224
Counsels on Diet and Foods
the parlor lectures, they still urged us to give it to them; but that, in
such cases, it must be eaten in their own rooms. All the helpers are
to discard flesh meat. But, as stated before, if, after knowing that the
flesh of animals cannot be placed on the dining room tables, a few
patients urge that they must have meat, cheerfully give it to them in
their rooms.
Accustomed, as many are, to the use of flesh meat, it is not sur-
prising that they should expect to see it on the sanitarium table. You
may find it unadvisable to publish the bill of fare, giving a list of the
foods supplied at the table; for the absence of flesh meat from the
dietary may seem a formidable obstacle to those who are thinking of
becoming patrons of the sanitarium.
Let the food be palatably prepared and nicely served. More dishes
will have to be prepared than would be necessary if flesh meat were
served. Other things can be provided, so that meats can be discarded.
Milk and cream can be used by some.—
Letter 45, 1903
No Prescription for Flesh Food
433. Instruction has been given me that physicians who use flesh
meat and prescribe it for their patients, should not be employed in
our institutions, because they fail decidedly in educating the patients
to discard that which makes them sick. The physician who uses and
prescribes meat does not reason from cause to effect, and instead of
acting as a restorer, he leads the patient by his own example to indulge
perverted appetite.
[291]
The physicians employed in our institutions should be reformers
in this respect and in every other. Many of the patients are suffering
because of errors in diet. They need to be shown the better way. But
how can a meat-eating physician do this? By his wrong habits he
trammels his work and cripples his usefulness.
Many of the patients in our sanitariums have reasoned out for
themselves the question of meat eating, and desiring to preserve their
mental and physical faculties from suffering, have left meat out of
their dietary. Thus they have obtained relief from the ills which have
tortured their lives. Many not of our faith have become health reformers
because, from a selfish standpoint, they saw the consistency of doing
this. Many have conscientiously taken their position on health reform