Health

Restoring the Temple – Blood Pressure

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Question:

I have been told that I have high blood pressure. What is high blood pressure, and what is normal blood pressure? —jb, washington

Answer:

You may have noticed that if you force the same amount of water through hoses of different diameters, the water comes out with different forces. Water flowing ten gallons per minute through a 5/8-inch hose will eject with greater force than the same amount of water flowing through a 1-inch hose. It is the same in your body. Many complex factors determine the level of blood pressure, but essentially it is dependent upon the diameter of the vessel (artery or vein) and the volume and force of the fluid (blood) flowing through it.

Since we always have blood in our vessels while we are living, we always have blood pressure. Blood pressure needs to be at a certain level to keep us alive and healthy. With too little pressure, the life-bearing components of blood cannot cross or perfuse through the blood vessel walls. Too much pressure causes damage to blood vessels in the entire body and affects many organs, which can lead to problems such as kidney disease, eye disease, or stroke. Ellen White experienced the effects of high blood pressure, which made her incapable of writing for several days. This episode is recorded in Testimonies, vol. 1, 577.

Scholars credit Galen, a Greek physician born in 130 a.d., as the one who first proposed the existence of blood. However, the first mention of blood in the Bible is in Genesis 4:10 when Cain killed Abel. Galen believed that the heart actually made blood. It was not understood until about 1616 that the heart was a pump that circulated blood. In 1733, Stephen Hales, a British veterinarian, was the first to measure blood pressure by inserting a tube into the artery of a horse and noting the level of the blood in the glass. Fortunately, blood pressure measurement has become a lot easier and less painful. Samuel von Bosch invented the first sphygmomanometer, or blood pressure-measuring device, in 1881. It was improved by the early 1900s to what we know today as the blood pressure cuff.

When getting your blood pressure checked, you will have noted that there are two numbers. The measurement of 120/80 (mm Hg) is considered to be normal blood pressure. The first or top number is a measurement of systolic blood pressure. This is the maximum pressure in your arteries, which occurs when your heart contracts. The second or bottom number is a measurement of diastolic blood pressure. This reflects the lowest pressure in your arteries, which occurs when your heart is at rest between beats.

High blood pressure, called hypertension, is generally thought to begin at 140/90. Primary hypertension means that no obvious cause can be found. Secondary hypertension is caused by another health problem, such as kidney or hormonal disease. There are several risk factors for hypertension. “Risk factor” is a term that means that certain groups of people have the problem more than others. Medical studies have shown that one risk factor is age. Newborns can have levels as low as 50/40, but the systolic can increase to over 200 in some elderly people. Race is another risk factor, with high blood pressure occurring more often in some races than others. Weight is a third factor; the more overweight a person is, the more likely he or she is to have high blood pressure.

Risk factors, however, can relate to lifestyle as much as, if not more than, hereditary. Just because we get old does not mean that we are doomed to hypertension. Certain populations may have more of certain diseases because they “inherit” the lifestyle of their parents. In other words, if they grew up eating diets high in meat, dairy products, and refined foods, for example, they usually continue to eat the same way as adults and teach the same diets to their children. What we truly inherit from our parents is a potential weakness in certain areas. This does not predict your future, but what it says is that if you lead an unhealthy lifestyle, you will feel the consequences, and the area that fails may be the weak one that you inherited. In some families, this is the heart; in others, it is gastrointestinal tract, and so forth.

Many people ask, “What are the symptoms of high blood pressure?” The truth is that there may not be any. This is why hypertension is called “the silent killer.” You may never realize that you have high blood pressure, but what is going on behind the scenes can be very harmful. High blood pressure makes the heart work harder, which makes the heart muscle become larger. This increases the heart’s demand for oxygen, but when the demand exceeds the supply, the heart may fail. The other problem relating to high blood pressure relates to the damage of the blood vessels. Sustained high blood pressure causes damage in the blood vessel walls, which is called atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries. These changes lead to damage in the organs that the vessels supply, such as the kidneys and the retinas of the eyes. When a person notices symptoms relating to any of these damages, it generally means that the blood pressure has been high for a long time.

Medical treatment usually entails two things: lifestyle modification and medication. Lifestyle modification is often suggested, but has not been fully examined by the field of medicine as a potential remedy of the hypertension. Lifestyle changes include reducing weight, eliminating alcohol ingestion, and modifying sodium and fat intake. Changing one’s lifestyle to fit the one given to us by the Lord in the Bible is the best effort in not only treating the symptoms of disease but in removing the cause.

Sheryle Beaudry, a certified teletriage nurse, writes from Estacada, Oregon where she lives with her husband and twin daughters. She may be contacted by e-mail at: sbeaudryrn@hotmail.com. If there is a health-related question you would like answered in LandMarks, please e-mail your question to: landmarks@stepstolife.org, or mail it to: LandMarks, Steps to Life, P. O. Box 782828, Wichita, KS 67278.

Restoring the Temple – Fiber

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Each year, nutritional research discovers more about the chemistry of food and the intricate ways in which it is utilized by the body to keep us healthy and strong. Only in recent years have we begun to understand fiber and the important role it plays in preserving our health. Researchers have observed that the fashionable, highly refined diet of the West that has become so popular over the years is often lacking in this necessary element. As a result, they have seen a corresponding increase in health problems, particularly relating to colon disease.

