A little while back I was shopping at the Wal-Mart and I happened to overhear one side of a phone conversation a woman was having as she stood behind me in the checkout line. I can’t remember word for word what was said, but it went something to the tune of…
“No, she isn’t going to be at the Sealing, she isn’t worthy to be there. Oh hadn’t you heard? She likes coffee and apparently her Starbucks is more important than being in the temple for her little sister’s wedding. I guess it just goes to show people’s true priorities. It’s so sad to me that she is willing to give up the blessings of the temple just to feed her addiction. But I guess that is what the temple questions and the word of wisdom are there for, to weed out the weaker saints and show who is truly dedicated to the gospel.”
Now, I don’t know this lady, and I don’t know the woman she was talking about, but I can tell you this; when I turned around inconspicuously to put a face to the comments, what I saw is not uncommon to what I see everyday at church, or in Relief Society, and yes, even in the Temple. What I saw was a woman who appeared to be in her mid 40’s, well dressed, and at least 50 to 70lbs overweight. Being the curious cat that I am, I then proceeded to check out the contents of her shopping basket. What I saw was a small smattering of fruits, veggies, frozen dinners, dairy, and then a huge assortment of ice cream, bakery doughnuts, cookies, snack cakes, breakfast cereals (not of the healthy variety), and literally bags of peanutbutter M & M’s. To be fair, she might have been buying all of this for a party, or maybe some kid had paid her to get the goods because their healthnut parents won’t let them eat any of that “crap” at home…..but I kinda doubt it.
The reason I doubt it, frankly, is because I grew in the Mormon culture, and if there is one thing I know about Mormons (or at least Mormons in Utah) is that they LOVE their Sugar! I dare you to find an LDS social or sometimes even spiritual event where some form of sugary confection isn’t being served. Now to be fair, sugar isn’t just a Mormon thing, it is an American thing. One source has estimated that the average American consumes upwards of 100lbs of sugar per year!! That’s not one hundred teaspoons or 100 cups even, no, that’s 100 POUNDS of sugar!
I am not a doctor, or a nutritionist, and I don’t hold any position of authority to presume to speak as an expert on the subject. However, there is one thing I DO have, and that is a functional human brain, and this functional human brain tells me that sugar is not particularly healthy for me and were I to consume it in large quantities I run the risk of a myriad of potential health problems including but not limited to:
Heart disease
Diabetes
Cancer
Alzheimer/Neurological issues
And Obesity
You might wondering what my point is besides attempting to take away everything you love about eating and celebration. But before I make my point, let’s get scriptural for a moment shall we?
Affectionately know to the saints as The Word of Wisdom.
Word of wisdom eh? Well that sounds pretty smart. Mayhaps we would be well served to listen to what this word of wisdom has to say. Here is the problem… a lot of members like to point to the W of W as the shining standard of what we should and shouldn’t be putting in our bodies; but as far as I can tell, most LDS only get as far as No Tobacco, Booze, or Coffee and then pretty much do whatever the heck they want. In their minds, as long as they are not doing The Big 3, then they are good to go! They are A-OK in the sight of the Lord and in their standing in the church.
Wait a second….something here just doesn’t add up. This attitude seems a little….short sighted perhaps? Allow me to illustrate:
Jesus turned water into wine did he not? They had wine at the last supper right? In fact, they drank a lot of wine back then, you wanna know why? They drank wine because water was often unsafe to drink and the fermentation process of the wine served to make it a “safer” substance to consume than a lot of the water. OK, well if this is true, then we can’t really say that wine itself is inherently “Evil”, but only that perhaps the fact that we have a plethora of fresh water options has rendered it unnecessary in todays culture to consume wine and other alcoholic beverages. This is not to say that wine was ever a health food, but if the choice was Giardia or getting a little tipsy, the wiser choice might have been the wine. And the bigger point here is that God in His infinite wisdom knew that. The same way He knows that smoking a carcinogen laden cigarette isn’t good for you, or downing excessive amounts of caffeine in the form of coffee also isn’t good for you.
But guess what? And this is where it seems like some Mormons are missing the point of just flat out choosing to ignore it.
I know plenty of Mormons who will snub their noses at a coffee drinker, but then who will turn around and down a 32 ounce bottle of Diet Coke with nary a thought. Truthfully, I don’t know many LDS guys who aren’t addicted to some form of stimulate drink, be it Mountain Dew, Redbull, Rockstar, or Monster.
So come my friends, my brothers and sisters, and let us reason together. Let’s all pretend that we have rational and functional human brains and try to see if maybe just maaayyyyybe we can spot the hypocrisy in this behavior. True, the bishop isn’t going to ask you in your temple recommend interview if you keeping your Twinkie intake to a “moderate” level, and true it is totally possible for you to literally be eating yourself to death and still be considered “worthy” to enter the temple, but come on….isn’t there even the smallest part of you that realizes you are getting in on a technicality? Skating by due to an oversight?
