Diet and Mind
17
agent becomes the slave of appetite, by pampering and indulging his
own groveling sensual passions.—MS 113, 1898.
[389]
Overeating Produced Forgetfulness and Loss of Memory
(counsel to a gourmand)—You are a gourmand when at the table.
This is one great cause of your forgetfulness and loss of memory. You
say things which I know you have said, and then turn square about
and say that you said something entirely different. I knew this, but
passed it over as the sure result of overeating. Of what use would it be
to speak about it? It would not cure the evil.—Lt 17, 1895. (
Counsels
on Diet and Foods, 138
.)
Overeating Blunts the Emotions [
See
Counsels on Diet and
Foods, 131-142
, “Overeating,”.]—Intemperance in eating, even of
food of the right quality, will have a prostrating influence upon the sys-
tem and will blunt the keener and holier emotions. Strict temperance
in eating and drinking is highly essential for the healthy preservation
and vigorous exercise of all the functions of the body.
Strictly temperate habits, combined with exercise of the muscles as
well as of the mind, will preserve both mental and physical vigor and
give power of endurance to those engaged in the ministry, to editors,
and to all others whose habits are sedentary. As a people, with all our
profession of health reform, we eat too much. Indulgence of appetite
is the greatest cause of physical and mental debility, and lies at the
foundation of feebleness, which is apparent everywhere.—
Testimonies
for the Church 3:487
(1875).
Restrict the Varieties of Food—We must care for the digestive
organs and not force upon them a great variety of food. He who gorges
himself with many kinds of food at a meal is doing himself injury.
It is more important that we eat that which will agree with us than
that we taste of every dish that may be placed before us. There is no
door in our stomach by which we can look in and see what is going
on; so we must use our mind, and reason from cause to effect. If you
feel all wrought up, and everything seems to go wrong, perhaps it is
[390]
because you are suffering the consequences of eating a great variety
of food.—MS 41, 1908. (
Counsels on Diet and Foods, 111, 112
.)
God’s Plan for Us—God desires us, by strict temperance, to keep
the mind clear and keen that we may be able to distinguish between the
sacred and the common. We should strive to understand the wonderful
science of the matchless compassion and benevolence of God. Those