Many Diseases Linked to Low-Fiber Diet

Constipation, colon cancer, diverticulitis, varicose veins, diabetes, high blood cholesterol, and hardening of the arteries are a few of the common conditions that are suspect as having a correlation to the fiber intake. Second only to lung cancer in incidence, each year approximately 155,000 cases of cancer of the large bowel are diagnosed in the United States. Approximately 93 percent of these cases occur in men and women over the age of 50. It has been observed that dietary fiber, largely found in fruits, vegetables, and bran, appears to have a protective effect. When populations of people who eat diets high in fiber were studied, they were found to have many fewer incidents of colon problems. Some researchers believe that one of the most beneficial results of a high fiber diet is that there is a much shorter transit time than there is with a diet of highly refined food, thus cutting down on the time that carcinogens are in contact with the colon.

High Fiber Usually Means Less Calories

Another benefit of a diet high in fiber, especially for those who desire to lose weight, is its relatively low caloric value. Fiber, often referred to as roughage or bulk, is found only in plant foods. Because humans lack the enzymes to digest fiber, it characteristically passes through the digestive system without being digested and absorbed into the blood stream. Reducing the volume of concentrated foods in the diet—meat, fish, poultry, dairy products, and eggs—as well as refined foods, which contain no fiber, and increasing the intake of natural, unrefined foods, will provide a larger volume of food with a decreased concentration of calories. Practically speaking, because fiber cannot be digested, the more fiber a food has, the fewer calories it will contain.

Blueberries, for example, have one-tenth of the calories of chocolate bars, ounce for ounce. This means that you could eat ten ounces of blueberries compared with one ounce of chocolate to get the same number of calories. For the same calories that you would get from one doughnut, you could eat ten cups of popcorn!

Eating the higher fiber foods means that you will chew longer, eat a larger volume, and therefore tend to feel more filled and satisfied on far fewer calories than might otherwise be expected. Such a revitalized diet, combined with a regular fitness program, can play a significant role in resolving a person’s weight problem.

Solves the Problem of Irregularity

In recent years, a whole segment of industry has developed producing products to relieve constipation. Many of these products help to increase the quantity of fiber ingested as an effective way to promote regularity. People with chronic constipation are generally benefited by increasing the fiber in their diets. It should be noted, however, that people often think of themselves as being constipated because they do not have bowel movements on a regular basis. If, however, they eat low-fiber foods, there is actually very little waste, and this is the reason for the apparent irregularity. People, who for years have been unable to achieve regularity, have been able to eliminate the need for laxatives by just adding more fiber to their diets.

Dieting Increases the Need for Fiber

Those who are dieting generally decrease the volume of food that they eat. Under such circumstances, constipation can very quickly become a problem for most dieters. By eating high-fiber foods, they can maintain or actually increase their total volume of intake while cutting down on calories, thereby avoiding this problem.

While cooking reduces some nutrients in food, especially vitamins, it does not reduce the fiber content. According to the U. S. Department of Agriculture, there is 1 gram of fiber in 100 grams of raw carrots. The same amount of cooked carrots still has 1 gram of fiber.

It is good to remember, however, that you do lose vitamins in cooking, which is why many people steam their vegetables.

The most common problem that people experience when they change to a higher fiber diet is an increase in “gas.” This full, bloated feeling usually goes away in a few days, but if it does not, it may help to cut back a bit on the fiber intake and then slowly increase it. Most health food stores have products available that assist in eliminating this problem.

Remember, also, that fiber absorbs water as it passes through your body. It would be well, therefore, to increase the amount of water that you drink as you increase your fiber intake.

Fiber in the diet is nothing new. Our great-grandparents lived on diets that were naturally very high in fiber. Even today, in lesser-developed countries, the diets tend to be higher in fiber content. As people become more affluent, a larger portion of their food supply tends to consist of meat, fat, and dairy products. At the same time, fewer bean dishes and ethnic foods are being eaten, all of which are naturally high in fiber.

While fruit juices may be a fairly concentrated source of vitamins, and certainly taste good, they do not have the fiber that occurs naturally in the fruit itself. Tomato juice, on the other hand, retains a higher level of pulp and is, therefore, a reasonably good source of fiber.

While most high-fiber foods tend to be lower in calories, it should be remembered that there are exceptions to this general rule. Nuts, olives, and peanuts are all high-fiber foods but are also quite high in naturally occurring fat and calories and should, therefore, be eaten in moderation. Nut butters retain the fiber but can also be a concentrated source of calories and fat. It is wise to always read the labels on nut butters, as many of them have fat and sugars added. Jam, which does not have a fat content but is a high source of fiber, can also be high in calories.

In choosing foods, there are a few rules that generally apply and are good to remember. Meat, fish, seafood, poultry, dairy products, and eggs all share one thing in common—they have no fiber. Also, juices, oils, margarine, pasta, white bread, and most pastries have very little or no fiber content. However, these foods are generally a concentrated source of calories.

Always Read Labels

It is wise to always read the labels on any store-bought baked goods. Be sure that it indicates that whole flour was used, not just wheat flour. Remember, too, that you cannot tell how much fiber a bread contains by its color. Various things are added to bread that can contribute to its dark color, including raisin juice, caramel coloring, and artificial dyes, making it appear to be whole grain, but these ingredients do not add fiber.

Some people equate crunchy with fiber. While this is a natural assumption to make, it is not a valid one. French bread can have a crunchy crust, but it is still white bread and has no more fiber than regular white bread.

