My WOW Experiment and Results

I am really excited to report the findings of my experiment.  I am excited because this experiment entailed many days of educating myself and changing myself from the inside out;  and the difference feels fantastic.  Now the payoff to many may not seem significant,  but it sure feels that way to me.  
I apologize because this is going to be a very long post.  There is so much information and data that I collected throughout the year, and there are so many little interesting things I could tell you about this, and cool things I learned, but I will limit it as much as I can to the most interesting information.

First off 
1-  What was the experiment?
My experiment was to try and keep the "Word of Wisdom" found in my church's Doctrine and Covenants Section 89 as literally and closely as I could possibly do for a full year.
Why?  Well, I was reading the Word of Wisdom one day a little over a year ago and the promises in it really struck me like they never had done before.  I will include them here for your reference.

"And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones;  And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures;  And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint.  And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them. Amen."

I was like,  "Heck yeah!  Sign me up!"  I have suffered from fatigue since childhood.  I just always felt like I could use a good nap.  And for years I had needed to take one nearly every single day.  That sucked.  It also seemed like I got sick often and overall just felt blahhhh for forever.  And the other promises sounded awesome too!  I am a faithful and spiritual person and I decided I wanted those promises for myself.  I wanted them bad!  And so I decided that I was going to put it to the test.  I was going to keep the Word of Wisdom as perfectly as I could and see if I would get the promises.  

2-  How did you "keep" the Word of Wisdom exactly?

This was totally up to my interpretation.  Some people could certainly interpret it otherwise.  I wouldn't be shocked if I interpreted it wrong, but I did a lot of reading up on it, and I did the best I could.  I will paste the actual scripture here and tell you how I interpreted it.  Here it is starting after a short introduction:

"...That inasmuch as any man drinketh wine or strong drink among you, behold it is not good, neither meet in the sight of your Father, only in assembling yourselves together to offer up your sacraments before him.  And, behold, this should be wine, yea, pure wine of the grape of the vine, of your own make. And, again, strong drinks are not for the belly, but for the washing of your bodies."  

My take:  Don't drink alcohol or any "strong" drink.  Pure juice is ok.  

"And again, tobacco is not for the body, neither for the belly, and is not good for man, but is an herb for bruises and all sick cattle, to be used with judgment and skill."

My take:  Tobacco is no good...unless for bruises.  (Bruises?  Ok, whatever.)

"And again, hot drinks are not for the body or belly."

My take:  No coffee, hot chocolate, tea, etc...

 "And again, verily I say unto you, all wholesome *herbs God hath ordained for the constitution, nature, and use of man— Every herb in the season thereof, and every fruit in the season thereof; all these to be used with prudence and thanksgiving."

My take:  *Footnote says "herbs" are "plants."  So all wholesome plants are good for us.  Also, go for what's in season.  Don't go overboard with it and be grateful for them.  Gotchya.

"Yea, flesh also of beasts and of the fowls of the air, I, the Lord, have ordained for the use of man with thanksgiving; nevertheless they are to be used sparingly;  And it is pleasing unto me that they should not be used, only in times of winter, or of cold, or famine. "

My take:  Meat is meant for man to be able to eat, but only under special circumstances.  Eat it in the Wintertime and during a famine.   And regardless, eat it sparingly.

(This was my first taste of meat around Christmas time.  It's talapia and I heavily seasoned it with herbs to hide the taste I wasn't looking forward to.)

"All grain is ordained for the use of man and of beasts, to be the staff of life, not only for man but for the beasts of the field, and the fowls of heaven, and all wild animals that run or creep on the earth;  And these hath God made for the use of man only in times of famine and excess of hunger.  All grain is good for the food of man; as also the fruit of the vine; that which yieldeth fruit, whether in the ground or above the ground—  Nevertheless, wheat for man, and corn for the ox, and oats for the horse, and rye for the fowls and for swine, and for all beasts of the field, and barley for all useful animals, and for mild drinks, as also other grain...." 

