Archive for Married-1 WFPB – Page 5

“I had the sweet feeling that this new baby was a special gift”

By Jane Birch · Comments (12)
Saturday, March 26th, 2016

Joy and Jane BarryBy: Joy Barry

I was blessed to be raised on a diet healthier than the standard American variety. In the 1970s when most kids were living on toaster pastries, Twinkies, and Wonder Bread, we were grinding our own wheat to make whole wheat bread and cracked wheat porridge. When we made cookies or Kool-Aid, my father insisted on using half the sugar that the recipe called for. As I grew older and moved away from home, I continued to cook most things from scratch, the way I was brought up. I wasn’t too concerned about health or a balanced diet, it was more about saving money and making homemade food that tasted better. Besides, I never had to worry about losing weight as I was always trim and thin as a child and young adult. I never even exercised.

When I hit my mid-20s, I started to put on a little bit of weight. It concerned me enough that I started exercising to try to get in shape. But all my bike-riding just left me worn out and discouraged. It never occurred to me that my diet was to blame. I thought I was doing just fine.

I married at age 29 and had my first child when I was 30. My new role as a wife and mother made me more concerned about healthy eating. It was not just about me anymore, I had a family to feed. The responsibility to not just feed my family, but to feed them well, rested heavy on my conscience. I read everything online that I could find about healthy diets and worried much about how to best feed my family a balanced diet.

Although I read many conflicting opinions from various “experts,” I felt blessed to have the Word of Wisdom as my foundation. If I read anything that said to eat lots of meat and avoid grains, I dismissed it immediately. However, I always wished that the Word of Wisdom had more specifics. I thought it was too vague and didn’t cover all the food groups. I knew it said to eat meat sparingly, and I tried to follow that advice, but what about eggs and dairy products? I also worried much about what kind of oils were the healthy ones, and other hotly debated topics.

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“Man is not made to eat flesh”

By Jane Birch · Comments (25)
Saturday, March 5th, 2016

Albert SchindlerBy: Albert Schindler

Roughly three years ago—I was 81 years old at the time—I was diagnosed with kidney cancer. My right kidney was so cancerous that the doctors gave me zero percent chance of saving it, so it was surgically removed. The cancer spread to my bladder. Consequently, over about a period of a year and a half, I had 12 chemotherapy sessions and several non-surgical probes to get the cancer in remission. Several of these chemo sessions left me with a bladder infection that took antibiotics to cure. Needless to say, my health was in a very precarious situation.

It was the twelfth, and last chemo session, plus an infection that really got the best of me. My entire body, from the neck down, ached terribly. The experience lasted for roughly two days. I say “roughly” because for the most part I was in a daze and had no recollection of time. Because of the pain, I couldn’t sleep, and I could barely stay awake. I ached if I sat up, and I ached if I tried to lie down. Near the end of this time, I suppose because I was so lacking sleep plus so weak from the pain, I started to experience hallucinations.

I had several different hallucinations, but of interest to this story is near the end when I saw before me a large grid that resembled a giant-sized, brown “Weetabix,” like is found in a Weetabix cereal box. I had a bucket in my hand and I was trying to dip out the pain I felt in various parts of my body from one square of the grid and pour it into another square. I was becoming more and more frustrated. This didn’t work! My pain was still one hundred percent there, only I kept shifting it around!

After what seemed like an eternity of fruitless dipping to end my pain, something within me said, “You have to get rid of the pain, not just mask it by trying to hide it somewhere else.” In other words, dipping it out of one Weetabix square and pouring it into another square wasn’t the answer. What was of special interest after that “Aha! moment” was a very clear, audible voice that said to me, “Man is not made to eat flesh.”

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“Having another life grow inside of me changed me”

By Jane Birch · Comments (19)
Saturday, January 30th, 2016

Stephanie Berglind FamilyBy: Stephanie Berglind

My journey to a healthier way of living started when I became pregnant with my first son in 2004 and started to think differently about the foods I ate and the things that I put into my body. Up to that point, I hadn’t really cared too much. I exercised regularly and tried to limit my calories, but I didn’t put much thought into what those calories were made of and how they were hurting or nourishing my body.

