A shocking recent Michigan State University report showed that only 3 percent of Americans have a healthy lifestyle. While I have only anecdotal evidence, the percentage may be even lower among Latter-day Saints. We’ve got to do better.
The first question is, of course, by what criteria? The MSU study had four categories: 1)whether or not you smoke 2)whether or not you have a healthy weight 3)whether or not you eat five servings a day of fruits and veggies 4)whether or not you exercise five times a week for 30 minutes each time.
The results: 76 percent of Americans don’t smoke, 40 percent maintain a healthy weight, 23 percent eat enough fruit and veggies, 22 percent exercise five times a week for 30 minutes each time. If you take all of these groups together, only 3 percent do all four, 14 percent do three of four and 34 percent two of four. A healthy lifestyle was indicated by doing all four.
Matthew Reeves, the lead researcher at MSU, said he was “shocked” by the results, which were compiled using survey data of more than 150,000 Americans by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. He expected the numbers to be at least 15 percent for all four, not 3 percent.
OK, now think about the people in your ward: how many of them do you think do four of four or even three of four? Probably not very many.
Personally, I only do three of four: I don’t smoke, I have a healthy weight and I exercise five days a week for at least 30 minutes. But I don’t eat five servings a day of fruits and veggies (more like two or three). Note: I’m not sure what the definition is of a “serving,” but I’m guessing they’re saying we should eat fruit for breakfast, a small salad and vegetable for lunch and a small salad and vegetable for dinner. Having a large salad for lunch or dinner probably counts for two or three servings alone.
Now, for the slings and arrows. There have been recent studies showing that being 10-20 pounds overweight may be healthier than being at your ideal weight. And of course a world full of cynics has grabbed onto this as sure evidence that it’s okay to be overweight. Look, folks, basic logic declares that our generation is heavier than it should be. Just go rent a movie made in the 1930s and compare the body types then to the body types now. Heck, even take a look at a movie from the 1950s. Face it: we are a fat generation, and it’s killing us.
Here’s my point: it’s great that we Latter-day Saints (mostly) follow the word of wisdom. But we are supposed to treat our bodies as temples. Temples are sleek and beautiful. And too many of us aren’t. We need to do a better job in all areas of the church in emphasizing personal health, fitness and diet. We need to eat a lot less fat and sugar. In short, we need to shape up.
One last point: 4.2 percent of women hit all four indicators, but only 1.9 percent of men did. We are definitely the weaker sex.
LDS are NOT healthy enough, at least not in first world countries. If they were, obesity wouldn’t be such an issue, even among the CHurch members, or heart disease and diabetes and Irritable bowel syndrome and Celiac and other diet related illness wouldn’t be such an issue. Members of the Church follow the “don’ts” quite well, but when it comes to the “Dos” they fall short. I say they, now, because I used to be one of them, but no more. White flour is considered a “grain” among so many people, sugar is a staple (my question is, what is the purpose of blessing food that is so bad for you??), junk food, pop, you name it. The crap that gets eaten is amazing. When we started having children and people became aware that they do not eat refined sugar, we got the MOST comments from members of the Church. They seemed (seem) appalled that we would “deprive” our children of “treats”. Which we don’t. They get lots of treats! There are non-sugar or healthier choices that they love. I read an article that says most American and Canadian children don’t get enough fruits and so are lacking in many nutrients, well that sure ins’t the case for my children. They love fruit and eat lots of it. Their vegetable consumption could improve, but they still eat them, and they don’t get white bread (like taht horror wonder bread, I dont’ care how enriched they say it is) and they don’t get pop. Sometimes (like twice a year) they might get a bit of “natural/organic” pop, but even that is minimal. And they ask for water before anything else. That’s because the first fluid they recieved after being exclusively breastfed for a year was water. They rarely have juice. Children under the age of 18 shouldn’t have more than half a cup of juice (and not sugar laden fruit drink either) a day. We eat sprouted grains mostly, and we eat lower fat, healthier options of food. Vegetables and whole grains and healthy foods are normal in our house. Sure we love treats, but we stay away from the normal junk food variety because I KNOW how addicted *I* was to junk and I am not going to set my children up for that trap.
