Half the Mothers Deplorably Ignorant—Not one half the mothers know how to cook or what to set before their children. They place before their little nervous children these rich substances that burn in the throat and all the way down to the tender coats of the stomach, making it like a burnt boot, so it does not recognize healthful food. The little ones will come to the table, and they cannot eat this, or they cannot eat that. They take control and get just what they want whether it is for their good or not. (Te 158.1) MC VC

I would recommend letting them go without for at least three days until they are hungry enough to enjoy good wholesome food. I would risk their starving. I have never placed on my table things which I did not allow my children to partake of. I would place before them just what I myself would eat. The children would eat of this food and never think of asking for things not on the table. We should not indulge the appetite of our children by placing before them these rich foods.—Manuscript 3, 1888. (Te 158.2) MC VC

Paving the Way for Intemperance—The tables of our American people are generally prepared in a manner to make drunkards.—Testimonies for the Church 3:563. (Te 158.3) MC VC

Those who believe present truth should refuse to drink tea or coffee, for these excite a desire for stronger stimulant. They should refuse to eat flesh meat, for this, too, excites a desire for strong drink. Wholesome food, prepared with taste and skill, should be our diet now.—Evangelism, 265. (Te 158.4) MC VC

Meat Stimulates—The immediate results of meat eating may be apparently to invigorate the system, but this is no reason for its being considered the best article of diet. The moderate use of brandy will have the same effect for the time being, but when its exciting influence is gone there follows a sense of languor and debility. Those who depend upon simple and nutritious food, that is comparatively unstimulating in its effects, can endure more labor in the course of months and years than the meat eater or the liquor drinker. They who work in the open air will feel less injury from the use of flesh-meats than those of sedentary habits, for sun and air are great helps to digestion, and do much to counteract the effect of wrong habits of eating and drinking. (Te 158.5) MC VC

The Effects of Stimulants—All stimulants hurry the human machinery too fast, and although, for the time, activity and vigor may seem to be increased, in proportion to the irritating influence employed, there must be a reaction; a debility will follow corresponding in degree to the unnatural excitement that has been produced. (Te 159.1) MC VC

When this debility is felt, something to stimulate and tone up the system is again used to give immediate relief from disagreeable languor. Nature is gradually educated to rely upon this oft-repeated remedy, until her powers are enfeebled by being often aroused to unnatural action. All persons should become acquainted with the laws of their being. It should be an important subject of study, how to live, how to regulate labor, and how to eat and drink in reference to health. (Te 159.2) MC VC

The more simply and naturally we live the better shall we be able to resist epidemic and disease. If our habits are good and the system is not weakened by unnatural action, Nature will furnish all the stimulus that we require.... (Te 159.3) MC VC

Appetite an Unsafe Guide—The rule which some recommend, is to eat whenever there is a sense of hunger, and to eat until satisfied. This course will lead to disease and numerous evils. Appetite at the present day is not generally natural, therefore is not a correct index to the wants of the system. It has been pampered and misdirected until it has become morbid and can no longer be a safe guide. Nature has been abused, her efforts crippled by wrong habits and indulgence in sinful luxuries, until taste and appetite are alike perverted. (Te 159.4) MC VC