How the Word of Wisdom (D&C 89) changed my life

I was someone who was always sick. It’s hard to even imagine living like that now, but that was my life for over 20 years. When I did finally go into the hospital to see what was wrong with me, I tested positive for everything the doctors threw at me. My diagnoses included reflux, stricture, esophageal spasms (very painful), h. pylori, ulcers, exercise induced asthma, panic attacks, eczema, hay fever, and irritable bowel syndrome. As the tests came back and each one positive for something new, I was shocked that there was so much wrong with me.

Mostly, the recommendations for all of my problems was pills and my allergies got worse with all of the new drugs I was on. More pills. Each day, I was on about 12 different pills. None of the physicians ever mentioned my diet. I was physically active, but none of them ever talked to me about exercise or lifestyle. There was no discussion about mental health. Fast forward 15 years later and I was still battling stomach issues. The pills hadn’t solved all of my problems, but they made my days livable, and for a long time that was good enough. But I wasn’t getting better and I wanted real healing. I went into my gastroenterologist and demanded something better. I had started distance running and had “runners gut” which meant that I ran with nausea and had terrible stomach issues after long runs. There had to be something better. I was looking for a better way to live. I went through another round of testing and when I demanded answers I was told: WE DON’T KNOW WHAT’S CAUSING YOUR PROBLEMS, BUT IT’S PROBABLY WHAT YOU’RE EATING.

What?? What I was eating was causing this? How? Why hadn’t anyone ever said anything! I asked the doctor what I should be eating. He said he didn’t know but that I could see a dietitian. Medical doctors get less than 8 hours of education on nutrition and he didn’t know what I SHOULD be eating. I asked if my depression could be making my stomach problems worse and he said, “maybe, but you’ll have to see a psychologist for that.” He only knew pills. He only knew which pills could help with which symptom I was having, nothing more. So I fired all of my doctors and started a journey to health and healing.

I started with my diet. I ate like most “healthy” Americans. I had eggs for breakfast, turkey sandwich for lunch and some sort of chicken dish for dinner. I tried to swap out my favorite sugary treats with sugar free stuff, my stomach issues got worse. Fat free options were terrible on my stomach. I started to keep a food log and couldn’t seem to pin point any one thing that was causing the most trouble. In desperation, I turned to God. I was confused and needed answers. HELP, I prayed. Help me figure out what to eat. I went to the library and felt directed to read a book called, “Finding Ultra” by Rich Roll. It’s about one of the fittest men on the planet who was unhappy and overweight at 40 years old and discovered a whole-food plant-based diet and started running ultra marathons and was able to heal his body. I was shocked. Then I felt prompted to read D&C 89, what we call in the LDS Church, The Word of Wisdom. It’s about what to put in our bodies and what not to. The prompting left me confused because I thought I was living everything in those verses to the best of my ability. I sat down with a highlighter and my scriptures and made an incredible discovery. I was only living the do nots.

THE DO’S: Use herbs, eat vegetables and fruits in their season, eat meat sparingly only in times of winter, famine, or extreme hunger, eat grains as the staple of your diet, eat wheat.

THE BLESSINGS: Health, wisdom, knowledge, strength, endurance, salvation.

I discovered that I was not living the word of wisdom at all and that God cared about my health and my well-being. He cared about what I ate and how I felt. I prayed about what to do, what to eat, and when to do it and the answer was a whole-food, plant-based diet. I started out simple: breakfast. For two weeks I changed what I ate for breakfast. I ate whole foods, whole grains, and no meat, eggs, or dairy. The truth is, I am lactose intolerant and so I rarely ate or drank anything with dairy so cutting out cheese and yogurt wasn’t really all that difficult. Then I moved on to lunch. I ate salads, nachos, soups, wraps. Next, was dinner. This was difficult, I was eating chicken or hamburger for dinner every night like almost everyone else in the US, but I powered on finding new recipes and discovering you didn’t need to eat meat at dinner. Within 2 months my diet was free of meat and dairy and I was off all of my medications. All 12. My stomach felt fantastic. My energy was up. I no longer needed an inhaler when I exercised. I no longer needed to take an allergy pill, an allergy sinus spray, and an additional pill for breakthrough hay fever. I didn’t need my sleeping pill anymore. Beyond that, my mental health issues steadily improved! My mood stabilized and I felt less depressed and angry.

My story is not unique. Not by a long shot. People everywhere have discovered the benefits of a whole-food plant-based diet and are using the diet to help their chronic health conditions. Read more stories here: https://discoveringthewordofwisdom.com/ and here: https://www.forksoverknives.com/success-stories/

The science behind a whole-food plant-based diet is amazing. Most of the diseases that are the top killers in the US are preventable with daily exercise and a plant based nutrition plan. Even Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia have been shown to be preventable by eating a plant-based diet. I love it when science catches up to scripture.

I also love the history behind D&C 89. There are countless articles about what the words mean and why they are said the way they are. The history behind why the word of wisdom was necessary, is pretty compelling. Here’s a great place to start: https://discoveringthewordofwisdom.com/about/the-word-of-wisdom/wow-faqs/ to answer most questions. And here: quotes from General Authorities about eating meat and the word of wisdom: https://cassidygundersen.com/34-shocking-general-authorities-quotes-about-meat/