Anyway, yes, Latter day Saints need more nutrition education. High fat and white flour and refined sugar are too prevalant even in “our” LDS culture. I really don’t think this is what the Lord wants for us. He wants us to have healthy bodies and lead active lives and unfortunately many don’t fall under that. Our lifestyle is TOO western and too processed/junk food. It is getting worse. Nutrition doesn’t come in a box. It comes in whole, healthy food. We are continuing down a spiral of ill health. Our religion doesn’t save us. Sure we don’t smoke and we don’t drink and so we lessen risk factors, but that isn’t saving members of the Church from developing high blood pressure and diabetes at alarming rates and the sad thing is it is so easily prevented. So easily. Get rid of the white and refined flours and sugars and overly processed and junk foods and get active. That’s another issue, but very important too. LDS tend to think they are better becuase of the no smoking no drinking part of the Word of Wisdom, but I can tell you, I see more non LDS at my gym than I see LDS and these non LDS show a lot healthier bodies than many of the LDS! Not all, thank goodness, there are some who are focussed on their health, but it shouldn’t take a diabetes diagnosis to get on the ball about it. I wish there was more focus on the actual nutrition aspect of the WofW. Eating crap food can kill you just as well as smoking can.
The three percent figure is likely bogus, as I bet criteria #2 was based on BMI.
I do 1, 3 and 4 – but I will never have an acceptable BMI because I lift weights, thus giving me low body fat, but a BMI in the “very obese” range.
Of course, after the recent CDC study that says those who are slightly obese tend to live longer than those who are in the “ideal” BMI range.
Perhaps the concept of “ideal weight” needs to be tossed out.
Ivan, I understand exactly what you’re saying about the BMI. It has been humorous to look at all of the cut athletes with 5 percent body fat who are counted as obese by the BMI index because they have huge musculature. Clearly, those types of things need to be taken into account. But there are three other factors that we should also take into account: 1)many people discount BMI and use problems with the measurement as an excuse for not losing weight, and this hurts their health. If you are 5-10 and 210 pounds, you probably need to lose some weight unless you are a highly trained athlete or weight lifter. 2)There have been some studies that show that having extreme musculature is an additional stress on the body and may not be as healthy as some people think and 3)Many weight lifters who are 5-10 and 210 pounds, for example, keep at that weight even after they have stopped lifting for six months, and lose a lot of their musculature and become unhealthy. Yet mentally they still think of themselves as weight lifters and “healthy.”
Well, since I lift 3 times a week (I maybe miss one day every other month) and do aerobic exercise 4-5 days a week (I rest Sundays) and have a body fat percentage of 13-15% – I have a very realistic picture of where I am.
Now – what to do with people like my wife – about a year ago, she started exercising 5-6 days a week, and while her body fat percentage has plummetted, her weight has increased (due to muscle gain, I guess). What does BMI tell her? It tells her exercising is bad, since she’s gaining weight.
Then there’s my dad who jogs 10 miles a day, lifts weights 3 times a week, still competes in Frestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling tournaments and yet somehow manges to be considered “morbidly obese”
I think I’d rather take the health risks of increased musculature over increased fat percentage. But – apparently, no one can win. Exercise and you’re unhealthy because of muscle weight. Don’t exercise and you’re too fat.
Tell me – how do we become healthy then?
Sprouted grains? My super-mom guilt-o-meter just shot way up! (Maybe that should be guilt-o-meat-er) I suffer from being the daughter of a mother who never cooked, therefore I am still trying to teach myself how to boil water. I had quite a few interesting cooking “experiments” so far. I think I’m in a generation that suffers from a lack of cooking skills, and a too-easy lifestyle. What do I know about whole foods? But, I’m learning.
