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Counsels on Diet and Foods
health has never been better than for the past six months. My former
faint and dizzy feelings have left me. I have been troubled every spring
with loss of appetite. The last spring I had no trouble in this respect.
Our plain food, eaten twice a day, is enjoyed with a keen relish.
We have no meat, cake, or any rich food upon our table. We use no
lard, but in its place, milk, cream, and some butter. We have our food
prepared with but little salt, and have dispensed with spices of all kinds.
We breakfast at seven, and take our dinner at one. It is seldom I have a
faint feeling. My appetite is satisfied. My food is eaten with a greater
relish than ever before.—
Spiritual Gifts 4a:153, 154, 1864
[
Some Salt Essential to Blood—571, 572
]
The Battle for Victory
5. I have not changed my course a particle since I adopted the
health reform. I have not taken one step back since the light from
heaven upon this subject first shone upon my pathway. I broke away
from everything at once,—from meat and butter, and from three
meals,—and that while engaged in exhaustive brain labor, writing
from early morning till sundown. I came down to two meals a day
without changing my labor.
I have been a great sufferer from disease, having had five shocks of
paralysis. I have been with my left arm bound to my side for months,
because the pain in my heart was so great. When making these changes
in my diet, I refused to yield to taste, and let that govern me. Shall that
stand in the way of my securing greater strength, that I may therewith
glorify my Lord? Shall that stand in my way for a moment? Never!
I suffered keen hunger, I was a great meat eater. But when faint, I
placed my arms across my stomach, and said, “I will not taste a morsel.
I will eat simple food, or I will not eat at all.” Bread was distasteful
to me. I could seldom eat a piece as large as a dollar. Some things in
the reform I could get along with very well; but when I came to the
bread, I was especially set against it. When I made these changes, I
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had a special battle to fight. The first two or three meals, I could not
eat. I said to my stomach, “You may wait until you can eat bread.”
In a little while I could eat bread, and graham bread, too. This I
could not eat before; but now it tastes good, and I have had no loss of
appetite.—
Testimonies for the Church 2:371, 372, 1870