four camps

I've spent a lot of time thinking about what goes in my mouth this year and how I got so ill. I've found people are usually in four camps, when they learn of my eating habits--the ones who are angry that I won't eat ice cream and cake, rude about my weight loss police, the staff of life crowd, and the anti-abstaining from meat people. Sometimes I get grief from the same people about all of these. 

Sadly, the once erect and noble American citizen is generally fat and unhealthy. Our life expectancy is longer----but longer for what? As we hobble down the hall with our walkers and oxygen tanks, are we really living. Ice cream and cake might be tasty morsels, but they are not worth the consequences. Refined foods are anything but what their name implies. Refined is defined thus:

1. not coarse or vulgar; genteel, elegant, or polite

2. subtle; discriminating

3. freed from impurities; purified

Subtle--maybe the way they use propaganda, but a bowl of ice cream even the stuff without added chemicals that comes from a cow fed growth hormones and oodles of antibiotics and has lived knee-deep in her own filth is not freed from impurities or elegant in any way. Plus, many people are allergic or sensitive to dairy products. Frankly, humans do not need to drink milk after the age of weaning. We haven't even discussed preservatives, high-fructose corn syrup, factory eggs, sugar, white flour, and so on. Others can eat their cake and have their ice cream, but with that choice may come diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, stroke, and other painful debilitating diseases and maladies. No thank you.

After my winter in Seattle, I came back to Cedar City quite a bit lighter. Some commented that I was too thin--was I having trouble with anorexia? Hmmm...I began to question my new found health. I re-read Green for Life, Eat to Live, The China Study, Original Fast Foods, and other material that had helped me gain my new vibrant-health lifestyle. No...At that point, I was still about 5-10 lbs. over a proper weight for my size. Americans are just fat. Some are intimidated by those who choose to reject the American way. Joseph and Spencer pointed out that the people who gave me grief probably felt jealous, because they were fat. That made sense.

The Doctrine and Covenants talks about meat in two places D&C 89:15 and D&C 49:18. (Look at the footnotes in 49:18; it doesn't mean what most people believe it means.) Read these along with the Old Testament verses in Daniel, I believe the Lord is telling us that meat can be used for food if we need it. It pleases Him, when we choose not to use it, when it is not needed. Currently, I don't need it with plenty of organic fruit and veggie choices. He made animals for our use, for both clothing and food, but we should be sparing and good stewards of this privilege. Vegetarianism and meat eating are both sanctioned by Him at certain times.We should eat meat sparingly, if we eat it at all. There are many problems with eating more meat than our body needs. The China Study is a wonderful scientific study that agrees with the teachings of God. Daniel,  D&C 49: 21 and 89:15 were God's plain words on the subject.

Agreed, grain is the staff of life. Let's explore the use of a staff. When we hike in the nearby mountains, we use a staff to support us as we climb steep hill sides, a secondary support tool. In no way can that staff propel us forward; we lean on it. The same is true of grain as a food source. Fruits and vegetables including legumes can meet all the nutritional needs of the body with the fewest calories and provide the greatest volume. We use grains to support our caloric needs above and beyond those obtained through consumption of fruits and vegetables.  Using grains, nuts, and seeds as a primary, rather than secondary food source, leads to health issues for both man and animals. Grasses (which grains are) are the primary food for horses and cattle; the over-consumption of grass and grain by horses leads to foot maladies, digestion problems, arthritic symptoms, and allergies. Humans similarly experience a plethora of afflictions, when fruits and vegetables are under-consumed and grain is over-consumed. Therefore, while grains and especially wheat are to be used as the staff of life, the staff of life does not mean it is to be exclusive in our diet any more than meat or sugar.

Anyone reading this should know that none of the ideas above are originally mine. Instead I read and read and read. Then I write about what I have learned from the many great men and women, who researched plant-based dietary practices. Only the interpretation of the ideas are mine. I never intentionally use the words of others and call them my own.

"To a great extent we are physically what we eat... What needs additional emphasis are the positive aspects--the need for vegetables, fruits, and grains, particularly wheat. In most cases, the closer these can be, when eaten, to their natural state -- without over-refinement and processing -- the healthier we will be. To a significant degree, we are an overfed and undernourished nation digging an early grave with our teeth, and lacking the energy that could be ours because we overindulge in junk foods...We need a generation of young people who, as Daniel, eat in a more healthy manner than to fare on the "king's meat" - and whose countenances show it." (Ezra Taft Benson, Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p. 476-77)

“The condition of the physical body can affect the spirit. That’s why the Lord gave us the Word of Wisdom. He also said that we should retire to our beds early and arise early (see D&C 88:124), that we should not run faster than we have strength (see D&C 10:4), and that we should use moderation in all good things...Food can affect the mind, and deficiencies of certain elements in the body can promote mental depression...Rest and physical exercise are essential, and a walk in the fresh air can refresh the spirit. Wholesome recreation is part of our religion and is a necessary change of pace; even its anticipation can lift the spirit.” President Ezra Taft Benson (1899–1994), “Do Not Despair,” Ensign, Oct. 1986