Food

Recipe – Crockpot Grains

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¼ cup millet, uncooked

¼ cup barley, uncooked

1/3 cup brown rice, uncooked

1 cup chopped onions

1 cup chopped green pepper

½ cup finely chopped carrots

1 16-ounce can kidney beans

1 8-ounce can tomato sauce

1 16-ounce can tomatoes, chopped, drained (reserve liquid)

1 ½ cup canned or frozen corn, drained

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried basil

½ teaspoon garlic powder

Salt to taste

Combine all ingredients in a crockpot. Add water to reserved tomato liquid to equal 2 1/2 cups. Stir into grain mixture. Cover and cook on low setting 8 hours. Stir before serving. Serves 8.

Food – Health Gains From Whole Grains

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For centuries, the grains humans ate came straight from the stalk. That means they had a carbohydrate package rich in fiber, healthy fats, vitamins, minerals, plant enzymes, hormones, and hundreds of other phytochemicals. Even after we learned how to grind grain, we still received all of the goodness that grains pack in their three layers. Whole grains have a tough, fibrous outer layer called bran that protects the inside of the kernel. The interior contains mostly the starchy endosperm. Its job is to provide stored energy for the germ, the seed’s reproductive kernel, which nestles inside the endosperm. The germ is rich in vitamins, minerals, and unsaturated oils.

The invention of industrialized roller mills in the late 19th century changed what we obtained from grains. Milling strips away the bran and germ, making the grain easier to chew, easier to digest, and easier to keep without refrigeration (the healthy oils in the germ can turn rancid, giving the grain an off taste). Processing also pulverizes the endosperm, turning it from a small, solid nugget into millions of minuscule particles.

Refining wheat creates fluffy flour that makes light, airy breads and pastries. But there is a nutritional price to be paid. The process strips away more than half of wheat’s B vitamins, 90 percent of the vitamin E, and virtually the entire fiber. It also makes the starch easily accessible to the body’s starch-digesting enzymes.

Returning to whole grains and other less-processed sources of carbohydrates improves health in a myriad of ways. As researchers have begun to look more closely at carbohydrates and health, they are learning that the quality of the carbohydrates you eat is at least as important as the quantity. Most studies show a connection between eating whole grains and better health.

The bran and fiber in whole grains make it more difficult for digestive enzymes to break down the starches into glucose. Soluble fiber helps lower cholesterol. Insoluble fiber helps move waste through the digestive tract. Fiber may also kindle the body’s natural anticoagulants and so help prevent the formation of small blood clots that can trigger heart attacks or strokes. The collection of antioxidants prevents low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol from reacting with oxygen. Phytoestrogens (plant estrogens) found in whole grains may protect against some cancers.

Recipe – Parsley Potatoes

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1 Tablespoon oil

1 ½ lb small new red potatoes, scrubbed well

1 chopped onion

1 garlic clove

1 teaspoon salt or to taste

1 cup vegetable broth

1 cup chopped fresh parsley

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat; add oil. Saute onion and minced garlic for 5 minutes or until tender. Add broth and ¾ cup of parsley. Remove a strip of skin from around the middle of each potato. Slice the potatoes and put them in a single layer in the skillet. Return to a boil; reduce heat. Cover and simmer until the potatoes are tender. Pour potatoes and sauce in a serving dish. Sprinkle remaining parsley over the potatoes and serve.

Food – NEW START

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NEW START™ is an acronym for eight laws of health.

These laws are:

Nutrition—one of the single most important factors in our overall health.

Exercise—a very important addition to our diet and benefits every body system.

Water—one of our greatest blessings and necessary for every cellular function.

Sunshine—required by all for the maintenance of life.

Temperance—moderation in things good and avoidance of all things hurtful.

Air—one of our vital necessities of life; we can live only minutes without it.

Rest—essential to the mental, physical, and social well-being of man.

Trust—trust in God brings health-imparting peace to every part of our body.

True health reformers need to know the eight laws of health and have an understanding of anatomy and physiology. Note the following groups of people that Ellen White says should know anatomy and physiology:

“It is well that physiology is introduced into the common schools as a branch of education. All children should study it.” Health Reformer, November 1, 1871.

“The plan upon which our brethren propose to work is to select some of the best and most substantial young men and women from Berrien Springs. … Thorough instruction will be given in Bible study, physiology, the history of our message; and special instruction will be given regarding the cultivation of the land. Letter 215, 1904.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 14, 43, 44.

