Believe what you want but I believe we should be eating a plant based diet. Aside from science, there is a religious aspect to me as well. The word of wisdom says to eat meat sparingly, only in winter or famine. Well of course if you don't have plants to eat then you have to eat meat but in today's world that is not a problem. We can get fresh fruits and vegetables and grains year round. We have so much available to us, not just what we can grow locally. We would have even more produce if there were not so many animals being raised for meat. Many prophets and church leaders did not eat meat and attributed their good health and strength to it. As I have been reading about all of this, I have felt the spirit testify to me that I need to do this. It's like a spiritual conversion. I have been brought to tears many times. This is not just a whim. I believe that our testimonies grow about different parts of the gospel at different times in our lives, you know line upon line precept upon precept.
This has actually been coming for a while. I've thought about and tried vegetarian diets before but never stuck with it but instead just chose what I thought were healthier meats and we don't eat meat everyday anyway. I have taken myself off of dairy for a long time. I don't handle much well, makes me feel yuck and I have read a lot of studies against drinking cows milk for various reasons plus I don't need the calories. I have been avoiding all artificial sweeteners, colors, flavors, preservatives for a long time too. Can you say carcinogen?! I have concerns with the air quality and all of the toxins in our environment. For a society that is supposedly so smart and wealthy we sure have polluted our lives and it just drives me nuts that the major problems with our society like cancer, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, autism spectrum disorders etc are so obviously the result of this and yet we ignore the obvious solution. Instead of having discipline and saying no you can't pollute my air and my water and my food we let it happen and spend tons of money and research on medicine to cover up the symptoms instead of looking at the cause.
I certainly think there are those out there who eat way worse than we ever have but I have kids that display symptoms of some autism spectrum disorders and I have been racking my brain for years wondering what I could do to help them without drugging them. I absolutely refuse to medicate my kids for this. I think the side effects greatly outweigh the benefits and that it's wrong to train a child to depend on a chemical to make it through the day. I think that in the past I thought it would be healthier for me to be vegetarian or vegan but I didn't have the drive to really stick to it but now that I feel like it could really make a difference in the lives of my children, how can I not do it? It has really been stressing me out to begin with wondering what I will cook now but as the days go by it doesn't seem as big of a deal as I thought. The kids are trying more foods and eventually their tastes will change and they will get better at eating some things. Honestly, my kids have never been real meat lovers anyway. Seems like I used to fuss at them to eat the meat. They have always loved the sides like bread, rice, pasta, potatoes, corn, peas, green beans, carrots etc. Now the trick is to get some of them to like beans.
Our world is full of wonderful nutritious food that our Heavenly Father has provided for us and in that food is the nutrition that gives our bodies the power to heal itself and remove toxins but if we eat a bunch of processed junk our bodies can't do that. I guess in the past I was choosing to remain ignorant or just not think about what I put in my body but no more. We are what we eat.
May the Lord bless us as we make this transition and help us not fall back into our old ways.
I really liked what this guy wrote http://www.vegsource.com/articles/catano.htm
and this even more http://www.allanstime.com/Health/diet_plant.htm
anyone else wanna try it for a few months and see what a difference it makes in our lives?
maybe all the righteous will eventually become vegetarian and help bring about the millenium...kind of cool if you think about it. It would help us be healthier and stronger and live longer and helps clean the earth and all animals will be our friends. just kind of fun to think about. i'm not pretending to be enlightened about the future.
Men must become harmless before the brute creation and when men lose their vicious dispositions and cease to destroy the animal race, the lion and the lamb can dwell together, and the suckling child can play with the serpent in safety.
— Joseph Smith, Jr.
