Fighting a Physical Battle

Today my nephew Stephen asked "How do you think obesity relates to the word of wisdom? Can you be obese and still be following the commandment to treat your body as a temple?"

The Word of Wisdom is a health code that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints choose to live by. It predates most other health movements including the one John Harvey Kellogg and his brothers founded by at least eighty-five years.

I answered Stephen via facebook: "There are many people who believe they are eating healthy and consume traditional meals (recipes). They aren't munching on junk food. They still cannot lose weight. There are GMOs, additives, preservatives and high fructose corn syrup in everyday things that we eat. HFCS is even found in yogurt, apple sauce and soon, milk! It won’t even be required to be labeled in milk!!! That's really messing up the metabolism and digestion of human beings. The heart suffers and the brain also becomes sluggish. The only way I can see past this is to grow your own foods, in season. Buy heritage seeds, preserve your produce and keep rabbits or chickens in a pen. Buy your wheat from a farm that pledges to not use GMOs. Purchase your meat and milk from farmers that promise to never use hormones on their livestock. It's expensive and the average American family cannot do this. Most countries ban these nasty ingredients. Ours doesn't! Even the average pet is becoming obese. So next time you see a "fat" person, just take into consideration, they may be eating very little and eating healthy by traditional standards, but battling chemicals that are trapped in their bodies."

So yes, an individual may not be smoking, consuming alcohol or coffee. He might even be eating produce in season and very little red meat. He may be watching his portions and exercising moderately and still fail to lose the weight. He is still treating his body as a temple, following the Word of Wisdom, and we are not here to judge. It is between him and his doctor and God.