A deep dive into the Word of Wisdom
By: Abigail Bazan
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.
Doctrine and Covenants 89:5
“That inasmuch as any man drinketh wine”
Leviticus 10:9-11
“Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations: And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean; And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses.”
Just like the Lord commanded the priests of the temple in Leviticus to not drink wine, the Lord has commanded us to not drink wine so that we may also enter His temple. Alcohol consumption leads to drunkenness. It is inflammatory. In the book of Isaiah the Lord strictly warns that wine inflames us.
Isaiah 5:11
“Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!”
Most people know that alcohol is bad for human health. A common ailment that people link to alcohol consumption is Fatty Liver Disease. A disease that occurs over time as alcohol breaks down the liver, causing fat to accumulate in the liver. This deadly disease kills over 25,000 Americans each year.
A lesser known result of consuming alcohol is that it kills off the good gut microbes that a person needs in order to properly break down food, regulate hormones, and make sense of the entire world. When these good microbes are killed off a person is then left with bad opportunistic microbes that are much harder to kill off. These microbes leave people sick and craving more sugar, alcohol and other addictive substances. This is done by the microbes so that they can continue to populate themselves because they feed off of these addictive substances.
Some people claim to have an “addictive personality”. I would argue that perhaps it might be an imbalance in the gut microbiome that is leading to these addictions. Imagine, if somebody is addicted to alcohol or has been on antibiotics frequently throughout their life. After all the good microbes are wiped out, all that would be left in their gut would be the bad microbes that can survive off of and even enjoy the alcohol, medications and other gut imbalancing substances (including sugar). These microbes will then reproduce, causing the hormones of the body to signal to the brain that it is craving more of what those microbes crave. A persons microbiome govern the body’s neurotransmitter center, the same part of the body that releases pleasure hormones like dopamine and serotonin. As a result, addictions can be formed.
Substances that alter the body’s ability to release the correct neurotransmitters include but are not limited to: alcohol, sugar, artificial sweeteners, medications (especially antidepressants), antibiotics, sugar alcohols, and food emulsifiers and preservatives.
A good example of a gut microbiome imbalance is called candida. Candida is an opportunistic fungus that can alter the brain’s reward processing abilities. This means that a person with an overgrowth of candida has heightened impulsivity and stronger substance cravings. If you want to increase the amount of candida in your body, then just eat a lot of sugar and ultra processed carbs, drink alcohol, take an antibiotic (or just eat foods laced with them), avoid eating fiber and other whole foods and make sure your blood sugar levels are super high so that your insulin sensitivity begins to fail. This sounds extreme right? Well, this “candida diet plan” is pretty much the gold standard for the modern-day American diet. Think about it, most Americans are eating mostly ultra processed carbs, and medically altered animal products. The average American consumes roughly 80 pounds of sugar a year. That’s about 3.5 cups of sugar weekly or 100 grams of sugar a day. These numbers are triple what various medical associations would recommend. Most Americans (I would say most adults world-wide) consume alcohol regularly, it is part of most social gatherings and has quite the reputation for causing more harm than good. But people can’t seem to stop drinking it because they (or their microbes) are addicted.
Leaky gut is also a result of drinking alcohol because it breaks down the gut lining and allows not only the alcohol to enter into the bloodstream but particles of food that we eat to also enter into the bloodstream. When this occurs, we become more sensitive to certain foods like nuts, wheat, and other common natural foods. We can also become more sensitive to environmental triggers like pollen, animal dander, and fragrance, just to name a few. These sensitivities can even develop into allergies. This means that the immune system will become hyper-sensitive to the wrong things and hypo-sensitive to real illnesses like the common cold or flu, meaning that it will take a longer time for a person with leaky gut issues to recover from viruses and it will be harder on their body.
Alcohol causes inflammatory issues throughout the body. Not only does it inflame your tissues causing joint pain but it inflames your organs causing them to be damaged (including the heart). Exhibited by drunkenness, alcohol also inflames the brain leading to brain damage.
“or strong drink among you, behold it is not good, neither meet in the sight of your Father,”
Strong drink. What classifies as a strong drink? This is a question that many Latter-Day Saints have probably asked themselves, and the answers can vary. I would like to offer my opinion, as well as some nutritional information, in order to emphasize that I believe that the term “strong drink” can include more than just alcohol for people who are trying their best live out the health and lifestyle of the principles taught in the Word of Wisdom.
Let’s take a look at caffeine.
- Energy Drinks: 150-300mg caffeine
- Coffee: 165mg caffeine
- Yerba Mate: 70-85mg caffeine
- Matcha: 60-70mg caffeine
- Black teas: 40-70mg caffeine
- Popular Sodas: 25-50mg caffeine
- Green teas: 20-45mg caffeine
Many members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints like to argue that only alcohol, coffee and teas (green and black) are against the Word of Wisdom but consuming energy drinks, yerba mate, matcha (this is green tea by the way) and soda is perfectly permissible. Although this view is technically partially correct (according to the clarifications given by past prophets and apostles) I think it is important to note the caffeine levels of each of these beverages and maybe consider for a minute why it might be a good idea, for both our bodies and our spirits, to stay away from them too. We don’t know why the Lord specifically called for the prohibition of coffee and green tea and black tea (which I will refer to as “tea” from now on) but one similarity that they do share is their containing of caffeine.