Good Sources of Fiber

For those who are interested in assuring themselves of an adequate fiber intake, there are two food groups, in addition to fruits and vegetables, that should find a prominent place in your meal menu—cereals or grains and legumes.

Beans, like most other high-fiber foods, are inexpensive and an excellent way to add fiber to the diet. Many ethnic foods are made from beans. A good start to your new menu might be to add bean dishes, such as tacos with refried beans, or even soup that includes beans. Garbanzo beans added to salad will increase its fiber value. Though beans do create an objectionable amount of gas for some people, there are products available that will generally take care of this problem.

Wheat bran can be added to many foods to increase the fiber content. Try adding it to homemade granola or cookies, or even sprinkling a little on a salad.

Not All Fiber Is the Same

Not all fiber is the same. The fiber found in bran is different from that found in vegetables. Although bran fiber will help with constipation, the fiber found in vegetables and beans helps the body to manage fats and cholesterol in a healthful way.

While they can be expensive when not in season, topping your cereal with fresh fruits will increase the fiber content. Strawberries and raspberries are good sources of fiber. Raisins are a good source of fiber, and if they do not come in the cereal box, try sprinkling a few on top of your bowl of cereal. Though somewhat lower in fiber value than berries, bananas and applesauce also contain fiber.

There are a number of other side benefits to eating many of the high-fiber foods. A University of Kentucky study has shown that eating a cupful of cooked beans a day lowers blood cholesterol levels by an average of ten percent! Other research suggests that regular servings can improve the ratio of good to bad cholesterol by 17 percent.

While providing a fiber that helps to lower the risk of several forms of cancer, beans have the benefit for diabetics of having been shown less likely than rice or bran cereals to raise blood glucose levels. At the same time, beans provide a rich source of iron, magnesium, and zinc, which make them a good choice for someone who is cutting back on meat.

In a study conducted by the U. S. Department of Agriculture, volunteers who ate seven ounces of carrots a day for three weeks saw their cholesterol levels fall an average of 11 percent. Other research has shown that the higher levels of beta-carotene in the blood stream also help to prevent heart attacks. And, by protecting cells from damage, beta-carotene and other antioxidants may reduce the risk of lung tumors and other forms of cancer.

In addition to providing a source of fiber, apples are loaded with pectin, a water-soluble fiber that can help lower cholesterol levels. Studies suggest that another benefit of eating apples is that pectin-rich foods may also act to lower the risk of colon cancer.

The best longevity advice is very clear. By increasing your intake of fruits and vegetables, you will not only add valuable fiber but you will be eating foods that are loaded with substances that actively fight cancer, heart disease, and other chronic illnesses.

Restoring the Temple – Cholesterol

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Cholesterol can be a confusing subject. You have probably heard that there is both good and bad cholesterol, but what does that mean?

First, let us address what cholesterol is and what its role is in the body. Cholesterol is a steroid that becomes part of the membranes, or outer coverings, of cells. Cholesterol has an essential function in our bodies, because it is an important component in the construction of certain hormones and bile salts. Cholesterol also serves as a waterproofing substance on the skin and is a precursor of Vitamin D3.

Its Source

From where does cholesterol come? Dietary cholesterol comes from animal products—both meats and dairy sources. This is because every animal cell contains cholesterol. Cholesterol is not found in plant foods.

You may ask, if I am a vegan (someone who does not eat any meat or dairy products), how do I get cholesterol in my body? Our bodies manufacture cholesterol from fats that we ingest. In fact, only about 20 percent of the cholesterol in the blood circulation of people who eat animal products comes from dietary sources. It is no problem for vegans to manufacture all the cholesterol they need for survival and health, as long as they include plant fats in their diets. Only a small to moderate amount of those fats is necessary for cholesterol production.

LDL and HDL

Next, let us consider the different types of cholesterol and what they mean to us. You may have heard of lipoproteins. Lipoproteins are a combination of lipids (fats) and protein that also contain cholesterol. Lipoproteins are generally classified according to size and the proportion of lipids that they contain. The most commonly known types are low-density lipoproteins (LDLs) and high-density lipoproteins (HDLs).

LDLs are made up mostly of cholesterol. LDLs deliver cholesterol to the peripheral tissues of the body, such as the arms and legs. Because the cholesterol in the LDL package sometimes sticks in the arteries, LDL cholesterol is called the bad cholesterol.

HDLs are made up of a fairly equal balance of lipids (largely cholesterol) and protein. The main purpose of an HDL molecule is to transport excess cholesterol back from the peripheral tissues to the liver, where it is stored, or to the bile, where it is excreted from the body. Because of this function, HDLs are generally labeled as good cholesterol.

You can remember which type is “good” or “bad” by thinking that low-density things float—fat also floats—and we do not want it sticking to our arteries. Therefore, low-density lipoproteins (LDLs) are the “bad” kind.

Currently, doctors consider persons with a total cholesterol level of 200 mg/dL or above to be at risk for heart and artery disease. LDLs are optimal at less than 100 mg/dL. HDLs are the opposite, with higher levels considered better than lower levels. HDLs should be at 60 mg/dL or more for optimal heart health. Another form of lipids, triglycerides, should be below 150 mg/dL. In the United States, 105 million people have total cholesterol levels of 200 mg/dL or higher.

