Cheeky our Elf

This year we had a great surprise  Some Unknown person delivered an Elf on the Shelf via Amazon. We don't have any idea who this person is. I want to say Thank You .   At a time when we were incredibly stressed out. See previous posts as to why. Being able to adopt our elf we call Cheeky gave us something excited to look forward to every day. Even my big kids were excited to see what he had done while we were sleeping. For my hubby and I it gave us a reason to do something fun and silly at night to surprise the kids which was a much needed distraction. My Hubby really got into it. The Evil Gingerbread man trapping Cheeky in the Manger was completely his idea and he did it all by himself. Now that Christmas has passed and Cheeky has returned to the North Pole we really miss him. Elliot misses talking to him every day and asking him questions. I miss having something fun to do for the kids every night. Cheeky was a very good listener. One day Elliot told him he really wanted Candy Canes and the next morning Cheeky was hanging in Elliot's stocking and all the boys stocking had a Candy Cane sticking out of it. Another day Cheeky heard Dylan talking about how much he wanted to make sugar cookies but Gluten Free mixes were hard to find and make. Cheeky left us regular and Gluten Free mixes that week. Elliot said Cheeky was really helpful. He really liked the fact that Cheeky decorated the fridge to look like a snowman since we had seen that on Pinterest and wanted to do that. Since Cheeky did it we didn't have to. Thank you Cheeky for all the surprises you left for us. We can't wait to see you next year.

16th Anniversary

Chandler was 1 day old.

Ok so we got married young. No shock there. The day we had been married 6 months we found out we were expecting. Surprise! Life has been full of surprises ever since. (I don't have a wedding photo digitally yet but the one below was taken on our second anniversary at the San Diego Temple where we were married. 

4th year of Marriage

Our Anniversary is 3 days after Christmas. When we got married everyone said "oh are you sure you want to get married that close to Christmas." What they should have been saying is "oh since Eric is going to go into English in a few years do you think it wise to get married the same week as MLA. The Modern Language Convention where he will miss the bulk of your anniversary's. Even if he has not left yet he will be so occupied with preparing for interviews that you won't see each other anyway"

In Fairness to Eric he always tries to  make up for it somehow. For our tenth anniversary we went on a fabulous cruise. We spent more time together on that cruise than most of our marriage. It is amazing how much fun we can be without kids hanging on us all the time. Don't get me wrong I love our kids but we needed the break.

This is our most recent family picture and is about 18 months old.

Summer of 1996 the year we were married.

Did you know my husband and his entire family are obsessed with Diet Coke. Yes I know how bad it is for you but try to stop them and there may be bloodshed. We have pictures of them with soda at every major event in their lives. Weddings, births of babys, Baptisms, blessings you name it.

Last summer

Is it just me or has he gotten cuter over the years. Yes in the background of this picture is all relatives on the Nebeker side.

I would like to say 16 years of marriage has been all candy and roses. But that is not the truth nor should it be. A strong marriage must go through trials to be able to test it's limits and know that you will stand by each other not matter what. We got married young. We grew up together. We have both changed immensely. We have both accepted each others changes and tried to love them even if we don't agree with them. In 3 years I will have been married as long as I lived before getting married. People ask me all the time if I regret getting married young. The answer is no. There are many things I missed out on. But there are many things I enjoyed. My Children will be grown while I am still young enough to enjoy their Daughters that they will give me. I often wonder if we had been more set in our ways if we would have been flexible enough to handle the challenges that were put in our path. So today we celebrate 16 Years of Chaos that has been totally worth it. 

Interviews

Since I have asked you all not to ask but I know that you want to know. Eric has 6 interviews scheduled. That is more than normal for him so hope is happening. Let's just hope that this hope isn't crushed as in years past. Thank you for your thoughts, prayers  words of encouragement  I know that they are all said out of love. This has just been a long battle for us.

On a side note. Thank you to all the Santa's in my life that have helped make Christmas happen for our family this year. You know who you are. THANK YOU!

