Will: I’m glad your mother is doing better! But there is possibly a wide range of things your mother could have done to regain her health, so anecdotal stories like this do not prove the necessity of eating meat. Note that the idea that you have to eat certain foods according to your blood type has no scientific basis and has been thoroughly debunked. [see: http://nutritionfacts.org/video/blood-type-diet-debunked/%5D

The counsel to eat meat sparingly only in times of need is not the only dietary counsel in the Word of Wisdom we need to follow for good health. A person can eat a very unhealthy vegetarian diet, which doesn’t seem to be in keeping with the Word of Wisdom, but that does not mean being vegetarian is unhealthy per se. It just means we need to do more than not eat meat to be very healthy.

There are no magical substances in meat that can’t be found in wholesome plants (animals get all their nutrients from plants, after all). Science shows that a diet completely free of all animal foods can be a healthy diet for all humans in all but the most rare circumstances. In fact, because meat is often associated with chronic disease, it seems wise for us to use it sparingly, if at all. [See this overview of the dietary counsel in the Word of Wisdom: http://ldsmag.com/article-1-14213/%5D

God did ordained the flesh of animals for our use, and as Gramps states, it is best used when needed, but God actually defines when meat may be needed in verses 13 & 15: times of winter, cold, famine, and excess of hunger. To me, these sound like times of need, times when the plants have died, and we need to rely on the flesh of animals. According to science, our bodies have no need for meat to be healthy. In fact, meat and other animal foods are associated with obesity and all kinds of chronic diseases. The Lord’s dietary counsel in D&C 89 is given “not by commandment or constraint” (D&C 89:2), but it is clear we’d be blessed by following it.