Archive for Married-2 WFPB – Page 4

“I have experienced all of the promises of the Word of Wisdom”

By Jane Birch · Comments (3)
Saturday, January 5th, 2019

By: Alicia Schick

It was summer of 2015, and I was expecting boy #4. We’d been seeing specialists in an effort to resolve digestive trouble my husband had experienced for years, and I was exhausted trying to make enough food for him on a strict elimination diet composed of primarily organic meat and four types of cooked vegetables. So much of the digestive advice emphasizes meat and recommends avoiding grains that we thought it was worth a try. While a few of my husband’s symptoms did subside, others became worse, and we were uncomfortable with the high intake of meat. Looking back I can tell it was a much harder pregnancy than the others–including my highest weight gain and challenges I hadn’t experienced before.

Shortly after our son was born in the fall, we were amazed to learn some new friends of ours didn’t really eat animal products at all. Janeen Alley and her family had eaten whole food, plant-based for at least 10 years and become an expert in the benefits, so we decided to give it a try. We ate a dramatic increase in plants between Thanksgiving and Christmas that year, and I was amazed that we managed to avoid getting sick—no easy feat with a newborn, a 3 year old, a Kindergartner and a 2nd grader in the thick of winter.

As the months progressed, I couldn’t believe the benefits I experienced by eating whole food, plant-based. By March, I had lost all of my pregnancy weight and then some. I had to buy new pants because everything I owned was too big. In June I competed in a triathlon. I was still up with my baby many nights and because of that was pretty inconsistent in my training. Yet my paces were not too far behind my pre-pregnancy times, something I had previously struggled to reach until my babies were much older and I was able to resume more consistent training.

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“I decided I would put it to the test to see if it could work for me”

By Jane Birch · Comments (6)
Saturday, November 17th, 2018

By: Dan Thieme

I remember as a youth growing up in the Church hearing many lessons about the Word of Wisdom. Inevitably, these lessons would emphasize that Joseph Smith surely was prophet, for how could he know at the time he lived in to write a document about health, teaching us to avoid alcohol and tobacco, which would save us from the ills of these substances which were so harmful to our physical bodies. I was amazed. I also hardly even noticed, or cared to notice, the other counsel that appears in that section of scripture: That is, what we should eat and not eat. I was never really taught that eating meat sparingly was part of the Word of Wisdom, and if we wanted to please Him, meaning the Lord (who wouldn’t!) that we should eat meat not at all. Has that phrase really been in there all these years? How many lessons and discussions over the years have I heard about the Word of Wisdom, and yet not one of those spoke of that second phrase?

And besides, who would be conspiring to make me eat meat? After all, protein is good for me right? Mom always told me to eat my vegetables, but she never had to tell me to eat my meat. Somehow I seemed to have an innate desire to eat that stuff—it came naturally to a growing boy, and eating lots of meat even seemed to be part of becoming a man. As men, we barbecue, we shoot or catch our own food with our own hands, bring it home and prepare it. Very manly. It seemed a natural part of the old ways that society was forgetting. What could be more healthy? What could be more social? At every family gathering we surrounded a table of the best meat, both from the land and the sea: prime roast, juicy steaks, good old hamburgers, or crab, shrimp, and fish. But even pork, and chicken and other meats are so wonderful!

As I grew, I became more manly and more carnivorous. I ground my own meat, smoked and barbecued that meat, refined my barbecue sauce recipe to perfection and had the best pork ribs you could find anywhere. I knew bacon was not good for me, so I only ate it occasionally. I worked out five times a week, ate lots of yogurt for the probiotics, and ate what I considered a healthy diet—whole wheat bread and lots of fruits and vegetables to go with my manly animal protein. With my health profession education and background as an optometrist, I thought I had a decent handle on what I should be eating, and what I should be avoiding.

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“Knowledge is more powerful than pride”

By Jane Birch · Comments (14)
Saturday, September 8th, 2018

By: Analilí Burrows (Version en español)

My search for wellness and health began long ago without much success. Conflicting information and the “false traditions” of my people darkened my understanding.

I became a mother at 28, seventeen years ago today. Birthing my first son was a grueling experience I don’t wish upon anyone. At our 20-week ultrasound, we were warned this baby’s condition was incompatible with life due to anencephaly, which means the scull is missing and the baby’s brain is floating around the amniotic fluid in a thin skin sack. He died in utero five days before my labor began.

A few months later I missed my period again. A home pregnancy test found out we were expecting, but I miscarried the very next day at 7 weeks. In 2006 with a two-year old miracle daughter, I was getting ready to pack my hospital bag at 8 months pregnant when my placenta abrupted inadvertently, and we lost our precious daughter. I almost died in the process too.