I agree that we need to take better care of our bodies, but I think that it can seem overwhelming. I also don’t give my toddler more than a 1/2 cup of juice a day, he only gets whole-grain bread, and I beg and plead for him to eat more vegetables, but I’m not going to beat myself up if I’m out and about and need chicken nuggets and french fries to pacify my little “Jack-Jack” before he becomes a demon. Over the last two years I have steadily changed my eating habits to be more healthy and balanced, as well as working out 2-5 times/week. But, this has been a long and gradual process–which worked for me. I’m still working slowly and steadily toward my ideal weight, but I’ve found that for me, little-by-little, is the better way.
My opinion: if people in your family are exercising that much and are still “overweight” in the BMI, their health is probably excellent. But you probably know some people who don’t fall into that category who should probably lose some weight. I think studies like these are aimed more at people who need to do a lot more exercise and not use the faults with the BMI as an excuse.
Nice entertaining rouse to trick the food/exercise Nazis out of the closet. Do we really need another church sponsored program to distract us from a focus on Jesus? And how am I supposed to afford liposuction and/or gastric bypass or black market meth after paying tithing? The church is already a bag of disconcerted programs. Let’s at least kill two church programs before adopting a new one. I vote for formally driving a stake through long term food storage for starters, talk about an anachronistic holdover from pioneer times.
Geoff and Mary,
I checked the Pres. McKay manual to see what kind of instruction we have received this year regarding the Word of Wisdom and a healthy lifestyle. I appreciate what you’re saying, but I found that there isn’t anything explicitly taught in Church this year (and I suspect the last 5-10 years) about the need to eat whole grains, fruits and vegetables, and live an active (read exercise 30 minutes a day) lifestyle. It only focuses on the negatives (don’t smoke, drink, etc.). Nowhere is there mention of the evils of sugar, bleached flour, packaged foods, inactive lifestyle, etc.
I suspect in most Priesthood/Relief Society groups in the US & Canada, the Church manual is “preaching to the choir” with respect to the “don’ts” and covering other issues would be a more productive use of time. The fact that members in attendance are there connotes compliance with the “don’ts” by 90-95% (I’d like to see if anyone can provide counter-evidence to this assumption).
Hence I have a hard time feeling guilty from a spiritual/ecclesiastical perspective when I chuck down a pizza and soda while I’m sitting in a lounge seat watching television (from a marital perspective that’s a different matter).
If there were to be a “do’s” lesson on the Word of Wisdom, what would you make the leading points of discussion and what anecdotes would you use?
Another observation. Abiding the DON’Ts of the WofW places no constraints on time and money. In fact, it frees them up. Abiding the DOs of the WofW place significant burdens on time and money.
Eating a fresh salad and/or fruit/vegetable every meal of the day? How many runs to the grocery store should I make in a week? From a monetary perspective, sugar foods and drinks (rather, corn syrup foods and drinks) are so much cheaper than healthy alternatives such as 100% juice concentrate, etc.
I don’t know about anecdotes except from personal experience. We have to remember that white flour and overly processed foods are really a rather modern invention. They certainly weren’t around in Jospeh Smith’s time. And LDS like their sweets. I would focus on more vegetables, more fresh fruits, less junk and less processed foods. And more water. Nutrition is really important to me becuase I have seen the lack of proper nutrition destroy the health of so many people.
Audrey, I am not saying sprouted grains are the ideal 🙂 I eat them mainly becuase most wheat flour causes me personally, intestinal distress and sprouted grains don’t. It is a gradual process and I don’t think anyone should beat themselves up. My children aren’t perfect eaters at all and I am certainly not perfect in what we allow them (when we go out they get their chips, sorry fries, we jsut try to focus on more healthy. We are adamant about no refined sugar though adn so they rarely get it (only inadvertantly) but they love their snacks so sometimes we get the organic, natural variety and that is a good option because they are pricier so it is only a once in awhile thing.
