eating was a whole new concept.

The next day I went through my pantry, cabinets, freezer, and refrigerator and got rid of everything that didn’t comply with a WFPB diet. I was excited about it, but there was so much to learn—a whole new way to plan meals, shop, and prepare food.

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“You no longer need to be on insulin!”

By Jane Birch · Comments (9)
Saturday, October 7th, 2017

By: Helen Bileen

All of my adult life my health has had its ups and downs. I’m sure many factors contributed to the lack of consistency with my health. During my annual visits to the doctors, they wrote in their reports that I was managing my pre-diabetes with diet and exercise. I’m a full-blooded Native American of the Navajo Nation. Type 2 diabetes is running rampant among my people. I know too many people who were diagnosed with this disease and eventually died. I used a low carb diet and walking to control blood sugar level and weight. It worked for a short period of time, and my numbers (i.e., blood pressure, cholesterol, etc.) would always plateau. Then with a busy lifestyle, I reverted back to eating comfort foods.

After I retired from my career, I served a full-time mission for the LDS Church. One day I was complaining to a missionary friend about my lack of sleep, feeling tired, and my craving for more food. She invited me to her whole food plant-based support group which included missionaries and local people. My first impression was that it was too restrictive. I knew I was addicted to food, and I just couldn’t imagine limiting my diet to whole food plant-based. I needed a brownie or chocolate chip cookie at least once a week. Where I served there was always food everywhere: in the Zone office, the cafeteria, potluck dinners, and dining out. I strived to limit myself to eating comfort foods in smaller portions. Even though I had good intentions, I was not always successful!

After serving two and a half years, I temporarily moved in with my son and his family. Naturally, I ate what my family ate. Also, people in the community drove to their destinations. Therefore, I naturally walked less. It was different from serving a mission in downtown metropolitan city where I walked everywhere.

After five months, I began feeling symptoms of type 2 diabetes that previous doctors had taught me through the years. Finally, in March I made an appointment to see a health care provider at a Public Health Service. Since I was new to their clinic they took my blood and urine samples for tests. My new health care provider was astonished to see my numbers. At the time, my weight was about 147 pounds. He was surprised that my A1c was 14 (normal is below 5.7)! The other numbers were also not within normal range. He didn’t tell me I was pre-diabetic which is what I was expecting to hear. No, this time I was full-blown diabetic! He gave me a choice of taking insulin or Metformin to control my diabetes. Years ago I had my gallbladder removed and the doctor prescribed Metformin for me to begin taking on a regular basis. It had side effects that made me feel sick. Therefore, I told him I would try the insulin, and he assured me that there would be no side effects. At the time, I was totally naïve. I trusted my health care provider.

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“For the first time in nearly 20 years I am medication free!”

By Jane Birch · Comments (10)
Saturday, April 8th, 2017

Sara FosterBy: Sara Foster

I grew up in the backwoods of Tennessee in a family of eight kids with a stay-at-home dad and a mother who is a physician. Dad was raised in the country on a farm, so our plates were filled with meat, dairy and lots of fried and processed foods. That was the norm, and I knew nothing different at the time. If we ate vegetables, they were mostly fried.

Beginning when I was 12 years old, I had very painful menstrual cramps. They were so severe that I had to take pain shots and narcotics on the days of my menstrual cycle, and I would often have to be checked out of school. One day when I was a little older, I landed in the ER and had to have morphine given to me through IV. That day the Elders of the LDS Church gave me a blessing. They blessed me that I would find a way that I would never have to take medication again for this. I took that blessing to heart and did not let up in a search for the reason why I was having such intense menstrual cramps. I knew there must be a remedy other than medications.

Some years later I found out I had endometriosis. This is a condition where the tissue that normally lines the inside of the uterus (the endometrium) grows outside the uterus. It is often extremely painful and can result in infertility. This helped explain the problems I had.

My father also had significant health issues. I watched him struggle with weight and high blood pressure almost my entire life. His blood pressure eventually got so high it took his life. It was shortly thereafter that I discovered plant-based eating. By the grace of Our Father in Heaven, I stumbled upon a book about plant-based nutrition. As I was reading it, my mind kept drifting back to the Word of Wisdom. It sounded so similar. That led me to open the Word of Wisdom again and re-examine what I thought I knew. I started seeking out other authors of books that had similar views and decided to give plant-based eating a try.

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“I vow to never take my beating heart for granted”

By Jane Birch · Comments (4)
Saturday, November 26th, 2016

judy-morse-thurberHave you ever been inspired and motivated by reading the story of someone on a whole food, plant-based diet? If you have, please share YOUR story! Contact me —Jane

By: Judy Morse Thurber

My mother and I were alone for 3 1/2 years while my dad served in WWII. I remember rationing with stamps to limit purchases and eating pretty basic, low budget, comfort foods. We ate mac and cheese, chipped beef on toast, cream of chicken on toast, oatmeal, and toasted cheese sandwiches. Milk was always the drink with every meal. One distinct memory from my youth was when margarine was first introduced to the world. As a child, I loved adding the yellow color to make it look more like butter. After Dad returned from the war, we had roast beef on Sunday and used the leftovers to make sandwiches for Sunday dinner. I never felt deprived . . . until I got old enough to evaluate the fake butter. Then I began to rail against that and vowed that there would always be real butter on my table as an adult (little did I know!).

