The experiment is what I call my "Word of Wisdom Experiment." And basically, in a nutshell, it is to try to live the Word of Wisdom, (which is found in Doctrine & Covenants 89 - scripture from my faith,) as accurately and perfectly as I can. Why? Well, this section of scripture describes a code of physical health. It explains certains things to stay away from and also explains things that your body needs. At the end, it states the blessings promised to those who follow these guidelines. Promises that include: health, strength, and wisdom. More specifically, the promise I was most eager to cash in on was the one that says if you keep these sayings, you will "run and not be weary, and walk and not faint." For me, who has struggled with fatigue most of my life, I wanted this like nobody else has ever wanted it! So I decided to put it to the test.
I wont go into detail of all that the Word of Wisdom states, but I will for the purposes of explaining my experiment explain some of it. First it says to stay away from alcohol, tobacco, coffee, tea, etc... No problem for me. I've never even tried any of those things my entire 35 years of life, and don't really care to. But then it says that we should eat herbs, which in the footnotes are explained as "plants." So we are to eat plants. Also, we are told to eat fruits and vegetables in their season. We are told to eat grains as the staff of our diet. We are told to eat meat only in times of Winter, famine or cold. And when we do eat meat, it is to be sparing.
So for the past 6 months, I have tried to conduct this experiment carefully as to not have any possible variables that could throw off these promises made. I began in May. And up until this very day I have only eaten a plant based, whole foods diet. No meat, since it was not Winter, nor has a famine been going on. I have not included any dairy in my diet because it is not even mentioned in the Word of Wisdom and I do not believe as many Americans do, that dairy is a totally necessary part of a healthy diet. I have made whole grains the "staff" of my diet. These grains for me have mainly been my own whole wheat flour bread that I have made, old fashioned oats, and brown or organic wild rice. I have eaten a good amount of nuts and seeds. I have also eaten lots of fruits and vegetables, trying to stay with ones that are in season here in my region of the world. I also have tried to stick with fresh fruits and vegetables, not processed ones.
Beginning next week, I am going to consider it a time of Winter/cold, and thus will begin eating a little bit of healthy meat, sparingly.
I just wanted to give a halfway update on how it is going.
It is going well! I have totally noticed a lot of changes in myself that I am so thankful for. I feel way healthier. I feel stronger. I feel a crazy amount of self-discipline and control in many unrelated aspects of my life. That was unexpected! I am enjoying a clearer and stronger mind. I am enjoying better sleep. And yes, I am enjoying more energy! So it's been pretty awesome.
I had mulitple tests done through my doctor prior to starting. And I do not have the test results for this halfway point to report on yet, but I will get those soon. I do have some stats to report though.
WOWexperiment STATS
Total calories consumed in the last 6 months/184 days= 424,399
Average per day = 2306 cals/day
Remember, this is not a weight loss diet plan! I eat when I am hungry. Some days that has been over 4,000 calories. Some days I have not been that hungry and stayed around 1,000. 2300 was my average. Although, despite eating as many calories as I felt my body was needing each day, I did happen to lose about 8 lbs. Kinda nice.
Exercise Stats:
Keep in mind, that I had a knee injury in June that kept me from exercising for a few weeks. I had to get knee surgery to fix it in August. So I had a couple of months off from exercising.
Running: 1400 minutes
Walking: 996 minutes
Biking: 719 minutes
Circuit training: 365 minutes
Hiking: 305 minutes
Swimming laps: 255 minutes
Stretching: 314 minutes
Elliptical: 60 minutes
Rowing Machine: 17 minutes
Stair treadmill: 11 minutes
Total Exercise Time:
4442 minutes total
I hope everyone understands that I do think this experiment is extreme and I would never expect anyone else to do it. Nor do I think if people eat meat or processed foods and such, they are bad. I don't. If you did however, eat and live this way, I do think you would not regret it.