Having another life grow inside of me changed me. I started reading about super foods and clean eating. I cut out most sugary or processed foods but still considered Greek yogurt and chicken as “health foods.” I continued my clean eating for the next few years. I had lost some weight but was suffering with hypothyroidism, gallstones, acne, and athlete’s foot—things that I just thought were a part of life.

Over time, I started to feel a tug towards a plant-based diet. I would read little snippets here or there, or watch things on social media. But it wasn’t until May of 2013 that it really hit me. I was recovering from the birth of my third child when I finally decided to watch the documentary Forks Over Knives. As I watched this show, I was in shock to learn about the health benefits of a plant-based diet, as well as the environmental benefits. But it wasn’t until I got on my knees that night that I started to feel the beginnings of the spiritual benefits of taking care of my body, the animals God created, and the beautiful earth He gave to us.

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“Why hadn’t I heard this before?”

By Jane Birch · Comments (9)
Saturday, January 2nd, 2016

Colleen PeckBy: Colleen Peck

I grew up in Salt Lake City, the fifth of seven children. My parents were active in the Church and we were taught gospel principles. As a teenager I remember my father being really interested in nutrition (he subscribed to Prevention Magazine). At one point my father changed jobs and became self-employed. He got involved in selling wheat grinders and bread mixers. They were called Mill & Mix machines. They had powerful motors. You could grind your wheat on one side and the other side had a large stainless steel bowl where you could mix 9 loafs of bread. If there is one thing we learned about nutrition, it was that wheat was for man! We grew up on homemade whole wheat bread, but like everyone else we ate plenty of ice cream, milk, meat, eggs, and sugar. My father died at age 76 of heart disease and my mother at age 81 with dementia.

At one point in my dad’s life he had gone on the Atkin’s diet. I remember him eating A LOT of chicken. I also remember trying that when I was an older teenager, but I was not able to do it for more than one day. I remember it making me feel really sick. I was always a little bit over weight and struggling with 10-30 lbs of unwanted weight.

I became a great dieter over the years and was great at losing weight, which tells you it never stayed off. I did like vegetables, beans, fruit, chicken, diet soda, non-fat yogurt, eggs, bread, and lots of high protein shakes made with non-fat milk. (I now believe that all the excess protein is what has given me osteoporosis, which I am trying now to reverse). I knew dieting was about planning not about will power so I would always try to plan ahead so that I could make the weight loss happen. The thing is I LOVE butter and sugar. I mean I really love butter and sugar. I love what I can make with butter, sugar, and flour. I loved baking from an early age, especially cakes!

I went straight from high school to Utah State where I met my husband. We were married at the end of my third year there. I graduated after four years in Early Childhood Development. Our early marriage proved that I was going to have problems getting pregnant and having children. (Who knows if I had had a better diet if this would have been different?) I taught kindergarten for a few years but eventually quit when we started adopting. We ended up with four children over time, and I stayed busy raising them. When the youngest of those four was 13, we ended up adopting one more child, for a total of five. Over the years the kids and I would look forward to birthdays, which meant that I could make some awesome cool birthday cakes.

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“I planted the seed to see what fruits it would yield”

By Jane Birch · Comments (9)
Saturday, December 12th, 2015

Maria FarleyBy: Maria Farley

My family has a history of high cholesterol. My father passed away in 1990 at age 54 of heart disease, and all six of my brothers are on cholesterol lowering medications. My cholesterol was also high, and I was on cholesterol, pre-diabetic and hypothyroid medications.

I’m a mother of five children and part of a blended family that added three more children to the picture. Though I was a dancer in college, I now work full time outside the home in an office sitting at a desk. In addition to family and work, I’ve always had busy church callings. I was tired and my body ached all the time. I slept poorly and was frequently constipated so I took sleeping aids and extra fiber. I wasn’t very happy and dealt with depression despite my “push through it” attitude. In 2010 I started visiting doctors more frequently to try to address this general “not feeling well” cloud that was hanging over me. I tried eating better, walking for exercise again, and started all those medications.

