Discovering the Word of Wisdom

“Out of compassion for animals, I became a vegan”

By Jane Birch · Comments (3)

Saturday, March 22nd, 2014

By: Christine Bradley

I originally didn’t give much thought to the verses in D&C 89, except to follow the directions needed to be baptised in my early 20’s in 1972 and to obtain a temple recommend a year later….until….I became vegan in May 2011. Then I embarked on considerable study of the full Word of Wisdom and gained a great appreciation of the inherent wisdom afforded us.

It all began when I watched a video called “Best Speech You Will Ever Hear” by Gary Yourofsky. He is an American animal rights activist and presented his speech at Georgia Tech in summer of 2010. His presentation was about the atrocities to animals that we humans do and allow, for unnecessary food and entertainment, etc. The video was posted on Facebook by a man named Carl Scott who lives in Dunedin, New Zealand.

That very day, out of compassion for animals, I became a vegan. My youngest daughter who still lives at home here was very happy to join me in this new way of living, and my husband, without even looking at the information, was okay about it too.

Comments (3)

Categories : Married-2 WFPB

Tags : compassion for animals, D&C 89, International, Mormon, Word of Wisdom

Latter-day Saint Children Share Their Perspectives

By Jane Birch · Comments (3)

Saturday, March 15th, 2014

Whole food, plant-based eating is not just for adults! Children being raised in WFPB families have their own experiences with this way of eating and their own ideas about the Word of Wisdom. Here three young children from Oklahoma share their perspectives.

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Comments (3)

Categories : Under 20

Tags : children, church situations, food cravings, Mormon, Word of Wisdom, young author

“I felt whole in that moment, as if I had come home”

By Jane Birch · Comments (4)

Saturday, March 8th, 2014

By: Sandee Cherry

The “moment” came as I was reading the third chapter of The China Study by Colin Campbell. I had been in physical therapy for a couple of months when my PT, Rogan Taylor, asked me about my diet. I proudly told him how healthy I ate: not much red meat with a helping of carbohydrates and veggies. He asked if I would be willing to read a book about nutrition and health. I said, “Yes,” and he proceeded to leave the room and return with The China Study. I asked him if this book was about not eating meat and if he was a vegetarian. He answered affirmatively and testified that the book was based on many years of scientific research that supported diet as the source of health. Since he had been both a bishop and a member of a stake high council, I jokingly told him I did not know they called vegetarians, let alone vegans, to those positions! He laughed and said his wife, a Relief Society president, and all five of their children were vegans. Needless to say, I was impressed.

Comments (4)

Categories : Married-2 WFPB

Tags : cholesterol, chronic illness, compassion for animals, irritable bowel syndrome, Mormon, spiritual blessings, spiritual promptings, The China Study, Word of Wisdom

WoW Moment – WFPB Relief Society Dinner

By Jane Birch · Comments (2)

Friday, March 7th, 2014

Debbie Christofferson

My good friend Debbie Christofferson, shared the following story with me yesterday. I’d like to feature short experiences like this as “Word of Wisdom Moments.” Please consider sharing your own WoW Moment!

“I had the greatest experience last night. I was asked to be in charge of our ward Relief Society birthday dinner. At first it was difficult because everyone wanted to serve foods that I don’t eat. I was willing to go along, but then after much thought and prayer, I decided the reason I was asked to be in charge was because I needed to make the meal a whole food, plant-based experience for everyone. I got my committee to agree on the menu by first serving the meal to them in my home. They loved it! Last night, we served an amazing dinner to our sisters. It was a huge success. And the best part is – one of the sisters on the committee is now eating whole food, plant-based because of the experience of being on the committee. She read Discovering the Word of Wisdom after a discussion we had, and she and her husband are fully committed. How exciting is that?! I am so grateful for Jane’s book and the difference it is making in so many peoples’ lives!”

Debbie Christofferson’s story of her conversion to WFPB eating is featured at the end of Chapter 2 in Discovering the Word of Wisdom. Debbie is both a Registered Dietician and an amazing cook. She was kind enough to share all the recipes with us!

Click here to view the Recipe PDF.

Comments (2)

Categories : WoW Moments

Tags : church situations, Mormon, social situations, spiritual promptings

Duffy’s WFPB Journey — February 2014

By Editor · Comments (3)

Friday, February 28th, 2014

Dear Reader,

Today is my 67^th day eating of 100% Whole-Food Plant Based, Word of Wisdom diet. My official weigh-in day is Sunday, tomorrow, but unofficially, I sneak a peak at the scale once or twice more during the week. So unofficially, I can tell you that I’m down 44 lbs. (This includes the weight I loss doing less than 100% WFPB October-December.)

These two facts are significant because I have never before stayed on a diet longer than 3 weeks, and I have never before lost more than 28 lbs on a diet.

Comments (3)

Categories : Duffy Chronicles

Tags : Duffy Chronicles, food cravings, irritable bowel syndrome, meat, The China Study, weight loss

“I would eat grass for the promises in the Word of Wisdom!”

