Ok dear Gramps,
Since we are to be eating meat any time sparingly, What would be sparingly? Small portions at each meal?, once a week?, every other day? Only if other grains are low in access? It seems to me that it is mostly the American diet which centers most main meals around meat. There seems to be a large percentage of Americans suffering from colin cancer and heart disease. Roland Phillips Adventist Health Study proved this. Perhaps many of the early converts to the church ate less meat than we do today. It would be interesting to find out just how much meat the early Latter-day Saints actually consumed during each month. Also, nothing seems to be mentioned about the fish of the sea. Was fish even considered a meat when the Word of Wisdom was written? What do you know about these things and what would be your suggestions?
Sheri
Dear Sheri,
No definition has been given in the scriptures of the frequency with which meat should be eaten, and rightly so. It would undoubtedly be different for people in different climatic regions, with different work requirements, and even with different dietary customs. So the word “sparingly” should be interpreted by each individual or family, and such interpretations could well be done in the spirit of prayer, invoking the inspiration of Heaven in the decisions that are to be made.
You are absolutely right that American diets generally center around meat, and that the American diet is not a healthy one. Americans suffer from what I call “the malnutrition of opulence.” We are not undernourished by any means, but we are not well nourished. Most of the illnesses in the United States, as you suggest, are nutritionally related. We would do well to limit our intake to some degree and to arrange our diets to be more in accord with the counsel given in the Word of Wisdom.
Gramps