I was married and the mother of five children when my husband and I were involved in a business that purchased one of the first supplement companies in the nation. We had to quickly learn the importance and value of food supplements. This enlightened me to the fact that we were not getting the full value out of our food. At the time, I suffered with night blindness and complexion problems and a few other issues that were nutritionally based. The supplements helped me overcome those issues and started to direct my attention to the need for better nutrition. (I now love to help people eliminate supplements by eating whole food, plant-based!)

While raising a family, I was a music teacher, organist, choir director, and soloist. I kept very active as a mother (now seven children), business partner with my husband in the supplement business, and as a musician. In all of my busyness, and above all, I have been a “Truth Seeker,” which is what led me to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in my thirties.

The Word of Wisdom fit perfectly into my views of life. After we joined the Church, we refined our eating habits considerably, but not sufficiently. My first husband died at a young age of cancer. I cared for him for two years, trying to overcome the cancer naturally. This added to my knowledge and determination to know, understand, practice, and teach alternative, natural healthcare methods. I studied and became a Naturopath, and discovered special healing gifts.

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“I am getting younger instead of older”

By Jane Birch · Comments (8)
Saturday, October 22nd, 2016

lily-sparksBy: Lily Sparks

In the late summer of 2010, I went onto the web to look up something to help me. I was overweight and obese, with high blood pressure, high triglycerides, and high cholesterol. My glucose blood test had inched out of the average range and into the prediabetes range. Everything hurt . . . my joints, my muscles. Getting out of bed in the morning hurt so bad if I did not take lots of grape seed. My knees were helped by glucosamine and chondroitin. I spent quite a bit of money every month buying the supplements so I would not hurt or at least reduce the aches and pain. I just accepted it as part of growing older even though it started in my late forties. I received enough relief with the supplements that my life just went on, and I accepted it.

Being overweight was the biggest fight. I had lost weight using Atkins, hCG, and counting calories. I would successfully lose weight, but those diets are not sustainable so when I went back to my regular eating, which always happened, I would gain the weight back and more. I tried to watch what I would eat, but I liked food and even after I ate a full meal I would be hungry in an hour and a half. I could not understand how I could be hungry again after a full meal. I think that happened because of the lack of good nutrition in the meal. I think my body was saying, “You gave me bulk but no nutrition.” Sometimes I just ate what I wanted because I was tired of fighting it.

I got so I would not weigh myself because I was afraid to know how much I weighed. I think I got to 220 lbs and wore a size 20 or 22.

I was not happy. Read More→

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“Why did God invent food?!?”

By Jane Birch · Comments (12)
Saturday, August 8th, 2015

Shara MitchellBy: Shara Mitchell

Up until the last year of my life, I have lived with one foot in the camp with the “health nuts” and one foot in the Standard American Diet (SAD). When I was a child, my mother taught me to love wholesome foods, vitamin supplements, and occasional fasting for detoxification. I was never really taught how to cook, however, and when I became an adult and got married, I wanted to please my family. Although I started out trying very hard to cook from scratch and make healthy foods, eventually I found that my family liked it better when I made recipes that were less healthy.

I had vowed to never let my children drink soda, but as many years went by (years of overwhelm that can wear a person’s resolve down), I not only started allowing my kids soda, but also found myself drinking Diet Coke daily… sometimes twice per day. My kids hated chunky vegetables in the soup that I loved to make, so I stopped making it and made the creamy soups that made them happy. My husband at the time seemed to appreciate it more when I gave in and kept the peace by serving less healthy foods, so I felt like I was alone, and I gradually gave up my resolve to feed my family in a healthy way.

Although I had never struggled with weight, energy, or general heath after my first two babies, things started to change after baby number three. I couldn’t get rid of the last 10 pounds of baby weight, and I started to feel really tired and achy much of the time. My stress level was high, and I was overwhelmed with small children. I basically ignored the problem, and coped by doing yoga to ease the muscle tension that at times would overwhelm me. I wasn’t really exercising much and my cooking was “survival cooking”… cheese quesadillas and juice, you know, convenient kid food.

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“I love wheat”

By Jane Birch · Comments (16)
Saturday, June 20th, 2015

Annette DraperBy: Annette Draper

I remember the thrasher coming to our farm. All the farmers in the area came to help in hauling the wheat bundles to the farm. The job of the children was pushing the wheat to the back of the bin so everything fit. Every year we made wheat gum by chewing the wheat to the point of being able to blow bubbles. It was tradition. Later as flour was needed, a couple gunny sacks would be filled and taken to the mill to be ground.

I had been taught by example to store food and helped do it. One day I was looking at my children and had a very vivid realization of how I would feel if they were crying because they were hungry. It made me cry. I was not doing the things I’d grown up with to provide for my family. I began to renew my knowledge of canning and baking bread. We obtained our one-year food supply, which included a great deal of wheat.

Using whole wheat flour in bread, cookies and other baked goods and eating wheat cereals had become our regular routine. Still, I received a prompting to learn to use wheat. I thought I already knew. I was very involved in church and family life was very busy. I had all the usual excuses for not doing as I had been instructed. Because of procrastination, we experienced what I call, “The tithing in reverse principle.” Our income had not changed nor had our expenses; but we were very broke. It didn’t take me long to realize that what I had been instructed to do needed to be done now.

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