322
Testimony Studies on Diet and Foods
Give them time to respond to the treatment and the instruction given
them. Work and pray, and lead them along as gently as possible.
I remember once at-----, when at the sanitarium there, I was urged
to sit at the table with the patients, and eat with them, that we might
become acquainted. I saw then that a decided mistake was being made
in the preparation of the food. It was put together in such a way that it
was tasteless, and there was not more than two-thirds enough. I found
it impossible to make a meal that would satisfy my appetite. I tried to
bring about a different order of things, and I think that matters were
helped.
In dealing with the patients in our sanitariums, we must reason
from cause to effect. We must remember that the habits and practices
of a lifetime can not be changed in a moment. With an intelligent cook,
and an abundant supply of wholesome food, reforms can be brought
about that will work well. But it may take time to bring them about.
A strenuous effort should not be made unless it is actually demanded.
We must remember that food which would be appetizing to a health
reformer might be very insipid to those who have been accustomed to
highly seasoned food. Lectures should be given explaining why re-
forms in diet are essential, and showing that the use of highly seasoned
food causes inflammation of the delicate lining of the digestive organs.
Let it be shown why we as a people have changed our habits of eating
and drinking. Show why we discard tobacco and all intoxicating liquor.
Lay down the principles of health reform clearly and plainly, and with
this, let there be placed on the table an abundance of wholesome food,
tastefully prepared; and the Lord will help you to make impressive
the urgency of reform, and will lead them to see that this reform is for
their highest good. They will miss the highly seasoned food to which
they have been accustomed, but an effort must be made to give them
food that is so wholesome and so appetizing that they will cease to
miss the unwholesome dishes. Show them that the treatment given
them will not benefit them unless they make the needed change in their
habits of eating and drinking.
[138]
Letter K 37, 1901
I have something to say in reference to extreme views of health re-
form. Health reform becomes health deform, a health destroyer, when