The Way God Intended

I have been reading Michael Pollen's book, and I am starting to feel like it is a perfect book for me to review on this blog.

I am a strong believer in a God and that He created everything. From that perspective, food is put on this earth for a reason. All of it - the fatty food, the grains, the plants, the animals, sugar, even.

Now, I also believe in a 'word of wisdom' - given from the Lord through the prophet Joseph Smith. Included in this word of wisdom is the admonition that the flesh of beasts and fowls of the air "are to be used sparingly." Moreover, said beasts and fowls are only to be used in times of winter, or cold, or famine.

Now, before you think I'm telling you that your summer barbeques have been forbidden by the Lord, I believe that the Lord is simply instructing us that the main component of our meals and eating pleasure should be wholesome herbs, fruit, "fruit of the vine" (veggies - squash, eggplant, etc etc), plants that produce 'fruit' whether above (peppers, nuts, etc) or below ground (potatoes, carrots) and "all grain." (not just wheat and oats and corn)

I think that most of our problems in eating is that we eat a lot of the same thing, instead of a variety of things. God created variety on this planet to make an interesting world - and I think that applies to interesting food, as well.

So far, reading Pollen has encouraged me to eat a wider variety of plants and grains (and, well, everything, really). I'm also done with eating anything low fat (or fat free, etc).

I plan on eating things the way God made them (and intended them, in my opinion) which means eating all the fatty meat and dairy that I want - however, the notable difference will be me eating less of those things, MORE veggies, and MORE variety of plants and grains.

My conclusion so far is this - it's okay to eat anything that God made edible, as long as we are not eating too much - remember the word 'sparingly' - and that we should eat with "thanksgiving." which I take to mean that enjoying a meal or food is nothing to be ashamed of.

-- Post on the go