Associated Disease

One type of disease associated with cholesterol is atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries. Almost every adult living in the developed nations has atherosclerosis to some degree. Even American children have been found to have early stages of this disease. Atherosclerosis occurs when LDLs dump their load of cholesterol on the walls of arteries. Eventually this build-up, or plaque, grows larger and larger, narrowing the artery and obstructing the flow of blood. If an artery to the heart is blocked, a heart attack can occur. If an artery to the brain is blocked, a stroke may occur.

What You Can Do

Cholesterol levels can be maintained at a healthy level through a healthy diet and lifestyle. Since cholesterol is found only in animal products, consume a plant-based diet to lower your risk of developing high cholesterol. Some people who eat meat purposely choose chicken over beef, but chicken actually contains just as much cholesterol as beef. Since there is no good cholesterol found in foods, it is wise to avoid the foods that contain it.

People who are not overweight, who exercise, and who do not smoke tend to have higher levels of HDLs (the “good” cholesterol). Saturated fats raise cholesterol and are found in animal products and a few plant sources such as coconut, palm, and hydrogenated oils and chocolate. One study has shown that people who adopted a vegetarian diet automatically reduced their saturated fat intake by 26 percent and had a significant drop in their cholesterol levels. A moderate- to low-fat diet is healthier. There also are oils that are healthier than others. Olive oil, for instance, can be beneficial in moderate amounts. Ellen White states that olive oil, “as eaten in the olive, is far preferable to animal oil or fat.” The Ministry of Healing, 298.

Some people have a hereditary predisposition toward developing heart disease and atherosclerosis. As a result, some of them can be vegetarians or even vegans and still have to keep a close eye on their cholesterol levels, because they tend to produce too much of it.

Eating a diet high in fiber will help. Fiber not only reduces the amount of cholesterol absorbed when eaten (again, not a problem with vegans), but also reduces the amount of cholesterol that the body manufactures. A plant-based diet can easily be high in fiber, but there is no fiber in animal products.

Other things you can do to help lower cholesterol levels are increase exercise, achieve and maintain your ideal weight, do not skip meals, and reduce your stress levels. Yet again, God’s laws of health help protect us from illness and disease. “Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden [part] thou shalt make me to know wisdom.” Psalm 51:6.

Sheryle Beaudry, a certified teletriage nurse, writes from Estacada, Oregon where she lives with her husband and twin daughters. She may be contacted by e-mail at: sbeaudryrn@hotmail.com. If there is a health-related question you would like answered in LandMarks, please e-mail your question to: landmarks@stepstolife.org, or mail it to: LandMarks, Steps to Life, P. O. Box 782828, Wichita, KS 67278.

Restoring the Temple – Foodborne Diseases

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Infectious diseases spread through food or beverages are a common, distressing, and sometimes life-threatening problem for millions of people in the United States and around the world. The U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates 76 million people suffer foodborne illnesses each year in the United States, accounting for 325,000 hospitalizations and more than 5,000 deaths.

Foodborne disease is extremely costly. Health experts estimate that the yearly cost of all foodborne diseases in the United States is $5 to $6 billion in direct medical expenses and lost productivity. Infections with the bacteria Salmonella alone account for $1 billion yearly in direct and indirect medical costs.

There are more than 250 known foodborne diseases. Bacteria cause most cases, followed by viruses and parasites. Natural and manufactured chemicals in food products also can make people sick. Some diseases are caused by toxins (poisons) from the disease-causing organism, others by bodily reactions to the organism itself. People infected with food-borne germs may have no symptoms or may develop symptoms ranging from mild intestinal discomfort to severe dehydration and bloody diarrhea.

Recently, public health, agriculture, and environmental officials have expressed growing concern over keeping the nation’s food and water supply safe from terrorist acts.

In this article, five foodborne diseases caused by bacteria will be described: Botulism, Campylobac-teriosis, E. coli infection, Salmonellosis, and Shigellosis.

Vegetarians, especially vegan-vegetarians, may think they are immune to these diseases. It is true that, when we hear about these diseases, the instances are generally related to the handling or eating of meat. But read the facts about each disease carefully. The dangers for meat eaters have not been included in this article to more clearly highlight the susceptibility of vegetarians to these diseases.

Botulism

Botulism is a rare but serious illness caused by botulinum toxin (poison) produced by Clostridium botulinum bacteria. This toxin affects the nerves and, if untreated, can cause paralysis and respiratory failure. U. S. health care providers report an average of 110 cases of food, infant, and wound botulism to CDC each year. About 10 to 30 outbreaks of foodborne botulism are reported every year. Although this illness does not occur frequently, it can be fatal if not treated quickly and properly.

Transmitted

Often, cases of foodborne botulism come from home-canned foods with low acid content, such as asparagus, green beans, beets, and corn. C. botulinum is anaerobic, which means it can survive and grow with little or no oxygen. Therefore, it can survive very well in sealed containers. Outbreaks of the infection, however, are often from more unusual sources such as chili peppers, tomatoes, and improperly handled baked potatoes wrapped in aluminum foil.

Symptoms and Treatment

Symptoms of foodborne botulism usually begin within 18 to 36 hours after eating contaminated food, but can occur in as few as 6 hours or as much as 10 days afterward. They include double vision and drooping eyelids, slurred speech, dry mouth and difficulty swallowing, and weak muscles.

