116
Testimony Studies on Diet and Foods
up and bear fruit. Self-indulgence grows with the growth of the little
ones, and both mental and physical vigor are sacrificed. Mothers who
do this work reap with bitterness the seed they have sown. They see
their children grow up unfitted in mind and character to act a noble
and useful part in society or in the home. The spiritual as well as the
mental and physical powers suffer under the influence of unhealthful
food. The conscience becomes stupefied, and the susceptibility to
good impressions is impaired.
While the children should be taught to control the appetite, and to
eat with reference to health, let it be made plain that they are deny-
ing themselves only that which would do them harm. They give up
hurtful things for something better. Let the table be made inviting
and attractive, as it is supplied with the good things which God has so
bountifully bestowed. Let meal-time be a cheerful, happy time. As we
enjoy the gifts of God, let us respond by grateful praise to the Giver.
Unpublished Testimonies, November 5, 1896 (Healthful Living,
146.2)
It is much easier to create an unnatural appetite than to correct and
reform it after it has become second nature.... Meat given to children
is not the best thing to insure success.... To educate your children to
subsist upon a meat diet would be harmful to them.... Highly seasoned
meats, followed by rich pastry, is wearing out the vital organs of the
digestion of children. Had they been accustomed to plain, wholesome
food, their appetites would not have craved unnatural luxuries and
mixed preparations.
The Facts of Faith 2:132-133
Children who eat improperly are often feeble, pale, and dwarfed
and are nervous, excitable and irritable. Everything noble is sacrificed
to the appetite, and the animal passions predominate. The lives of
many children from five to ten and fifteen years of age seem marked
with depravity. They possess knowledge of almost every vice. The
parents are, in a great degree, at fault in this matter, and to them will
be accredited the sins of their children which their improper course has
indirectly led them to commit. They tempt their children to indulge
their appetite by placing upon their tables flesh-meats and other food