After a recent nationally televised Who-Are-The Mormons-ish program, I really feel that I need to speak out on one of the silly questionable issues regarding what Mormons do and do not eat. There is a belief among a number of Mormons regarding the use of caffeinated drinks such as Coke, Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Dr. Pepper, etc., that it is “against our religion” to use such products. NOT SO.
/
Never have there been any instructions from the leaders of the LDS Church that we are not to drink these products. The only instructions we have received regarding ‘what not to drink’ is in regards to alcohol, coffee, and tea. Alcohol speaks for itself, so I’m not even going to bother with that one. Coffee and tea…I have no idea why God considers these not good ‘for the belly’, but he does. As a practicing LDS person, I abide by these instructions
/
Some members of the Church have extrapolated that the reason God must have said not to drink coffee or tea is because of the caffeine. I suppose they felt that since caffeine is a stimulant, then surely that must be the reason God forbade coffee and tea. Really? I don’t think so. If caffeine was meant to be the targeted reason, then God would have included any product containing cocoa—there goes the hot chocolate, ladies and gents. And we won’t even start with the truffles, the chocolate chip cookies, the ganache covered everything…
/
In a nutshell here are the health code instructions:
- No drugs (recreational) and alcohol
- No coffee or tea
- No tobacco
- Eat in moderation
- Eat a diet high in grains, fruits, vegetables, low in meat
Pretty simple, really, don’t you think? The “don’ts” are a lot easier than the “do’s”. Believe me, that ‘eating in moderation’ part gets me every time. 😉
/
There’s a promise attached to obeying these laws of health. We believe that God has promised us good health, both in mind and body, wisdom and knowledge, energy “to run and not be weary, walk and not faint”. Those are really nice promises; ones with which there can be little argument.
/
If anyone reading this blog post has any questions regarding Mormons and Mormon beliefs, please feel free to ask them. I am happy to provide answers to your questions. You can either ask your question in the comment section or if you would prefer to keep things more private, you may email me at tsgcookin (at) gmail (dot) com .
This is good to know. There are a lot of myths out there, I am sure. Have a good week.
So many myths, so little time. LOL
I think we could all benefit from eating in moderation as well as all other the other codes listed. It’s just good simple healthy living. I’m not Mormon, but I pretty much try to do the same here… the moderation part gets me too. 🙂
Yep, there’s really nothing outrageous in the health instructions–just good, sound advice.
The church just came out with an official statement saying that the consumption of caffeine is not against the religion. Here’s an article on it: http://fox13now.com/2012/08/30/lds-blog-post-says-caffeine-ok-for-mormons/
Thanks for the article, honey. I’m glad for the update.