CD 288, 334, 367
(Counsels on Diet and Foods 288, 334, 367)
You may be surprised at my writing this, but last night I was instructed that a change in the diet would make a great difference in your patronage. A more liberal diet is needed. (CD 288.1) MC VC
429. The danger of going to extremes in diet must be guarded against in the sanitarium. We cannot expect worldlings to accept at once that which our people have been years in learning. Even now there are many of our ministers who do not practice health reform, notwithstanding the light they have had. We cannot expect those who do not realize the need of abstemiousness in diet, who have had no practical experiences on this subject, to take at once the wide step between self-indulgence in eating and the most strenuous diet in health reform. (CD 288.2) MC VC
Those who come to the sanitarium must be provided with wholesome food, prepared in the most palatable way consistent with right principles. We cannot expect them to live just as we live. The change would be too great. And there are very few throughout our ranks who live so abstemiously as Doctor ----- has thought it wise to live. Changes must not be made abruptly, when the patients are not prepared for them. (CD 288.3) MC VC
The food placed before the patients should be such as to make a favorable impression on them. Eggs can be prepared in a variety of ways. Lemon pie should not be forbidden. (CD 288.4) MC VC
Too little thought and painstaking effort has been given to making the food tasty and nourishing. We do not want that the sanitarium shall be destitute of patients. We cannot convert men and women from the error of their ways unless we treat them wisely. (CD 288.5) MC VC
Get the best cook possible, and do not limit the food to that which would suit the taste of some who are rigid health reformers. Were the patients given this food only, they would become disgusted, because it would taste so insipid. It is not thus that souls are to be won to the truth in our sanitariums. Let the cautions that the Lord has given Brother and Sister ----- in regard to extremes in diet, be heeded. I was instructed that Doctor ----- must change his diet, and eat more nourishing food. It is possible to avoid rich cooking, and yet make the food palatable. I know that every extreme in diet that is brought into the sanitarium will hurt the reputation of the institution.... (CD 288.6) MC VC
548. Then, when she needed extra clothing and extra food, and that of a simple yet nutritious quality, it was not allowed her. Her system craved material to convert into blood; but he would not provide it. A moderate amount of milk and sugar, a little salt, white bread raised with yeast for a change, graham flour prepared in a variety of ways by other hands than her, plain cake with raisins, rice pudding with raisins, prunes, and figs, occasionally, and many other dishes I might mention, would have answered the demand of appetite.—Testimonies for the Church 2:383, 384, 1870 (CD 334.1) MC VC
549. The food placed before the patients should be such as to make a favorable impression on them. Eggs can be prepared in a variety of ways. Lemon pie should not be forbidden.—Letter 127, 1904 (CD 334.2) MC VC
[Lemon pie used by E. G. White—Appendix 1:22] (CD 334) MC VC
550. The dessert should be placed on the table and served with the rest of the food; for often, after the stomach has been given all it should have, the dessert is brought on, and is just that much too much.—Letter 53, 1898 (CD 334.3) MC VC
For Clear Minds and Strong Bodies VC
551. I wish we were all health reformers. I am opposed to the use of pastries. These mixtures are unhealthful; no one can have good digestive powers and a clear brain who will eat largely of sweet cookies and cream cake and all kinds of pies, and partake of a great variety of food at one meal. When we do this, and then take cold, the whole system is so clogged and enfeebled that it has no power of resistance, no strength to combat disease. I would prefer a meat diet to the sweet cakes and pastries so generally used.—Letter 10, 1891 (CD 334.4) MC VC
552. Let health reformers remember that they may do harm by publishing recipes which do not recommend health reform. Great care is to be shown in furnishing recipes for custards and pastry. If for dessert sweet cake is eaten with milk or cream, fermentation will be created in the stomach, and then the weak points of the human organism will tell the story. The brain will be affected by the disturbance in the stomach. This may be easily cured if people will study from cause to effect, cutting out of their diet that which injures the digestive organs and causes pain in the head. By unwise eating, men and women are unfitted for the work they might do without injury to themselves if they would eat simply.—Letter 142, 1900 (CD 334.5) MC VC
The time will come when milk cannot be used as freely as it is now used; but the present is not the time to discard it. And eggs contain properties which are remedial agencies in counteracting poisons....—Letter 37, 1901 (CD 367.1) MC VC
In Sanitarium Dietary VC
While I would discard flesh meat as injurious, something less objectionable may be used, and this is found in eggs. Do not remove milk from the table or forbid its being used in the cooking of food. The milk used should be procured from healthy cows, and should be sterilized.... (CD 367.2) MC VC
But I wish to say that when the time comes that it is no longer safe to use milk, cream, butter, and eggs, God will reveal this. No extremes in health reform are to be advocated. The question of using milk and butter and eggs will work out its own problem. At present we have no burden on this line. Let your moderation be known unto all men. (CD 367.3) MC VC
[For context see 324] (CD 367) MC VC
629. When a letter came to me from Cooranbong, saying that Doctor ----- was dying, I was that night instructed that he must have a change of diet. A raw egg, taken two or three times a day, would give the nourishment that he greatly needed.—Letter 37, 1904 (CD 367.4) MC VC
630. Those who come to the sanitarium must be provided with wholesome food prepared in the most palatable way consistent with right principles. We cannot expect them to live just as we live.... The food placed before the patients should be such as to make a favorable impression on them. Eggs can be prepared in a variety of ways.—Letter 127, 1904 (CD 367.5) MC VC