I had to change my nutrition. I was an ok eater before but I indulged my tastes too often and I have PCOS so that was disastrous. Not only my personal health, but my fertility suffered. I had to lose 126 lbs last year to balance my hormones enough and permanently alter my nutrition if I ever wanted to get pregnant again. I had to increase my exercise (I work out 5-6 times a week, run about 4-5 times a week, do other cardio 1-2 other days, do weight training 4 times a week and yoga 5 times a week. Out of necessity for myself. I have a very high risk of becoming diabetic or developing heart disease.). It took us over 2 years to get pregnant and it was strictly because my hormones we out of whack becuase of PCOS and it is directly related to how I ate and my level of exercise.
It’s one of those topics that teeters on the balance of temporal vs. spritual. We need to eat well enough that our focus isn’t on the food on the table, but the food in our scriptures. You can’t do that when staying alive is such a struggle. The spirit has just recently been working with me on this – I am just learning how to feed my family better, and then I’ll have to improve on that. I am the daughter of a great lady who had to go back to work for a time during my teenaged years, and was too tired to cook for us. We ate a lot of microwave burritoes for dinner, and candy bars for lunch. As a result I know very little about “proper” nutrition and how to make healthy food “yummy”. I am greatful that I have the internet & the resource skills to teach myself. I don’t think the sisters in my RS Presidency are ready for that type of Enrichment night yet.
Good topic.
I agree that more of us (including myself) need to do a better job of taking care of our health. But it’s worth noting that Utah, Idaho and other, er, heavily LDS states compare very favorably to other states in national measures of health.
http://healthyamericans.org/reports/obesity/release.php?StateID=UT
This is a little bit off the wall, but I think more LDS should be vegetarians, given the “eat meat sparingly” language in the WoW. That said, I don’t know a SINGLE fellow vegetarian who is LDS. They are all unabashedly carnivorous (including my husband).
Tess,
Eating meat sparingly and being vegetarian are to discretely different behaviors. See D&C 49:18. Maybe that’s why you don’t see many LDS vegetarians.
Tess –
amazing. I know quite a few LDS vegans.
I avoid eating too much meat by eating more chocolate.
I think about this issue a lot and usually feel guilty that I allow cost and convenience to overshadow nutrition when making food choices for my family.
I wonder if our LDS emphasis on total obedience (no drinking, ever; no smoking, ever; etc.) actually makes it *more* difficult for us to eat well, because eating well is usually a moderation issue and not a total obedience issue, if that makes sense.
Actually I am a vegetarian 🙂 lacto-ovo, almost 18 years now. I know several vegans and vegetarians who are LDS too. My husband and children aren’t veg’s though. Which is fine by me, I just hate meat.
Dark chocolate is very good for you! I used to hate the taste of dark chocolate but LOVE it now. It beats milk chocolate hands down.
That’s why French women don’t get fat, right? In all seriousness, I agree with Geoff B that too many people are not conscious enough of their physical health. I had a wake-up call when a young aunt of mine developed Type-2 Diabetes. I realized that I don’t want to have serious health problems in the future just because I couldn’t be bothered to control my “appetites and passions” throughout my life. Or, possibly die of a obesity-caused illness thereby depriving my husband and child of a wife and mother. I wasn’t grossly overweight, but I realized that I was addicted to sugary/fatty food, and I didn’t want to be addicted to anything, ever–forbidden or not. I have to say that the low-carb fad is driving me crazy, though. For me, the idea of “moderation in all things” is the right approach.
Panic! Let’s all stress out about it!
Life expectancy at birth in the USA.
1900 49.2
1910 51.5
1920 56.4
1930 59.2
1940 63.6
1950 68.1
1960 69.9
1970 70.8
1980 73.9
1990 75.4
1997 76.5
Now, there is no doubt that eating healthily may help us avoid a host of ills. And being seriously obese could add a lot of problems. But it seems to me there is far too much emphasis on all kinds of “healthy” eating, without any serious evidence that it is going to make a huge difference.
And, of course, there are the fanatics who abjure eating xxxxxx (take your pick), and have no evidence to go on. In fact, the recent backtracking by the Center for Disease Control indicates that we don’t know as much about the subject as we used to think we did. I also think you get a lot of piling on by leftists who hate corporate America.
