On the Word of Wisdom

http://fitnessnutritiondenverboulder.com/defining-whole-foods-redefining-healthy-eating

In my first post I think I made an error.

I said we had no specific plan on how to achieve health, but I have to say, we really do have a place to start!

As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I consider the Word of Wisdom as sacred scripture with guidelines for our diet. I have the faith to know that if we follow the Word of Wisdom the way God would have us, we can achieve health.

I remember being in high school and being asked by one of my teachers, "I just don't understand the coffee rule, I mean what's so bad about coffee?" He didn't mean anything rude by it, he was honestly curious as to why a religion would look down in such a harmless food.

I said, "well it's really addicting and not the best for your health."
He responded, "well so is fast food but you eat that almost everyday!"

To be honest I was stunned at that moment. I had no comeback. But I went along and continued my ways. I didn't pay much attention to that comment since.

As this health journey has started, the word of wisdom and the conversation with my teacher have come back to my mind a few times. So what did I do? I re-read the Word of Wisdom, this time with a different perdpective. I read it not just to point the DON'Ts, but also to highlight the DO's. Here is what I found!

DO's                                                                        DONT's

Wholesome herbs	Drink alcohol
Herbs and fruit in season	Tobacco
All grain	Hot drinks
All fruit of the vine above or below ground (personally, I think of vegetables)	-which by revelation we know it’s to mean coffee and non-herbal tea
Animals  - sparingly  - in times of winter, cold, famine	Animals – in excess

And of course, my favorite part: the promises and the blessings that the Lord does promise us if we follow his counsel, which to mean sound like prime health!

18 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 to their bones;

19 And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures;

20 And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint.

So that's our game plan! Where our diet contained animal products in every meal of every day, and where vegetables were often an afterthought we have applied three simple rules to our diet we're trying to follow. (Obviously, we don' partake of the items in the DON'Ts list! ) And again, this is all new for us, so we're learning as we go along. Here are our three rules:

• Reducing the amount of animals and animal products we eat to eventually understand what sparingly means 
• Prioritizing fruits and vegetables in our diet
• Being proactive in eating more plant based foods like lentils, rice, beans etc. 

What about any of you? Have you found health benefits and blessings by following the Word of Wisdom? Let me know what you think, and any advice you may have for us! 

The First Thoughts...

I LOVE FOOD!!

I have always enjoyed all things eating! -- My mom tells me stories of when I was a little girl, we would go to anyone's house and I knew to identify who was in charge of the kitchen and I stayed close. (seriously, I wonder if people wondered if my mom fed me or not!) My love for eating is clearly nothing new.

While I was on my mission in Northern Virginia, one of the MANY blessings I enjoyed was all the wonderful food I ate. I remember before I headed out, I was so worried that I would have to suffer through terrible meals and unsavory platters without the ability to say no. But that was actually never the case.

This is one delicious example! 

However, lately, I have started to truly be aware of the things I'm eating, and how it's affecting my body. I'm just so stubborn and don't want to change my ways that I haven't ever taken the time to examine my food. It took me getting married and a big NUDGE from my husband to finally accept that I'm lactose intolerant. Milk and I just don't get along. But it's sooo good right?! -- Another examples is Coke. I love SODA so much! Just recently I have come to accept a world in which I don't drink it nearly as often as I did before. But even still, my journey to health is still a long road ahead.  Just over a month ago  my husband and I have finally decided to together be conscious of our food and make changes for the better.

For a while now, my husband Josh and I have been saying things like,
"One day we'll eat healthy!"
"One day we'll afford to eat healthy!"

We sometimes make ridiculous goals like,
"We're going to be Vegetarian, because that's better!"

and one of my favorites, mostly because it's a complete lie
"we really do eat pretty healthy." (as we just ate a high fat, high carb, low vegetable/fruit meal.)

We have lied to ourselves like so many people do, and have fallen into this trap that somehow health is something unreachable and unobtainable. --- Do you find yourself in a similar predicament? I know that for us:

ITS TIME TO STOP!

I'm starting this Blog in hopes to share our journey with whoever is interested. I don't want for it to be a place where people feel judged or like we're pointing fingers, but rather, we want this to be a place of inspiration, learning, and collaboration. I'm hoping to share recipes, blogs of new food we discover, and how we make choices of what we eat on a daily basis.

So many people around me want to learn to eat healthy and we all have different ideas of how to come around to that. Some reduce fat, others sugar, others carbs, others calories --- whatever the method, so many of us are trying to read as many food blogs, watch Netflix documentaries, search recipes on YouTube... and basically we're trying to figure this health business out.

If you find yourself in the same place, and are figuring this out as well, we invite you to follow our blog and learn along with us. We're going to share our ups and downs and struggles as we strive to get away from processed and altered food and go back to eating delicious WHOLE FOODS! I don't know how long this will take, nor do we have a specific plan. However we do know this, we have ignored the signs our bodies have given us for far too long. We're tired of feeling tired, and overweight, and unattractive, and any other negative feeling that eating unhealthy leads to, and we're ready to actually make change.

And so, FRUITS FOR THOUGHT begins!