Our bodies are built up from the food we eat. There is a
constant breaking down of the tissues of the body; every
movement of every organ involves waste, and this waste is
repaired from our food. Each organ of the body requires its
share of nutrition. The brain must be supplied with its
portion; the bones, muscles, and nerves demand theirs. It is a
wonderful process that transforms the food into blood and
uses this blood to build up the varied parts of the body; but
this process is going on continually, supplying with life and
strength each nerve, muscle, and tissue.
Selection of Food
Those foods should be chosen that best supply the elements
needed for building up the body. In this choice, appetite is not
a safe guide. Through wrong habits of eating, the appetite
has become perverted. Often it demands food that impairs
health and causes weakness instead of strength. We cannot
safely be guided by the customs of society. The disease and
suffering that everywhere prevail are largely due to popular
errors in regard to diet.
In order to know what are the best foods, we must study
God's original plan for man's diet. He who created man
and who understands his needs appointed Adam his food.
"Behold," He said, "I have given you every herb yielding
seed, . . . and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding
seed; to you it shall be for food." Genesis 1:29, A.R.V.
Upon leaving Eden to gain his livelihood by tilling the earth
under the curse of sin, man received permission to eat also
"the herb of the field." Genesis 3:18.
Grains, fruits, nuts, and vegetables constitute the diet
chosen for us by our Creator. These foods, prepared in as
simple and natural a manner as possible, are the most healthful
and nourishing. They impart a strength, a power of
endurance, and a vigor of intellect that are not afforded by a
more complex and stimulating diet.
But not all foods wholesome in themselves are equally
suited to our needs under all circumstances. Care should be
taken in the selection of food. Our diet should be suited to
the season, to the climate in which we live, and to the occupation
we follow. Some foods that are adapted for use at one
season or in one climate are not suited to another. So there
are different foods best suited for persons in different occupations.
Often food that can be used with benefit by those
engaged in hard physical labor is unsuitable for persons of
sedentary pursuits or intense mental application. God has
given us an ample variety of healthful foods, and each person
should choose from it the things that experience and sound
judgment prove to be best suited to his own necessities.
Nature's abundant supply of fruits, nuts, and grains is
ample, and year by year the products of all lands are more
generally distributed to all, by the increased facilities for
transportation. As a result many articles of food which a few
years ago were regarded as expensive luxuries are now within
the reach of all as foods for everyday use. This is especially
the case with dried and canned fruits.
Nuts and nut foods are coming largely into use to take the
place of flesh meats. With nuts may be combined grains,
fruits, and some roots, to make foods that are healthful and
nourishing. Care should be taken, however, not to use too
large a proportion of nuts. Those who realize ill effects from
the use of nut foods may find the difficulty removed by attending
to this precaution. It should be remembered, too, that
some nuts are not so wholesome as others. Almonds are
preferable to peanuts, but peanuts in limited quantities, used
in connection with grains, are nourishing and digestible.
When properly prepared, olives, like nuts, supply the place
of butter and flesh meats. The oil, as eaten in the olive, is far
preferable to animal oil or fat. It serves as a laxative. Its use
will be found beneficial to consumptives, and it is healing to
an inflamed, irritated stomach.
Persons who have accustomed themselves to a rich, highly
stimulating diet have an unnatural taste, and they cannot at
once relish food that is plain and simple. It will take time for
the taste to become natural and for the stomach to recover
from the abuse it has suffered. But those who persevere in
the use of wholesome food will, after a time, find it palatable.
Its delicate and delicious flavors will be appreciated, and it
will be eaten with greater enjoyment than can be derived
from unwholesome dainties. And the stomach, in a healthy
condition, neither fevered nor overtaxed, can readily perform
its task.
In order to maintain health, a sufficient supply of good,
nourishing food is needed.
If we plan wisely, that which is most conducive to health
can be secured in almost every land. The various preparations
of rice, wheat, corn, and oats are sent abroad everywhere, also
beans, peas, and lentils. These, with native or imported fruits,
and the variety of vegetables that grow in each locality, give
an opportunity to select a dietary that is complete without the
use of flesh meats.
Wherever fruit can be grown in abundance, a liberal supply
should be prepared for winter, by canning or drying.
Small fruits, such as currants, gooseberries, strawberries,
raspberries, and blackberries, can be grown to advantage in
many places where they are but little used and their cultivation
is neglected.
