The Bean Fast: Breakfast Day 1

I'd like to invite you to join me this week in a solidarity fast for the children of the FLDS. The FLDS is a fundamentalist Mormon group run by Warren Steed Jeffs, who was convicted here in Texas of the sexual assault of children. The FLDS practices polygamy, which is a recognized human rights abuse of women and children, worldwide.

Jeffs has ordered his estimated 10,000 followers to restrict their children to a diet of beans and water twice a day. That's it. That's what they get, beans and water, twice a day. Even the youngest toddlers are on this "diet." There is no milk, no cheese, no meat or fruit, no sugar, no vegetables, no grains-nothing but beans and water. Their parents are still allowed to eat other foods but the children get nothing but beans and water. Remember, even though many members of the FLDS are very poor thanks to the practice of polygamy, which has been proven to cause poverty, that's not why these children are eating nothing but beans and water. They are restricted to beans and water because that's what their beloved leader Warren Jeffs, who they believe is a prophet, has ordered from his prison cell here in Texas. They are following his orders.

Virtually every last family with children in the FLDS is on food stamp assistance, but the children are still being deprived of real food. Instead, all food is bought and then turned over to the community's "storehouse" and redistributed by FLDS leaders, as they see fit.

In preparation for this project I have obtained a copy of the menu served to prisoners this week in the Poweledge Unit, in Palestine, Texas where Jeffs is serving his life - 99 plus 20 year- sentence for his crimes against children. Even though he is serving life in prison, he is still controlling the members of the FLDS from behind bars, right from his cell, just like any other two bit crime boss.

Starting today I will post the meals that are being delivered to his solitary cell, three times each day, so you can see for yourself what Warren Jeffs has available to eat, compared to what the children of the FLDS in Colorado City, Arizona and Hildale, Utah are being given to eat.

My purpose here is two-fold. First, as an act of solidarity with the children I will be restricting my own diet to theirs. I will have beans and water for breakfast and dinner each day, all week. I will be using this exercise as a reminder to pray for the children of the FLDS and for the leaders in Mohave County, Arizona and Washington County, Utah. I will be praying that they will be moved to finally have mercy on these children and to do something to protect them from parents who are obviously unfit.


The second goal of this project is to ask others to join me in the Bean Fast this week, for a meal, for a day or as long as they feel personally led to participate. I hope others who are participating will drop by and leave a comment or two during the Bean Fast this week. But most of all I hope they will share this post with their friends and family by email or on their social networking sites, so that more people will become aware of exactly what is happening to the children of the FLDS polygamist community. I hope it will lead them to contact officials in Arizona and Utah to ask them to follow up on this abuse.

When I contacted a nutritionist this week to ask their opinion of such a diet for children, this was their professional opinion:
"This would be very concerning. Such an extreme restricted diet would lead... to serious nutritional deficiencies in an adult let alone a child. Eating a single food item is never going to meet the nutritional needs of a growing child. Deficiencies over time can lead to a variety of medical conditions and seriously compromise the health of the child. With the exception of people living in a 3rd world country and experiencing a famine, there is no reason why anyone should raise their child on such a diet."

Sunday March 3, 2013
Warren Jeffs                                  FLDS Children
Breakfast                                          Breakfast
Pancakes                                              Beans
Syrup                                                    Water
Oatmeal
Applesauce
Margarine
Coffee
Milk
Scrambled Eggs

Warren Jeffs                                  FLDS Children
Lunch                                              Lunch
Grilled Ham Steak                             Nothing
Navy Beans
Sweet potatoes
Mixed vegetables
Corn Bread
Tea

Dinner                                                          Dinner
Barbeque Chopped Beef                            Beans & Water
Dill Pickles
Pinto beans
Peas & Carrots
Cream potatoes
Sliced Bread
Punch