A health care provider can use laboratory tests to identify C. botulinum toxin in the blood or stool of an infected person. If diagnosed early, health care providers can treat foodborne botulism successfully with an antitoxin that blocks the action of the bacterial toxin circulating in the blood. Although antitoxin keeps the disease from becoming worse, recovery still takes many weeks. Sometimes doctors try to remove contaminated food still in the gut by making the patient vomit or by giving the patient an enema.

Patients who develop severe botulism experience breathing failure and paralysis and need to be put on ventilators (breathing machines). If left untreated, this illness can cause paralysis of the arms, legs, trunk, and muscles that help with breathing. The paralysis usually improves slowly over several weeks.

  1. botulinum toxin is one of the most potent toxins known in nature. Exposure to the toxin, particularly in an aerosolized form, can be fatal. It has been weaponized by rogue states and is a focus of current counter-bioterrorism efforts.

Prevention

Steps to prevent foodborne botulism include following strict hygienic steps when home canning; refrigerating oils with garlic or herbs; keeping baked potatoes wrapped in aluminum foil hot until served or refrigerated; and boiling home-canned food before eating it, to kill any bacteria which might lurk in the food.

Campylobacteriosis

Campylobacteriosis is an infectious disease caused by Campylo-bacter bacteria. Campylobacter jejuni, C. fetus, and C. coli are the types that usually cause campylobacteriosis in people. C. jejuni causes most cases of the illness.

According to CDC, C. jejuni is the leading cause of bacterial diarrheal illness in the United States, affecting an estimated 2.4 million people every year. The bacteria cause between 5 and 14 percent of all diarrheal illness worldwide. C. jejuni primarily affects children under five years old and young adults (15–29 years old). Health care providers report more than 10,000 cases to CDC yearly. In the United States, few people die from Campylobacter infection.

Transmitted

Drinking non-chlorinated water or handling infected animal or human feces can infect a person. Most frequently, poultry and cattle waste are the sources of the bacteria, but feces from puppies, kittens, and birds also may be contaminated.

Symptoms and Treatment

The symptoms of campylobac-teriosis include diarrhea (often bloody), abdominal cramping and pain, nausea and vomiting, fever, and tiredness.

Some infected people have no symptoms. Campylobacteriosis usually lasts for two to five days, but in some cases as long as ten days. Rarely, some people have convulsions with fever or meningitis.

A health care provider can use laboratory tests to identify Campy-lobacter in the stool of an infected person. Most people infected with Campylobacter will get better with no special treatment. If a person needs treatment, a health care provider can prescribe an antibiotic. Those with diarrhea should drink plenty of water.

Some people infected with Cam-pylobacter develop arthritis. A small number of people with campylo-bacteriosis may develop Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS), the leading cause of acute paralysis in the United States. This rare condition develops from two to four weeks after Campylobacter infection and usually after diarrheal symptoms have disappeared. People with GBS suffer from increasing paralysis of the limbs, which lasts for several weeks. In more severe cases, they develop breathing problems requiring very long hospital stays.

Prevention

Washing hands before preparing food, drinking chlorinated or boiled water, and washing hands after handling pet feces or visiting zoos and petting zoos facilitates prevention of campylobacteriosis.

  1. coli Infection

Certain types of Escherichia coli bacteria, commonly called E. coli can cause foodborne illness. Harmless strains of E. coli can be found widely in nature, including the intestinal tracts of humans and warm-blooded animals. Disease-causing strains, however, are a frequent cause of both intestinal and urinary-genital tract infections.

Several different strains of harm-ful E. coli can cause diarrheal di-sease. A particularly dangerous type is called enterohemorrhagic E. coli, or EHEC. EHEC often causes bloody diarrhea and can lead to kidney failure in children or people with weakened immune systems.

In 1982, scientists identified the first dangerous strain in the United States. The type of harmful E. coli most commonly found in this country is named O157:H7, which refers to chemical compounds found on the bacterium’s surface. This type produces one or more related, powerful toxins, which can severely damage the lining of the intestines. Other types, including O26:H11 and O111:H8, have also been found in this country and can cause human disease.

Transmitted

Cattle are the main sources of E. coli O157:H7, but other domestic and wild mammals can also harbor these bacteria. E. coli bacteria and its toxins have also been found in alfalfa sprouts, lettuce, unpasteurized apple juice and apple cider, and contaminated well water.

Unsuspecting swimmers have been infected by accidentally swal-lowing unchlorinated or under-chlorinated water in swimming pools contaminated by human feces. Swimming in sewage-contaminated water can also infect people.

Symptoms and Treatment

  1. coli toxin can damage the lining of the intestine and cause other symptoms including: nausea, severe abdominal cramps, watery or very bloody diarrhea, tiredness, and, occasionally, low-grade fever or vomiting.

Symptoms usually begin from two to five days after eating contaminated food and may last for eight days.

A health care provider can use laboratory tests to identify E. coli in the stool of an infected person. Most people recover from E. coli infection within five to ten days without treatment. Antibiotics are usually not helpful, and health care experts recommend against taking antidiarrheal medicines.

Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a serious complication of EHEC, can lead to kidney failure. In North America, HUS is the most common cause of acute kidney failure in children, who are particularly prone to this complication. This life-threatening condition is usually treated in an intensive care unit of a hospital, sometimes with blood transfusions and kidney dialysis.