P.S. Don't make sock monkeys out of fuzzy socks. They turn out more like alien, sheep, bunny's.
Gratefully my kids like strange stuff so I think they will still like them.

Chandler and the Lady Friends.

They were suppose to dress as their favorite Homestuck character but in ugly Christmas sweater fashion.
This is them ready to leave. 

Ever since Chandler was in Kindergarten his best friends have always been girls. It just is that way. Currently Chandler and the Lady Friends are obsessed with Manga or Japanes animation. There is a specific web comic called homestuck that they are hooked on in a big way. This last weekend there was a fan based event in Orange County. I was talked into  volunteered to drive Chandler and the ladies  down there. We left on Friday night spent the night at my sisters house and then from 11 am -6pm they were scheduled to be at downtown Disney for this fan event. Well with everyone being online all the time this event was changed last minute to a park in Anaheim  I had already dropped off the kids and was shopping with my mom when Chandler send me a text saying the location is changed and it is at a park 2 blocks away can we walk there? I consented after he sent me the address and name of the park. I was very nervous though. After my mom and I were done we went over to check out the park. This is what we saw. An extremely large group of kids mostly high school age dressed up in costume acting like they were all best friends  I love that they have something like this to bond over. There are so many terrible things out there a bunch of teenagers getting there geek on over a comic book is heavenly to me.

After the park they walked back to Down Town Disney and were suppose to have a large group dinner at Rain Forest Cafe. Oh did I mention that this park was more like 2 miles away not 2 blocks. I felt really bad about the amount of walking they had to do but I had some very important things that needed to get done while I was there with my Mom. After they got back to Downtown Disney they found out that the dinner had been changed as well. Now it was at the Dennys across from Disneyland. At this point it was already 7pm and we still had to drive back to Santa Barbara so I just picked the kids up and they got In N Out instead. 

2 Things that I am SOOOO Grateful for out of this experience. 

1. When they all got in the car not one of them complained about the walking or missing dinner. They only spoke about how much fun they had and the new friends they had made.

2. With all the anxiety that this day caused for me I am grateful that my concern was never for what Chandler and his friends would do during the day. I was only concerned about what the unknown strangers would do. Our Joking rule for the day was 

Don't get Arrested or Molested!

Parenting a teenager and trying to keep them safe while allowing them to mature and make necessary mistakes is a fine line to juggle. In some ways I am WAY STRICT but in others I try to trust him as much as possible. I have many parents ask why I am willing to go on these trips and do things like Anime Expo. My answer is a result of a wise friend. Kids, good kids are told no so often in life that we should say yes whenever possible. I try really hard to keep that in mind. I do learn a ton about my son and his friends and have a great time as well. Looking forward to many more Manga adventures in my future!

Hope!

Of all the words in the English Language right now HOPE could possibly be the scariest one for me. Eric does in fact have a job interview. I know that it takes a lot more than just one interview. I know that this probably does not mean anything. I know that a couple of thousand dollars will most likely be wasted on flights and hotel rooms in Boston for the Modern Language Association Convention where this and any other interviews will take place. Without an interview we have been living in a state of fear of what to do next but knowing that a change in venue will need to happen. We have been mentally preparing for what to do next and looking into our options. Now with this small tiny mount of hope it puts our life back into stagnation of the waiting. WAITING. Waiting for more interviews, Waiting for Second interviews, Waiting for Fly Backs, Waiting for and official offer. My poor hubby has had all of these and more in the past and the waiting is dreadful. Every time the phone rings we jump in Hope. Every time there is an Unusual email, or snail mail from a school we get Hope. Ultimately we always get let down. The soul can only take so much of this. Now we have this dreaded Hope that maybe this could be it. How much more is it going to hurt in the long run if this is not the Magic Place we have been waiting for. I know my last post was on this topic but since I am now getting multiple phone calls and emails a day asking if he has any interviews yet (I know this is all done in love) I felt that another post was justified. Here are things you should never say to someone like me.

