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Chapter 2—Tea and Coffee
The stimulating diet and drink of this day are not conducive to the
best state of health. Tea, coffee, and tobacco are all stimulating, and
contain poisons. They are not only unnecessary, but harmful, and
should be discarded if we would add to knowledge, temperance.—
The Review and Herald, February 21, 1888
.
Stimulants—Not Foods
—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.—
Testimonies for the Church 2:65
.
The health is in no way improved by the use of those things which
stimulate for a time, but afterward cause a reaction which leaves
the system lower than before. Tea and coffee whip up the flagging
energies for the time being; but when their immediate influence
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has gone, a feeling of depression is the result. These beverages
have no nourishment whatever in themselves. The milk and sugar it
contains constitute all the nourishment afforded by a cup of tea or
coffee.—
Counsels on Diet and Foods, 425
.
Because these stimulants produce for the time being such agree-
able results, many conclude that they really need them and continue
their use. But there is always a reaction. The nervous system, having
been unduly excited, borrowed power for present use from its future
resources of strength.—
Testimonies for the Church 3:487
.
What Tea Does
—Tea ... enters into the circulation and gradually
impairs the energy of body and mind. It stimulates, excites, and
quickens the motion of the living machinery, forcing it to unnatural
action, and thus gives the tea drinker the impression that it is doing
him great service, imparting to him strength. This is a mistake.
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