Part I-Nuts and Nut Foods
Part of an Adequate Diet
(1905) M.H. 296
617. Grains, fruits, nuts, and vegetables constitute the diet chosen for us by
our Creator. These foods, prepared in as simple and natural a manner as
possible, are the most healthful and nourishing. They impart a strength, a power
of endurance, and a vigour of intellect, that are not afforded by a more complex
and stimulating diet.
MS 27, 1906
618. In grains, fruit, vegetables, and nuts are to be found all the food
elements that we need. If we will come to the Lord in simplicity of mind, He
will teach us how to prepare wholesome food free from the taint of flesh meat.
[IN THE ADEQUATE DIET--483] [IN THE DIET PROVIDED BY GOD--404] [SANITARIUM
PATIENTS TO BE TAUGHT TO USE--767]
Nut Foods to Be Carefully Prepared and Inexpensive (1905) M.H. 297, 298
619. God has given us an ample variety of healthful foods, and each person
should choose from it the things that experience and sound judgement prove to be
best suited to his own necessities.
Nature's abundant supply of fruits, nuts, and grains is ample, and year by year the products of all lands are more generally distributed to all, by the increased facilities for transportation. . . .
Nuts and nut foods are coming largely into use to take the place of flesh meats. With nuts may be combined grains, fruits, and some roots, to make foods that are healthful and nourishing. Care should be taken, however, not to use too large a proportion of nuts. Those who realize ill
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effects from the use of nut foods may find the difficulty removed by attending to this precaution. [GRAINS, NUTS, VEGETABLES, AND FRUIT AS SUBSTITUTES FOR FLESH FOOD--492]
Letter 177, 1901
620. Much time should be spent in learning how to prepare nut foods. But care
should be taken not to reduce the bill of fare to a few articles, using little
else than the nut foods. The majority of our people cannot obtain the nut
preparations; few know how to prepare them properly for use, even if they could
buy them.
Letter 14, 1901
621. The foods used should correspond to the climate. Some foods suitable for
one country would not do at all in another place. And the nut foods should be
made as inexpensive as possible, so that they can be procured by the
poor.
Proportion of Nuts to Other Ingredients
Letter 135, 1902
622. Careful attention should be given to the proper use of nut foods. Some
kinds of nuts are not so wholesome as others. Do not reduce the bill of fare to
a few articles composed largely of nut foods. These foods should not be used too
freely. If they were used more sparingly by some, the results would be more
satisfactory. As combined in large proportions with other articles in some of
the recipes given, they make the food so rich that the system cannot properly
assimilate it.
(1902) 7T 134
623. I have been instructed that the nut foods are often used unwisely, that too
large a proportion of nuts is used, that some nuts are not as wholesome as
others. Almonds are preferable to peanuts; but peanuts, in limited quantities,
may be used in connection with grains to make nourishing and digestible food.
Letter 188, 1901
624. Three years ago a letter came to me saying, "I cannot eat the nut
foods; my stomach cannot take care of them." Then there were several
recipes presented before
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me; one was that there must be other ingredients combined with the nuts, which would harmonise with them, and not use such a large proportion of nuts. One-tenth to one-sixth part of nuts would be sufficient, varied according to combinations. We tried this, and with success. [TOO LARGE A PROPORTION OF NUTS USED--400, 411] [NOT ALL CAN USE THE NUT FOODS--589] [USE OF NUT FOODS IN THE WHITE HOME-APPENDIX I:16]
Part II-Eggs
Use of Eggs Will Become More and More Unsafe
(1905) M.H. 320, 321
625. Those who live in new countries or in poverty-stricken districts where
fruits and nuts are scarce, should not be urged to exclude milk and eggs from
their dietary. It is true that persons in full flesh and in whom the animal
passions are strong need to avoid the use of stimulating foods. Especially in
families of children who are given to sensual habits, eggs should not be used.
But in the case of persons whose blood-making organs are feeble,--especially if
other foods to supply the needed elements cannot be obtained,-- milk and eggs
should not be wholly discarded. Great care should be taken, however, to obtain
milk from healthy cows and eggs from healthy fowls, that are well fed and well
cared for; and the eggs should be so cooked as to be most easily digested.
The diet reform should be progressive. As disease in animals increases, the use of milk and eggs will become more and more unsafe. An effort should be made to supply their place with other things that are healthful and inexpensive. The people everywhere should be taught how to cook without milk and eggs, so far as possible, and yet have their food wholesome and palatable.
Not to Be Classed With Flesh Meat
(1902) 7T 135
626. Milk, eggs, and butter should not be classed with flesh meat. In some cases
the use of eggs is beneficial. The
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time has not come to say that the use of milk and eggs should be wholly discarded....
Let the diet reform be progressive. Let the people be taught how to prepare food without the use of milk or butter. Tell them that the time will soon come when there will be no safety in using eggs, milk, cream, or butter, because disease in animals is increasing in proportion to the increase of wickedness among men. The time is near when, because of the iniquity of the fallen race, the whole animal creation will groan under the diseases that curse our earth. God will give His people ability and tact to prepare wholesome food without these things. Let our people discard all unwholesome recipes.