Prevention

Avoiding unpasteurized juices and washing fresh fruits and vege-tables thoroughly before eating raw or cooking are wise preventative steps.

Other Types

Enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC), which produce a toxin similar to Cholera toxin, can cause diarrhea. These strains typically cause so-called travelers diarrhea because they are prevalent contaminants in food and water in developing countries.

Enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) are associated with persistent diarrhea (lasting two weeks or more) and are more common in developing countries where they can be transmitted by contaminated water or contact with infected animals. Health experts do not know how much disease some of these other types of E. coli cause in the United States.

Salmonellosis

Salmonellosis, or salmonella, is an infection caused by Salmonella bacteria. Salmonella infections are increasing in the United States. Many types of this bacteria cause disease in animals and people. While the occurrence of different types of Salmonella varies from country to country, Salmonella typhimurium and S. enteritidis are the two most commonly found in the United States.

In 1984, an antibiotic-resistant strain of S. typhimurium, called Definitive Type 104 (DT104), was first found in the United Kingdom and recently in the United States. Now it is the second most common strain (after S. enteritidis) of Salmonella found in humans. This strain poses a major new threat because it is resistant to several antibiotics normally used to treat people with Salmonella infections.

Salmonellosis may occur in small, contained outbreaks in the general population or in large outbreaks in hospitals, restaurants, or institutions for children or the elderly. While the disease is found worldwide, health experts most often report cases in North America and Europe. Every year, CDC receives reports of 40,000 cases of salmonellosis in the United States. The agency estimates that 1.4 million people in this country are infected, however, and that 1,000 people die each year with salmonellosis. Symptoms are most severe in the elderly, infants, and people with chronic conditions. People with AIDS are particularly vulnerable to salmonellosis—often suffering from recurring episodes.

Transmitted

Salmonella bacteria can be found sometimes on unwashed fruit. Food prepared on surfaces that previously contained raw meat or meat products can, in turn, become contaminated with the bacteria. This is called cross-contamination.

In the past few years, CDC has received reports of several cases of salmonellosis from eating raw alfalfa sprouts grown in contaminated soil. Salmonella infection frequently occurs after handling pets, particularly reptiles like snakes, turtles, and lizards.

Salmonellosis can become a chronic infection in some people who may not have symptoms. Though they may have no symptoms, they can spread the disease by not washing their hands before preparing food for others. In fact, health care experts recommend that people who know they have salmonellosis not prepare food or pour water for others until a laboratory test shows they no longer carry Salmonella.

Symptoms and Treatment

Symptoms of salmonellosis include diarrhea, fever, abdominal cramps, and headache. In most people, symptoms begin from 12 hours to 3 days after being infected. These symptoms, along with possible nausea, loss of appetite, and vomiting, usually last for four to seven days. Diar-rhea can be severe and require hospi-talization.

A health care provider can use laboratory tests to identify Salmonella in the stool of an infected person.

Most cases of salmonellosis clear up within five to seven days and do not require treat-ment. People with severe diar-rhea may need intravenous fluids. If the infection spreads from the intestines into the bloodstream, health care providers can treat it with antibiotics such as ampicillin.

While most people recover successfully from salmonellosis, a few may develop a chronic condition called Reiter’s syndrome. This syndrome can last for months or years and can lead to arthritis. Its symptoms are painful joints, irritated eyes, and painful urination.

Unless treated properly, Salmonella can escape from the intestine and spread by blood to other organs, sometimes leading to death.

Typhoid fever, a more serious disease, results from infection with S. typhi. This disease, which can be fatal if untreated, is not common in the United States. It is frequently found in developing countries, usually in contaminated water. It is also a risk in areas where flooding or earthquakes cause sewer systems to overflow.

Appropriate antibiotics are usu-ally effective for treating typhoid fever, although the incidence of antibiotic-resistant S. typhi is increasing in some parts of the world.

Prevention

Wash hands immediately after handling reptiles or coming in contact with pet feces.

Shigellosis

Shigellosis, also called bacillary dysentery, is an infectious disease caused by Shigella bacteria. Four main types of Shigella cause infection: Shigella dysenteriae, S. flexneri, S. boydii, and S. sonnei. CDC estimates that more than 400,000 cases occur every year in the United States. Health care providers report about 18,000 cases to CDC each year. Most cases in this country are caused by S. sonnei.

Transmitted

People can be infected from foodborne Shigella by eating food or drinking beverages contaminated by food handlers infected with Shigella who did not wash their hands properly after using the bathroom; by eating vegetables grown in fields containing sewage; by eating food contaminated by flies, which were bred in infected feces; and by drinking or swimming in contaminated water.

  1. sonnei is the most common type of Shigella in developed countries, including the United States. Outbreaks of shigellosis frequently occur in tropical or temperate climates, especially in areas with severe crowding and/or poor hygiene, which sometimes occur in day care and institutional settings.

Some people have no symptoms but can still pass the bacteria to others. An extremely low number of organisms (10-100) is needed to transmit Shigella. Therefore, food service workers who are sick or infected, but have no symptoms, and who do not properly wash their hands after using the toilet commonly transmit it. Those who know they have shigellosis should not prepare food or pour water for others until laboratory tests show they no longer carry Shigella bacteria.

Symptoms and Treatment

As with other foodborne diseases, symptoms of shigellosis are fever, tiredness, watery or bloody diarrhea, nausea and vomiting, and abdominal pain.