*Have faith and it will all work out. While I believe this what most people don't grasp is that most of the time it does not work out the way we hoped, planned, dreamed, expected.
*As long as you work hard you will always do well and succeed. Really People Really. That is not how the world always works. Example. Look at Paris Hilton, and the Kardashians. Why do I or any of you even know who they are. They did not get there money from hard work.
*Don't let it get you down. What else am I suppose to do. I am human and grief is an essential part of recovering from tragedy. Yes at this point in my life I equate my husbands job search with tragedy.
*God will bless you if you believe. I have been told this from people of all faiths. I love god and truly believe in him. I do not believe he loves me more than the many jobless families all over the world or the children being sold into prostitution, or to produce our chocolate. Bad things happen. That is the plan God set out for us. Without pain we can't truly know joy. So many of the bad things in this world are done by the evils of man. Not by God. He gave us our free agency and unfortunately that agency often affects others in a negative way. If we as a people all treated others with respect, paid our employees fair wages, and were just generally honest most of the worlds problems would vanish.

I will try to do a more positive post soon. Maybe one involving our Elf on a Shelf Cheeky!

That time of year again.

For most people this time of year is full of fun, excitement  gratitude, giving, and a general good spirit. Not for us however. This time of year is the Job Search for English folks trying to find work of any kind. It is full of anxiety, dread, depression, and UNKOWN. It is my Hubby's 5th year of doing this and we are done emotionally. So done in fact we are not even really talking about it anymore. He fills out applications and occasionally tells me about one that was particularly difficult or obscure for some reason but other than that I am in the dark. I like it that way. This way I don't start hoping and dreaming about possibilities for the future. We have no idea where our future will be and what we will do and how we will support our family. All I know is that when things seem impossible a way is provided and we work it out. This does not mean that we have everything we want this means that the bare necessity's are provided for. Literally I am excited just to be able to buy groceries and pay all the bills in the same month. Barring Dental and car issues or things like like we are scrapping by which I am immensely grateful for. For those added dilemmas family and friends have looked out for us when needed. I apologize if this seems negative. That is not my intent. This is just how life is for us now. It is very different then what I pictured almost 16 years ago when we got married or even 5 years ago when we started the job search. My expectations are drastically different. I now don't expect to ever own a  home. That is ok. We are so blessed compared to many. Why things keep working out for us and not so many is beyond me. I have met so many hard working people over the last few years that are worse off than we are. My children are healthy and have clothes that fit, We have a place to live, and car to drive and most of the time can afford the gas to drive it. A particularly hard aspect of the job market for me is everyone tries to spare Eric so instead of asking him they ask me how the job search is going. Here is my answer. Who Knows. Until a job offer has been made requests, interview, fly outs, they all mean nothing. Trust me when when I tell you that if a job offer has been made you will all hear about it rather quickly. Please stop asking. It makes us feel like we need to console the rest of the world as we deal with the impossible unknown ahead of us. Since interviews take place the week after Christmas we try to stay positive and remember why we are celebrating but that underlying fear remains. Pray for us that a job will be there next year. Thank you for reading my rant. I really do hope you all have a great Christmas and Holiday Season and can find the joy in it. Do something kind for someone else. You may not know how much they really need it. We have had so many small kindnesses done for us that meant the world and provided little things that made a huge difference.

An Update

Since my last post many things have changed. We moved, Chandler started High School, Dylan started 7th grade Elliot started 2nd grade. I was without a computer for a full month so I am very behind on my updates.  I have very much enjoyed our new apartment. We settled in here rather quickly. I was very surprised at how fast things went together. I have had a bit of fun since moving in and much of it had to do with my jars. With my Cricut and some contact paper I made cute labels. I customized one of my shelvs to hold the jars better. At the thrift store I found a spinney rack to hold more jars that I love and the $3 price tag made me happy as well which was a good thing since I got in a car accident in the parking lot of that thrift store. I also found a wine holder for free at the swap shop to hold even more jars. These few shelves holding my jars has freed up a lot of cabinet space and made the jars much more functional.

