Doctrine & Covenants Section 89

12-13) 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.

18-21) 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.

NOW FOR THE HOLY BIBLE!!!

Exodus 12:8-10 Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire; its head with its legs and its entrails. You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire.

Exodus 29:32 Then Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram, and the bread that is in the basket, by the door of the tabernacle of meeting.

Leviticus 8:31 And Moses said to Aaron and his sons, "Boil the flesh at the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and eat it there with the bread that is in the basket of consecration offerings, as I commanded, saying, 'Aaron and his sons shall eat it.'"

Deuteronomy 14:26 And you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink, for whatever your heart desires; you shall eat there before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household.

Nehemiah 8:10 Then he said to them, "Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our LORD. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength."

Matthew 15:10-12 When He had called the multitude to Himself, He said to them, "Hear and understand: Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man." Then His disciples came and said to Him, "Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?"

Mark 14:12 Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they killed the Passover lamb, His disciples said to Him, "Where do You want us to go and prepare, that You may eat the Passover?"

Acts 10:12-15 In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. And a voice came to him, "Rise, Peter; kill and eat." But Peter said, "Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean." And a voice spoke to him again the second time, "What God has cleansed you must not call common."

Romans 14:2-3 For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him.

Colossians 2:16-17 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.

Here’s to guilt-free gulping of the miraculous brew we call coffee. Following two recent studies that boast the health benefits of coffee consumption, comes more medical news touting of the joys of java. Not only does the murky liquid reduce the risk of breast cancer and decrease the risks for stroke in women, but it also cuts the risk for prostate cancer, meaning that men can get in on drinking up the health benefits too.

The good news for men comes from a recent study out of the Harvard School of Public Health. The research involved tracking the incidence of prostate cancer among a group of almost 48,000 American men who reported their coffee consumption every four years from 1986 to 2008.

The study found coffee consumption to be linked to a reduction in the risk for developing more aggressive forms of prostate cancer of up to 60 percent, and up to nearly a 20 percent less likelihood of developing any form of prostate cancer. The decrease in risk depends on the amount of coffee consumed. Therefore, the more you drink the more protection you may gain.

How much coffee does it take to get the maximum cancer protection? The study found that men who consumed six or more cups of coffee per day, over almost two decades, cut their risks the most, while those who drank a more moderate one to three cups daily reduced their risk of prostate cancer by 13 percent. The full details of the study can be found in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Even better, according to study co-author Lorelei Mucci, associate professor of epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, the findings were true for consumption of both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee. While the intake of too much caffeine can cause jitters, heart palpitations and insomnia, these findings indicate that even those who have kicked the caffeine habit, or those who simply avoid caffeine altogether, can get their coffee benefits and remain caffeine-free too.

Mucci acknowledged, “We’re not sure exactly what helps the association.” However, she went on to say, that coffee is one of the strongest antioxidants, that it helps with insulin and glucose metabolism, and may also help regulate sex hormone levels, which all play a role in prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death among American men, after lung cancer.

Although, the reason for the link between coffee and its health benefits has not yet been determined, the list of coffee-related medical risk reductions continues to grow. Just last week, Swedish researchers found that women who drink five or more cups of coffee daily significantly lowered their risk of developing an aggressive form of breast cancer. In addition, a study released in March showed that women who enjoy a cup or more of coffee each day may reduce their risk of stroke by as much as 25 percent. In addition, Mucci pointed out, “Coffee now has been associated with a lower risk of diabetes, a lower risk of Parkinson’s disease, and a lower risk of cirrhosis and liver disease.”

When you reach for that mug in the morning, you may get more benefits than a jump-start to the day.

Daily cups of coffee have been linked to a reduced risk of Parkinson's disease, liver cancer, gallstones and type 2 diabetes. In addition, green tea and white tea have been touted for their health benefits.

"What's interesting really is for years we were beating up on coffee. … And now study after study is suggesting benefits," said "Good Morning America" medical contributor David Katz.

So given the choice between coffee and tea, what's the healthiest thing you can reach for in the morning?

The maximum recommended amount of coffee is four 8-ounce cups a day, although it depends on the individual in terms of body size, among other factors. Because caffeine has been shown to raise blood pressure, you should limit your intake if you have any blood pressure abnormalities. More than four cups is never recommended.

There is the strong suggestion that the antioxidants in tea -- whether it's black, green or white -- have health benefits. Antioxidants can prevent inflammation of the blood vessels, and it has been linked to reduced risk for cancer. In terms of antioxidants, white tea has the most, followed by green tea, black tea and coffee. Green and white teas are made from different parts of the tea leaves, but both are minimally processed, unlike black tea, which is fermented. It appears the process of fermentation reduces the antioxidants in the final product.