Symptoms usually begin within two days after being exposed to Shigella and usually are gone within five to seven days.

People with mild infections usually get better quickly, without taking medicine. When treatment is necessary, health care providers most often prescribe an antibiotic such as ampicillin or ciprofloxacin. Antidiarrheal medicines may make the illness worse.

People who had diarrhea symptoms usually recover completely, although their bowel habits may not return to normal until several months later. S. dysenteriae type 1 produces Shiga toxin and can lead to life-threatening hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), the same complication that develops in some cases of infection with E. coli (enterohemor-rhagic E. coli or EHEC).

  1. flexneri infection can progress to Reiter’s syndrome, which can last for months or years and can lead to chronic arthritis. Its symptoms are painful joints, irritated eyes, and painful urination.

Prevention

Shigellosis may be prevented by washing hands thoroughly with soap and water before preparing foods and beverages and after using the bathroom or changing infant diapers; by disinfecting the diaper-changing areas after use; and by helping young children wash their hands carefully after they use the bathroom. You should also avoid swallowing swimming pool water.

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, Foodborne Diseases, April 2002, www.FoodSafety.gov, (February 19, 2004).

Health – Is diet a Salvational Issue

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Some time ago a Seventh-day Adventist pastor asked this question from the pulpit: “Is what you eat a salvational issue?” The response from the congregation was a very loud and overwhelming “NO!’’

Since when does consensus establish truth? Let us take a long and intensive look at this question from Scripture and the Spirit of Prophecy and see if we can determine the truth from Inspired writing.

We will first go to the very beginning of Scripture in Genesis, chapter 1.

The original diet was given to mankind by our Creator, who should know better than any other being what would be best for us. Genesis 1:29 states: “And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.” One can see that the original diet for mankind was a vegan diet. Absolutely no animal products or any refined or artificially manufactured products.

After the fall of man and his/her expulsion from the garden he was told to also eat “… the herb of the field.” This verse gave man permission to now eat things that grow in the dirt, which are assumed to be vegetables.

At this point we need to determine what is a fruit and what is a vegetable. A botanical definition is that a fruit is something that the plant produces and a vegetable is part of the plant itself, such as the leaves, the stem, or the root. Most of what we eat is classified as fruit. All products of trees, vines or bushes are fruits, e.g., apples, pears, peaches, nuts, berries, grapes, tomatoes, and such. Grains are actually fruits of grasses, as is corn. Such things as beets, carrots, celery, cabbage, lettuce, and the like, are vegetables or herbs of the field. These things were probably added since the abundance of fruits in the garden were now not available.

Now we come to the time of Noah in Genesis 6–9. Notice that God instructed Noah to take into the ark, which he had spent 120 years building, two, a male and a female, of every unclean animal, and seven of every clean animal (Genesis 7:2). The distinction between clean and unclean animals can be found in Leviticus, chapter 11. The reason for this is because the flood was going to destroy all life, plant and animal, from off the face of the earth. Following the flood Noah and his family would need something to eat until the new growth upon the face of the earth could be well established. That would take at least a year or maybe two.

I firmly believe that the permission to eat animals was only supposed to be temporary until plant life was reestablished sufficiently to provide what God had originally intended that we should eat. I can’t prove it, but since the Spirit of Prophecy states that man’s intelligence before the flood was vastly superior to ours today that Noah most probably also took a great abundance of seed onto the ark to be able to reestablish a productive garden and fruit trees in the ‘’new” earth after the flood. He also had to have enough stored food for all the animals that were now released upon a devastated world. I personally do not think that God ever intended that mankind would continue to consume animals for any length of time.

There were many things that could make a person ritually “unclean,” not just the use of an unclean animal for food: contamination with blood, or contact with a corpse to name a couple. The penalty for becoming ritually unclean was that the “unclean” individual was to leave the camp, wash himself and his clothes with water and wait until sundown, which began a new day. He then returned to the camp and went to the tabernacle where a specific offering was given. Afterwards he was then accepted back into full fellowship.

However, the penalty for the consumption of blood or fat from an animal was far more serious. Even Noah, in chapter 9 of Genesis, was told that when he began to use “clean” animals for food that he was in no way permitted to use any of the blood for food (verse 4). It was expressly forbidden by God to do so. Leviticus says in three places that it was a perpetual covenant that the fat and the blood were never to be consumed as food.

The penalty for the consumption of either fat or blood was that the individual was to be “cut off’ from the camp.” The Hebrew word used for cut off is karath. Daniel 9:26 states that, “After threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off.” [Emphasis supplied.] The same Hebrew word for cut off is used here. The penalty for the consumption of blood or fat is far worse than just becoming “unclean.” I dare say that today those who consume animal flesh are not using ritually slaughtered nor ritually prepared animals for the source of animal flesh. Just remember, God NEVER changes. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Yes, ancient Jews as well as observant Jews and even Jesus ate animal flesh at least on Passover. The lamb that was roasted was certainly ritually prepared so that it was not unclean nor did they eat any of the fat or blood. So Jesus would have eaten animal flesh at least once per year on Passover. We also find a few occasions where He ate fish. Carnivores love to refer to this fact. In His 33 years upon this earth you can count on one hand the number of times that the Scriptures tell of Jesus eating fish. The carnivores use that as an excuse to consume animal flesh usually daily. “If meat eating was ever healthful, it is not safe now. Cancers, tumors, and pulmonary diseases are largely caused by meat eating.” Counsels for the Church, 236.