All Things in Moderation does not include 32 ounces of sugary and caffeine dense liquid. It doesn’t include eating a strict diet of Cheetos and Taco Bell and then sitting on your butt for the better part of the day. So instead of getting all self-righteous about the fact that you happen to abstain from one of The Big 3, why don’t you take a giant step back and look at the big picture here for a moment and consider the why behind the word of wisdom and the temple recommend “prereqs” are there in the first place.
The point is that God wants you to be the happiest you can be in this life, and God in His infinite wisdom knows that a crucial part of being happy is having a healthy functional body. He doesn’t want you to die from a heart attack at age 50 and He probably doesn’t want you to be so overweight that you can’t climb a flight of stairs. All of those things may have no spiritual ramification, but they certainly hinder your ability to be as productive and lively as you could be in THIS life. You want to know what else He probably doesn’t want? He probably doesn’t want you addicted to some substance, or addicted to anything period. So again, God in His all-knowning-ness has given us a blueprint or “guideline”,if you will, to help us make the best choices in accomplishing this goal of overall health. True, some of these things are spelled out in black and white and have basically become cannon in the doctrine, but we cannot truly believe that these are the only things that God meant when He counseled us to exercise moderation in all things. I really believe that if we were being truly honest with ourselves and with each other we would have to concede that many, if not most of us are falling far short of living the kind of optimal lifestyle that God would have us adhere to. Does that mean He loves us any less? No. But does it mean that we have much less room to judge others who might happen to be giving into one of The Big 3, I would argue yes, that is exactly what it means.
The woman in the check out line might be further from living the Word of Wisdom than the girl she was condemning for having an occasional cup of coffee, but until the temple recommend interview is expanded to include a comprehensive health assessment, complete with food dairy, lab work, and body fat composition test, we should probably reserve judgment for the only one given that authority, and then set about to work out our own salvation with fear and veggies and at least 20 minutes of physical activity a day………And perhaps the occasional deep fried Snickers bar.
As I read it again, I hope it didn’t sound too harsh in one particular area, and that is this: I understand that being technically “overweight” does not make you unhealthy per say. I hope that when people read this they dont think that I am specifically targeting overweight individuals. There are many genetic and hormonal variables that go into a person’s weight, and it would be short sighted to say that all overweight people are just eating themselves to death. Also, I truly believe that though a persons weight might fluctuate, their value and worth never does, whether you weigh 60 or 600lbs you are still a divine child of God. The point of this article is to simply state that we need to be very careful when we feel the inclination to judge others because chances are, we are falling just as far if not further from the mark as we perceive them to be. And this secondary message here is that our bodies are indeed Gods gift to us and we need to be more aware about how we are treating them, regardless of how others think we look on the outside.
-The Author-
Well said. This also points out to me a problem that is growing more and more in the Mormon society. We tend to judge people without looking at ourselves first. It’s true we all have those things that we are spiritually stronger in then others but we also have things that we struggle in, even if we see those things or not. You could chastise someone for seeing a rated R movie then go home and beat your spouse and kids, maybe that’s a little too far but you get my point. Don’t be so quick to judge we would all be a lot happier.
Thank you for this post. I have found myself in a terrible addiction to food (Salty, sweet, doesn’t matter), and it is VERY HARD to overcome this addiction. As I have put it into the perspective of overcoming ANY addiction, I have thought how hard it would be to overcome addictions to things that are inherently addictive (caffeine, alcohol, drugs, etc.) I cannot even imagine how hard that would be. Anyway, I do recognize that I do not fully keep the WOW because of my over-indulgence, and now it’s time to find a rehab center! lol
I have also fallen into a terrible food addiction. I try to quit, but I’ve only ever been able to go a day or two without it before I go right back to it. I feel like my addiction to food has reached a point where my body NEEDS it to keep going. If I don’t have it I get all weak and tired, it’s like my body doesn’t function without it. I can’t even remember a time when I wasn’t almost completely dependent on food.
Hahaha!
I agree with this post. I’m long since tired of the soap-boxy way people in Utah love to exclude people who obviously don’t measure up to temple recommend standards, especially the BIG 3. I begin to wonder if the going mentality with many of these people is getting through the temple recommend interview checklist is all you need to live a Christ-centered life. Testimony, Check. Tithing, check. WOW, check. Law of Chastity, check. Wear garments, check. Don’t bad mouth the church, check. Don’t hang with malcontents, check. Don’t have your home in total disarray, check. Yep, I’m livin’ just like Jesus did.
Wait, not having your home in total disarray is a temple requirement?! Ruh-Roh.
The question is: Is there anything in your home that is not in harmony with the gospel?
Nice post. I believe it was President Uchdorf who said in a General Conference not too long ago “don’t judge be because I sin differently than you”. We all have our own struggles. Everyone is affected differently by different temptations. Let’s love more and judge less.
