If, in reading up on this important subject, you find yourself using some of the things that are named as injurious, do not fly to the other extreme, and go to starving yourself by dropping everything at once, without putting that which is better in its place. To do that is only to perpetuate the evil; for an impoverished diet will produce the same results as flesh-meats and rich food,--it will create a poor quality of blood.
Another class who have taken hold of the health reform are very severe. They take a position, and stand stubbornly in that position, and carry nearly everything over the mark. Sister A was one of these. She was not sympathizing, loving, and affectionate like our divine Lord. Justice was nearly all she could see....Her impoverished diet gave her impoverished blood.[1]
We would not recommend an impoverished diet. I have been shown that many take a wrong view of the health reform, and adopt too poor a diet. They subsist upon a cheap, poor quality of food, prepared without care or reference to the nourishment of the system. It is important that the food should be prepared with care, that the appetite, when not perverted, can relish it.
Because we from principle discard the use of meat, butter, mince pies, spices, lard and that which irritates the stomach and destroys health, the idea should never be given that it is of but little consequence what we eat.
There are some who go to extremes. They must eat just such an amount and just such a quality, and confine themselves to two or three things. They allow only a few things to be placed before them or their families to eat. In eating a small amount of food, and that not of the best quality, they do not take into the stomach that which will suitably nourish the system. Poor food can not be converted into good blood. An impoverished diet will impoverish the blood.[2]
These changes should be made cautiously, and the subject should be treated in a manner not calculated to disgust and prejudice those whom we would teach and help.[3]
Let us turn, then, to the consideration of what is good food. Yes, let us find what is the best food, and enjoy ourselves to the full on that, in order that we may have the best of health, and enjoy ourselves in every other right way. what, then, is good? What shall we find to put in the place of all these things that are not good to eat in this time? Here is is:
Grains and fruits prepared free from grease, and in as natural a condition as possible, should be the food for the tables of all who claim to be preparing for translation to heaven.[4]
Fruits and grains, prepared in the most simple form, are the most healthful, and will impart the greatest amount of nourishment to the body, and, at the same time, not impair the intellect.[5]
Those who discard meat ...
... need to supply its place with the best fruits and vegetables, prepared in the most natural state, free from grease and spices. If they would only skillfully arrange the bounties with which the Creator has surrounded them, parents and children with a clear conscience unitedly engaging in the work, they would enjoy simple food, and would then be able to speak understandingly of health reform.[6]
God has furnished man with abundant means for the gratification of natural appetite. He has spread before him, in the products of the earth, a bountiful variety of food that is palatable to the taste and nutritious to the system. Of these our benevolent heavenly Father says that we may "freely eat." We may enjoy the fruits, the vegetables, the grains, without doing violence to the laws of our being. These articles, prepared in the most simple and natural manner, will nourish the body, and preserve its natural vigor without the use of flesh meats.[7]
Adopt the free use of these things, and you will find that all those other things will drop away and never be missed. Then health, such as the Lord desires that you shall have, enjoyment of life, and prosperity in all the things of God, will be yours. For:
"I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers." (3 John 1:2)--Advent Review, June 28, 1898.
Notes: