I enjoyed reading a lot of the quotes and accounts of
healing and health from the pioneer times that were captured in this book: Joseph Smith and Natural Food by John Heinerman. I
didn't care for, nor read all his commentary, but the original quotes and
journal entries were enlightening. Here are some of my notes and thoughts….
HERB NOTES:
Brigham Young's
Composition Tea (used regularly and
as medicine)
4 oz. each of ground bayberry,
poplar bark, and hemlock; 2 oz. each of ground ginger, cloves, and cinnamon;
and 1 oz. of cayenne pepper. I take a small bit on the end of a spoon, fill the
cup with hot water, and use plenty of cream and sugar.
At one point in Utah there people
would take the white residue off of the cottonwood and willow tree leaves and
add water, then strain. Afterwards they’d boil it down to a maple sugar
alternative. Woah…cool. (If you think about it, you can get
sweetness from the juice of sweet potatoes or winter squash, so it makes sense
you can reduce many things to get a sweetness. Although stevia leaf is so much
easier.) J
OTHER
QUOTES:
Ezra Taft Benson
“To a great extent we are physically what we eat… What needs
additional emphasis are the positive aspects - the need for vegetables, fruits,
and grains, particularly wheat. In most
cases, the closer these can be, when eaten, to their natural state - without
over
refinement and processing - the healthier we will be. To a significant degree, we are an overfed
and undernourished nation digging an early grave with our teeth, and lacking
the energy that could be ours because we over-indulge in junk foods…we need a
generation of young people who, as Daniel, eat in a more healthy manner than to
fare on the ‘king’s meat’ - and whose countenances show it.”
Joseph Smith
"The saints should use wisdom, and this is wisdom--if a
cup of tea will stop a chill and fever, use it, but only to drive away the
seizure."
My comment: I believe this is in direct reference to green tea,
since there was a bunch of confusion when the Word of Wisdom came out and
people were getting all crazy throwing out teapots and such. And Joseph came
out and said they didn’t need to be so letter-of-the-law and that they can
still use their teapots for others things. Also, he took herbal infusions when
he was in need of general medicine. And he even had to tell Sidney Rigdon to lighten
up because Sidney was being way too strict that he wasn’t able to get over the
same sickness Joseph Smith had, until he
felt justified when Joseph used some herbs recover. So then he went out and
bought some and recovered too.
It is interesting to note that when we are told "strong
drinks are not for the belly" it can be taken quite literally. Tannic acid
is found in green and black tea leaves (as well as in very fermented wine, oak
bark, etc.) and is too strong for the stomach lining in our bellies if taken on
a regular basis. Hence they are used only for a specific purpose and short
duration if needed. And as a point of clarification for those not familiar with
"teas"...Herbal teas don't have tannic acid.
*You can Read my post about herb tea vs. green and black tea.
Brigham Young
“If you observe faithfully the Word of Wisdom, you will have
your dollar, your five dollars, your hundreds of dollars, yea, you will have
your hundreds of dollars to spend for that which will be useful and profitable
to you. Why should we continue to
practice in our lives those pernicious habits that have already sapped the
foundation of the human constitution, and shortened the life of man to that
degree that a generation passes away in the brief period of from twenty-seven
to twenty-nine years?
The strength,
power, beauty and glory that once adorned the form and constitution of man have
vanished away before the blighting influences of inordinate appetite and love
of this world. Doubtless we are about
the best looking people today upon this footstool, and about the healthiest;
but where is the iron constitution, the marrow in the bone, the power in the
loins, and the strength in the sinew and muscle of which the ancient fathers
could boast? These have, in a great measure, passed away; they have decayed
from generation to generation, until constitutional weakness and effeminacy are
bequeathed to us through the irregularities and sins of our fathers. The health
and power and beauty that once adorned the noble form of man must again be
restored to our race; and God designs that we shall engage in this great work
of restoration. Then let us not trifle with our mission by indulging in the use
of injurious substances. These lay the
foundation of disease and death in the systems of men, and the same are
committed to their children, and another generation of feeble human beings is
introduced into the world. Such children
have insufficient bone, sinew, muscle, and constitution, and are of little use
to themselves, or to their fellow creatures; they are not prepared for life,
but for the grave; not to live five, six, eight and nine hundred years, but to
appear for a moment, as it were, and pass away.
Now, when a person
is fifty years of age he or she is considered an old man or an old woman; they
begin to feel decrepit, and think they must feel old, appear old, and begin to
die. Premature death is in the marrow of their bones, the seeds of early
dissolution are sown in their bodies, they feel old at fifty, sixty, and
seventy years, when they should feel like boys of fifteen, sixteen, and
seventeen. Instead of feeling decrepit
at those years they should feel full of strength, vigor, and life, having
attained to early maturity, prepared now to enter upon the duties of a long
future life, and when two hundred years have been attained, they should then
feel more vigorous than the healthiest of men do in this age at forty and fifty
years…”
Hyrum Smith
“Everything has become degenerated from what it was in its
primitive state; ‘God made man pure, but
he has found out many inventions.’ His vices have become innumerable, and his
diseases multiplied; his taste has become vitiated, and his judgment impaired;
he has fallen - fallen - fallen, from that dignified state that he once
occupied on the earth; … he knows where disease is seated, and what is the
cause of it; - he is also acquainted with the spring of health; the balm of
Gilead - of life; he knows what course to pursue to restore mankind to their
pristine excellency and primitive vigour, and health; and he has appointed the
Word of Wisdom as one of the engines to bring about this thing, to remove the
beastly appetites, the murderous disposition and the vitiated taste of man; to
restore his body to health, and vigour, promote peace between him and the brute
creation, and as one of the little wheels in God’s designs, to help to regulate
the great machinery, which shall eventually revolutionalize the earth, and bring about the restoration of all
things, and when they are restored he will plant ‘the tree of life, whose
leaves shall be for the healing of the nations.”