This close call with my own life and having to bury a second baby of mine gave me a new determination to find out what was wrong with me. I enrolled in medical school and was accepted, but with a 2-year old baby and a husband traveling most of the time, I had to pass this goal for a later day.

Little did I know I was learning line upon line, precept upon precept what I have come to know now.

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“I didn’t want to give people expensive and side-effect-prone pills”

By Jane Birch · Comments (6)
Saturday, July 28th, 2018

By: Brian Duke

In 2013, during a break from studying for the PCAT (entrance exam for Pharmacy school) I watched the Forks Over Knives documentary which I found randomly while searching on the internet. Forks Over Knives dramatically changed my opinion about what we should eat and my career choice. The idea that you could avoid heart disease completely was thrilling and motivating. I had been eating mostly home cooked meals containing meat and dairy with occasional microwavable dinners when I needed to save time. I changed my diet immediately.

I struggled a bit at first to find things to cook and eat and to eat enough calories. I have always been at a healthy weight due in part to running long distances for exercise. When I started the Whole Food Plant Based (WFPB) diet, I lost 8 pounds in a few months that I did not need to lose. When I saw the weight loss, I realized that I just needed to eat more volume of food than I was used to, which quickly solved the problem.

I abandoned my pharmacist career path for becoming a dietitian. I didn’t want to give people expensive and side-effect-prone pills for the rest of their lives for conditions that could be prevented and treated with diet. I took some extra classes to qualify for a Masters program in Dietetics, applied, and was accepted.

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“I was at my wits end and stressed out beyond anything I have ever been before”

By Jane Birch · Comments (3)
Saturday, July 14th, 2018

By: Brian Beck

It all started nearly 14 years ago. I had been working at this great job that kept me in good shape physically. You see, my job was to maintain the buildings and fix the equipment for two locations of a local gym, and some days I’d help out with projects on the other 15 locations. I’d joke with everyone that I walked at least 3-5 miles per day (from the front of the building to the back, up ladders and scissor lifts) to get a tool or a part to fix a stair stepper, and then to the roof to find out why the AC wasn’t working. I hauled everything from light bulbs to treadmills . . . even hauled those up flights of stairs. It would take 4 of us to do it, but we did it. The ‘gym rats’ (body builders mostly) would give it an honest try, but 4 or 5 steps up the stairway was all they were good for. We would laugh because they had bigger muscles than we had, and we would move the rest of the treadmills ourselves. We even moved the giant weight machines. We did everything from painting to plumbing as well.

During my employment at these gyms, I was diagnosed with reactive hypoglycemia. You see, it turns out that when I ate something with any sugar in it, my blood sugar would spike up with little control from my pancreas (which produces insulin). My body would put out too much insulin, too late from a slow reaction to the rapid rise of sugar in my bloodstream, and I would ‘crash’ (extreme drop in blood sugar). The worst part of this was that I would get really angry right before I would crash. I only saw it as though I had a really good reason to be annoyed. Sadly, it didn’t look that way from the outside looking in, and my family suffered.

I’d heard about Atkins, and I thought, “Hey let’s look into that. These guys here at the gym seem really healthy.” So our whole family started eating all the meat, dairy, and cheese we wanted, just no carbohydrates and no fruit because I was told that “eating sugar makes your body store fat.” Carbs became evil really fast.

But I had missed a little thing . . .

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“The destroying angel has passed by me”

By Jane Birch · Comments (19)
Saturday, December 16th, 2017

By: Wendy Hardy

Growing up, my family ate mostly whole foods with little junk food. We rarely had soda, cookies, or potato chips. We did have animal foods, but I hated to eat cheese, eggs, or milk. My health was very good overall. I spent a lot of time playing outside, jumping on the trampoline and riding my bike. I was physically active and involved in extracurricular activities such as softball and drill team.

The summer before I started 3rd grade I was bucked off of a horse and fractured my wrist. When I had the x-rays done the doctor said that my bones were brittle. I have a family history of low bone density on my mother’s side, and there are many family members on that side with a history of multiple fractures. However, I did not have any more incidents for many years.

When I received my patriarchal blessing as a young woman there were some things that really stood out to me. There are a few references to me receiving a healthy body. There was also instruction for me to “eat and drink only those things that ensure good health, and to abstain from all others.” I thought it was wonderful news that I had been given a healthy body. I didn’t really take the admonition too seriously though. I always enjoyed eating healthy food (although I didn’t really understand what things were healthy), but I didn’t abstain from any foods. I just didn’t have them very often (in my eyes).

As an adult, I’ve always been interested in health and diet. I love learning new things and if I feel like what I learn is beneficial then I will wholeheartedly adopt it into my life. Several years after starting our family I came across the book Nourishing Traditions. It teaches all about eating whole foods and taking time to prepare them for your family and how important that is. I read the book and a lot of it really resonated with me. There was great information about vegetables, grains, and beans. There was also a lot of information about dairy, meat, and eggs. It seemed to make sense to me.

