(Counsels on Diet and Foods 282, 284-6, 288-9, 295-6, 367, 415)
423. An important part of the nurse’s duty is the care of the patient’s diet. The patient should not be allowed to suffer or became unduly weakened through lack of nourishment, nor should the enfeebled digestive powers be overtaxed. Care should be taken so to prepare and serve the food that it will be palatable, but wise judgment should be used in adapting it to the needs of the patient, both in quantity and quality.—The Ministry of Healing, 221, 1905
(CD 282.1)
MC
VC
424. The patients are to be provided with an abundance of wholesome, palatable food, prepared and served in so appetizing a way that they will have no temptation to desire flesh meat. The meals may be made the means of an education in health reform. Care is to be shown in regard to the combinations of food given to the patients. Knowledge in regard to proper food combinations is of great worth, and is to be received as wisdom from God.
(CD 282.2)
MC
VC
The hours for meals should be so arranged that the patients will feel that those in charge of the institution are working for their comfort and health. Then, when they leave the institution, they will not carry away with them the leaven of prejudice. In no case is a course to be followed that will give the patients the impression that the time of meals has been fixed by unalterable laws.
(CD 282.3)
MC
VC
If, after dispensing with the third meal in the sanitarium, you see by the results that this is keeping people away from the institution, your duty is plain. We must remember that while there are some who are better for eating only two meals, there are others who eat lightly at each meal, and who feel that they need something in the evening. Food enough is to be eaten to give strength to sinew and muscle. And we are to remember that it is from the food eaten that the mind gains strength. Part of the medical missionary work that our sanitarium workers are to do is to show the value of wholesome food.
(CD 282.4)
MC
VC
426. In the night season I was talking with you both. I had some things to say to you on the diet question. I was talking freely with you, telling you that you would have to make changes in your ideas in regard to the diet to be given those who come to the sanitarium from the world. These people have lived improperly on rich food. They are suffering as a result of indulgence of appetite. A reform in their habits of eating and drinking is needed. But this reform cannot be made all at once. The change must be made gradually. The health foods set before them must be appetizing. All their lives, perhaps, they have had three meals a day, and have eaten rich food. It is an important matter to reach these people with the truths of health reform. But in order to lead them to adopt a sensible diet, you must set before them an abundant supply of wholesome, appetizing food. Changes must not be made so abruptly that they will be turned from health reform, instead of being led to it. The food served to them must be nicely prepared, and it must be richer than either you or I would eat....
(CD 284.1)
MC
VC
I write this because I am sure that the Lord means you to have tact in meeting the people where they are, in their darkness and self-indulgence. As far as I am concerned, personally, I am decidedly in favor of a plain, simple diet. But it will not be best to put worldly, self-indulgent patients on a diet so strict that they will be turned from health reform. This will not convince them of the need of a change in their habits of eating and drinking. Tell them the facts. Educate them to see the need of a plain, simple diet, and make the change gradually. Give them time to respond to the treatment and the instruction given them. Work and pray, and lead them along as gently as possible.
(CD 284.2)
MC
VC
I remember once at -----, when at the sanitarium there, I was urged to sit at the table with the patients, and eat with them, that we might become acquainted. I saw then that a decided mistake was being made in the preparation of the food. It was put together in such a way that it was tasteless, and there was not more than two thirds enough. I found it impossible to make a meal that would satisfy my appetite. I tried to bring about a different order of things, and I think that matters were helped.—Letter 331, 1904
(CD 285.1)
MC
VC
In dealing with the patients in our sanitariums, we must reason from cause to effect. We must remember that the habits and practices of a lifetime cannot be changed in a moment. With an intelligent cook, and an abundant supply of wholesome food, reforms can be brought about that will work well. But it may take time to bring them about. A strenuous effort should not be made unless it is actually demanded. We must remember that food which would be appetizing to a health reformer might be very insipid to those who have been accustomed to highly seasoned food. Lectures should be given, explaining why reforms in diet are essential, and showing that the use of highly seasoned food causes inflammation of the delicate lining of the digestive organs. Let it be shown why we as a people have changed our habits of eating and drinking. Show why we discard tobacco and all intoxicating liquor. Lay down the principles of health reform clearly and plainly, and with this, let there be placed on the table an abundance of wholesome food, tastefully prepared; and the Lord will help you to make impressive the urgency of reform, and will lead them to see that this reform is for their highest good. They will miss the highly seasoned food to which they have been accustomed, but an effort must be made to give them food that is so wholesome and so appetizing that they will cease to miss the unwholesome dishes. Show them that the treatment given them will not benefit them unless they make the needed change in their habits of eating and drinking.
