Jane Birch: I don’t normally even watch television, but one Saturday morning I woke up early and
the TV was on in my living room, so I sat down and there was a show called
“The Last Heart Attack.” It was about, essentially, a heart attack proof diet. Now I don’t have
any risk factors (I didn’t have any risk factors, I still don’t) for heart disease,
but that caught my attention. I was aware that heart disease is the number
one killer in America, both for men and for women. I thought, “Heart attack proof diet?
You mean we could just eat differently and have no heart disease? You’ve got to be
kidding?" So I watched the . . . it was actually a preview for a show . . . and so I watched
it, and I was intrigued. I thought it was a bit crazy. They were talking about, essentially,
plant based diet, and I thought “This sounds strange."
But you know what got my attention? They were talking about the fact that eating this way
would not just reduce your chances of getting most forms of heart disease, but actually
eliminate your chance of getting the most common forms of heart disease, the type that
kills the most people. Eliminate your chances. That really caught my attention. I think what
I was thinking was, “We all know that we ought to eat better. Everyone knows: more
fruits and vegetables, whole grains over processed grains. Everyone knows that, but it always
comes with, you know, "Why should we do that? So you can reduce your chances of getting
chronic illness." I don’t know about anyone else but when I heard "reduce your chances,"
what I heard was, “You could eat less yummy food, you could sacrifice a lot of foods you
really like, and you still might get those diseases anyways." I thought “Yeah I’ll
try to eat more healthy, but I’m not gonna go all out. I’m not gonna get all the promise
so why go all out?" But when I heard that this diet could eliminate your chance of getting
the most serious forms of heart disease, the biggest killers, that attracted my attention.
So that very day, it was a Saturday, I got on the Internet, and I did more research and
looked at the experts that were quoted, particularly Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, the man that was featured
in "The Last Heart Attack." I looked at his research, and it soon became very clear why
he was saying that this type of diet could stop heart disease in its tracks, and if you
are eating this diet you are not going to get the type of heart disease that builds
up to a heart attack and open heart surgery. And it wasn’t just heart disease, it was
many other diseases. So I really felt strongly “I think this is the way human beings are
supposed to be eating, I think I better eat this way.”
I hadn’t been thinking about my diet. Actually my life at that time was consumed with something
else. I was very concerned about a personal issue I was having that I had to make a very
prayerful decision about, and it was not related to diet. I didn’t have any risk factors
for heart disease, but when I heard about this diet and I learned what a tremendous
difference it can have in our health, I realized that we can avoid much of the chronic disease
that we see all around us. You know, I had assumed those things were inevitable.
You get old, you’re gonna get one of those diseases, so why even worry about it now? I thought,
"I’ll cross that bridge when I get there." But when I realized that I could just simply
eat differently and avoid most of the major diseases, I thought “This is a no brainer.
I’m gonna change my diet.” In fact, I changed my diet that very day.
My first meal was two pieces of corn on the cob. I didn’t put any butter on them, and
they were totally delicious. I thought, "Oh this is not gonna be so hard." But that was
before dinner time. By dinner time, I didn’t have a clue, not a clue, what I was going
to eat. In fact for the next six weeks I really struggled. I’m not a cook, I don’t have
a family I need to cook for, and I don’t know where, the food just appeared: leftovers or
I’d make a sandwich or whatever. It’s easy to get food in our society; it’s so
easy. I didn’t know how to cook, I didn’t have a clue how to cook, and I didn’t know
how to make this food and pretty soon I realized I was in deep trouble. My food wasn’t tasting
good. I was not enjoying my diet. I was still very enthusiastic about the diet, but the food
part was not going well. So that took a little time to develop the
skills. It took a little time for my taste buds to change. That’s not true for everyone.
Some people know how to cook, and they make an easy transition. My sister was like that.
She knows how to cook and for her there was essentially no transition. She just dropped
out all of the animal foods. She made food from scratch already, and if you make food
from scratch, and you change to this diet, it doesn’t take any more time once you learn
the basics. But if you don’t know how to cook like me, then it can be difficult.
It was challenging at first but my taste buds changed. I learned a few recipes. I figured
out what works for me and about 7 or 8 weeks into it I realized I was loving my food, and
that has not changed until today. I eat my food and everyday I think “I am loving my food!"
I’ve always loved my food, so at first when
it wasn’t tasting good, I was thinking, of course, “This is not going to work. I am
not gonna go the rest of my life not enjoying my food because I love food,” but I thought,
"I’ll give it some time." You know, I really believe this is right. I trusted that, as
they said, that your palate can change. And sure enough my palate changed, and I’m finding
I’m loving the food now. To me that’s one of the great hidden treasures of the Word
of Wisdom, that we don’t have to sacrifice delicious foods for healthy foods, for the
foods that the Lord ordained for our body. I didn’t really have a lot of health concerns.
Yeah, I was overweight. I mean, I’ve been at least 50 lbs. over what I should be, and
I had worked like 6 or 7 years to drop that first 25 lbs. Then after I changed my diet
it was 6 or 7 months and I lost the other 25 lbs. And that was a blessing. You feel
better when you are lighter. And I had a few other nagging health issues
that I now, only in retrospect, realize would have grown into even more serious issues.
But I had a few other nagging health issues: I had a blocked saliva gland, I had extremely
itchy parts of my body, my legs would get really restless and tense, and I had a number
of other small things like that. It was a great blessing when I changed my diet that
all of the small annoying health issues I had completely went away. You just can’t
pay money for that type of blessing. You cannot. Now other people they may prefer their doughnuts
more than they prefer good health. I know there are people who prefer doughnuts or cheeseburgers
or pizza over good health, for me I love my good health. I love my good health. I love
feeling good. I love it that when I eat food I don’t feel heavy and weighed down, I feel light.
And I enjoy my food. I love it that I don’t have any health issues, that I am
at a proper weight. I’m probably at the weight now that I was when I graduated from
high school. It feels good. But what I wasn’t expecting were the spiritual blessings and
that is what has become the most profound to me over time. Of course, there’s always
a joy in doing something that you feel like pleases the Lord.
But to me the spiritual blessings have come through feelings of peace, feelings of joy,
feelings of comfort, clarity of mind, increased inspiration, revelation. For me, feeling more
in tune with the Spirit of the Lord. What could be more precious than feeling more in
tune with the Spirit? That’s something we all want. I’m not saying that I’m perfect
in any way, I’m just comparing my former self with my current self. Now part of the
promises in the Word of Wisdom are hidden treasures, hidden treasures of knowledge and
other hidden treasures. I think these are the type of treasures that you can’t really
communicate well to other people, but you can experience them, and I’ve certainly
experienced them. They’re subtle, but they’re beautiful, and to me they’re very precious.
You know I love doughnuts. I love ice cream. I love junk food. I like all kinds of food,
and I could eat anything without getting sick before. I’m not one of those people who
had to be careful about their diet. I could eat anything, and I loved everything. I loved
those foods. But I love my health more, and I love these spiritual blessings more.
They’re more precious to me.