Chapter 11—Eating Between Meals
Testimonies for the Church 2:373
I am astonished to learn that, after all the light that has been given
in this place, many of you eat between meals! You should never let
a morsel pass your lips between your regular meals. Eat what you
ought, but eat it at one meal, and then wait until the next. I eat enough
to satisfy the wants of nature; but when I get up from the table, my
appetite is just as good as when I sat down. And when the next meal
comes, I am ready to take my portion, and no more.
The Ministry of Healing, 303-304
Regularity in eating is of vital importance. There should be a
specified time for each meal. At this time, let every one eat what the
system requires, and then take nothing more until the next meal. There
are many who eat when the system needs no food, at irregular intervals,
and between meals, because they have not sufficient strength of will
to resist inclination. When traveling, some are constantly nibbling
if anything eatable is within their reach. This is very injurious. If
travelers would eat regularly of food that is simple and nutritious, they
would not feel so great weariness, nor suffer so much from sickness.
Another pernicious habit is that of eating just before bed-time. The
regular meals may have been taken; but because there is a sense of
faintness, more food is eaten. By indulgence, this wrong practice
becomes a habit, and often so firmly fixed that it is thought impossible
to sleep without food. As a result of eating late suppers, the diges-
tive process is continued through the sleeping hours. But though the
stomach works constantly, its work is not properly accomplished. The
sleep is often disturbed with unpleasant dreams, and in the morning the
person awakes unrefreshed, and with little relish for breakfast. When
we lie down to rest, the stomach should have its work all done, that it,
as well as the other organs of the body, may enjoy rest. For persons
of sedentary habits, late suppers are particularly harmful. With them
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