82
Counsels on Diet and Foods
motion. The system receives less nourishment from too great a quantity
of food, even of the right quality, than from a moderate quantity taken
at regular periods.—
Testimonies for the Church 2:412, 413, 1870
Digestion Aided By Moderate Exercise
My brother, your brain is benumbed. A man who disposes of the
quantity of food that you do, should be a laboring man. Exercise is
important to digestion, and to a healthy condition of body and mind.
You need physical exercise. You move and act as if you were wooden,
as though you had no elasticity. Healthy, active exercise is what you
need. This will invigorate the mind. Neither study nor violent exercise
should be engaged in immediately after a full meal; this would be a
violation of the laws of the system. Immediately after eating there is
a strong draft upon the nervous energy. The brain force is called into
active exercise to assist the stomach; therefore, when the mind or body
is taxed heavily after eating, the process of digestion is hindered. The
vitality of the system, which is needed to carry on the work in one
direction, is called away and set to work in another.
158. Exercise aids the dyspeptic by giving the digestive organs a
healthy tone. To engage in deep study or violent exercise immediately
after eating, hinders the digestive process; for the vitality of the system,
which is needed to carry on the work of digestion, is called away to
other parts. But a short walk after a meal, with the head erect and the
[104]
shoulders back, exercising moderately, is a great benefit. The mind is
diverted from self to the beauties of nature. The less the attention is
called to the stomach, the better. If you are in constant fear that your
food will hurt you, it most assuredly will. Forget your troubles; think
of something cheerful.—
Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene,
101, 1890
[
Overeating Causes Excess Flow of Blood to the Brain—276
]
[
Exercise Especially Needful to Those of Sluggish Temperament—
225
]
[
Disturbed Sleep Resulting from Late Suppers—270
]
[
The Cause of that Faint Feeling—213, 218, 245, 269, 270, 561,
705, 707
]
[
Indulgence Weakens Digestive Organs and Lessens Power to
Assimilate—202
]