Archive for Married-2 WFPB – Page 3

“I was told I would most likely never have children”

By Jane Birch · Comments (5)
Saturday, October 12th, 2019

By: Jessica Peterson

Shortly after graduating from high school, I was given a diagnosis of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and told repeatedly by multiple doctors and specialists that I would most likely never have children. I was prescribed metformin. It was supposed to help balance out my health condition, but after months of no results, and the doctor continually increasing the dosage, the drug wasn’t working and had started to damage my kidneys. So I decided to take my health into my own hands and do as much research as I could on diet and exercise for reversing my condition. No cure was out there, but many professionals touted that “this” diet had significant improvements in patients and “that” form of exercise was the best.

I was desperate to feel normal again and not feel sick all the time. I tried everything that had even an ounce of hope attached to it. Over the next several years, I tried Low-Glycemic, Paleo, Gluten Free, Keto, Vegetarian. You name it, I tried it.

Meanwhile, I married the man of my dreams, and two years into our marriage he approached me saying he felt there was a boy who was waiting to come to our family. Skeptical, yet hopeful, we returned to the doctors.

Four years ago, after multiple doctor visits and tests, we tried a drug we’d only heard rumors about and were finally able to get pregnant with our son. That pregnancy and birth were so successful and positive, that we decided to use that same drug to conceive my daughter.

Shortly after getting pregnant with my daughter, we started doing some research on the effects of a Whole Food Plant Based (WFPB) diet for people who struggle with hormonal imbalances, chronic illnesses, infertility, and a lot of other health problems. By this point in my life, I was tired. I had tried so many diets that had promised wonderful results, with no noticeable results showing up in my life.

Despite my hesitation, my husband was certain that this WFPB diet was worth a shot. So I agreed to try it for 30 days. Within the first WEEK I noticed a huge difference in my energy levels and ability to eat without feeling sick (something I had just gotten used to for years since my diagnosis). 30 days later, I went back to eating the standard American diet for one day and immediately felt worse then I had all month. I felt achy, nauseated, constipated, dizzy, and had some serious heartburn! I decided I would try to continue eating this way at least until my daughter was born. Read More→

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“Our mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health improved so suddenly and drastically that we didn’t want to go back”

By Jane Birch · Comments (2)
Saturday, September 28th, 2019

By: Cassidy Gundersen

Starting at age 12 I began to experience a variety of concerning health conditions such as chronic kidney stones, debilitating PMS and menstrual cramps, migraines that would cause me to throw up in pain, and twice monthly bowel movements. The doctors assured me that I was in good health and “these things just happened to people,” so I was convinced that I was healthy (despite all of my pain) and continued eating like it. My staples were Oreos, Dr. Pepper, and Snickers. You couldn’t have paid me to eat fruit or vegetables other than perhaps potatoes, raspberries, and peaches. But I was extremely thin, and that was all that mattered to me at the time.

As I grew up, I lived a busy and active life and was very involved. My health began to take a turn for the worst when I was Miss Idaho in 2012. I was on the road a lot and began eating worse than I already had been. I noticed that my mental and physical health were waning, but I was determined to serve a full-time mission.

After leaving to Canada in 2013 for my mission, the complications only worsened. I was barely able to get out of bed after 12 hours of sleep, and I was in the hospital more times than I can count. I had MRI’s, ultrasounds, colonoscopies, and countless blood samples drawn in an attempt to get to the core of the issue. More than one time the mission doctor and my mission president tried to send me home to get better, but I was more stubborn than I was sick, and I refused!

It was on my mission that I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease, a diagnosis that would change my life. After my diagnosis, I was downhearted and began reading my Patriarchal blessing. I became angry as I read it because my blessing spoke of the Word of Wisdom and the health I would have by obedience to it. I was confused because I never smoked, I never drank tea, coffee or alcohol, nor did I do drugs, yet I wasn’t seeing any of the blessings I was promised. I had given some thought to the Word of Wisdom since one of my companions informed me that she didn’t eat meat because of the Doctrine and Covenants 89. However, I was convinced she was extreme and was sure that I knew better.

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“Suffering from random episodes of total blindness, I was ready to try anything”

By Jane Birch · Comments (1)
Saturday, August 24th, 2019

By: Teresa Starr

My whole food, plant-based (WFPB) journey spans over 25 years. It has included twists and turns, ups and downs and has ultimately blessed my life beyond measure. In fact, I believe that the plant-based eating plan is the very reason I’m still here to tell my story.