Free rack from Swap Shop

$3 shelf from thrift store.

Shelve that I customized by adding some additional shelves to it and covering with contact paper.

Plenty of storage space above my cub bards for my food storage jars.

A close up of my personalized lids.

I have a lot of posts to do so keep a look out.

My Love Affair.

So it is fathers day and I just spent 3 hours with....... wait for it...... Canning Jars. What you might ask, did I read that correctly? Yes I said Canning jars. They are good for so many reasons.  The funny thing is I have never canned in the traditional sense. I have a long term goal of not using plastic for food (except the plastic lids) and reducing waste by not using baggies and Tupperware that don't last very long.
Now I am going to give you a canning jar tutorial.

1. Use them instead of Tupperware. They are cheaper, last longer, and are nicer to the earth. They won't leach plastic into your food and they can be put into the microwave or oven. I often freeze leftovers and when I am ready to use them I take them out in the morning and an hour or so before dinner I put the whole jar in the oven on warm and I have a hot meal.

Pint, Quart, 1/2 gallon.

2. They are great for storage. I store all my dry goods in them. They keep food fresh longer and there are sized for all of your needs.

3. They make great drinking glasses.

4. They are great for smoothies and large drinks. Drill a whole in a plastic lid and you have a great glass.
5. You can get plastic lids that are all once piece. These are nice for the things you use everyday. It is just easier to open instead of the ring and lid that are separate. They don't seal quite as well, so for long term storage I recommend the metal lids.  You can write in sharpie on any of the lids and then scrub it off later or print cute labels if they are out in the open.
6. There are 2 types of jars. Wide Mouth and Traditional. All jars come with the wide mouth version now. The 1/2 gallon jars only come wide mouth now. If you are starting from scratch I suggest only using wide mouth in all of your jars. They are easier to clean and you will only need to have one size lid for all of your jars.

Wide Mouth, Regular Mouth

7. I store my Homeade Deoderant, Toothpaste, and Lotion in them. 

8. They make great craft/toy organizers. Think Buttons/Legos

Get yourself a funnel. It fits into the mouth of any size canning jar and keeps things from spilling. This is one of the most used items in my home. I use it when pouring smoothies in the morning, when storing leftovers, when pouring dry goods that I buy in bulk. For the $2 that it costs it is very worth it. 

OK Now you are thinking they are glass and will break easily. Actually they are very sturdy. The are more likely to break when empty than when full. 

I have a dream of a Wine Rack type unit that will store all of my jars lids facing out. This will store a lot of jars in a small vertical space and make them even easier to use. I will of course have cute labels to put on the lids. 

If you want jars but don't have spare change, send out an email to your church, school, or any other organization you belong to. I did this and got 150 jar out of it in all sizes. 

If you are like my friend Katie and everything needs to be white go with the plastic lids. If you are like my friend Jeannie and don't want any design on your jars special order them online. If not and plain jars are right for you they sell them just about everywhere, you probably have just never noticed them before. Here in Goleta the best price and selection is at OSH. 

Life

So an update on life. Eric will be staying at UCSB again for one more year. We are packing up and putting everything in storage and will be out of our house by July 6th. Eric has a place to stay in town so he can keep working. The kids and I will be visiting family for most of July. We are on a wait list for an apartment that we can afford. If we don't get in by August we will then look for another place to live. This sounds crazy but I am looking forward to the adventure. We have a lot of things packed and in storage already and this weekend we will be moving much of our furniture. This is the last weekend in the house that Eric and I will both be home. He has a conference next weekend and I am taking Chandler to Anime Expo the weekend after that. There has been much that has happened lately. Dylan turned 12 and was ordained a Deacon. Family members have had brain surgeries, and baby's. If you want to read the updates on my nieces born at 26 weeks
As crazy as it is I feel strangely calm. Giving myself 4 full weeks to load into storage has allowed me the freedom to do a little every day. I am sure I will be pulling my hair out the last week. If you have any other questions let me know. Off to pack some more!
P.S. does trash and the amount of stuff in a room multiply every time you fill a box!