“The managers and teachers of schools should have been those who understood physiology, and who had an interest, not only to educate the youth in the sciences, but teach them how to preserve health, so that they might use their knowledge to the best account after they had obtained it.” Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 83.

“Our ministers should become intelligent on health reform. They need to become acquainted with physiology and hygiene; they should understand the laws that govern physical life, and their bearing upon the health of mind and soul.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, 452.

“The science of education includes as full a knowledge of physiology as can be obtained. No one can properly understand his obligations to God unless he understands clearly his obligations to himself as God’s property. He who remains in sinful ignorance of the laws of life and health, or who willfully violates these laws, sins against God.” Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 295.

It is clear from the above statements that children, college age people, pastors, and everyone needs to learn anatomy and physiology. Next month we will look at the anatomy and physiology of digestion.

Acronym, NEW START, COPYRIGHTED BY Weimar Institute of Health & Education

www.newstart.com. Used by permission

Recipe – Sprouted Lentils

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2 cups lentils, sprouted

½ cup onion, chopped fine

1 tsp. salt

1 ¼ cups water

Sprout lentils for about five days until they are ½” long. Combine all ingredients in kettle and cook slowly over low heat for approximately 15-20 minutes. Add more water as needed to make a broth. Serve over rice or pasta. For variations you may consider adding some of your favorite vegetables or replacing salt with Bragg’s Liquid Aminos. Enjoy!

Food – Digestion

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The human body is an amazing miracle that only an omniscient being could create. We each are responsible for the maintenance of our bodies such that we may operate to our fullest potential. Diet is one of the most important ways we revitalize ourselves physically. In order to understand our nutritional needs it is important to understand the intricate workings of the digestive system.

God designed our bodies to partake of a vegetarian diet. The differences between ourselves and carnivores, such as, lions, are pertinent differences that uphold the idea that we are still intended for a diet of plant life. The way by which we obtain food in itself is evidence of this. Humans have hands and fingers, including an opposable thumb, which are excellent for picking foods and, if you have a green opposable thumb, planting! Lions, on the other hand, would find this difficult as they have paws with sharp, retractable claws which are designed to fell prey and tear flesh.

The difference in diet is supported by the digestive differences between the herbivore and carnivore. Most people know that digestion begins in the mouth with saliva. But another structural variation between humans and lions that differentiates how we digest our food is the teeth. Carnivores have sharp, pointed teeth necessary for tearing flesh, where humans have flat teeth for grinding fruits, vegetables, and grains. There is also a difference in the saliva produced. A human’s saliva contains salivary amylase which begins the break down of complex carbohydrates found in plants. So chew well! The lion has no salivary amylase in his saliva, but he certainly has the intestinal juices to make up for it!

Lions have a chemical substance in their stomachs called hydrochloric acid. Humans have this also, but our carnivore friends certainly have the lion’s share. They have ten times the amount of this acid in their stomachs! This is very necessary, however, as meat is more difficult to digest. Carbohydrates and plant proteins are much easier on our stomachs as they do not require such high levels of hydrochloric acid to digest.

Humans have intestines that extend 24 to 26 feet in length! Imagine the convolution that is required to make room just for our intestines! The length is pertinent though. It allows for the time needed to digest our food and allow our bodies to absorb the nutrients we require to function properly. A lion does not need such a long intestinal corridor. In fact it would be quite harmful since the flesh ingested would putrefy in the body’s warm environment. A lion’s intestines, in contrast, average around 8 feet in length to allow for quick removal of the food ingested.

As we consider these few differences between our bodies and the lion’s, it is easy to see that we were built for different diets. In studying Genesis 1:29 and Genesis 3:17 our Creator has spelled out for us the diet He recommends for His most beloved creation. How wonderful that our Heavenly Father is so concerned for our health!

Recipe – Veggie Gravy

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Ingredients

2 cups tomatoes, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

¼ cup flour

½-1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. salt

¼ cup water

Process

Simmer tomatoes with onion and celery 5-10 minutes. Mix flour and water and add slowly to tomato mixture, stirring constantly over low heat until thickened and add seasonings—remember to season it to your taste buds! This is great over hot baked potatoes, toast, or anything else requiring gravy.

Food – Memories — What Veggies?