In the early 1990s, when I was 29 years old and a young mom of 3 active little boys, I began having TIAs (transient ischemic attacks), sometimes called mini-strokes. During those episodes, I would temporarily lose all vision in my left eye. It was as if someone controlled my vision with a dimmer switch and gradually turned it off until I had a total black out – 100% blindness in my left eye. These transient episodes of blindness came on with no warning. Most episodes would last between one and five minutes. The longest one lasted 60 full, frightening minutes.

I had a family history of heart disease and high blood pressure (and my own personal history of extremely high blood pressure during child birth). The scary thing about TIAs is that studies indicate that 30% of people who suffer from TIAs end up having a full-blown stroke within 5 years. That was a very disconcerting thought because we had three little boys and were hoping to have more children. Raising our family was our top priority. My doctor put me on Coumadin, nitroglycerin (during TIAs) and one baby aspirin per day to thin my blood. I was also told to never take estrogen (because of my increased risk of stroke).

In addition to my family history, I had a few other strikes against me. Even though my weight was within a normal range, my cholesterol and triglycerides were always very high. At the time we were also under much stress and anguish because of a very serious health condition one of our kids was going through. The health challenges of our sweet little boy spanned several years and left us heartbroken (and broke).

After several years of facing our challenges, I was getting very worn out physically, emotionally and spiritually. The disturbing TIAs had continued to happen at random times and places even though I was following the doctor’s advice. One day my husband, Rick, told me that a friend at work had started a whole food, plant-based diet to improve his health. Together we studied the benefits of eating this new way. Still suffering from random episodes of total blindness in my left eye, I was ready to try anything, especially if it meant that I could live a healthy life and be a fully functioning mom, capable of raising our sweet boys.

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“I felt powerless in my relationship with food”

By Jane Birch · Comments (6)
Saturday, July 6th, 2019

By: Christine Wilkins

A 14-year-old is too young to be overly concerned about food. But that was me. There are specific moments with food that I remember from my teenage—and even childhood—years because of the guilt I felt for having eaten so much of something and not knowing when to quit. I wanted to be thin so, so badly. For the sake of being thin. I felt powerless in my relationship with food, and I thought that going without food or applying other extreme means to reverse my overeating habit might be the answer. The weight of those feelings brought me to my knees. I feared I would deal with my food addiction for the rest of my life, that it would be my personal trial of mortality. Even at this young age I prayed with deep desire for help to overcome my obsession with food. In my mind, that translated to Heavenly Father taking away those natural-man desires; essentially, I hoped He would correct my brain. Of course, that is not how He works. And I’m grateful for the journey it has been—through study, prayer, and experimentation—to get to where I am today with my health.

My teen-through-early-adult years were full of fulfillment, but they were tainted by the ready access to cheap cake mixes and other indulgences, namely ice cream. I actually have a picture of a high school friend and me shoving cake into each other’s mouths. This image is a good representation of my two favorite hobbies at the time: hanging out with friends . . . and cake. I gained friends and confidence in high school, but I also gained weight—30 pounds of it, from start to finish.

Midnight donuts and chocolate milk. Bets to scarf down a whole pizza or a triple Baconator—challenges I accepted and over which I prevailed. (And I thought I was proving my strength of will.) Free soda and popcorn on my movie theater shifts. Half-price fast food during Wendy’s shifts. Confectionary samples during bakery shifts at a grocery store. Is it a wonder why I was so drawn to food-service jobs?

In my young-adult mind, my unhealthy habits and their consequences were disconnected. The miracle is in how I got through four years of higher education with the little energy I had. I don’t exaggerate by saying I probably spent half the time sleeping. The sense of powerlessness I had felt at 14 stayed with me, especially when I was alone and free to eat cake and slip into the accompanying sugar coma.

I wonder if you’ve ever felt as I have—that you were meant for “greater things than these” (Mormon 8:12) but were waiting for that change to happen to you rather than realizing the power to change was within reach. When I was 16, before I really felt the weight of my gluttony, I was given to know in my patriarchal blessing that Heavenly Father had blessed me with “physical strength and vigor.” I had seen this blessing manifested on my high school dance and cross-country teams and in the workplace. The “physical strength and vigor” were present when I felt accountable to other people. However, my accountability to myself yielded lethargy; I knew something had to be missing because I didn’t always experience those blessings I had been promised.