Sisters Weekend 2012

Once a year for the past 6 years my Sisters, Mom and Niece get together for a Sisters Weekend. We all take a turn hosting. We have been to Texas, Idaho, Utah twice and California twice. Every year it seems to get longer than the one before. This year my mom and I went for a full week so we could see other friends without it interfering with our sister time. We had so much fun. We stayed up after 2am every night. Slept in, ate ice cream, talked, gossiped, laughed, told dirty jokes and plain had a great time. I am not ready to be back into the swing and stresses of normal life but I know that I have this to look forward to again next year. 

Gluten Free and other Food Oddities.

(This is going to be long, if food is an issue please continue to the end and don't be scared by anything up front. Give me a chance.)
So I was asked again today to talk to someone, who was like many, diagnosed with celiacs disease. It is a confusing time when you are told don't eat gluten or the long list of items including gluten but are not given a way to eat so you feel hungry all the time. To top that off you get cranky, go through withdrawals and want to kill the world for one simple piece of toast. I won't even mention what I was willing to do to eat a cinnamon roll. This being said after over 2 years of my food journey how I look at food now is drastically different than how it was then. I have said this before but if myself 5 years ago saw myself today I would never have believed it and thought I was completely crazy and had fallen off the deep end.

To start off please read my previous posts
 http://nebeker-jo.blogspot.com/search?q=ultrametabolism this has the story of how I started my food journey. Then please read http://nebeker-jo.blogspot.com/2011/09/12-steps-to-whole-foods.html this post talks about the book I wish I had had when I started.
Finally please read http://nebeker-jo.blogspot.com/2011/09/stake-food-demo-table.html
This has book, blog, and shopping recommendations to make it easier and more affordable.

Now that you have read my 3 posts we can continue. I should make this clear I absolutely believe that a plant based diet is key to health. However I also understand how hard transitioning with food is, so if you already know a specific item that needs to be eliminated IE Gluten start with that and then after you have a handle on it move on from there. Most people that have an intolerance to one food often have an intolerance to another. There is a difference between an intolerance and an allergy. Tests do not show intolerance's but they can be just as harming and debilitating as allergies. After 3- 6 months of removing the food that is the problem I highly recommend doing a detox the way Dr.Hyman instructs. To make that detox easier I would combine it with Green Smoothies Girls detox. Green Smoothies to me are easier than many of Dr. Hymans recipes so it is just a convenience thing. Dr. Hyman had many wonderful recipes that I still use all the time. I am happy to help with more detail on how to combine these. Contact me if interested.

When many people first go gluten free etc. they lose a bunch of weight. Then they find all the alternatives out there and the weight starts to come back on. There is a reason for this. Sugar, most Gluten free packaged foods are packed with sugar, that is what makes it taste so good. Beware, prepare your own foods as often as possible but be glad they are there when you need them.