Despite the things I tried to get healthier, it didn’t seem to make a whole lot of difference. After four years, I had come to an “I don’t care, it doesn’t seem to make a difference” frame of mind, which included my eating patterns. Then in July 2014 a brother who is four years younger than I had a mild stroke. That really shook me up. I realized I was on the same health path that he was. I was 47 years old at the time, and at 5′ 11″ I weighed 215 pounds.

Shortly after my brother’s stroke, because of my expressed concerns, a son-in-law invited me to watch the DVD Forks Over Knives, and my daughter gave me a copy of the book Discovering the Word of Wisdom by Jane Birch. They were living with us at the time and had wanted to adopt a whole food, plant-based way of eating, but had not successfully converted fully over.

After watching and reading this information and being introduced to additional scientific evidence from Dr. Campbell and Dr. Esselstyn, the enlightenment of the truths found in the Word of Wisdom (that I had not paid any attention to previously) came to life for me. This whole food, plant-based diet lined up in my mind so well with the counsel given in the Word of Wisdom that I decided to put my faith to work and give it a try for 30 days. You could say I planted the seed and was testing it out to see what kind of fruits it would yield. I was blessed to have my daughter and son-in-law joining me in this “experiment upon [His] words” (Alma 32:27).

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“I have the goal of never needing medication”

By Jane Birch · Comments (18)
Saturday, December 5th, 2015

Debi ReynoldsBy: Debi Reynolds

I grew up in California. We were a health-conscious family, although I didn’t know it at the time. It was just how we lived—lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, and my parents were good examples of being active. But we also ate plenty of hamburgers, milk, ice cream, and treats. The Word of Wisdom was introduced to me when I was 17 and joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Although my parents are not members, they learned a bit about the Church at that time and were interested in the Word of Wisdom. I remember that they said to me, “The Church members may not smoke or drink, but they have their vices. You are joining a fat church. If this information is in the scriptures, and the members believe the scriptures are true, why don’t they follow the counsel?” And that’s a very good question. Why aren’t we LDS people a healthier example to the world?

My husband grew up on a potato farm in Idaho. They were a “meat and potatoes” family. His grandparents, who lived a few hours away, owned a dairy farm, so butter, cream and whole milk were plentiful when they visited. Some of their family’s favorite foods were creamed peas and new potatoes, Sunday roasts with potatoes and gravy, big farm meals to keep the workers filled. Bread and butter were on the table at every meal. There were always lots of sugary desserts and treats. They grew a big garden and canned everything. This diet was typical for that small, farming community.

Randy and I met in college, married, and had four children. Early in our marriage I had major surgery to correct an unknown birth defect and lost the use of one kidney. After recuperating, I was determined to be healthier than ever, eat well, and exercise. But as our family got busier, I turned to convenience foods— pizza, cold cereal, burgers, like everyone else. I always loved fruits and vegetables, but my finicky kids did not eat many vegetables and I’m sorry to say that I gave in to them rather than fight.

At age 32, I went back to college, taking 1-2 night classes each semester. This was a very stressful time as my husband was called up to serve in Desert Storm with his Navy Reserve unit. I was on my own with four young children for nine months while he served. I continued on with college, finally having to commute to USU in Logan for my last five years. I started to have feelings of anxiety that I did not understand. They were horrible and lasted for over ten years. I don’t remember what my family ate. I could barely swallow food during this time, but I battled through, finally receiving two college degrees at age 42.

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“I remember laughing out loud and jumping for joy”

By Jane Birch · Comments (11)
Saturday, November 28th, 2015

Cara MappBy: Cara Mapp

For as long as I remember I have struggled with body image issues and a never-ending battle to maintain a weight without struggling to do so. My heaviest weight was 35 pounds over my personal ideal. While seemingly not a huge amount overweight, I will say that I am a petite 5’2 and that as little as 5 pounds gained will affect my wardrobe, believe it or not! For someone of my stature eating the standard American diet is a CONSTANT struggle not to gain. I felt hungry most of the time, and when I did listened to my hunger cues, I put on 10 pounds in an instant. I could not understand why it was such a struggle.