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“I am not after mediocre results with my health or life. I want outstanding results!”

By Jane Birch · Comments (4)
Saturday, June 22nd, 2019

By: Janeen Alley

For as long as I can remember I’ve loved health and the human body and was fascinated with how it worked. I also knew that in my life journey I really wanted to help people. Fortunately, I found plant-based nutrition early on, but it wasn’t until after a few unhealthy detours. Currently, I’m a health and life coach and run my own business. I’m passionate about educating others about the newfound energy and life I discovered after I stumbled upon plant-based nutrition in 2004.

After I graduated from college, I got a job working as a personal trainer in a gym in 2001. I had taught anatomy as a teaching assistant at BYU for 2 years, so it was an easy position to transition into.

The job proved to be more challenging than I thought. As a trainer, I couldn’t give specific nutrition advice to my clients because it was beyond my scope of training. I could ask if they were eating “a balanced diet” – if they said yes, I could move on to their workouts. If they said “no” – I could point them to the My Plate guidelines, and then… move on to their workouts!

I knew diet mattered, but at the time, I didn’t realize how much. When my clients failed to reach their goals, I was devastated for them. I was also frustrated and embarrassed I couldn’t figure out how to troubleshoot better and get them the results they were after.

At the time, I thought I had a “pretty good diet.” My dad was a physician and my mom made everything from scratch. They lived by the Moderation Mantra: everything is okay, even healthy, as long as it is consumed in moderation. I have found that this thought and lifestyle only creates mediocre results. I don’t know about you, but I am not after mediocre results with my health or life. I want outstanding results!

I knew how the body worked – down to the nitty gritty details – but I couldn’t figure out how to get outstanding results for my clients. According to my training manual, I was doing everything right. But I was still confused by ALL the conflicting information out there on nutrition, and I definitely didn’t feel good about recommending gym supplements because I knew there were some dangerous side effects.

When my husband started dental school in Philadelphia in 2002, I was more than relieved to get away from my frustrations at the gym and move on to the next phase of my life. Our first two children were born while we lived there (2002 and 2004). But not only had I stopped training clients, I stopped taking care of myself. As a result, my energy levels tanked, I put on weight, struggled with my acne, and lost a TON of hair during my pregnancies.

I remember being exhausted! When my son was about 9 months old, I have memories of being so tired I couldn’t get up off the floor. I would lay down and try to stay awake while he would crawl on my legs and back to try to get me up to play with him. I felt like a horrible mom. I didn’t want to take him to the park or to the library because I didn’t have the energy. I knew I needed to do something different.

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“I received a very strong personal revelation, telling me that this is the answer to my prayers”

By Jane Birch · Comments (2)
Saturday, June 8th, 2019

By: Patricia Gausnell

My husband and I joined the church as newlyweds when I was 18 years old. I had a strong testimony as soon as I started studying the gospel, and when I learned about the Word of Wisdom, it was not hard for me to accept it. But the parts about meat didn’t mean a lot to me then. I realize that I had never in my life thought for a moment that our diets might have something to do with our health.

One day when I was 24 and going through a difficult time in my life, I happened to pick up two Prevention magazines (a publication devoted to good health practices.) I read them from cover to cover, and was amazed. It was like a bright light went on in me, opening up a whole new world. I became obsessed with nutrition and natural healing. I studied everything I could get my hands on about health. I spent hours at the supermarket, reading labels.

At that time we had two children who had been raised on Carnation Milk and antibiotics. We went on to have 6 more, including a set of triplets, none of whom ever needed an antibiotic. The triplets were born healthy and we took two of them home at 3 days old, and the other at 11 days.

I bought a wheat grinder and used only whole grains in cooking. I grew a large organic garden every year and preserved as much of our food as possible. We also raised some of our own meat, milk and eggs. In the back of my mind, I always wanted to eat less meat, but my husband and I were both from families of macho hunters and farmers. So I didn’t always try very hard. For a period of time, I did try to be more vegetarian. I remember one time my son said, “Mom, I am a 125 pound quarterback; I need steaks and roasts.”