My take:  This sounded like a quick recap to me.  Grains (which are also plants,) are a great staple.  I would make my own bread without all the added junk in it.  I'd grind my own wheat and make it from scratch just to be sure.  I would also eat other whole grains like rice and quinoa, etc.  Meat is good, but just in times of famine (or as stated earlier, Winter.)   So I only would eat meat during the Winter, which I counted as the months of December-February.  During the experiment I only ate it 3 times.  The portions were small.  Fruits are great.  Veggies are great, (as assumed by the phrase fruits "in the ground.")  Go with what's in season.  And it also states which grains are ideal for what animal.  These would be my guidelines.  

(My fridge on a good day.)

In a nutshell the diet consisted of, a plant based, whole foods, in season, non-junk, diet.  No added crap.  Dairy is not even mentioned.  So I wouldn't have any dairy.  Vegan for 9 months of the year it was.  Now, do I think dairy is bad?  No.  I just decided that I wouldn't use it if it wasn't mentioned.  And I have learned through various research that dairy isn't really the miracle food some people have made it out to be.

If you're interested, ask me sometime about the interesting things I learned as I researched the Word of Wisdom.

(What I had instead of cake for my birthday back in August.)

3-  How did this all play out?
I started out by seeing my doctor before I began.  I explained to him my hair-brained idea.  He was super cool about it.  He ordered 12 different blood tests to get a good idea of my overall health.  I was already considered a healthy person.  I had been vegetarian for several years, I was active, my weight was within a healthy range, and I had never used any kind of tobacco, drugs, coffee, or alcohol.  I was however, having trouble with the following things:
Fatigue! Chronic, for years.  BLAH!
Depression that had plagued me considerably for many years.  (That's an entirely different post alone.)  I have been on medication for depression for years and had no intention of getting off for fear of suicide.
High blood pressure which I had been medicated for.  And finally,
Hypothyroidism, which I was also being medicated for.
My intention was to stay on my medications and just change my diet and lifestyle.
I also started out by going to the BYU Ybefit office and getting various field tests done on me to check my body fat percentage with the Bod Pod, VO2 Max test, and strength and flexibility tests.  All tests were repeated at the 6 month and one year marks.

I followed the diet as perfectly as I possibly could for a year.

Here are the results to my tests, before and after, mixed in with many embarrassing before and egotistical after photos. I am not posting all the results because it is just way too much information to post.  I have them though, if you are interested in seeing them.  And honestly most  of the tests showed very little change as a result of the experiment.

Weight: Start- 135 lbs. Finish- 118.2 lbs. Total lbs lost: 16.8 lbs.
Waist Measurement: Start 30.1 Ending 25.9

BMI Chart

Underweight	less than 18
Acceptable	18.5 - 24.9
Overweight	25.0 - 29.9
Obese	30.0 – 34.9
Level 2 Obese	+ 35

My BMI: Start- 22.1. Finish- 19.1

Body Fat % Chart

Description	Women	Men
Essential Fat	10-13%	2-5%
Athletes **	14-20%	6-13%
Fitness	21-24%	14-17%
Average *	25-31%	18-24%
Obese	32%+	25%+

My Body Fat %: Start- 26.4%. Finish- 20.7%

The following test accurately detects a person's risk for cardiovascular diseases, like heart attacks and strokes.

hsCRP for CV Risk Chart 

*Start. **Finish

Test	Normal	Intermediate	At Risk
hsCRP for CV Risk	** less than 1	1.1-3.0	greater than 3 *

My hsCRP for CV Risk: Normal Range 0.0-2.5. Start:  >15!  The doctor said the results stop as it gets that high.  I was shocked to find that I was waaaay off the charts for my risk level.  Yikes.  Wake up call for sure!
Just 6 months later it went down to .8!

You can take a moment to go empty the vomit that involuntarily emptied into your mouth after looking at my "before" butt.  Nasty!  But look how much my big butt that I have always hated, shrunk.  Thank heavens!

