84
Testimony Studies on Diet and Foods
devoted to cooking various kinds of unwholesome food to place upon
their tables.
The Health Reformer, May 1, 1877 (Healthful Living, 49)
Children are permitted to indulge their tastes freely, to eat at all
hours.... The digestive organs, like a mill which is continually kept
running, become enfeebled, vital force is called from the brain to aid
the stomach in its overwork, and thus the mental powers are weak-
ened. The unnatural stimulation and wear of the vital forces make the
children nervous, impatient of restraint, self-willed, and irritable.
Testimonies for the Church 3:564
Many parents, to avoid the task of patiently educating their children
to habits of self-denial, and teaching them how to make a right use of
all the blessings of God, indulge them in eating and drinking when-
ever they please. Appetite and selfish indulgence, unless positively
restrained, grow with the growth and strengthen with the strength.
Testimonies for the Church 3:136
To become acquainted with the wonderful human organism, the
bones, muscles, stomach, liver, bowels, heart, and pores of the skin,
and to understand the dependence of one organ upon another for the
healthful action of all, is a study in which most mothers take no interest.
They know nothing of the influence of the body upon the mind, and of
the mind upon the body. The mind, which allies finite to the Infinite,
they do not seem to understand. Every organ of the body was made to
be servant to the mind. The mind is the capital of the body. Children
are allowed to eat flesh-meats, spices, butter, cheese, pork, rich pastry,
and condiments generally. They are also allowed to eat irregularly
and between meals of unhealthful food. These things do their work
of deranging the stomach, exciting the nerves to unnatural action, and
enfeebling the intellect. Parents do not realize that they are sowing the
seed which will bring forth disease and death.