“I want to cry out like an angel: THERE IS AN ANSWER!”

By: Jeri Franz

For the first 38 years of my life I ate the wrong foods and too much of them….foods laden with sugar and flour. As a child, I started showing signs of this at about the age of eight and went on my first diet at age 11. Being born in 1951 there were not as many heavy children as there are now and so I always felt different. I also picked up a few bad habits with other things in high school but gave those up when I joined the church at the age of 24 and was made aware of the Word of Wisdom. I just never paid much attention to the food part. When I received my Patriarchal Blessing a few months later and it read, “You have a Good Body. Keep it that way and you can through the reading of good books and the power of prayer,” I figured it was referring to diet books and was always looking for those “good books” that were going to help me maintain this “good body” that eventually got up to 225 pounds on a 5’4” frame!

Fast forward through years of dieting, binging, getting to my normal weight for five minutes, having five children and then in my late thirties I discovered a twelve-step program for “compulsive overeaters.” It was then that the rest of my journey began. I felt God had led me to a place where I could learn more of Him and turn to Him instead of to the food which was truly my “drug of choice.” This journey evolved as I recognized what I truly had was a food addiction and needed to give up sugar and flour and have a food plan, which I started doing in my late forties with another twelve-step program.

I am now 71 years old and have been free of the 100 extra pounds I carried on my body. I have been at the weight of 127 for 10 years now, and I’ve been sugar and flour free for 18 years. So, I felt pretty healthy. I had energy, although usually I required an afternoon nap.  I didn’t have any obvious health problems thankfully, but I was eating 8 ounces of yogurt every morning for breakfast and 4 ounces of protein or 2 ounces of cheese at each meal. This was also augmented at each meal with 6 ounces of cooked and 6 ounces of raw vegetables and a couple of pieces of fruit; I never ate in between meals. I strictly adhered to this plan and because of it experienced a great amount of spiritual, emotional, and physical recovery.

My husband and I had come across the book The China Study about ten years ago, and he began to make a few changes like giving up red meat. I considered it, but I didn’t feel ready even after reading the book and watching the documentary Forks over Knives. I mean, I took supplements, I ate healthily, I felt good, I was just fine and loved my meat and my yogurt. I also complained about not enough energy. When we went to serve our 18-month mission in 2016 in Germany my husband started eating red meat again, and I continued on my food plan with my yogurt and meat, never eating any beans at all. We had a friend in our ward who would not eat meat in the summer, only in winter because of the Word of Wisdom, part of only consuming meat in the times of cold or famine. But I just never got on board with that.

Once home, I would make half-hearted attempts at meatless meals and even went three weeks with no meat once but always gave in with a juicy hamburger! The meats I chose for my protein were usually the ones with a lot of fat. I was impressed that my sister who had moved to Mexico started eating plant based back in October of 2020, and she loved it! Finally, in January of 2022, my husband decided to give up red meat once again.  He and I both contracted Covid towards the end of the month (for the third time I might add), and our son who is vegan and lives in town brought us over a meal with sweet potatoes, chickpeas, and broccoli. I looked at those chickpeas and I thought…why am I not eating those on my salad instead of meat or cheese?? And the next day that is what I did, and I feel the Lord totally took away my desire for meat. It was not even anything I planned; it just became implanted in my heart and mind that this is what I needed to do for my health. I didn’t transition to just a few meatless meals or anything like that, just didn’t look back and gave it all up. However I continued to eat my yogurt in the mornings and cheese a couple of times a week in my salads.

Then as I talked to others in my food program who were also plant-based I became aware of another documentary Eating You Alive and recognized the real harm in dairy and decided to give that yogurt up in the morning and substitute nuts and seeds or tofu or soy milk. I did not care for the alternative yogurts as I felt they had too many processed items in them and not much protein.

The rather beautiful thing that has happened in this latter part of my journey is that I feel even more clear than before. I feel that I can hear the Spirit speak to me better and that I am doing just what the Lord would have me do. As I read the Word of Wisdom again I was struck with verse 19: “And thou shalt find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge even hidden treasures.” I was experiencing that!! I was understanding the scriptures better, and I was digesting them, feeling like truly feasting on them! I even noticed a new sensitivity to animals and a real pain in my heart at what they suffer because of the huge meat eaters in our society and the demand for more, and I felt so very grateful that I was not a part of that anymore. As I thought about the fact that even animals are to live up to the measure of their creation with joy, I knew that was certainly not true in this day and age when “evil and conspiring men” abuse them so badly simply so they can meet the demand and make more money. I’m sure it causes our Father in Heaven great pain at His beloved creatures being treated so.

I feel lighter and have even lost a few more pounds which feels quite good. As I see others my age or even younger suffering with chronic illness and disease, I just want to cry out like an angel: THERE IS AN ANSWER!! CHANGE THE WAY YOU ARE EATING! I will be forever grateful that I was able to give up animal products and move forward eating in the way that I know the Lord would have me and so many of His children eat. I have even experienced more neutrality around my food than before. It is simply medicine for my body. My food is delicious, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t have to get excited about it. I would rather be excited about life and live it fully! Eating according to the way the Lord has set out in the Word of Wisdom is the answer. Is that any surprise?

My husband and I live in Jacksonville, Illinois which is two hours from Nauvoo, and have lived here for over forty years with short stints in the North Woods of Minnesota and Germany. We have four living children, one of our sons dying as a toddler of a brain tumor back in 1983. We have fifteen adorable grandchildren who live in Illinois, Missouri, Utah and Oregon so we have fun visiting them. I have a degree in English and Secondary Education but always stayed home with our children as they were growing up but did Direct Sales on the side, selling my last Direct Sales business after the mission in 2018.

My husband of 44 years serves as Branch President in a branch near our home ward and I am Primary President. We love serving in the Church. I love to read and write and usually churn out a poem or two once in a while. During Covid, I was able to get my life story written out and published and my husband did as well, so that was an achievement I had been wanting to accomplish for quite some time. We love to go to the temple which is two hours away in St. Louis and usually take members of our branch with us.

We have recently acquired a small teardrop camper and enjoy getting out into the woods together away from the distractions of home. I had to have one with a kitchen so I could take care of my food needs, and we really enjoy this and feel it was a real investment in our marriage.