Caffeine is associated with enhanced alertness, increased productivity and concentration when you're driving, and enhanced athletic performances. In terms of caffeine, coffee has the most followed by black tea, green tea and white tea.

Because the health benefits of tea has become more recognized by the public, some manufacturers are putting a small amount of it in a product, then adding ingredients that are bad for you, such as sugar. For instance, a Snapple Green Tea has 46 grams of sugar in it -- the equivalent of about 11 sugar cubes. That's more than twice as much sugar as you get in a Hershey chocolate bar, which as 22 grams of sugar. Just because the label says white tea doesn't make it a healthy drink.

"Our green teas provide consumers with functional benefits … and great taste," Snapple said in a statement on its product. "We offer a lime green tea in both a diet and regular version, giving consumers different choice and calorie options."

If you have a choice between coffee or tea, Katz says tea is better. If coffee is part of your morning routine, you have nothing to worry about.

By Robert Kirby
Salt LakeTribune Columnist
Updated: 08/28/2009

It's coming. If you're LDS, you'll be sitting in the bishop's office one of these days and he'll lower the new Word of Wisdom boom. You may even lose your temple recommend.

Bishop: "Now then, how much sugar have you had this month?"

You: "Well, I don't..."

Bishop: "Don't lie. The Holy Ghost and I can hear your eyeballs rattling from here."

Americans in general consume way too much sugar. A recent study published by the American Heart Association shows that adults daily consume an average of 22 teaspoons of added sugar in some form.

Note: For those who still haven't mastered the metric system, a gram is a measure of weight equivalent to a full, unbroken graham cracker.

So, teens for example, consume on average 34 graham crackers' weight in sugar every day. If you're still having trouble figuring it all out, it's a lot.

Soda pop seems to be the biggest culprit. A single can of Slurp-O (trademark) contains an estimated 90 grams of high fructose corn sludge, which, when consumed in moderation, will cause arrhythmia in a horse.

Thanks to a more sedentary lifestyle, our higher consumption of sugar means that Americans today suffer increased obesity-related diseases such as diabetes, heart attacks and weight-related wedgies.

As bad as all that is, I laughed out loud when I heard about the study. Twenty-two teaspoons? Is that all? What kind of weenie consumes only teaspoons of sugar? Being Mormon, I consume, on a slow day, about 22 shovelfuls of sugar.

They ought to call processed sugar "Mormon heroin." Thanks to the Word of Wisdom, it's the only drug we're still allowed. Mormons can't (or aren't supposed to, anyway) ingest tobacco, alcohol, and coffee/tea.

The WoW doesn't specifically mention meth, weed, opium, aerosol paint, cocaine and airplane glue. However, it's generally understood that the Lord frowns on anything you can have a lot of fun with by sticking it up your nose.

Some Mormons get around the ecclesiastical buzz ban by swigging caffeinated soft drinks in volume; Diet Coke being the most common. We drink so much of it that many American automakers now offer externally mounted cup holders on mini-vans.

But diet colas don't have sugar in them, so you're really only getting half the permitted rush. We catch up as much as possible with sugar. We tend to overdo food in general, but you can't get a rush from pot roast. So, sugar is IT.

People who have free access to alcohol and nicotine tend to discount a sugar rush. But it's pretty amazing when it's all you got.

After church on Fast Sunday, chase six candy bars, a Hostess fruit pie and a bowl of Fruit Loops with a 44 ounce Diet Coke. Dude, you can hear your hair growing.

But all that sugar is bad for you, probably at least as bad as coffee or rum. I'm thinking the LDS Church won't stand still for it much longer. A sugar amendment to the Word of Wisdom is coming.

I'm not too worried, though. Like many Mormons, I store food. There's over a ton of "Yucatan white" in my basement.

Finally, a reason to start drinking alcohol

Mar 8, 2008
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People who do not drink alcohol may finally have a reason to start -- a study published on Friday shows non-drinkers who begin taking the occasional tipple live longer and are less likely to develop heart disease.

People who started drinking in middle age were 38 percent less likely to have a heart attack or other serious heart event than abstainers -- even if they were overweight, had diabetes, high blood pressure or other heart risks, Dr. Dana King of the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston and colleagues found.

Many studies have shown that light to moderate drinkers are healthier than teetotallers, but every time, the researchers have cautioned that there is no reason for the abstinent to start drinking.

Now there may be, said King.

"This study certainly shifts the balance a little bit," King said in a telephone interview.

King's team studied the medical records of 7,697 people between 45 and 64 who began as non-drinkers as part of a larger study. Over 10 years, 6 percent of these volunteers began drinking, King's team reported in the American Journal of Medicine.

King said he does not know why some of the volunteers started drinking. "This was a natural experiment," he said.

"Over the next four years we tracked the new drinkers and when we compared them to the persistent non-drinkers, there was a 38 percent drop in new cardiovascular disease."