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The majority of the time, my family just did not seem to get enough vegetables into our diets. Growing up in a meat and potato environment, we really did not think about anything green. My mom was a really good cook but since dad liked his meat and potatoes, which was what comprised the majority of our meals, that is what we ate. Mom used to make “grease gravy” and it really tasted good on our meat and potatoes. The only time we really had any vegetables that I can remember was when the corn-on-the-cob showed up on our plates. YUM! But that was often swamped with butter!

Now, as an adult, I enjoy the variety of flavors that I find in different foods. In fact, I was really surprised to find how many different vegetables and grains were out there. I am very thankful for God’s abundant variety of foods.

I remember when I first decided to become a vegan and saw pictures on vegan food cans and packets showing meat just like mom used to make and it looked so good. My first thought was that it would be easy being vegan replacing the meat with all the products available. Though it may be a good replacement initially for some when changing their diet, unfortunately it was not agreeable to my family’s taste buds and many meals were discarded. Soon I learned about seasoning foods and to make most of my meals from scratch. No one has the same taste buds; so I learned to take a recipe and trim it to the taste of my family. Praise the Lord for the skill to do that! Yes, it took practice and is still a work in progress.

God has provided so many varieties of vegetables to choose from and innumerable ways they can be prepared. There are many different seasonings available to add to our enjoyment of different foods. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

 

Veggie Gravy

Ingredients

2 cups tomatoes, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

¼ cup flour

½-1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. salt

¼ cup water

Process

Simmer tomatoes with onion and celery 5-10 minutes. Mix flour and water and add slowly to tomato mixture, stirring constantly over low heat until thickened and add seasonings—remember to season it to your taste buds! This is great over hot baked potatoes, toast, or anything else requiring gravy.

 

Recipe – Garlic Penne Noodles

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3 cups uncooked penne pasta

½ large bulb garlic

1 medium onion

1 12.3 oz. Mori-nu extra firm tofu

Cashew milk

Salt to taste

Cook noodles according to directions on box. Chop ¾ of onion and sauté. Add to drained cooked noodles. Blend remaining onion, garlic, salt and tofu together. Add cashew milk to create thin to medium sauce. Garlic, onion, and salt should be strong in the sauce. Pour sauce over the noodles and allow to set overnight to best absorb flavor. Add cashew milk if needed to moisten noodles, and bake at 350 degrees until thoroughly heated.

Food – Biblical Nutrition

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The Bible tells us in I Corinthians 6:19, “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” When we use something that does not belong to us, we tend to be extra careful with what is lent to us. One way we can take care of the bodies in our care is to nurture them properly.

God addresses how we can best do this in the Bible. He gave Adam and Eve a diet to follow to maintain the perfect health with which they were created. Man was given fruit and every “herb bearing seed.” [Genesis 1:29.] After man sinned, God added the “herb of the field” to our diet. (See Genesis 3:18.) Our diet was changed once more following the flood when flesh was added to the diet. Not all flesh was permitted though. God gave very strict guidelines to adhere to. Clean meats only were acceptable and without the blood or fat. (See Genesis 9:3,4; Leviticus 3:17; 11:47.)

During the Jews captivity in Egypt, the diet was polluted by the Egyptians. “The perverted appetite was to be brought into a more healthy state, that they might enjoy the food originally provided for man—the fruits of the earth, which God gave to Adam, and Eve in Eden.” Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 118. (See also Exodus 16:1–4, 35.) During their deliverance from the land, God once again changed the diet of His people and provided manna.

Many people believe that Peter’s vision was yet another modification in God’s prescribed diet, giving man permission to eat all flesh, but this is not the case. In reading Acts:10:9–17, 28, it is seen that the vision did not pertain to diet at all.

We will have yet another change in our diet in heaven. It is clear that all living species will be returned once again to a vegetarian diet. Isaiah 11:6–9 and 21–25 says, “The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.”

“The education of the Israelites included all their habits of life. Everything that concerns their well-being was the subject of divine solicitude and came within the province of divine law. Even in providing their food, God sought their highest good. The manna with which He fed them in the wilderness was of a nature to promote physical, mental, and moral strength.” Child Guidance, 378. I Corinthians 10:11 speaks in regard to the purpose God had for His dealing with the Israelites in the wilderness.

God has entrusted to us the bodies he created. It is surely a wonderful thing that He would provide us also with a manual to care for His creation.