In 2009 I decided to go vegetarian for just a month out of a dare. My brother did not think I could do it and said I was all talk and no game. Naturally I stuck out my chin and clenched my jaw, sibling rivalry at its best. Not only did I prove him wrong, I surprised myself by staying on the diet after a month was up. Something in my mind had triggered. I was looking for real answers now, not just what diet could do for my outward appearance. Questions like “Is there one diet for humans?” “Can diet cure cancer and prevent heart attacks and Alzheimer’s?” and “Did God want us to struggle this much with food?” arose. I was now on a quest. I read everything I could get my hands on to find my answer but found myself reading in circles. There is SO much conflicting information out there that at one point I felt like I had hit a dead end.

In this quest, I HAD concluded that there had to be a diet that ALL humans could thrive on because I felt that God did not want us diet obsessed, fat and sick. Life is so much more. These bodies are gifts and it just did not make sense for there to be this much struggle. Yet I could not seem to find the answer.

Soon after my husband and I got married, we decided to try and start a family. After a year of no luck, even after being on hormone treatment, we went to see a fertility specialist. In 2013 I was diagnosed with PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome). I had irregular periods, as long as 60 days and sometimes none at all. Overall I was hormonally imbalanced. Yet again, I was frustrated with my body and hated that I had to be medicated in order for my body to function properly. Luckily for me I was already on a path that would not only heal my body, but heal my relationship with it as well.

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“The inspiration I received was to read the Word of Wisdom”

By Jane Birch · Comments (25)
Saturday, November 14th, 2015

Candice BithellBy: Candice Bithell

For over 20 years I have struggled with stomach issues, asthma, and horrible seasonal allergies. My stomach issues and severe allergies both began when I was about 17 years old. I struggled with nausea, bloating, reflux, and diarrhea. I would get horrible hay fever every year that lasted from about April until October. I would get sinus infections. I was put on two allergy medications, including a sinus spray that I used for 26 years to prevent the sneezing, sniffling, watery eyes, and sinus infections.

I saw my first gastroenterologist at the age of 24 because I was having severe pain in my chest and food felt like it was coming back up when I ate. The gastroenterologist ordered a series of tests including an endoscopy, colonoscopy, barium swallow, nasogastric testing, etc. When I went in for my results I was told that every test was POSITIVE. I was diagnosed with H. pylori, reflux, esophageal spasm, esophageal stricture, and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D). I was put on a handful of pills everyday, but I still struggled with stomach problems. It was during this same time that I was diagnosed with exercise-induced asthma and began taking an inhaler everywhere I went.

I lived this way for a long time, always looking for something to help my stomach. I discovered I was lactose intolerant and stopped eating dairy, which helped a little, but not enough. Over the years I have taken pills for nausea, pills for diarrhea, pills to slow down my digestive process, pills, pills, pills. About seven years ago my doctor discovered that I had hyperinsulinemia and was pre-diabetic. I stopped eating sugar, but I replaced it with sugar-free stuff, which hurt my stomach a lot. I felt like I couldn’t eat anything!

Because I was active, I thought I was healthy, but I was very thin and my diet was lousy. I took up distance running four years ago and struggled with what is known as “runners gut.” I would run with a feeling of nausea almost everyday.

Then about two years ago, I had a powerful spiritual experience in the temple. I felt the love of my Savior very, very strongly. I was going through some difficult things, and I really needed that feeling. It got me through that time, but I wanted that feeling all of the time, so I began to pray about what I needed to change. This led me to a path that included trying to do the will of my Heavenly Father and following the promptings for changes that needed to be made.