For household canning, glass, rather than tin cans, should
be used whenever possible. It is especially necessary that the
fruit for canning should be in good condition. Use little sugar,
and cook the fruit only long enough to ensure its preservation.
Thus prepared, it is an excellent substitute for fresh
fruit.
Wherever dried fruits, such as raisins, prunes, apples,
pears, peaches, and apricots are obtainable at moderate prices,
it will be found that they can be used as staple articles of diet
much more freely than is customary, with the best results to
the health and vigor of all classes of workers.
There should not be a great variety at any one meal, for this
encourages overeating and causes indigestion.
It is not well to eat fruit and vegetables at the same meal.
If the digestion is feeble, the use of both will often cause
distress and inability to put forth mental effort. It is better to
have the fruit at one meal and the vegetables at another.
The meals should be varied. The same dishes, prepared
in the same way, should not appear on the table meal after
meal and day after day. The meals are eaten with greater
relish, and the system is better nourished, when the food is
varied.
Preparation of Food
It is wrong to eat merely to gratify the appetite, but no
indifference should be manifested regarding the quality of
the food or the manner of its preparation. If the food eaten is
not relished, the body will not be so well nourished. The
food should be carefully chosen and prepared with intelligence
and skill.
For use in breadmaking, the superfine white flour is not
the best. Its use is neither healthful nor economical.
Fine-flour bread is lacking in nutritive elements to be found in
bread made from the whole wheat. It is a frequent cause of
constipation and other unhealthful conditions.
The use of soda or baking powder in breadmaking is
harmful and unnecessary. Soda causes inflammation of the
stomach and often poisons the entire system. Many housewives
think that they cannot make good bread without soda,
but this is an error. If they would take the trouble to learn
better methods, their bread would be more wholesome, and,
to a natural taste, it would be more palatable.
In the making of raised or yeast bread, milk should not be
used in place of water. The use of milk is an additional
expense, and it makes the bread much less wholesome. Milk
bread does not keep sweet so long after baking as does that
made with water, and it ferments more readily in the stomach.
Bread should be light and sweet. Not the least taint of
sourness should be tolerated. The loaves should be small and
so thoroughly baked that, so far as possible, the yeast germs
shall be destroyed. When hot or new, raised bread of any
kind is difficult of digestion. It should never appear on the
table. This rule does not, however, apply to unleavened
bread. Fresh rolls made of wheaten meal without yeast or
leaven, and baked in a well-heated oven, are both wholesome
and palatable.
Grains used for porridge or "mush" should have several
hours' cooking. But soft or liquid foods are less wholesome
than dry foods, which require thorough mastication. Zwieback,
or twice-baked bread, is one of the most easily digested
and most palatable of foods. Let ordinary raised bread be
cut in slices and dried in a warm oven till the last trace of
moisture disappears. Then let it be browned slightly all the
way through. In a dry place this bread can be kept much
longer than ordinary bread, and, if reheated before using, it
will be as fresh as when new.
Far too much sugar is ordinarily used in food. Cakes,
sweet puddings, pastries, jellies, jams, are active causes of
indigestion. Especially harmful are the custards and puddings in
which milk, eggs, and sugar are the chief ingredients. The
free use of milk and sugar taken together should be avoided.
If milk is used, it should be thoroughly sterilized; with this
precaution, there is less danger of contracting disease from
its use. Butter is less harmful when eaten on cold bread than
when used in cooking; but, as a rule, it is better to dispense
with it altogether. Cheese is still more objectionable; it is
wholly unfit for food.
Scanty, ill-cooked food depraves the blood by weakening
the blood-making organs. It deranges the system and brings
on disease, with its accompaniment of irritable nerves and bad
tempers. The victims of poor cookery are numbered by thousands
and tens of thousands. Over many graves might be
written: "Died because of poor cooking;" "Died of an abused
stomach."
It is a sacred duty for those who cook to learn how to
prepare healthful food. Many souls are lost as the result of poor
cookery. It takes thought and care to make good bread; but
there is more religion in a loaf of good bread than many think.
There are few really good cooks. Young women think that
it is menial to cook and do other kinds of housework, and for
this reason many girls who marry and have the care of families
have little idea of the duties devolving upon a wife and
mother.
Cooking is no mean science, and it is one of the most essential
in practical life. It is a science that all women should
learn, and it should be taught in a way to benefit the poorer
classes. To make food appetizing and at the same time simple
and nourishing, requires skill; but it can be done. Cooks
should know how to prepare simple food in a simple and
healthful manner, and so that it will be found more palatable,
as well as more wholesome, because of its simplicity.