I know what you are saying now, I hate to cook, Healthy food is so expensive, How can I possibly pull this off. Yes at first things seemed pricey and I was unfamiliar with what to buy. Once I got the hang of it I found my grocery budget was about the same as before. I buy less of some things and buy many other things in bulk. (Azure Standard is mentioned in the above posts) I have really started to enjoy cooking. As long as I am willing to make it I can have anything I want. Here are some basic thoughts on how to transition Gluten Free. First off Read Labels. I avoid packaged foods whenever I can. Have some Gluten Free Flours on Hand. My favorites are Pamelas Bread Mix, Pamelas Pancake Mix. With these two I can make  just about anything, Pancakes, bread, pizza, cookies, pie crust, ding dongs, cake, you name it. When I have a recipe that calls for flour I just use this instead. Buying in bulk will save a lot. At whole foods these are about $15 per bag. Amazon and Azure Standard you can get 3 bags for about $30. There are many other brands out there find one that works for you and have it on hand. Bread, Gluten free bread is not the same and will never be the same as regular bread. Once you go off gluten for a short period of time you will learn to appreciate GF bread. Fresh bread made with Pamelas is really good and the closest I can find/make to regular bread. For Daily things like toast, sandwiches, etc I buy the bread and keep it in the freezer. The consistency if different but toasted I like it. It takes about twice as long to toast but I just pop it in frozen. I like Food for Life brown rice bread because it is also egg free. Most stores have different types. Buy a few try them, find your favorite and order it in bulk if you can. Food for life also has an amazing English muffin. We love these. If you have a grinder or a good blender like Blendtec you can make your own flours using almonds, coconuts, oats, you name it. The key to baking with GF flours is to use more than one. They all have a strong flavor so using small amounts of a few will have a better outcome. Example if you need 3 cups of flour use 1 cup almond flour, 1 cup coconut flour, 1 cup rice flour.
Dining out- Most restaurants have menus posted online, check before you go out, there is nothing more frustrating than eating lettuce while your friends are eating onion rings because you didn't check ahead of time. Chipotle, Chili's, Outback all have gluten free menus and are happy to help. With so many people suffering from this many restaurants are understanding and helpful. Tortillas, just switch to Corn tortillas preferably natural ones that are just corn, water, oil, salt. Homemade ones are easy and fast to make. I got a tortilla press for Christmas and we use it all the time. Fresh tortillas are so good. You can make them with Pamelas as well. For a dessert you can cook them with a little coconut oil, agave and cinnamon. Corn chips, we probably eat more of these than we should but chips, salsa, guacamole make us happy. When you get the urge for something different these can often fill that need. Brown rice cakes are good too. Top with Peanut Butter, hummus, and you will be satisfied. Ice Cream many brands have Gluten or items that have gluten. Luckily there are many really good ones that don't. Make your own instructions in this post. If want it now here are some good brands coconutbliss.com,  so delicious there are many others but these are great. One brand everything is coconut milk the other does coconut milk, soy milk, almond milk and expands all the time. Read labels even on these brands. They make things to work with all allergy types so some are Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free, Nut Free, Egg Free. Some will just say Dairy Free, Soy Free. Don't Assume. Many headaches and long nights have been spent by assuming something about a brand.
There is a bit more planning and preparation involved but once you get in a routine you will have lots of good and hopefully healthy meals to eat.
Pinterest- I have had great success with pinterest and finding healthy wonderful recipes. You can follow my pinterest boards. Jo Joanna Nebeker is the name I am under. I have 2 food boards now and will make them more itemized soon. One board is recipes food info, the other is recipes I have tried and loved. The place I get most of my recipes from is 12 steps to whole foods. A few of the recipes call for flour but with Pamelas or the many other possibilities I just substitute and the recipes are great. There will be some trial and error at the begining with being gluten free but soon you will be able to eat very yummy foods with little preparation.

Eggs- I also can't eat eggs. There are many ways to cook, bake without eggs. The easiest is with EnerG Egg replacer this is GF. Mix with water and it does the trick. You can also use Guar Gum, Xantham Gum, or Ground Chia seeds. These all work well as thickeners.
I try not to use Refined sugar so in baking I use Agave or Pure maple syrup often I can just skip the egg part if these are what I am using.

Dairy- as hard as it was at first I have found that I am fine without dairy for most things. Coconut oil works well instead of butter, Mexican food which I would eat every day is good without  dairy. Coconut milk, almond milk, soy milk can all substitute cow milk in almost anything.  I think most people need to cut there dairy down for health. When I do use dairy I have raw goat cheese. I tolerate this fine. I try not to use it more than once a week.

Meat- I really feel like most people need to cut out meat. I have an issue with most meat so with the exception of Fish about once a month I don't eat it at all. I never ever thought this would be possible for me. I LOVE STEAK! Guess what it gives me migraines. Most meats do. What I was surprised about was how easy it was to give up after the first 2 weeks. Beans, lentils, flavored correctly can substitute for many recipes. With 12 Steps to whole foods and many other recipes I have just learned how to cook without meat. The ironic thing is I BBQ now more that  I am a vegetarian than I ever did before.