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“Eating the way I do brings me joy”

By Jane Birch · Comments (16)
Saturday, November 7th, 2015

Manda Dangerfield FamilyBy: Manda Dangerfield

Growing up and into in my late twenties, I ate what the USDA food pyramid said I needed to eat daily: grains, milk and other dairy, meat, fruits, and vegetables. I really liked ice cream, milk chocolate, and other candy and processed foods. Grains were cold cereal, bread, and pasta that wasn’t whole grain.

My journey to a whole foods plant-based diet probably began in 2007. My husband and I had been married for three years and were new parents. Our baby girl was ready, at five months, to eat “solids.” My stepmom had given me a recipe book for baby food, and I liked it. I understood that we would save money by not buying baby food if possible. I made our daughter a variety of foods by steaming foods and using a mini food processor, or just mashing if it was banana. Some of the foods were vegetables that I personally didn’t grow up eating, or didn’t remember enjoying, including spinach and some kinds of squash. I know I had tasted cooked spinach but didn’t like it. I discovered that I didn’t hate cabbage, I only hated the ingredients in coleslaw sauce! I loved the ratatouille, other simple combinations, and the plain steamed cauliflower that I made for her. I did get pre-made jars or containers sometimes for convenience. The ones with meat in them didn’t smell so good, and I knew there was a difference between the pre-made veggies and my freshly-made veggies. I remember thinking one day, “Why am I feeding her a jar of lamb? We don’t eat lamb.” (And now I wonder why anyone would want to eat a baby sheep.) But we did eat a pretty typical American diet with other meat in it.

When our daughter was almost a year old, and not quite done breastfeeding, we started having her drink whole cow’s milk, like we thought we were supposed to in order for her to be healthy. By the time I took her for her twelve-month doctor appointment she had pretty bad eczema. Eventually — I wish I would have kept a journal of all this! — I read that dairy has been shown to be connected to skin problems, and I realized that her eczema had started at the same time as her introduction to cow’s milk. However, the doctor had said nothing about diet, only to bathe our daughter in plain water and put a specific ointment on her skin. Later, when I stopped giving her cow’s milk, cheese, and yogurt, the eczema went away. A few times it seems that her arms have gotten a little eczema again, after she has chosen to eat some dairy when away from home.

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“Good health can be one of the hidden treasures from God”

By Jane Birch · Comments (5)
Saturday, October 31st, 2015

Craig and Tussy Norman, 2015By: Tussy Norman

At the age of 36, shortly after moving with my husband’s job transfer from southern California to Houston, Texas, I began experiencing bloody diarrhea and was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. I was given a drug to take but not any dietary advice other than if a food upset my system, to avoid eating it. Soon all my symptoms disappeared, and I was glad to put that experience in my past and not think about it.

I had grown up in west Texas eating fried chicken, fried potatoes, fried okra, bologna and Miracle Whip sandwiches on white bread, Pop Tarts, and all the other things we kids in the ’60’s and ’70’s ate. Missionaries brought the gospel to my family when I was 10, and my parents immediately stopped smoking, drinking tea, coffee, and beer, and we became devoted members of the Church.

Attending BYU in 1976 was a dream come true for me, and I discovered a whole new cuisine which seemed to consist of casseroles made with cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup, dainty crescent rolls made with an incredible amount of margarine, and of course Jell-O! My husband Craig, from southern California, and I were married in 1980. He had definite likes and dislikes in food choices, and of course I wanted to please him, so most of our dinners were a variation on ground beef: spaghetti, tacos, beef stroganoff over rice, chili, etc. Of course we didn’t know much about nutrition beyond making sure to eat enough protein. We definitely did that.

My husband was transferred a couple of times with work and each time we moved, I experienced a flare of ulcerative colitis, but with treatment I would get well, then go for years without symptoms.

After our four children were grown, Craig and I had the privilege of serving a mission in the same place he had served as a young man: Hong Kong. I had never worked outside our home so serving in the busy office of the Asia Area presidency was a challenge, but it was rewarding, and the time we spent with the other couples in the office was wonderful. However, I began having symptoms of ulcerative colitis again.

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