Follow the Word of Wisdom, eat a balanced diet, and don’t stress out about it.
You have to be careful with a vegan diet not to get low on B12 or anemic.
Moderation is the best approach.
You have to be careful with “any” diet to not get malnourished. Vegans have a tendency to be more health conscious and aware. But there are many people who eat the modern SAD (Standard American Diet) who are seriously depleted in many important nutrients, creating a true malnourished state.
There is nothing wrong with being vegetarian or being vegan. There is nothing in the scriptures that prohibits it, it only prohibits the PREACHING of eating only vegetarian. I am a vegetarian because I do not like meat and never have. I didn’t realise it was a viable option until I was 16 (duh) but when I discovered it was, I immediately stopped eating it and never went back. I don’t care if others are vegetarian or not. My children are vegetarian until they are 2, and then they are allowed meat if they so desire. Fortunately they aren’t vociferous meat eaters, mainly because the overconsumption of meat is not healthy, as is the overconsumption of most things (except maybe berries…ok, yeah it isn’t the best thing maybe but boy they are the best fruit on the planet).
Soyde
As far as evidence, I agree, to a point. I am almost a certified Nutritional Consultant and though I certainly don’t know everything about nutrition (not even close) what I have learned is that it is important to listen to our bodies and to pay attention to what we individually need. There are some basics. Fruits and vegetables are important for everyone, but not all fruits are good for all people, not all vegetables are good for all people. I don’t drink (pasteurized) cow’s milk. But I do eat cheese and yoghurt. I laugh at these fibre cereal commercials and I am sad at the same time because it shouldn’t be such an issue, if people ate properly balanced nutrition. Our bodies CRAVE nutrition. Real food, and real nutrition. The less “fake” processed foods we eat, and the more whole “real” foods we consume, the better off our bodies will be, they healthier we will be. There is no one miracle food, no one right answer. But there is plenty of evidence that there are foods out there that have wonderful nutrients that can encourage health and wellness, and to encourage more wholesome eating will ensure better health in the long run. It’s a given.
Soyde:
about #20, I think a large contributor to those stats are probably job and income related. Most people these days don’t die from office-related injuries (scalded to death from over-heated water cooler, attacked by electric stapler) as people did back in 1900 when farming was numero uno followed by manufacturing and factory work where few regulations protected the consumer or producer. But as Annegb pointed out, moderation is key. Also I would like to praise anyone who is leading by example (who taught like that? – oh yea J.C.!) by feeding their children right.
In addition, personal hygiene has improved in that time, which has prevented more disease than 105 years ago.
The increase in life expectancy is a result of many factors, not just diet.
I don’t believe in exercising. The pioneers didn’t exercise. So, instead, I have decided to churn my own butter, butcher chickens, and weave my own cloth.
Bro. Brandon B,
I’m still trying to follow JC’s example. What? Everyone’s hungry for dinner and there is no dinner? Here, pass around this basket of loaves and fishes and voila, dinner is served. Oh, wait, maybe it’s a box of containing pizza that miraculously showed up at the door just when the masses were hungry.
Every Mormon should read “The China Study”, bt T Colin Campbell and then read the Word of Wisdom again. You will view it completely differently.
I have read “The China Study” and based on its fourty year scientific study it PROVES that eating animals (and eggs) causes heart disease, cancer, strokes, diabetes… and that eating whole vegetables, fruits and grains actually reverses these “non catchy” diseases! Think about it. If the disease is “non catchy” then we must be making OURSELVES sick! Cows milk was proven, through exact scientific data, to cause EVERY STAGE OF CANCER! You can also research the prophets quotes about the word of wisdom. You will find that they coinside with the scientific findings in The China Study. If you go to http://www.thechinastudy.com/about.html and then click on “exerpt”, you can read 8 pages of the book on their web-site. E-bay sells the book for the lowest price. The information it reveals is invaluable! No wonder Heavenly Father tells us in the word of wisdom to not eat meat unless there is a famine.
A chum urged me to read this page, nice post, interesting read… keep up the good work!