Why We Eat How We Eat

A little over a year-and-a-half ago, my wife Jamie and I felt a yearning to know God better. We began praying for help to make significant changes to be closer to Him and experience more of the gifts of the Spirit. We had no idea the Lord would answer those prayers by telling us to change how we eat.

This is how it happened: a little after Jamie and I started praying for this, we were reading scriptures with the kids while we ate dinner (we’ve learned that combining meal and scripture time reduces the chance that the kids will run off while we read). As was typical in our house (and most American houses), we were eating a protein-centric dish named for the meat it was built around.

On that particular day, I chose to read this section of holy writ which says the Lord wants us to joyfully use the things of the earth—plants and animals—to sustain and enrich our lives. But then comes this stern warning: “For unto this end were they made to be used, with judgment, not to excess, neither by extortion” (v. 20). A clear message from heaven pierced my mind to the core, “The way you eat meat is excess and extortion.”

This freaked me out. I somehow recognized it as the answer to our prayers to be closer to God but it scared me because Jamie did most the cooking. I didn’t want to say to her, “God told me we should stop or significantly reduce our meat intake so you need to change how you cook for us.” That just didn’t seem like a conversation that would end well.

So, I sat on the revelation. For two months.

From time to time, a voice in the back of my head would remind me that we needed to make this change but I would just put it off. Finally, one day, I came home from work and Jamie seemed nervous to tell me something.

She began timidly, “I’ve been watching some documentaries today and I would like to make some changes.” She’d watched a few of the various Netflix exposés on the food industry as well as this excellent TED talk on being a weekday vegetarian. She was resolved to dramatically cut our family’s meat intake but was scared to tell me because she didn’t know what I’d think!

I was so relieved. I told her what I’d felt while reading the scriptures at dinner two months earlier. We were both so happy we’d come to the same conclusion through different means and felt that we were truly following God’s will for our family.

Since then, we’ve continued learning more from science and from scripture about the best way to eat. Line upon line, precept upon precept, we have developed a new diet that follows what we Mormons call The Word of Wisdom, a revelation from God about how we should eat. It is the reason most participating Mormons do not use alcohol, tobacco, tea, and coffee. But in addition to prohibiting that stuff, it also advocates a diet based on grains, fruits, and vegetables; and says we should eat meat “sparingly”. It even suggests that God would be pleased if we only ate meat in times of emergency.*

As we’ve mostly cut meat out of our diet with a few exceptions, we’ve been very blessed. The Word of Wisdom ends with a series of promises that we’ve realized in our lives:

“And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow in their bones…." We definitely feel that our bodies are stronger and healthier and simply sturdier. As we’ve satisfied our hunger with nutrient rich whole grains, vegetables, and fruits instead of meat, our constitutions have improved.

We’ve also received spiritual health in the navel. I imagine a baby whose navel receives all needed nourishment from the umbilical cord that connects to his or her mother. Taking the Word of Wisdom at face value has strengthened our umbilical connection to God and filled us with grace and spiritual strength.

“And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures….” This is where the Word of Wisdom becomes the answer to our prayer to know God. As we’ve lived this health code, we’ve learned more from God and come to know God more. Mysteries of godliness have been revealed to us and we find it easier to experience the gifts of the Spirit.

“And shall run and not be weary, and walk and not faint….” We simply have more energy. It is easy to sustain physical activity and easier to sustain spiritual activity as well, making it easier to follow the Lord’s injunction to "endure to the end” in well-doing.

“And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them. Amen.” This definitely applies to obedience to the Word of Wisdom prohibitions against alcohol and tobacco which significantly shorten people’s life spans. The introduction to the Word of Wisdom says that it was given “in consequence of evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days.” This probably refers to big companies that profit big from alcohol and tobacco sales and have worked to keep the perils of these substances a secret.

But perhaps it also refers to companies and organizations that use immoral means to convince the public that lots of meat and other unhealthy foods aren’t bad and thereby make a significant profit off of shortening people’s lives. Latter-day Saints who avoid alcohol and tobacco reduce their risk of liver disease and lung cancer. If more of us took just as seriously the injunction to eat little or no meat, we’d also lower our risk of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease, all of which are significant and growing epidemics the Lord must have foresaw when He gave the revelation.

Perhaps this is why Gordon B. Hinckley, a man whom I love and who served as a prophet of God, said in a 1993 address, “I thank the Lord for a testimony of the Word of Wisdom. I wish we lived it more fully. But even though we do not, the Lord pours out His blessings upon those who try” (emphasis added). I am grateful for the Word of Wisdom. Jamie and I are blessed as we live it as fully as we know how.

I want to write more about this subject but there is so much to say that I don’t know where to start. So, all readers are most welcome to post any questions you have about how our family is eating and what we’re experiencing to help me organize my thoughts for the next post.

In the meantime, here is a beautiful video we found recently which shows other people having the same sort of experience we’re having and seeing the same blessings:

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* There may be some confusion over why so many Mormons adhere strictly to the prohibitions but not the counsel. The guys over at FairMormon have done an excellent job of explaining that “the Word of Wisdom contains two kinds of instructions: (1) prohibitions, and (2) counsel. The prohibitions are binding upon the Saints; the counsel, precisely because it is counsel, is up to each of us as individuals.”

The Word of Wisdom prohibitions against alcohol, tobacco, coffee, or tea are seen as binding upon all members of our Church and a prerequisite to receiving the Church’s ordinances (sacraments). The counsel part of the revelation is not considered binding in the same way—members are encouraged to figure out for themselves how to best live those parts. “In the Church, we refer to this as living according to what the Holy Spirit has revealed to each of us, or in this instance, living according to the spirit of the Word of Wisdom” (again from FairMormon).