Sugar- I don't eat refined sugar. There are so many other options out there that I just don't need to. I use Dates, Stevia, Agave Necter, Maple Syrup, Molasses and in rare cases unrefined sugar.

Watch the movies Forks Over Knives it will help you understand why Dr. Hyman, Green Smoothie Girl, myself and thousands of others recommend a whole foods plant based diet.

That is the end to the main post. Please let me know if you have any questions. I hope I covered what needed to be. Below is an answer to questions I get from church friends Latter Day Saints or Mormons about the Word Of Wisdom. Mormon or not you might find it interesting.

Word Of Wisdom (council given to the Latter Day Saints on what to eat, drink, etc.)
In my food journey I have had to study the word of wisdom A LOT. I have learned things I never really new before. I realized that what I thought the Word of Wisdom was was more of a cultural belief among Latter Day Saints than what was really written. I am only going to talk about some of it. There is more to the Word of Wisdom but this post is already long enough.(I am not an expert or a scriptorian. These are just my personal opinions). Here some some thoughts.
Doctrine and Covenants 89
4 Behold, verily, thus saith the Lord unto you: In consequence of^aevils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of^bconspiring men in the last days, I have ^cwarned you, and forewarn you, by giving unto you this word of wisdom by revelation—
This verse really struck a cord with me. So much of what is wrong with our food/health is because of the evils of man. If we eat our food as close to the way God intended it for us we would/will be kept safe from the evils of man.

10 And again, verily I say unto you, all wholesome ^aherbs God hath ordained for the constitution, nature, and use of man—

 11 Every herb in the season thereof, and every fruit in the season thereof; all these to be used with ^aprudence and ^bthanksgiving.

Verses 10-11 really hit home. With my love of essential oils and belief that they have amazing healing abilities verse 10 was right on. Wholesome herbs and nature have the ability to heal and cure most things. There is a famous quote by Socrates that goes something like "let food be thy medicine and let medicine be thy food." Fruits, herbs, natural foods are good for us.

12 Yea, ^aflesh also of ^bbeasts and of the fowls of the air, I, the Lord, have ordained for the use of man with thanksgiving; nevertheless they are to be used ^csparingly;
 13 And it is pleasing unto me that they should not be ^aused, only in times of winter, or of cold, or ^bfamine.
 Verse 12-13 what is your idea of sparingly? This is the big question. Personally, I do not feel that sparingly is 2-3 times a day. I feel that it is on a rare occasion and only with healthy animals. Meat should be used in times of winter, or of cold, or famine. How many of us really live in times like those. The evils of man have taken our meat and made it much more dangerous to our health than it would have been if animals lived in their natural state, eating their natural foods. I do not feel that eating animals is cruel but I do feel that the way many animals are raised and live are cruel as well as bad for the outcome of the product.

 14 All ^agrain is ordained for the use of man and of beasts, to be the staff of life, not only for man but for the beasts of the field, and the fowls of heaven, and all wild animals that run or creep on the earth;

 15 And ^athese hath God made for the use of man only in times of famine and excess of hunger.

 16 All grain is good for the ^afood of man; as also the ^bfruit of the vine; that which yieldeth fruit, whether in the ground or above the ground—

Verses 14-16 make me laugh.
They make me laugh because so many people say "how to you eat" when they find out about my food restrictions. There are so many other grains out there besides wheat. Most of which have not been Genetically modified like wheat so there are not the same problems. Grain should be the staff of life. Fruit of any kind (Vegetable too) are good and should be a main part of our diet.

18 And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, ^ashall receive ^bhealthin their navel and marrow to their bones;
Verse 18-
Myself and many friends and family by eating a plant based diet recomended by the Word of Wisdom have be cured and relieved of more ailments than I could list.

20 And shall ^arun and not be ^bweary, and shall walk and not faint.
I can testify to verse 20. I have more energy when I eat this way and am my health and my family's health is better than I ever thought it could be.