By Jane Birch · Comments (6)

Saturday, February 22nd, 2014

By: Tim and Ellen McGaughy

Our nutrition quest began many years ago, long before we became converts to the LDS church. Ellen and I met in 1970 in Boston, Mass., while I was in graduate school at Tufts University. Ellen was working for American Airlines and was traveling all over the world. Eventually, I followed my doctoral advisor and relocated to the University of Oklahoma in Norman. I began to frequent a vegetarian restaurant in Norman, and it changed my course, planting a desire in me to eliminate meat from my diet completely. Meanwhile, Ellen decided to take a year off and move to Telluride, Colorado. She soon befriended neighbors who were vegetarians. She decided that not only did it make sense intellectually, but she also felt compelled to make the change. Up to this point, neither of us had been exposed to anything other than the Standard American Diet. So, nearly 900 miles apart, independently, we both decided to become vegetarians. That was an interesting telephone call.

Comments (6)

Categories : Married-2 WFPB

Tags : children, D&C 89, meat, Mormon, Word of Wisdom

“I have found many hidden treasures”

By Jane Birch · Comments (5)

Saturday, February 15th, 2014

By: Ilene Christensen

It was November 1973. I was sitting in a bus with the rest of the BYU volleyball team in Durango, Colorado for the Regional Tournament. My coach had already told me I would be starting for the first time that season. I was ready and very excited. We were waiting for our coaches to board the bus so we could go to breakfast prior to the start of the tournament. It was strange that they were taking so long. I remember sitting there as Earlene Durrant (the athletic trainer) boarded the bus and started walking down the aisle. My first thought was, “My father, it’s my father.” But then it appeared she was going to walk by, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Then she stopped and said, “Ilene, Sister Michaelis would like to see you in her hotel room.” I got off the bus, and the team drove away without me.

I went into Sister Michaelis’s hotel room, and she said the words no one wants to say, “I hate to be the one to tell you this, but your father passed away last night.” He was 46 years old. He died of a heart attack. My mother was left to finish raising six children on her own.

Comments (5)

Categories : Single Adult

Tags : athletes, cholesterol, heart disease, The China Study, Word of Wisdom

“I am a food addict”

By Jane Birch · Comments (16)

Saturday, February 8th, 2014

By: S. Scott Zimmerman

I have four confessions:

1. I am a food addict. I often seem unable to stop eating, and forage for food all day long, food that is often high in fat and sugar.
2. I have coronary artery disease (CAD) caused by an unhealthy lifestyle.
3. I have lost over 50 pounds three times in my life, only to regain the weight two of the three times.
4. During my 30 years as a professor of biochemistry at Brigham Young University, I always included principles of nutrition as part of my biochemistry courses for pre-medical and pre-nursing students, but I have recently realized that much of what I taught about nutrition was wrong.

So here is My Story of ups and downs in body weight and in nutrition management. It’s a story of a long, slow process of making mistakes, trying to learn from those mistakes, and finally finding the value of a whole food, plant-based (WFPB) lifestyle. I’ll start with my first confession.

Comments (16)

Categories : Married-2 WFPB

Tags : cholesterol, chronic illness, food addiction, food cravings, heart disease, Mormon, The China Study, weight loss, Word of Wisdom

“We couldn’t believe how delicious our meals were!”

By Jane Birch · Comments (2)

Saturday, February 1st, 2014

By: Robyn Rowley

I am 26 years old and have weighed a sprightly 100 pounds since 7th grade. I never gave much thought to what I ate, since candy, French fries and ice cream didn’t seem to affect me negatively, at least in the sense that they never added any pounds to my slight figure. And did I ever take advantage of my unbelievably good genes! As a missionary in France, my motto was, “Why buy one pastry when you can buy two?”

During my last year as an undergraduate, I was working with Jane Birch when she made her radical diet change. I was fairly skeptical of all she preached at first and told myself that, though great for her, it probably wasn’t for me. After all, eating a handful of carrot sticks and three different kinds of fruit every day meant I was pretty healthy myself . . . right?

Comments (2)

Categories : Married-2 WFPB

Tags : headaches, weight loss, WFPB beginner, young author

Duffy’s WFPB Journey — January 2014

By Editor · Comments (12)

Friday, January 31st, 2014

By: Duffy

How does one open a blog post when they have accomplished the thing that was expected of them but that they didn’t know if they could do yet hoped to do and ultimately did do despite the initial white-knuckle, hanging-on-by-a-prayer doing of it? How about this….

40 days of 100% WFPB eating:

Waaaaaaaaaahoooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Comments (12)

Categories : Duffy Chronicles

Tags : Duffy Chronicles, food cravings, food preparation, spiritual promptings, weight loss, WFPB beginner

“Out of compassion for animals, I became a vegan”

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Latter-day Saint Children Share Their Perspectives

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“I felt whole in that moment, as if I had come home”

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Duffy’s WFPB Journey — February 2014

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“I would eat grass for the promises in the Word of Wisdom!”

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“I have found many hidden treasures”

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“I am a food addict”

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“We couldn’t believe how delicious our meals were!”

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Duffy’s WFPB Journey — January 2014

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