Total Cholesterol Chart (adults aged 20+) *Start. **Finish

Cholesterol Range	Classification
less than 130	Ideal
130-169	Desirable**
170-199	Moderate Risk
200-244	High Risk *
245+	Extremely High Risk

My total Cholesterol: Start- 227. Finish- 153.

The following test determines your aerobic and lactate thresholds.  Your cardio fitness level, basically.  How well your heart and lungs work during exercise.

VO2 Max Chart

*Start. **Finish

Excellent **	more than 40.7
Very Good	37.4 - 40.7
Good	34.9 – 37.3
Average	32.5 – 34.8
Below Average	29.8 – 32.4
Poor *	26.5 – 29.7
Very Poor	less than 26

My VO2 Max Test: Start- 29.0. Finish- 58.5. 

I was fairly active and I thought fit at the time of my initial test.  I was wrong.  My initial result stunk.

Heart Rate: When my resting heart rate was taken on day one at my doctor's office, it was a freakish 170! On day 364, my heart rate while running on the treadmill during my field tests at BYU, it maintained in the 70's! The administrator of the test was amazed.  She actually used the word "amazing" multiple times.

Blood Pressure Chart

*Start. **Finish

Blood Pressure Category	Systolic Pressure	Diastolic Pressure
Normal**	less than 120	less than 80
Prehypertension	120-139	80-89
Stage 1 Hypertension*	140-159	90-99
Stage 2 Hypertension	greater than 160	greater than 100

My Blood Pressure: Start- 131/97 . Finish- 112/79 .

Yep, I got photos of my legs, because I actually am liking them right now!  There, I said it!  I actually really like a certain part of my body!  I know, I am full of myself.  If you hadn't gathered that already.  It feels good not to be disgusted with my body though.

4-  Did you "run and not be weary and walk and not 

faint"?  Any other blessing fulfilled?

I will say that my energy levels were TONS better.  I didn't need naps daily anymore.  I still took a few here and there though.  I also didn't need as many hours of sleep at night as I had always needed prior to starting.  I could go to bed at 10pm or so and get up at 4/5am even to go run anywhere from a few miles to 20 miles or workout or something.  It was an awesome blessing for me.  My energy levels were so significantly better, that I ended up going off of my thryoid medication in November.  And have done great without it ever since.  I had been told I would always need to be on it.  So that was exciting.

A perfect example of how much the energy levels helped me, was a trip I took to England.  For 10 days I was able to get up around 4 or 5am, go through an extremely active day, seeing and doing so many awesome things, then get to bed between 10/11:00pm.  This by far was the greatest trip I had ever had, and having a lot of energy truly was a big part of that.

Here's another photo from that trip.  See the backpack on my back?  Well, I shopped for my food at the grocery store and packed it in my pack to eat throughout my busy days.  (Stuff like fruits, veggies, and nuts.)  No need for restaurants, or long meal breaks.  Worked out perfectly.

Now as much as these results were cool, I have to say that the most surprising and great result for me was that my moods were hugely better this year.  I felt so much happier overall.  Not to say I didn't have my sad and low moments.  I did!  But overall, this year had to have been my happiest.   EVER.  And it wasn't because it was easy.  There were plenty of personal and family challenges happening.  But it was my happiest.  I was feeling so much better not too long after starting that I ended up going off my antidepressant altogether in November and have been doing great!  I didn't know if I would ever be able to do that.  Any time I had tried to do that before, I had scary, miserable crashes and just couldn't cope.

(My triathlon in March.)

My health overall was so improved, medications of any kind were not really needed anymore.  My doctor stated that with the results of my initial cholesterol and hsCRP tests, cholesterol medication was advised.  My results however, made it unnecessary.

I have felt incredibly more healthy.

My mind feels much more clear than it ever has been before.  

I took a 5 credit math class at UVU from Jan-May.   It wasn't a particularly hard class compared to what a lot of people can and do handle, but it was a big deal to me.  My math skills have been embarrassingly awful in the past.   Frankly, it wasn't uncommon for me before to not be able to understand my 2nd grader's math work.  No joke.  So it was nice to be able to take that class, and get an A!  I even started to be able to help my 9th grader with her math.  Major change!