In spite of the fact that I have studied nutrition for nearly 50 years, in the past few years, I had become very confused about what we should eat. I tried nearly every diet that came along. The Atkins diet, the Slender Lady diet, the Wheat Belly diet, the Ketogenic diet, the Undoctored diet, and the Plant Paradox diet. I usually could lose a few pounds, but not nearly as much as needed. And I never felt very good about them, because none of them went along with the Word of Wisdom.

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“God has given me the heart to be a voice for his animal creations”

By Jane Birch · Comments (4)
Saturday, April 27th, 2019

By: Sarah Rayner Hancock

I took interest in becoming vegetarian around age 17 when I began to recognize the suffering of God’s creatures here on earth. I was vegetarian for some time, then I fell back into eating meat for several years, though I had lost my appetite for beef. That tends to happen when you cut meat from your meals. Eventually, I became pescatarian with efforts to ditch dairy from my diet. The traditional Christmas and Thanksgiving family dinners were events I didn’t want to make difficult for others who were cooking, so I often just ate foods even if they contained dairy. As I became far more educated on the practices in the factory farming industry and its devastating effects on our health, planet and its animals, I chose a plant-based diet.

It was not always easy during these years of transition. I was raised a meat eater and had to learn how to cook again and appreciate new flavors and tastes. I was accustomed to and craved cheese, for example, not realizing how dependent I had become on it for nearly every lunch and dinner meal. I learned that cheese contains casomorphins, a morphine-like compound derived from the protein casein, which is found in a mother cow’s milk at far higher levels than is found in human breast milk. This is the very reason I craved more cheese on top of my cheese, haha! Milk is designed to keep babies, both human and non-human, coming back to their mothers for what is God’s intended purpose, which is to provide the very best formulae for them in their infant stage. With this knowledge, I felt more empowered than ever to ditch dairy.

Eventually, my love for the welfare of animals set so deep in my heart that compassion was of more worth to me than the taste of meat. I figured that if Eden was plant-based, I have no doubt that Zion will be too, and are we not to become a Zion people? Even Isaiah (11:6) saw that the wolf and lamb will lie together and a child shall lead them.

Somewhere along my journey, I don’t recall exactly when, I became aware that the Word of Wisdom seemed to imply a plant-based diet. Or did it? Why was I somewhat confused? Was it tradition that caused me to question? I believe so. Upon further study, there is no denying. The Word of Wisdom is plain and clear that animals are to be used, “sparingly” and “ONLY in times of winter, cold and famine.” However, why during cold and winter times and not summer? What did that mean exactly? “…And it is pleasing unto me that they should not be used” (D&C 89:13). WOW! Now as an animal advocate, no more beautiful a word can be said than when your God himself says such a thing as this!

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“The cessation of meat and dairy has reaped health benefits I never expected”

By Jane Birch · Comments (11)
Saturday, March 30th, 2019

By: Troy Gundersen

15 years ago I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. Since that time it’s been like the Indiana Jones ride trying to understand and navigate the positive and negative effects of carbohydrates and insulin. Paramedics were invited over to our house on multiple occasions to wake me up from an insulin-induced coma. Fortunately in all of these instances I was able to give the grim reaper the proverbial stiff arm. I’m grateful to still be among the living to share my story. Maybe there are others who can relate to my experience in finding the Word of Wisdom and the hidden treasures therein. This is how I recall my enlightenment.

It was about a year ago, February/March of 2018. My son Jordan and his wife Cassidy had been eating a whole food plant based (WFPB) diet for a few months. Up until this point I had been working out 4-5 times per week and thought I was doing a decent job of watching what I ate. They approached my wife Valerie and I with a WFPB diet as a possible solution to better health. We didn’t think it was really applicable to us because we were already “watching what we ate.” LOL. We listened to their position but thought, “Naw, this ain’t for us.” Little did I know that it was the love of bacon and eggs twice a week for dinner that had commandeered my mind like an opioid.

Little by little my wife Valerie and I would discuss the WFPB benefits as she read verses of “the bible” to me (How Not To Die by Dr. Michael Greger). My wife was much easier to convince than I. She didn’t grow up on hot dogs and macaroni and cheese like I did. I also loved pasta with a rich, creamy stroganoff sauce—a recipe that was handed down from generation to generation. How Not To Die convinced me by the overwhelming amount of specificity and controls the data provided. Dr. Greger referenced study after study after study. It seemed legit enough for me to experiment upon his words. It also made me hypothesize that God already had this data and just wanted us to study it out in our own minds and then ask Him if it’s right. Better yet, give it a whirl. As a business analyst by trade, the data cogently spoke to my mind, while the spirit gently whispered to my heart. They converged and my WFPB path was born.