(CD 285.2)
MC
VC
427. In all our sanitariums a liberal bill of fare should be arranged for the patients’ dining room. I have not seen anything very extravagant in any of our medical institutions; but I have seen some tables that were decidedly lacking in a supply of good, inviting, palatable food. Often patients at such institutions, after remaining for a while, have decided that they were paying a large sum for room, board, and treatment, without receiving much in return, and have therefore left. Of course, complaints greatly to the discredit of the institution were soon in circulation.—Letter 45, 1903
(CD 286.1)
MC
VC
There are two extremes, both of which we should avoid. May the Lord help every one connected with our medical institutions not to advocate a meager supply of food. The men and women of the world who come to our sanitariums often have perverted appetites. Radical changes cannot be made suddenly for all these. Some cannot at once be placed on as plain a health reform diet as would be acceptable in a private family. In a medical institution there are varied appetites to satisfy. Some require well-prepared vegetables to meet their peculiar needs. Others have not been able to use vegetables without suffering the consequence. The poor, sick dyspeptics need to be given many words of encouragement. Let the religious influence of a Christian home pervade the sanitarium. This will be conducive to the health of the patients. All these things have to be managed carefully and prayerfully. The Lord sees the difficulties to be adjusted, and He will be your helper....
(CD 286.2)
MC
VC
Yesterday I wrote to you some things that I hope will in no wise confuse you. I may have written too much in regard to the importance of having a liberal dietary in our sanitariums. I have been in several medical institutions where the supply of food was not as liberal as it should have been. As you well know, in providing for the sick we must not follow one set regimen, but must frequently vary the bill of fare, and prepare food in different ways. I believe that the Lord will give all of you good judgment in the preparation of food.
(CD 286.3)
MC
VC
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
There is a way of combining and preparing food that will make it both wholesome and nourishing. Those in charge of the cooking in our sanitariums should understand how to do this. The matter should be treated from a Bible standpoint. There is such a thing as robbing the body of nutrition. The preparation of the food in the best manner possible is to become a science.—Letter 127, 1904
(CD 289.1)
MC
VC
[Further Statements Regarding Extremes in Sanitarium Diet—324, 331]
(CD 289)
MC
VC
430. They must have ... the best quality of all sorts of healthful food. Those who have been in the habit of indulging the appetite with every luxury, if they come to the retreat and find at their first meal a meager diet, the impression is made at once on their minds that the reports which they have heard concerning the Adventists living so poor and starving themselves to death, is true. One meal of short rations will do more to the discredit of the institution than all the influences in other directions that can be made to counteract it. If we ever expect to meet the people where they are and bring them up to a sensible health reform diet, we must not begin by setting before them a radical diet. There must be placed upon the table nicely cooked dishes, and an abundance of good, palatable food, else those who think so much of what they eat will think they will surely starve to death. We want to have good dishes nicely prepared.—Letter 61, 1886
(CD 289.2)
MC
VC
Flesh Foods Not a Part of the Sanitarium Dietary
VC
431. I have received instruction in regard to the use of flesh meat in our sanitariums. Flesh meat should be excluded from the diet, and its place should be supplied by wholesome, palatable food, prepared in such a way as to be appetizing.—Letter 37, 1904
(CD 289.3)
MC
VC
440. We cannot mold the minds of worldlings to health reform principles all at once; therefore we must not set down too stringent rules in regard to the diet of the patients. When worldly patients come to the sanitarium, they have to make a great change in their dietary; and that they may feel the change as little as possible, the very best cookery in healthful lines should be brought in, the most palatable and inviting dishes placed upon the table....
