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Chapter 23—Diet and Health
Our bodies are built up from the food we eat. There is a constant
breaking down of the tissues of the body; every movement of every
organ involves waste, and this waste is repaired from our food. Each
organ of the body requires its share of nutrition. The brain must be
supplied with its portion; the bones, muscles, and nerves demand
theirs. It is a wonderful process that transforms the food into blood
and uses this blood to build up the varied parts of the body; but this
process is going on continually, supplying with life and strength
each nerve, muscle, and tissue.
Selection of Food
Those foods should be chosen that best supply the elements
needed for building up the body. In this choice, appetite is not
a safe guide. Through wrong habits of eating, the appetite has
become perverted. Often it demands food that impairs health and
causes weakness instead of strength. We cannot safely be guided by
the customs of society. The disease and suffering that everywhere
prevail are largely due to popular errors in regard to diet.
In order to know what are the best foods, we must study God’s
original plan for man’s diet. He who created man and who under-
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stands his needs appointed Adam his food. “Behold,” He said, “I
have given you every herb yielding seed, ... and every tree, in which
is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for food.”
Gene-
sis 1:29
, A.R.V. Upon leaving Eden to gain his livelihood by tilling
the earth under the curse of sin, man received permission to eat also
“the herb of the field.”
Genesis 3:18
.
Grains, fruits, nuts, and vegetables constitute the diet chosen for
us by our Creator. These foods, prepared in as simple and natural
a manner as possible, are the most healthful and nourishing. They
impart a strength, a power of endurance, and a vigor of intellect that
are not afforded by a more complex and stimulating diet.
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