“I’m thankful the Master of the universe cares what I have for breakfast”

By: Charles Cranney

When I was on the local youth swim team, the only indoor pool during the winter was at BYU. For the morning swim we arrived at 5:45 and swam until 7. My mom would always pick us up after visiting Winchell’s donuts. My favorite was the buttermilk one. After that I would go home and usually have French toast or pancakes for breakfast. My favorite meal was roast beef with mashed potatoes and gravy. I drank tons of milk, thinking it was healthy. Lots of juice too.

I remained fit and trim during my mission and throughout most my college career, but little did I know my diet was laying the foundation for some challenges later in life. As the children came and I got a desk job, I started gaining weight. The joke was that every time my wife had a pregnancy, I would be empathetic and gain weight with her—but not lose the weight after she did. (We had seven children.😀)  I remember that for family night, we would often go to McDonald’s, where they had Big Macs for $1 each. I would usually eat two. I also loved ice cream. When I would go to social gatherings, I would try to be discreet about how much I ate, but I always felt I ate about twice as much as everyone else, if I was honest (especially the meat and sugary things). I did play racquetball several times a week and rode my bike to work, and we had a garden and many fruit trees, which I enjoyed. Fresh peaches drench with cream and sugar was a favorite—or peaches with Wheaties. I ate meat with nearly every meal. During food discussions I was fond of saying, “I didn’t spend a million years climbing the evolutionary ladder to be a vegetarian.”

I became more and more of a stress eater because of all the challenging church callings that seemed to come my way, including a couple of stints as bishop almost back to back (BYU and then the home ward). I remember sometimes thinking my “ticker” felt a little odd, but I never had it checked out. Later in 2006 when I was serving as young men’s president I hiked Timpanogos and King’s Peak with the young men, even though I was about 250 lbs. at the time and 49 years old. My wife had me get a heart stress test before those hikes since I was so overweight. It was shortly after that that I was called to serve as a mission president in the Russia Moscow Mission. There was, of course, lots of stress associated with that. It was one of the largest land-mass missions in the world. My farthest branch was a five-hour flight to southern Kazakhstan. My ankle hurt quite a bit during that time from an earlier extreme sprain.

When I returned from Russia, I was 264 lbs. At the doctor’s soon after, I was sent for a battery of uncomfortable tests and diagnosed with prostate cancer. Before the surgery, I went on Weight Watchers and lost 50 lbs. The robot-assisted surgery was very successful, and I was able to maintain weight of about 215 lbs for a couple of years. I was eating more fruits and vegetables than in the past but still plenty of other not-so-good stuff and meat. I also started running more.

About three years later, while traveling in Europe/Turkey as the cultural advisor with the BYU Chamber Orchestra, I thought I was having a sciatic nerve problem in my back, but it turned out to be the beginning of arthritis in the facet part of my back. It gradually grew more painful (as did my foot, knee, and shoulder). At one point my back was so painful that my wife would put me on the UTA frontrunner so I could stand up while going to Bountiful to visit in-laws there. I was in and out of the doctor’s, and started using some pain relievers that I found out I was slightly addicted to (because when I stopped I had a couple of weeks of breaking out in sweats at odd times and feeling shaky). But I would do anything to get rid of the pain. Finally, I had a rhizotomy, where they zap the nerves that were giving me such problems. That was supposed to help for anywhere from six months to two years. It did provide immediate relief, but I had also been diagnosed with prediabetes (my A1c being at 5.9). I was also diagnosed with sleep apnea and so use a CPAP machine.

With the pain still fresh in my mind, other health challenges looming, and some encouragement by two of my children, one of whom had gone completely into whole food, plant-based (WFPB) eating, I made the same dietary jump. It wasn’t gradual. At first I used recipes from the Eat to Live cookbook, later to be supplemented by the How Not to Die cookbook and the Forks over Knives app on my phone. I visualized anything not in the WFPB categories as cigarettes or alcohol, which I would never dream of using. (I still watch a new video on nutritionfacts.org daily as I eat breakfast. The peer-reviewed science and industry manipulation is a fascinating discovery for me.)

It worked. My blood sugar quickly stabilized back to normal. I lost weight back to 215 lbs., and the arthritis hasn’t resurfaced much at all since except one awful week recently after a Shingrix vaccination. But that’s gone away again. My blood pressure is now normal, usually around 110/65. My LDL was 42 last checkup, and my A1c in the normal range. I did get diagnosed a little after the beginning WFPB with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, which has not totally gone away, but it doesn’t manifest itself quite as dramatically nor as often.

I’m a little surprised more weight hasn’t come off, but I do feel pretty good. I think I still stress overeat, but nowadays my weight won’t go any higher no matter how I stuff myself. One time when I took my son-in-law to Outback Steakhouse for his birthday, I was not very experienced ordering WFPB so the only thing I could find was a Caesar salad. I asked them to hold the croutons, the dressing, and the Parmesan cheese. They brought out a plate of lettuce!

It is always of some consternation to me that I brushed off the meat part of the Word of Wisdom in earlier years. I always justified meat consumption because other scripture said that forbidding meat wasn’t of God. But for me, no meat is the right thing, and I think this is pleasing to the Lord. I do take B-12 regularly. And I’ve since focused more and prayed more about the positive parts of the Word of Wisdom. My wife hasn’t completely jumped on board but has always eaten lots more veggies than I did. I decided that I wasn’t going to demand this lifestyle for any family members, though I will try to be articulate about the WFPB position when asked. Two of my sons are total WFPB, which helps (with others following it partially). I eat a lot of fresh fruit and beans. I make a great granola with oats, dates, sesame seeds, pumpkins seeds, ground flax seeds, sunflower kernels, and I use my own almond milk. I hope sometime I might lose some other pounds, but I am more focused on health than on weight for now.

I wish I could turn back the clock. I often think “what if” I would have known what I now know. Still, I’m thankful that God, though master of the vast universe, personally cares what I have for breakfast.

Charles Cranney is 63 years old and lives in Provo, Utah. He and his wife have seven children and 16 grandchildren. During his life Charles has been a writer, editor, singer, technical specialist, film producer/editor, Russian speaker, teacher, SEO specialist, and technologist. He has particularly enjoyed joining a refugee family alliance to serve and enable a refugee family with five young children. He currently works for BYU Publications & Graphics as their digital products manager and serves as the chair of the board for Utah Valley Refugees while also serving as branch president at an assisted-care facility.