(CD 295.1)
MC
VC
Those who pay for board and treatment should have their food prepared in the most palatable form. The reason for this is obvious. When the patients are deprived of flesh foods, the system feels the change. There is a feeling of letting down, and they will demand a liberality in their diet. Dishes should be prepared that will invite the appetite, and will be pleasing to the sight.—Letter 54, 1907
(CD 295.2)
MC
VC
441. A liberal diet should be provided for the patients, but care should be taken in the preparation and combination of food for the sick. The table of a sanitarium cannot be set exactly the same as the table of a restaurant. It makes a great difference whether the food is to be placed before healthy men, who can digest almost anything in the line of food, or before invalids.
(CD 295.3)
MC
VC
There is danger of providing too limited a diet for people who have come directly from a diet so abundant as to encourage gluttony. The fare should be liberal. But at the same time, it should be simple. I know that food can be prepared simply, and yet be so palatable as to be enjoyed even by those who have been accustomed to a richer fare.
(CD 296.1)
MC
VC
Let fruit be placed on the table in abundance. I am glad that you are able to provide for the sanitarium table, fruit fresh from your own orchards. This is indeed a great advantage.—Letter 171, 1903
(CD 296.2)
MC
VC
[Not Every One Can Use Vegetables—516]
(CD 296)
MC
VC
442. In the preparation of the food, the golden rays of light are to be kept shining, teaching those who sit at the table how to live. This education is also to be given to those who visit the Health Retreat, that they may carry from it reformatory principles.—Letter 71, 1896
(CD 296.3)
MC
VC
443. The preparation of food for sanitarium patients needs close and careful attention. Some of the patients come from homes in which the tables are daily loaded with rich food, and every effort should be made to set before them food that is both appetizing and wholesome.—Letter 73, 1905
(CD 296.4)
MC
VC
The Lord would have the institution with which you are connected one of the most satisfying and enjoyable places in the world. I want you to show special care in providing for the patients a diet that will not endanger health, and at the same time will recommend our principles of health reform. This can be done, and being done, it will make a favorable impression on the minds of the patients. It will be an education to them, showing them the advantage of hygienic living above their own way of living. And when they leave the institution, they will carry with them a report that will influence others to go there.
(CD 296.5)
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
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
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
If patients come who are so dependent on a diet of flesh meat that they think that [they] cannot live without it, we shall try to make them look at the matter from an intelligent point of view. And if they will not do this, if they are determined to use that which destroys health, we shall not refuse to provide it for them, if they are willing to eat it in their rooms and willing to risk the consequences. But they must take upon themselves the responsibility of their action. We shall not sanction their course. We dare not dishonor our stewardship by sanctioning the use of that which taints the blood and brings disease. We should be unfaithful to our Master if we did that which we know He does not approve.
(CD 415.1)
MC
VC
This is the stand that we have taken. We are resolved to be true to the principles of health reform, and may God help us, is my prayer.
(CD 415.2)
MC
VC
Plans must be set in operation that will bring an increase of patronage. But would it be right for us, for the sake of obtaining more patients, to return to the serving of flesh meat? Shall we give the sick that which has made them sick, that which will keep them sick if they continue to use it as food? Shall we not rather take our stand as those who are resolved to carry out the principles of health reform?—Manuscript 3a, 1903
(CD 415.3)
MC
VC
[Tea, Coffee, and Meat Served in Patients’ Rooms—437]
(CD 415)
MC
VC
725. There are some in our institutions who claim to believe the principles of health reform, and yet who indulge in the use of flesh meats and other foods which they know to be injurious to health. I say to such in the name of the Lord, Do not accept positions in our institutions while you refuse to live the principles for which our institutions stand; for by doing this, you make doubly hard the work of teachers and leaders who are striving to carry the work on right lines. Clear the King’s highway. Cease to block the way of the message He sends.
(CD 415.4)
MC
VC