After finding this information I started making changes in the way we were eating. We started using a lot of dairy products. After all, we are taught that dairy is important for bone health and our family had a history of bone density problems. In fact, some of my children have inherited this mutated gene for low bone density. Some of them have had multiple spinal compression fractures, so I wanted to make sure they were getting the best nutrition they could!

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“Wisdom comes in the righteous use of our agency”

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

By: Bruce Roberts

Beginning in October of 2015 I had one of those trying years that make you sit back and ask, “Why me?” After the challenge has passed and you have time to analyze what has happened to you, you start to realize that there is a learning process in this life that causes us to be humble enough to receive light and knowledge from Heavenly Father and Jesus. It is kind of, as the old saying goes, “When the student is ready the teacher appears.” In this case, I am the student, and the Holy Ghost is the teacher.

My family and I were out camping at East Canyon Resort. My brother Jeff and I decided to go fishing down at the Lake. The fish were jumping like crazy and in my excitement, I forgot to be extra careful. The way down to the lake from the road was quite treacherous, especially for a guy 73 years old. I slipped and fell, shattering my ankle. It took nine men to carry me out strapped to a board. Then the ambulance hauled me to Ogden Regional Hospital, and they performed surgery. The funny part of all this was that while lying on the banks of the reservoir, the thing that I was afraid of most was that the TV Channel 2 helicopter might be coming, and I might end up on the nightly news. While in the ER, my son Monte told me that didn’t matter because I was already all over Facebook. The family in Denmark had even seen me lying on the banks of the Lake and had responded with sympathy. Well so much for privacy.

The next few months were stressful. I wasn’t allowed to drive for three months so I did a lot of reading and not a lot of moving around except for the physical therapy sessions. Whenever we are inactive in anything we seem to go backwards. In a lot of situations in life we become careless. The inactivity and my lack of paying attention to what I was eating, and the amounts I was eating, apparently took its toll. I really bulked up. I look at it now as an experience that set me up for something to come that was life changing in a big way. After coming back from the Pac 12 basketball tournament in Las Vegas in March 2016, I wasn’t feeling well. Yes, I pigged-out at the buffets (to get my $ worth). It does not take long to send caution to the wind, and your life changes.

I had been considering writing a book on the Word of Wisdom for several years and had done a lot of studying and gathering of information, when in April, I came across a book on the internet I hadn’t seen before. It was called, Discovering the Word of Wisdom: Surprising Insights from a Whole Food, Plant-based Perspective by Jane Birch. My interest was immediately peeked! I ordered two copies, one for each of us, because my wife Helen fills hers with sticky notes. We read the book and were astonished. We both had a spiritual witness. It was many of my very thoughts, and I am sure, written and put together better than I would ever have done. I also believe Heavenly Father got tired of waiting for me to get it done, and the message is critical for our happiness and for our time here in the Last Days.

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“We gained strength from each other’s commitment”

By Jane Birch · Comments (10)
Saturday, August 26th, 2017

By: Erica Rivera

As newlyweds in the summer of 2014, Heber and I were determined to not die young, fat, or sick. More importantly, we were aware that we had stepped into a potential “fat trap” with marriage: it seemed like so many of the people that we knew put on noticeable amounts of weight in the first year (and subsequent years) of being married. So we got serious. We signed up for a gym membership together, consulted various dietitians, and read numerous articles and websites about all of the best practices to stay fit and healthy. We set goals. We watched carbs. We ate grass-fed beef. We used “healthy” oils. We had so much to learn.

Happy for objectives and goals, I stopped really worrying about whether there was a better way for me to be fueling my body. But of course, the ever-inquisitive Heber was uneasy about some of the conflicting information we were receiving about what to eat. More importantly, previous to our marriage he had been doing research to help his mother’s heart condition and had stumbled upon Dr. Esselstyn’s work Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease. This led him to watch Forks Over Knives and read some of the accompanying literature. He was hungry for change, for truth. I was hungry for the pork that we had just purchased.

Though I was convinced that we had to ingest animal protein (and massive amounts of it) to properly build muscle and stay fit, I was not happy about the part of my brain that was constantly fixated on food and worried about calories and gaining weight. To me it was clear that my body was a machine and relied on exactly calculated proportions to function properly. For years I had been obsessed with labels and eating just enough to have all of the bodily functions in order. I went through phases of exercising obsessively in order to make sure all of those extra calories were put to good use in my body. One of the petty reasons that I had been reluctant to serve a mission (though I eventually did and was so happy to have served) was because I could not control my diet, or my companion’s desire to exercise, with the same precision.