Well written. I agree!
My sister and I often lament that coffee is “bad” but diet Coke is totally acceptable. I’d much rather drink coffee when I need a little help staying awake, working late, etc. Coffee has to be way healthier than any soda.
Then again, I try to remember the WoW isn’t necessarily about the “Big 3,” but is more about obedience. That includes the whole grains, fruits, veggies, and “meat sparingly.”
While I’m not a nutritionist, I don’t think coffee’s better or even as “good” as Diet Coke, especially how it’s consumed these days. Creamers, sweeteners including aspartame and saccharine, sugary syrups, brownies, cookies, and other dessert items make coffee more like a milkshake than what I grew up watching my grandpa drink (straight black). And it too is consumed in bigger and bigger cups multiple times a day, just like some soda drinkers. Which means it’s like drinking multiple milkshakes in a day.
THANK YOU!!! This is what I’ve been thinking/feeling for a while now, and though I’ve shared it with friends and family, it’s nice to know other people are feel the same way and are willing to say something about it. I don’t judge people for living an unhealthy lifestyle, yet it drives me crazy when one opens their mouth and judges another for substances they put in their bodies as they themselves are chugging their soda/energy drinks. Motes and beams! Bottom line, we really don’t know the depth of another’s struggles or strengths, so we shouldn’t be quick to condemn others.
“All things in Moderation” is not in the Word of Wisdom or anywhere else in the scriptures. It is a saying attributed to Aristotle. 🙂
“Being temperate in all things” is included in D & C 12:8, so it’s obviously important, but I think it’s funny how everyone believes that “moderation in all things” is in the scriptures.
Good point, and very true. But, you would be a far more effective writer and teacher without the condescending tone.
‘Let’s all pretend that we have rational and functional human brains and try to see if maybe just maaayyyyybe we can spot the hypocrisy in this behavior.’
This is an article that people who promote healthy lifestyles can totally get behind, but if you want to reach the ones that really need to learn from it, you need to drop the condescending tone and teach from a place that is accessible to all. I doubt someone who loves sugar would read this and be motivated to change. They would just feel judged.
Good post, but it’s an editorial, and a missed opportunity to inspire.
(And, yes, I am a healthy person who isn’t fat, just finished a 7-day sugar/salt/dairy/meat cleanse, and exercises regularly. I also don’t live in Utah.)
If I drop 100lbs am I allowed to judge coffee drinkers?
“The woman in the check out line might be further from living the Word of Wisdom than the girl she was condemning for having an occasional cup of coffee, but until the temple recommend interview is expanded to include a comprehensive health assessment, complete with food dairy, lab work, and body fat composition test, we should probably reserve judgment for the only one given that authority, and then set about to work out our own salvation with fear and veggies and at least 20 minutes of physical activity a day………And perhaps the occasional deep fried Snickers bar.”
You almost had me believing you until this last part. And here is where I have to say enough is enough. Was that woman being judgemental? Probably. But so are you. This is a problem I keep coming up against that everyone feels the right to keep spouting. You equate keeping the word of wisdom with being thin and lovely. This is just not true.
Fat people are not breaking the word of wisdom. It is not against any heavenly law to be fat. Our culture is so obsessed with glorifying thin that people in the church tend to forget this. Fat is not a sin. And there is no way that any bishop or stake president is going to pull out a BMI chart or ask for your last physical results to judge your worthiness for the temple.
The Word of Wisdom has the big three that we have been told to avoid flat out. So don’t be doing those things. The rest is a guide to help us navigate the crazy, mixed up, absolutely mind boggling culture around health and fitness we are faced with today. I heard a guy on the radio today advocating a diet of up 70% fat and NO grains whatsoever and NO fruits and NO subterranian vegetables. He said it would reduce inflamation that is the root of all major illness. REALLY!? all to be skinny and “healthy”!
I think the Word of Wisdom is a guide, an anchor to keep us in the right vein, the best, safest place to be so when things go crazy like in our low carb, glutten-free, non dairy, low fat, salt free, artificially sweetened diet, weight and thin obsessed world, we have a chance of not being buffeted by the constant winds of change. And maybe, the hearts of conspiring men, might just be those companies behind all the studies who tell us that the natural foods people have been eating for centuries are wrong and we need to eat margarine instead. Mostly because they want to sell margarine.
I understand that you want people to be healthy. Okay. And maybe you have a point about our love of sugar and caffeine. And maybe we could move a little more. I think I have gone off on this before. You might find a rant posted in the comments of an articles of news about weight and worthiness from me and I hate to sound like a broken record so I will not delve into that here. But, I will say that weight has more involved in it than just a sweet tooth and a sedentary job and fat does not equal unhealthy all the time. Also, the ideal for health and beauty is a moving target.
You should check out Susan Fullmer 2010 address at BYU Education week for a good look at the diet industry and the real risk of an unhealthy BMI.