Notes from Jane: (1) I’m sponsoring a whole food, plant-based Jumpstart in January: Jumpstart Sign-up; (2) I’m also offering the first ever FLASH SALE of Discovering the Word of Wisdom (Kindle version) to celebrate the New Year! Now $2.99 through Tuesday (regularly $4.99). This is the cheapest Amazon will allow me to sell it. (ALL profits go toward spreading the message about the Word of Wisdom and whole food, plant-based nutrition!).

This post is the latest in a series by Duffy, who went whole food, plant-based late in 2013 with the goal of losing over 200+ pounds. To see previous posts, click Duffy Chronicles.

By: Duffy

I recently received an email in my inbox from one of my favorite bloggers. He is incredibly sporadic in his blogging and more than once in the years that I’ve been following him he has gone for several months at a time with nothing, then sent two or three posts in a row, recommitting with the promise of more regular updates. The newest blog post was simply titled “#2,” and it followed a recommit post titled “#1” from the previous day. Last time he recommitted, I don’t think he got beyond two posts. But I still follow him because he’s a great blogger. I enjoy reading his work. And when I saw that second blog post in a row I found myself not only cheering him on in his recommitment, but having compassion for him. Because it is hard. Like really, really hard to put yourself out there in a public commitment and then let that public see you struggle and not live up to the expectations you had for yourself.

Lately when people ask me “How are you doing with your diet?” or “How is the whole food plant based diet working for you?” I feel like what they’re really asking is, “Why are you still obese?” or “If this is really the best diet for humans, why do you look so unhealthy?” or “If you’re actually eating just plants, why aren’t you making more progress?” In reality they may or may not be thinking any of those things. Those thoughts come first to my mind because they’re what I’m thinking, and therefore projecting.

I just looked at my last Duffy post from July of this year. I came within 6 lbs. of having lost 100 lbs. And I gained 20 lbs. back. So if weight loss is the only measure of my success, then I am a failure. I feel like a failure most of the time. My therapist reminded me though that one of the broader goals of the food addiction recovery program I’m part of (Lifestyle Transformation) is to expand the definition of success to include such things as making and strengthening connections with others, doing things that I’ve previously held myself back from doing because of my weight, and becoming more healthy.

There have been a lot of things that I have held myself back from doing because of my weight. One of them was attending the temple. I changed that last month. I haven’t yet sorted through all of this in my mind, but I sense that there is a powerful connection between the promises given in the Word of Wisdom and some of the sacred blessings pronounced and words given in the temple. Its one thing I hope to learn more about over time.

Read More→