Heber himself had gone through some issues with weight and nutrition. He is a chef, and besides the need to try the fine-dining dishes he made, for many years he worked long hours. There was no time to worry about “healthy” eating, let alone exercise. After some challenges with weight, he committed to himself that he would not let himself go down that same path. Moreover, he knew better than I did that food not only is a joy to eat, but is the life source of our bodies. He was aware of the different kinds of fuel available and the effects, including how his mother felt differently when she cut out animal foods for a time. Because of his conviction, I was more open to learning alternatives to my own carnivorous lifestyle.

One evening, Heber and I watched Forks Over Knives. I felt really moved by the film, almost as if my eyes had been opened to what seemed obvious all along: our diet and lifestyle were killing us! Both of us felt overwhelmingly like this was something good and promising for us and our future family. That same night, we committed to give up all animal products and start eating whole-food plant-based (WFPB).

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“I had begun getting whisperings from the spirit”

By Jane Birch · Comments (10)
Saturday, August 12th, 2017

By: Alethea Galke

I first heard of whole food, plant-based (WFPB) eating from a friend who recommended the book How Not to Die. I bought it but didn’t read it. A few months later she encouraged us again, and I took the book with us on our three-day drive to take our son to the MTC. I read it to my husband as he drove. He is a Family Practice physician, and he was impressed with all of the studies the book contains to back up the claims. After reading 1 1/2 chapters on how to cure diseases, we didn’t need to read any more; we believed!

We believed so much that we began on that trip to eat WFPB the very best we could. We arrived home June 5, 2016, and the next day I went out and put together a whole new WFPB menu, and having faith, I went shopping. One year later we are still faithfully eating WFPB; we love it!

I had been working my way up to WFPB over the years; I just didn’t know it. I found that the older I got the less I wanted to eat meat. With four boys, Five Guys was a special treat for the family. I was tired of hamburgers. I didn’t like them. Once or twice I ordered a hot dog, but I didn’t like that meat either. I found I could pile a small burger with jalapeños, mushrooms, lettuce, onions (both grilled and raw), and lots of sauce to hide the taste of the meat. I never added cheese because I wasn’t really a fan. I would eat it, but if I had a choice I would decline. I would serve soups without meat, but my husband complained he was still hungry. I found a compromise by opening a bottle of shredded chicken, warming it up and setting it on the table for “anyone that wants meat” to add to their soup. When we switched to WFPB eating my husband’s palate changed so quickly. He loved the flavors and looked forward to what I would prepare. He didn’t even miss the meat.

We have always been fairly healthy. Even now, in our 50s, we have no aches or pains, no diseases, no pills. We are healthy. I have always had very low blood pressure, but it has been slowly creeping up. I had gone to the doctor shortly before starting WFPB eating and was concerned that it was higher than usual, now up in the slightly high range. Nine months after starting WFPB eating I went to the doctor for a regular check up, and my blood pressure was completely normal. I know it was because of our new eating lifestyle. I am so grateful.

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“I kept questioning why I was led to this way of eating”

By Jane Birch · Comments (10)
Saturday, July 29th, 2017

By: Brittney Fairbourn

Ever since college, I have steadily pursued information about healthy eating (all while eating pretty terribly). I started with a small goal to drink more water during the day. Almost anything was better than what I was doing. I got pretty good at drinking water, and it became my primary source of hydration. I slowly changed my diet over time to include whole grains and more fruits and vegetables as I read about the benefits they provide.

While nursing my third baby, who had terrible reflux, I tried quitting dairy to lessen her misery. Letting go of some foods (milk) were easier than others (cheese, chocolate, and ice cream). I wasn’t perfect at it, but this ban on dairy gave me a small success that helped my journey; I proved to myself that it was possible to change my diet in a way that seemed absolutely impossible at the outset.

Around the same time, I started to study the Word of Wisdom. I was struck by all the counsel I had missed. Most of all, my eyes were opened when I learned that God is pleased when we do not use animals for food.

The sanctity of animal life had never crossed my mind before, but now I realized every creature’s life has value. I realized that if I do eat animals, I need to be much more grateful for the life that was given so I could have that meal. I also realized that if I were required to butcher my own animals, you can bet I would hardly ever have meat.

I started to eat less meat and bought less for my family. I didn’t really have a desire to eat it anymore, but I wasn’t sure how to cook without it either. So I started cooking dairy-rich meals to fill the meat void.

About a year ago, I chose to read The China Study for a book club. This book changed me. The strong correlation between consumption of animal products and incidence of chronic illness, especially cancer, really stood out to me. Eating plants to prevent all types of illness made a lot of sense. All those “Milk does a body good” ads came to my mind, and I felt sad that Americans have been lied to for so many years. Everything I read in the book made me think about the Word of Wisdom.

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