Caffeine is an addictive stimulant to the body. It affects heart rate, sleep, blood pressure, anxiety, the nervous system, fetal development, digestion, bone health and cellular hydration levels. Caffeine literally is poison to the body. There is not a human that it doesn’t harm. So why is it okay to consume it in soda but not in green tea? The short answer? It’s not!
When a person consumes these unnaturally high levels of caffeine, they are causing physical harm to their bodies and to their spirits. They create a severe dependence on what should be described as a “drug” to stimulate their body. Some members of the church are quick to judge others for “needing their morning coffee” all while taking a sip of their 3rd Diet Coke for the day before downing the newest trendy energy drink. I’d even like to argue that sodas and energy drinks (from purely a health and nutritional standpoint) are worse than coffee!
These drinks are filled to the brim with sugar or sugar replacements that can be even more insidious. They are often laced with cancer causing food dyes and flavor additives. They contain chemicals that drug your body into wanting more and feeling hungrier so that you eat more food! Unfortunately, I can confidently say that my own mother’s caffeine addiction gave her cancer. She destroyed her body one drink at a time and now she is paying the price for it. Actually not only is she paying the price for it, but her spouse and her children are paying the price for her caffeine addiction as well. My mother has never had coffee or tea, but she became addicted to something even more harmful.
Through the poisoning of our bodies with these abominations of drinks, we are literally drowning out our capacity to feel the spirit. The addiction to this caffeine drug has been capitalized on (especially in the state of Utah) with a new soda place popping up around every corner. Surely the “conspiring men” with their “evil designs” are enjoying reaping the benefits of the “mormon crowd” lining up every day (including Sundays) to get their next hit of the caffeine drug for a couple of dollars. Because of these strong drinks, members of the church (who used to have better health outcomes than the average American) are now sicker and fatter than ever before.
Members of the church are literally killing themselves with their caffeine addiction that surely the Lord was trying to warn us about in D&C 89. With every single new drink that comes out each year, rather than making a long list of 1,000 different drinks for members of the church to avoid to keep their bodies and spirits healthy, the Lord, in wisdom, chose to use the term, “Strong Drinks” as a blanket statement that should cover every single new soda and energy drink drug that comes our way. And if you still want to argue that caffeinated beverages are not included in the term “strong drinks” and that it is only meant for alcohol, then maybe these caffeinated beverages will just have to stay under the “avoid addictive substances” umbrella. Because if anything, they are addictive. Thats why so many members of the church get very defensive about this very topic.
“only in assembling yourselves together to offer up your sacraments before him.”
Only for one occasion did the Lord permit the use of wine for the saints. In the administration of the Sacrament. Something that Jesus Christ himself instituted during his Earthly ministry. Alcohol made today is bad for human health. However, the amount of wine consumed during a Sacrament Meeting, in remembrance of the sacrifice of the blood of Jesus Christ is very, very small. The Sacrament is so significant and so important for us to take each week that the Lord has instructed us that we can use wine if we need to rather than the usual water. What a wonderful blessing that is! There are so many places around the world where there might not be any clean water for the members of the church to use for the sacrament. Rather than forgoing the ordinance, they are able to use wine, so that they can renew their covenants with Him. (There is however a caveat that we learn about in verse 6.)
It is interesting how the Lord often gives us commandments that we are instructed to follow but then he will often provide limited exceptions. This shows that all of His commandments have a greater purpose, and we know that that purpose is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man (Moses 1:39). An example from the Book of Mormon can help to make this thought more clear.
In about 600 BC, when young Nephi was sent by the Lord with his brothers to get the scriptural record found on plates of brass from Laban, Nephi was faced with a decision. After a few failed attempts to acquire the plates, the Lord provided a solution to Laban’s anger and disobedience in keeping the Lord’s commandments. Nephi was spoken to by the Holy Spirit to kill Laban (who had been trying to kill him) so that he would be able to obtain the brass plates. When Nephi expressed his concern for shedding the blood of a man, something that was forbidden in the 10 Commandments, he was reminded that sometimes the Lord will make an exception to a commandment in order to bring about his greater purposes. He reminded Nephi, “Behold the Lord slayeth the wicked to bring forth his righteous purposes. It is better that one man should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief.” (1 Nephi 4:13)
Other examples of this same principle are commonly found in the Old Testament where the Lord instructs the Israelites to slay thousands in order to establish his people. The passover story is also a good example. Even David and Goliath. Or the story of Adam and Eve where they actually had to partake of the forbidden fruit so that they could be able to conceive children. They had to break a commandment in order to bring about God’s greater purposes.
Like Nephi’s story, we can learn that the Lord would rather have us all renew our covenants by taking the sacrament and drinking that small amount of wine then not partaking of the sacrament because clean water isn’t available. But, like I said, the Lord did provide guidelines to this exception. You can read about these guidelines in my next post where I will cover D&C 89:6.