Health III
Counsels on Diet and Foods
PG 339 Nov. 6, 1883
Our tables should bear only the most wholesome food, free from every irritating substance. The appetite for liquor is encouraged by the preparation of food with condiments and spices. These cause a feverish state of the system, and drink is demanded to allay the irritation. On my frequent journeys across the continent, I do not patronize restaurants, dining car, or hotels, for the simple reason that I cannot eat the food there provided. The dishes are highly seasoned with salt and pepper, creating an almost intolerable thirst. . . . They would irritate and inflame the delicate coating of the stomach. . . . Such is the food that is commonly served upon fashionable tables, and given to the children. Its effect is to cause nervousness and to create thirst which water does not quench ….Food should be prepared in as simple a manner as possible, free from condiments and spices, and even from an undue amount of salt.
Healthful Living PG 93
Spices at first irritate the tender coating of the stomach, but finally destroy the natural sensitiveness of this delicate membrane. The blood becomes fevered, the animal propensities are aroused, while the moral and intellectual powers are weakened, and become servants to the baser passions.
Counsels on Diet and Foods PG 149
The first great evil was intemperance in eating and drinking. Men and women have made themselves slaves to appetite. They are in-temperate in labor. A great amount of hard labor is performed to obtain food for their tables which greatly injures the already overtaxed system. Women spend a great share of their time over a heated cookstove, preparing food, highly seasoned with spices to gratify the taste. As a consequence, the children are neglected and do not receive moral and religious instruction. The over-worked mother neglects to cultivate a sweetness of temper, which is the sunshine of the dwelling. Eternal considerations become secondary. All the time has to be employed in preparing these things for the appetite which ruin health, sour the temper, and becloud the reasoning faculties.