I went plant based around April 1st 2018, and boy was it an emotional cork screw! I didn’t realize how emotionally attached I was . . . attached I was . . . attached I was to the food I ate. I’m still in food therapy, learning new coping skills on how to detach from things like bacon, cheese, Campbell’s soup, sour cream, cream cheese, etc. LOL.

We went to the scriptures and studied the Word of Wisdom to find more enlightenment. There were three scriptures that spoke to us at a higher decibel level than the others. They were Doctrine and Covenants 89:12, 13, & 15—

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“We were all blown away by the power of these simple dietary changes”

By Jane Birch · Comments (9)
Saturday, February 16th, 2019

By: Danielle Dinkelman

In the Fall of 2016 I started diving into some Netflix food documentaries. That was the first time I seriously considered the idea of shifting to a whole food, plant-based way of eating. I had been a mom on a mission for the last year and a half to eliminate processed foods and added sugars from our diet. My husband and four little ones (ages 7, 4, 3, and 1 at the time) had come a long way, but I was looking for the next step.

It was the movie Fat Sick & Nearly Dead that really got my attention. I remember Joe Cross pointing out that by definition the only foods that contain fiber are plant foods. Having suffered from digestive issues my whole growing up years, this was an answer I had never considered: eat less animal products. Then there was the point on inflammation and the immune system. In the film he explained how when we eat inflammatory foods, especially dairy and sugar, our immune system is weakened. I finished watching that movie, determined to add more fruits and vegetables to our diet, and maybe start avoiding dairy.

The next few months, I experimented with these ideas on myself and my kids. It was the perfect time to test these ideas out because it was the height of cold and flu season. So, when we started to get the sniffles or a sore throat, we would cut out all dairy and all sugar. I saw a dramatic difference in our ability to stave off infections. When we did get a full-on cold, the kids and I were able to get over it so much faster than before. Instead of 7 to 10 days or more, it only took us 3 to 5 days at the most to get better. I was amazed at how predictably well this worked, so much so that I started to wonder why I was feeding my kids dairy at all.

My husband was unaware of my experiments until he himself was going on month 3 of a chronic sinus infection where drugs had not helped at all. I told him about the success the kids and I had with ditching dairy and sugar to kick our colds. I asked him to just try it and see what happened. He did, and it only took 7 days for him to feel the symptoms start to subside. We were all blown away by the power of these simple dietary changes.

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“My husband’s heart attack became one of my greatest blessings”

By Jane Birch · Comments (5)
Saturday, January 19th, 2019

By: Diane Mayo

All my adult life, when I read the Word of Wisdom and came to the verses about eating meat sparingly, I wondered what it meant and how to do it. I had completely bought into the idea that meat and dairy products are necessary for good health. I kept trying to cut back on the amount we were eating, thinking that that was obeying eating it “sparingly.” As I look back, I realize that I was slowly changing on my own. I would take very small portions of meat and enjoy the other dishes on the table. Meat, even in small portions, was becoming distasteful to me. I distinctly remember one morning when I was thinking about fixing eggs for breakfast. I paused and asked myself if I could eat them. The answer was, “absolutely not.” So I fixed my normal oatmeal and relished it.

Then my husband had a heart attack just before Christmas in 2017. All four of the major arteries in his heart were 90 to 100% blocked and others were over 70%! We were shocked. He had always been so healthy and strong. Our jaws dropped when the doctor told him he was overweight and needed to lose about 20 pounds. Before this, he could eat anything he wanted and hadn’t changed weight for years. We studied the information the hospital gave us and immediately cut out red meat, switching to white chicken and fish. We also had to cut out all his favorite foods: potato chips, French fries, ice cream, candy, etc. Everything he loved was on the “no” list. 

The instructions also told us to consider a non-meat meal a couple times a week. I was drawn to that and started trying to find help to know how. I had an impression that I should hold off for a while and study the Word of Wisdom. It took me four days to study it because I kept stopping at verses I had never considered before. It is not a coincidence that the day after I finished my study I was introduced to whole food, plant-based eating and the Discovering the Word of Wisdom website. My husband and I watched the video, which detailed everything I had just discovered on my own! A new world had just opened up and I was ecstatic! 

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