Exciting to Children
(1870) 2T 362
627. You should be teaching your children. You should be instructing them how to
shun the vices and corruptions of this age. Instead of this, many are studying
how to get something good to eat. You place upon your tables butter, eggs, and
meat, and your children partake of them. They are fed with the very things that
will excite their animal passions, and then you come to meeting and ask God to
bless and save your children. How high do your prayers go? You have a work to do
first. When you have done all for your children which God has left for you to
do, then you can with confidence claim the special help that God has promised to
give you.
Properties in Eggs Are Remedial Agencies; Guard Against Extremes
Letter 37, 1901
628. Do not go to extremes in regard to the health reform. Some of our people
are very careless in regard to health reform. But because some are far behind,
you must not, in order to be an example to them, be an extremist. You must not
deprive yourself of that class of food which makes good blood. Your devotion to
true principles is leading you to submit yourself to a diet which is giving you
an experience that will not recommend health reform. This
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is your danger. When you see that you are becoming weak physically, it is essential for you to make changes, and at once. Put into your diet something you have left out. It is your duty to do this. Get eggs of healthy fowls. Use these eggs cooked or raw. Drop them uncooked into the best unfermented wine you can find. This will supply that which is necessary to your system. Do not for a moment suppose that it will not be right to do this....
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....
In Sanitarium Dietary
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....
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. [FOR CONTEXT SEE 324]
Letter 37, 1904
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 127, 1904
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 favourable impression on them. Eggs can be prepared
in a variety of ways.
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Failure to Replace Food Elements
(1909) 9T 162
631. While warnings have been given regarding the dangers of disease through
butter, and the evil of the free use of eggs by small children, yet we should
not consider it a violation of principle to use eggs from hens that are well
cared for and suitably fed. Eggs contain properties that are remedial agencies
in counteracting certain poisons. Some, in abstaining from milk, eggs, and
butter, have failed to supply the system with proper nourishment, and as a
consequence have become weak and unable to work. Thus health reform is brought
into disrepute. The work that we have tried to build up solidly is confused with
strange things that God has not required, and the energies of the church are
crippled. But God will interfere to prevent the results of these too-strenuous
ideas. The gospel is to harmonise the sinful race. It is to bring the rich and
poor together at the feet of Jesus. The time will come when we may have to
discard some of the articles of diet we now use, such as milk and cream and
eggs; but it is not necessary to bring upon ourselves perplexity by premature
and extreme restrictions. Wait until the circumstances demand it, and the Lord
prepares the way for it. [FOR CONTEXT SEE 327]
Part III-Cheese
Unfit for Food
(1868) 2T 68
632. Cheese should never be introduced into the stomach. (1905) M.H. 302
633. Butter is less harmful when eaten on cold bread than when used in cooking;
but, as a rule, it is better to dispense with it altogether. Cheese [TRANSLATED
"STRONG, SHARP CHEESE," WITH ELLEN WHITE'S APPROVAL, IN THE
GERMAN-LANGUAGE EDITION.] is still more objectionable; it is wholly unfit for
food.
[C.T.B.H. 46, 47] (1890) C.H. 114
634. Many a mother sets a table that is a snare to her family. Flesh meats,
butter, cheese, rich pastry, spiced
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foods, and condiments are freely partaken of by both old and young. These things do their work in deranging the stomach, exciting the nerves, and enfeebling the intellect. The blood-making organs cannot convert such things into good blood. The grease cooked in the food renders it difficult of digestion. The effect of cheese is deleterious.
(1873) 3T 136
635. Children are allowed to eat flesh meats, spices, butter, cheese, pork, rich
pastry, and condiments generally. They are also allowed to eat irregularly and
between meals of unhealthful food. These things do their work of deranging the
stomach, exciting the nerves to unnatural action, and enfeebling the intellect.
Parents do not realize that they are sowing the seed which will bring forth
disease and death.
R. & H., July 19, 1870
636. When we commenced the camp meeting in Nora, Illinois, I felt it my duty to
make some remarks in reference to their eating. I related the unfortunate
experience of some at Marion, and told them I charged it to unnecessary
preparations made for the meeting, and also eating the unnecessary preparations
while at the meeting. Some brought cheese to the meeting, and ate it; although
new, it was altogether too strong for the stomach, and should never be
introduced into it.
Letter 40, 1893
637. It was decided that at a certain camp meeting, cheese should not be sold to
those on the ground; but on coming to the ground, Doctor Kellogg found to his
surprise that a large quantity of cheese had been purchased for sale at the
grocery. He and some others objected to this, but those in charge of the grocery
said that the cheese had been bought with the consent of Brother -----, and that
they could not afford to lose the money invested in it. Upon this, Doctor
Kellogg asked the price of the cheese, and bought the whole of it from them. He
had traced the matter from cause to effect, and knew that some foods generally
thought to be wholesome, were very injurious . [SELLING CHEESE ON
CAMPGROUND--529]
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Practice of Mrs. White
Letter 1, 1875 638. In regard to cheese, I am now quite sure we have not purchased or placed on our table cheese for years. We never think of making cheese an article of diet, much less of buying it. [CHEESE NOT USED BY E. G. WHITE--APPENDIX I:21]