Spiritually, I have grown a great deal too.  I have had some neat spiritual moments.  I have learned a lot and felt a lot of blessings as I have tried to be a better person and improve myself physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  I still have a lot to work on.  Anybody that knows me is fully aware of this fact.  I have found though, that doing this has helped me overcome some weaknesses that I really didn't want to have anymore.  I also enjoyed feeling the Spirit much more in my life.  This part of the experiment actually, is one that I wont get into a whole lot because it's just so personal and special to me. Not to mention, I get that religion may not be  your thing.  And my goal isn't to shove it down anyone's throat.  I mainly want to share how this diet has helped me personally.  But if you're interested in hearing about some of the spiritual aspects, ask me.

5-  How were you able to get enough protein?

So many people have asked me this.  I have obsessively tracked my calorie and important vitamin and nutrient intakes daily.  I am no body builder (see above for confirmation,) so I really don't need mega amounts of protein.  And I think I have been good at staying in a healthy range.  But what about getting the amino acids that are only found in meat?  Well, nutritional yeast, which I use in my bread is a complete protein, and eating beans and rice together does the trick as well.  Plus, I really enjoy nuts.  I found that the nutrient that was actually more of a challenge to reach good levels of, was calcium.  But even then, I think I did fine.

6- Were you limiting calories? 

 This wasn't about dieting.  This was about getting healthy from the inside-out.

So actually, I was eating plenty!  At least, I think I just tried to eat the amount I felt my body needed each day.  I am frankly amazed I lost as much weight as I did (over 16lbs) with the amount of calories I was able to consume.

Total Calories for 365 days: 837,082

Average Calories Per Day: 2293
(Lowest Calorie intake day: 1104.  Highest Calorie intake day: 5263-  yeah, I ate a bit too much at times.)


7-  What about exercise?
You may ask why this is pertinent.  Well, because the Word of Wisdom promises that if you keep it, you will "run and not be weary, and walk and not faint."  So I felt that in order to receive that promise in the first place, I would have to run.  Not necessarily run, but be active.
Total exercise minutes during my year on the experiment: 
Running: 6030 minutes
Walking: 4106 minutes
Circuit (Weights) Training: 2135 minutes
Biking: 1488 minutes
Stretching: 914 minutes
Swimming Laps: 711 minutes
Hiking: 305 minutes
Elliptical: 157 minutes
Zumba: 40 minutes
Skating: 37 minutes
Rowing Machine: 17 minutes
Stair Treadmill: 17 minutes
Total Exercise Minutes in year: 15,951 minutes

averaged over 365 days is 43.7 minutes/day average of exercise.  Look at it as an average and it seems quite reasonable.

8-  What the heck did you eat?  
I get this question a lot.  I will tell you my very favorite meals I would have.
Breakfast:  Old fashioned oatmeal with fresh fruit in it.
Lunch/Dinner:  Brown rice with steamed veggies on it.
or  Wild Rice with various beans on it.  Olives and other veggies on top--even better.
I also LOVED making huge, fresh, green smoothies.  I'd put up to a pound of leafy greens, then a variety of fresh fruit in it and blend it up.
I ate a lot of nuts and seeds for snacks. 

(a green smoothie)

9-  Did your family eat this way too?
No.  They for sure ate a lot healthier this year than they have in the past, but typically I ate something different than what I made for them each night at the dinner table.  My standards were just too strict.  And I don't want to force this diet on anyone.

10-  So what are you going to do now?
I feel so much better in so many ways, that I do not ever want to go back to what I was doing before!  If you care about me, please encourage me not to fall back into my old ways.  That is partly my motivation for posting all this.  However, keeping it as strictly as I did was a bit much and I think unrealistic to maintain for forever.  So after a lot of thought, my plan is to keep the diet and lifestyle 6 days out of every week.  1 day a week, I will let myself eat without any restrictions.  My hope is that I don't go too crazy on that 1 day each week.  If I do, then I will need to make some kind of change to my plan.


There you have it!