Every woman who is at the head of a family and yet does
not understand the art of healthful cookery should determine
to learn that which is so essential to the well-being of her
household. In many places hygienic cooking schools afford
opportunity for instruction in this line. She who has not the
help of such facilities should put herself under the instruction
of some good cook and persevere in her efforts for improvement
until she is mistress of the culinary art.
Regularity in eating is of vital importance. There should
be a specified time for each meal. At this time let everyone eat
what the system requires and then take nothing more until
the next meal. There are many who eat when the system
needs no food, at irregular intervals, and between meals,
because they have not sufficient strength of will to resist
inclination. When traveling, some are constantly nibbling if
anything eatable is within their reach. This is very injurious. If
travelers would eat regularly of food that is simple and nutritious,
they would not feel so great weariness nor suffer so
much from sickness.
Another pernicious habit is that of eating just before
bedtime. The regular meals may have been taken; but because
there is a sense of faintness, more food is eaten. By indulgence
this wrong practice becomes a habit and often so firmly fixed
that it is thought impossible to sleep without food. As a result
of eating late suppers, the digestive process is continued
through the sleeping hours. But though the stomach works
constantly, its work is not properly accomplished. The sleep
is often disturbed with unpleasant dreams, and in the morning
the person awakes unrefreshed and with little relish for
breakfast. When we lie down to rest, the stomach should
have its work all done, that it, as well as the other organs of
the body, may enjoy rest. For persons of sedentary habits,
late suppers are particularly harmful. With them the disturbance
created is often the beginning of disease that ends in
death.
In many cases the faintness that leads to a desire for food
is felt because the digestive organs have been too severely
taxed during the day. After disposing of one meal, the digestive
organs need rest. At least five or six hours should intervene
between the meals, and most persons who give the plan
a trial will find that two meals a day are better than three.
Wrong Conditions of Eating
Food should not be eaten very hot or very cold. If food is
cold, the vital force of the stomach is drawn upon in order
to warm it before digestion can take place. Cold drinks are
injurious for the same reason; while the free use of hot drinks
is debilitating. In fact, the more liquid there is taken with the
meals, the more difficult it is for the food to digest; for the
liquid must be absorbed before digestion can begin. Do not
eat largely of salt, avoid the use of pickles and spiced foods,
eat an abundance of fruit, and the irritation that calls for so
much drink at mealtime will largely disappear.
Food should be eaten slowly and should be thoroughly
masticated. This is necessary in order that the saliva may be
properly mixed with the food and the digestive fluids be
called into action.
Another serious evil is eating at improper times, as after
violent or excessive exercise, when one is much exhausted or
heated. Immediately after eating there is a strong draft upon
the nervous energies; and when mind or body is heavily taxed
just before or just after eating, digestion is hindered. When
one is excited, anxious, or hurried, it is better not to eat until
rest or relief is found.
The stomach is closely related to the brain; and when the
stomach is diseased, the nerve power is called from the brain
to the aid of the weakened digestive organs. When these
demands are too frequent, the brain becomes congested.
When the brain is constantly taxed, and there is lack of
physical exercise, even plain food should be eaten sparingly.
At mealtime cast off care and anxious thought; do not feel
hurried, but eat slowly and with cheerfulness, with your
heart filled with gratitude to God for all His blessings.
Many who discard flesh meats and other gross and
injurious articles think that because their food is simple and
wholesome they may indulge appetite without restraint, and
they eat to excess, sometimes to gluttony. This is an error.
The digestive organs should not be burdened with a quantity
or quality of food which it will tax the system to appropriate.
Custom has decreed that the food shall be placed upon the
table in courses. Not knowing what is coming next, one may
eat a sufficiency of food which perhaps is not the best suited
to him. When the last course is brought on, he often ventures
to overstep the bounds, and take the tempting dessert, which,
however, proves anything but good for him. If all the food
intended for a meal is placed on the table at the beginning,
one has opportunity to make the best choice.
Sometimes the result of overeating is felt at once. In other
cases there is no sensation of pain; but the digestive organs
lose their vital force, and the foundation of physical strength
is undermined.
The surplus food burdens the system and produces morbid,
feverish conditions. It calls an undue amount of blood
to the stomach, causing the limbs and extremities to chill
quickly. It lays a heavy tax on the digestive organs, and when
these organs have accomplished their task, there is a feeling
of faintness or languor. Some who are continually overeating
call this all-gone feeling hunger; but it is caused by the
over-worked condition of the digestive organs. At times there is
numbness of the brain, with disinclination to mental or physical
effort.
