115. Again and again I have been shown that God is bringing His people back to His original design, that is, not to subsist upon the flesh of dead animals. He would have us teach people a better way....
(CD 82.1)
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If meat is discarded, if the taste is not educated in that direction, if a liking for fruits and grains is encouraged, it will soon be as God in the beginning designed it should be. No meat will be used by His people.—Letter 3, 1884
(CD 82.2)
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[Israel Brought Back to the Original Diet—644] [God’s Purpose in Restricting Israel’s Diet—641, 643, 644]
(CD 82)
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116. If ever there was a time when the diet should be of the most simple kind, it is now.—Testimonies for the Church 2:352, 1869
(CD 82.3)
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117. God wants men to cultivate force of character. Those who are merely timeservers are not the ones who will receive a rich reward by and by. He wants those who labor in His cause to be men of keen feeling and quick perception. They should be temperate in eating; rich and luxurious food should find no place upon their tables; and when the brain is constantly taxed, and there is a lack of physical exercise, they should eat sparingly, even of plain food. Daniel’s clearness of mind and firmness of purpose, his strength of intellect in acquiring knowledge, were due in a great degree to the plainness of his diet, in connection with his life of prayer—Testimonies for the Church 4:515, 516, 1880
(CD 82.4)
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[Simple Diet Chosen by Daniel—33, 34, 241, 242]
(CD 82)
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118. My dear friends, instead of taking a course to baffle disease, you are petting it and yielding to its power. You should avoid the use of drugs, and carefully observe the laws of health. If you regard your life, you should eat plain food, prepared in the simplest manner, and take more physical exercise. Each member of the family needs the benefits of health reform. But drugging should be forever abandoned; for while it does not cure any malady, it enfeebles the system, making it more susceptible to disease.—Testimonies for the Church 5:311, 1885
(CD 82.5)
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171. Great care should be taken when the change is made from a flesh meat to a vegetarian diet to supply the table with wisely prepared, well-cooked articles of food. So much porridge eating is a mistake. The dry food that requires mastication is far preferable. The health food preparations are a blessing in this respect. Good brown bread and rolls, prepared in a simple manner yet with painstaking effort, will be healthful. Bread should never have the slightest taint of sourness. It should be cooked until it is most thoroughly done. Thus all softness and stickiness will be avoided.
(CD 108.1)
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For those who can use them, good vegetables, prepared in a healthful manner, are better than soft mushes or porridge. Fruits used with thoroughly cooked bread two or three days old will be more healthful than fresh bread. This, with slow and thorough mastication, will furnish all that the system requires.—Manuscript 3, 1897
(CD 108.2)
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172. To make rolls, use soft water and milk, or a little cream; make a stiff dough, and knead it as for crackers. Bake on the grate of the oven. These are sweet and delicious. They require thorough mastication, which is a benefit both to the teeth and to the stomach. They make good blood, and impart strength.—The Review and Herald, May 8, 1883
(CD 108.3)
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173. It is impossible to prescribe by weight the quantity of food which should be eaten. It is not advisable to follow this process, for by so doing the mind becomes self-centered. Eating and drinking become altogether too much a matter of thought.... There are many who have carried a heavy weight of responsibility as to the quantity and quality of food best adapted to nourish the system. Some, especially dyspeptics, have worried so much in regard to their bill of fare that they have not taken sufficient food to nourish the system. They have done great injury to the house they live in, and we fear have spoiled themselves for this life.—Letter 142, 1900
(CD 108.4)
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Those who take an extreme view of health reform are in danger of preparing tasteless dishes. This has been done over and over again. The food has become so insipid as to be refused by the stomach. The food given the sick should be varied. They should not be given the same dishes over and over again....
(CD 203.1)
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I have told you what I have because I have received light that you are injuring your body by a poverty-stricken diet. I must say to you that it will not be best for you to instruct the students as you have done in regard to the diet question, because your ideas in regard to discarding certain things will not be for the help of those who need help.
(CD 203.2)
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Brother and Sister -----, I have all confidence in you, and I greatly desire that you may have physical health, in order that you may have perfect soundness spiritually. It is the lack of suitable food that has caused you to suffer so keenly. You have not taken the food essential to nourish your frail physical strength. You must not deny yourself of good, wholesome food.
(CD 203.3)
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At one time Doctor ----- tried to teach our family to cook according to health reform, as he viewed it, without salt or anything else to season the food. Well, I determined to try it, but I became so reduced in strength that I had to make a change; and a different policy was entered upon with great success. I tell you this because I know that you are in positive danger. Food should be prepared in such a way that it will be nourishing. It should not be robbed of that which the system needs.
(CD 203.4)
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The Lord calls upon Brother and Sister ----- to reform, to take periods of rest. It is not right for you to take burdens as you have done in the past. Unless you take heed, you will sacrifice that life which is so precious in the sight of the Lord. “Ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”(1 Corinthians 6:19, 20) ...
(CD 203.5)
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813. Because the avenues to the soul have been closed by the tyrant Prejudice, many are ignorant of the principles of healthful living. Good service can be done by teaching the people how to prepare healthful food. This line of work is as essential as any that can be taken up. More cooking schools should be established, and some should labor from house to house, giving instruction in the art of cooking wholesome foods. Many, many will be rescued from physical, mental, and moral degeneracy through the influence of health reform. These principles will commend themselves to those who are seeking for light; and such will advance from this to receive the full truth for this time.
(CD 472.1)
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God wants His people to receive to impart. As impartial, unselfish witnesses, they are to give to others what the Lord has given them. And as you enter into this work, and by whatever means in your power seek to reach hearts, be sure to work in a way that will remove prejudice instead of creating it. Make the life of Christ your constant study, and labor as He did, following His example.—The Review and Herald, June 6, 1912
(CD 472.2)
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Teaching Diet Reform at Holiday Gatherings and Special Entertainments
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814. When the light of health reform first came to us, we used, on holiday occasions, to take cooking stoves to the grounds where the people were assembled, and right there bake unleavened bread,—gems and rolls. And I think that the result of our efforts was good, though, of course, we had not the health food preparations that we now have. At that time we were just beginning to learn how to live without using flesh meat.
(CD 472.3)
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Sometimes we gave entertainments, and we took great care that all that we prepared for the table was palatable and nicely served. In fruit season, we would get blueberries and raspberries fresh from the bushes, and strawberries fresh from the vines. We made the table fare an object lesson which showed those present that our diet, even though it was in accordance with the principles of health reform, was far from being a meager one.
(CD 472.4)
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