The findings held even when the researchers factored in heart disease risks such as smoking, high blood pressure, obesity, race, education levels, exercise and cholesterol.

Several of the volunteers had more than one risk factor and still benefited from adding alcohol, King said.

FEW BINGERS

Fewer than one percent of people in the study drank more than is recommended, King said. Recommended amounts equal a drink or two a day by most guidelines.

"Half of them were wine drinkers only. There was a much bigger benefit for wine-only drinkers," he added.

Now King's team has started a new study in which his team will randomly assign non-drinkers to start either having a glass of wine a day, a glass of grape juice, or grape juice spiked with antioxidents, compounds believed to help fight heart disease.

But the findings do not mean people should drink freely, King said. Another study published this week supports that advice. Researchers at the National Institutes of Health found that how much and how often people drink affects their risk of death from several causes.

Their study of 44,000 people showed that men who had five or more drinks on days they did drink were 30 percent more likely to die of a heart attack or stroke than men who had just one drink a day -- regardless of what their average drinking intake was.

Writing in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, the team at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the National Cancer Institute found that regular, moderate drinking was healthier than having the occasional binge.

Even men who drank every single day of the year were 20 percent less likely to die of heart disease than men who drank just one to 36 days per year -- if they drank moderately.

"Taken together, our results reinforce the importance of drinking in moderation," the researchers wrote.

ANDERSON VALLEY, Mendocino County, Calif. -- Winemaker Zach Rasmuson approaches pinot noir with both a fascination and respect befitting what he considers one of the world's leading wine grapes. He sees a striking sensuality in the French hybrid, making every vintage a romance between winemaker and fruit.

"I think pinot noir makes a sexy wine compared to the other varietals," said Rasmuson, vintner for Goldeneye, the pinot noir-producing arm of Duckhorn Wine Co.

That's pretty heady stuff coming from what's probably the world's only Mormon winemaker, a faith that, among other things, prohibits its followers from consuming alcohol.

"I was raised Mormon because there was no other option," the affable rural Massachusetts native says of his upbringing. Given his career trajectory, moving directly from earning a history of science and philosophy degree at St. John's College in Annapolis, Md., to an apprenticeship at Stag's Leap Wine Cellars in Napa, Calif., he is not among the most devout Mormons.

In fact, one might say that the pinot noir grape, particularly those plucked from Goldeneye's vineyards here in Mendocino County's Anderson Valley, has become the focal point of Rasmuson's faith. The sensual properties of the wine pressed from the delicate, fussy fruit clearly is the object of his ardor.

"Pinot noir is a brilliant wine in the glass, one that reflects the light rather than absorbs it," Rasmuson mused. "It captures you first in the nose with its fragrances, then sits on the palate, but doesn't dominate it."

This is especially true about the Goldeneye vintages that Rasmuson makes. The winery farms four estate vineyards in Anderson Valley, which lies at a diagonal pointing toward the Pacific Ocean. Goldeneye's 150 acres of pinot noir contain 23 distinctly different clones from which Rasmuson blends his various vintages. The valley's strong marine influence, with its morning fog and chilling winds, provides the cool climate pinot noir favors, while the clay-based soils offer the right balance of nutrients and austerity.

"It's really all about the terroir," Rasmuson said. "Anderson is a river-carved valley that aligns with the coast and invites its influences. Unlike some other areas that give the wine that cherry-berry tutti-frutti profile, Anderson Valley appeals to the strength in the grape."

It's also about the winemaking, more labor-intensive at Goldeneye than at many wineries. Rasmuson uses open-topped vats that require regular punch-downs of the cap of skins, stems and seed into the fermenting juice. Although more work, the process strengthens the wine's flavor and astringency, which gives it greater depth and longer life. The winemaker also relies on the influence of cooperage, using entirely French barrels, 70 percent of which are new oak.

The 2004 vintage, recently released to market, has a full, rich palate and surprising buoyancy, with a distinct nose of vines and forest and dark berry flavors, including a hint of blueberry with a dash of nutmeg tossed in the mix.

The 2004 pinot noir from Goldeneye's Confluence vineyard is even more voluptuous, with a strong oak backbone. Bright flavors of strawberry and plum complement a toasty vanilla brought about by the exposure to oak. Wine from the hillside vineyards of the Narrows estate takes on a more exotic character, with mushroom, pine and cedar in the nose and blackberry, current and dried fruit on the palate.

"Wine reflects the place in which it is produced," said Rasmuson, noting the distinctions among his various estate-grown wines. "A single-vineyard wine shouldn't necessarily be the best wine, just the most interesting."

As for overall sexiness, he might have added, that's in the palate of the beholder.

DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS - SECTION 89

NOW FOR THE HOLY BIBLE!!!