These unpleasant symptoms are felt because nature has
accomplished her work at an unnecessary outlay of vital
force and is thoroughly exhausted. The stomach is saying,
"Give me rest." But with many the faintness is interpreted as
a demand for more food; so instead of giving the stomach
rest, another burden is placed upon it. As a consequence the
digestive organs are often worn out when they should be capable
of doing good work.
We should not provide for the Sabbath a more liberal
supply or a greater variety of food than for other days. Instead
of this the food should be more simple, and less should be
eaten in order that the mind may be clear and vigorous to
comprehend spiritual things. A clogged stomach means a
clogged brain. The most precious words may be heard and
not appreciated because the mind is confused by an improper
diet. By overeating on the Sabbath, many do more than they
think to unfit themselves for receiving the benefit of its sacred
opportunities.
Cooking on the Sabbath should be avoided; but it is not
therefore necessary to eat cold food. In cold weather the food
prepared the day before should be heated. And let the meals,
however simple, be palatable and attractive. Especially in
families where there are children, it is well, on the Sabbath,
to provide something that will be regarded as a treat,
something the family do not have every day.
Where wrong habits of diet have been indulged, there
should be no delay in reform. When dyspepsia has resulted
from abuse of the stomach, efforts should be made carefully
to preserve the remaining strength of the vital forces by
removing every overtaxing burden. The stomach may never
entirely recover health after long abuse; but a proper course
of diet will save further debility, and many will recover more
or less fully. It is not easy to prescribe rules that will meet
every case; but, with attention to right principles in eating,
great reforms may be made, and the cook need not be
continually toiling to tempt the appetite.
Abstemiousness in diet is rewarded with mental and moral
vigor; it also aids in the control of the passions. Overeating is
especially harmful to those who are sluggish in temperament;
these should eat sparingly and take plenty of physical exercise.
There are men and women of excellent natural ability who do
not accomplish half what they might if they would exercise
self-control in the denial of appetite.
Many writers and speakers fail here. After eating heartily,
they give themselves to sedentary occupations, reading, study,
or writing, allowing no time for physical exercise. As a
consequence the free flow of thought and words is checked. They
cannot write or speak with the force and intensity necessary
in order to reach the heart; their efforts are tame and fruitless.
Those upon whom rest important responsibilities, those,
above all, who are guardians of spiritual interests, should be
men of keen feeling and quick perception. More than others,
they need to be temperate in eating. Rich and luxurious food
should have no place upon their tables.
Every day men in positions of trust have decisions to make
upon which depend results of great importance. Often they
have to think rapidly, and this can be done successfully by
those only who practice strict temperance. The mind strengthens
under the correct treatment of the physical and mental
powers. If the strain is not too great, new vigor comes with
every taxation. But often the work of those who have
important plans to consider and important decisions to make is
affected for evil by the results of improper diet. A disordered
stomach produces a disordered, uncertain state of mind. Often
it causes irritability, harshness, or injustice. Many a plan that
would have been a blessing to the world has been set aside,
many unjust, oppressive, even cruel measures have been
carried, as the result of diseased conditions due to wrong habits of
eating.
Here is a suggestion for all whose work is sedentary or
chiefly mental; let those who have sufficient moral courage
and self-control try it: At each meal take only two or three
kinds of simple food, and eat no more than is required to
satisfy hunger. Take active exercise every day, and see if you
do not receive benefit.
Strong men who are engaged in active physical labor are
not compelled to be as careful as to the quantity or quality of
their food as are persons of sedentary habits; but even these
would have better health if they would practice self-control
in eating and drinking.
Some wish that an exact rule could be prescribed for their
diet. They overeat, and then regret it, and so they keep thinking
about what they eat and drink. This is not as it should be.
One person cannot lay down an exact rule for another. Everyone
should exercise reason and self-control, and should act
from principle.
Our bodies are Christ's purchased possession, and we are
not at liberty to do with them as we please. All who understand
the laws of health should realize their obligation to obey
these laws which God has established in their being. Obedience
to the laws of health is to be made a matter of personal
duty. We ourselves must suffer the results of violated law.
We must individually answer to God for our habits and
practices. Therefore the question with us is not, "What is the
world's practice?" but, "How shall I as an individual treat the
habitation that God has given me?"