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Testimony Studies on Diet and Foods
Tea and coffee drinkers carry the marks upon their faces. The skin
becomes sallow, and assumes a lifeless appearance. The glow of health
is not seen upon the countenance.
Tea and coffee do not nourish the system. The relief obtained
from them is sudden, before the stomach has time to digest them.
This shows that what the users of these stimulants call strength, is
only received by exciting the nerves of the stomach, which convey the
irritation to the brain, and this in turn is aroused to impart increased
action to the heart, and short-lived energy to the entire system. All this
is false strength, that we are the worse for having. They do not give a
particle of natural strength.
The second effect of tea-drinking is headache, wakefulness, pal-
pitation of the heart, indigestion, trembling of the nerves, with many
other evils. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable, unto
God, which is your reasonable service.” God calls for a living sacrifice,
not a dead or dying one. When we realize the requirements of God, we
shall see that He requires us to be temperate in all things. The end of
our creation is to glorify God in our bodies and spirits which are His.
How can we do this when we indulge the appetite to the injury of the
physical and moral powers? God requires that we present our bodies
a living sacrifice. Then the duty is enjoined on us to preserve that
body in the very best condition of health, that we may comply with
His requirements. “Whether, therefore, ye eat or drink, or whatsoever
ye do, do all to the glory of God.”
Testimonies for the Church 3:563
We repeat; intemperance commences at our tables. The appetite is
indulged until its indulgence becomes second nature. By the use of
tea and coffee an appetite is formed for tobacco, and this encourages
the appetite for liquors.
Testimonies for the Church 3:21
Above all things, we should not with our pens advocate positions
that we do not put to a practical test in our own families, upon our own
tables. This is dissimulation, a species of hypocrisy. In Michigan we
can get along better without salt, sugar, and milk, than can many who