‘’If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are” (1 Corinthians 3:17). I had a pastor tell me that this verse is in the plural and therefore does not apply to the individual, but the church body. After researching this verse in the writings of Ellen G. White, of the 42 times she references this verse, every time she applies it to the individual. So it becomes abundantly clear that if you do not take care of the physical body given you by Christ, you will not make it into the kingdom of God. Of course this applies to those who should know better, have access to Scriptures and the Spirit of Prophecy, or have the opportunity to find out the truth.

 

Gene Swanson is a retired Adventist physician living in Montrose, Colorado.

Restoring the Temple – Mad Cow Disease

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Question:

Since there has been more news about Mad Cow Disease lately, I’ve been concerned about my loved ones getting the illness. Can you help me understand this issue?

Answer:

Mad Cow Disease is the common name for Bovine Spongiform Encephalitis or BSE. In 2001, a herd of 80 cattle was imported into the United States (U. S.) from Canada. On December 9, 2003, at least one cow of that herd was slaughtered at a plant in Mabton, Washington. Officially, the cow was classified as nonambulatory, commonly called a downer, and therefore samples of its brain were examined by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). On December 23, a diagnosis of BSE was made confirmed two days later at the BSE International Reference Laboratory in England.

BSE is a degenerative neurological disorder that affects the central nervous system of adult cattle, leading to death. BSE is caused by a prion, which is an infectious protein. The concern for humans is that the prion that causes BSE in cattle can be transmitted to humans when they eat infected meat. In humans, the disease is called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD). The median age for people to come down with the symptoms of vCJD is 28 years. It is a fatal, rapidly progressive, degenerative disease of the central nervous system, causing psychiatric symptoms such as anxiety, hallucinations, and neurological symptoms including tremors, muscle weakness, and inability to walk.

There are other types of CJD. One type, called sporadic CJD, was not thought to be caused by eating BSE-infected meat. A recent study has shown that there is increasing evidence that sporadic CJD can also be caused by Mad Cow meat ingestion. This could potentially raise the numbers of known infected cases in the U. S.

The Problems

There are several points at which this incidence of infection has the potential to affect the local and greater communities. The first, and most obvious, is the question of whether or not products from the infected cow reached the consumer. Confusingly, and perhaps misleadingly, the FDA states that the infected meat was traced and was removed from the market. This appears to suggest that the meat never made it to the consumer, yet it did.

The diseased cow was slaughtered December 9, and BSE was not detected until December 23—after the meat went to market. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) states that those meat products were distributed to various parts of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and California. The CDC further states that the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service “continues to verify the distribution and control of all recalled products.” As of February 1, 2004, only 29 of the original 80 head of cattle exported from Canada have been located. One family in Mercer Island, Washington, has learned that the hamburger they mixed into their spaghetti dinner on December 21, 2003, was part of the lots that were later recalled. “I know the odds that any of us will get sick are slim,” said Brian Weinstein, father and husband, “but my family’s risk is greater than anyone else’s in the U. S. because we actually ate it.”

Ineffective Testing

In the U. S., is the Weinstein family really the only family at greater risk? Proponents of the U. S. beef industry and the efficiency of the USDA often cite the Harvard study to back up their beliefs. The USDA commissioned Harvard to evaluate the U. S. regulatory measures for prevention of BSE infection. The Harvard study concluded that “BSE is extremely unlikely to become established in the U. S. . . . [and] only a small amount of potentially infective tissues would likely reach the human food supply.”

This information sounds impressive, yet records show that in Washington State, where the infected cow was found, no commercial cattle were tested for BSE through the entire first seven months of 2003. In fact, USDA records show that tests are conducted at fewer than 100 of the 700 U. S. slaughterhouses. Fewer than 30,000 of the approximately 300 million cattle slaughtered in the U. S. in the past nine years were tested.

One of the reasons why testing is not done more frequently is because the U. S. uses tests that take days to weeks to provide results. Japan and Europe use tests that take only hours, which would enable tainted meat to never reach the market. Dr. Ron DeHaven, the USDA’s chief veterinarian, states that the U. S. system is meant only as a “surveillance system, not a food-safety test,” and was not intended to keep diseased meat from the consumer.

A typical four-ounce hamburger contains the meat and fat of between 50 and 100 cattle. This means that the average American, who consumes two hamburgers every week, ingests parts of up to 10,400 cattle every year. With the inadequate testing in the U. S., the likelihood of eating infected meat—for meat-eaters—is very high.

Weak vCJD Screening

The occurrence rate of vCJD was previously thought to be 1 in 1,000,000. However, in a U. S. study, autopsies of humans diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease showed that 5.5 percent of them were actually infected with vCJD. The CJD surveillance unit in Britain states that “the differential diagnosis . . . is a potentially wide one and it may be difficult or impossible to make a diagnosis of vCJD in the early stages of illness.”

A Compromised USDA

According to Eric Schlosser, editor of The New York Times, the USDA has a dual and conflicting charge, and that is to 1) guarantee that U. S. meat is safe for consumers, and 2) in behalf of producers, to promote the sale of meat. Perhaps that is why their own literature contains several misleading statements, such as the preceding comment about infected meat being removed from the marketplace. Another example of these types of inconsistencies is again found in their Commonly Asked Questions online fact sheet. The FDA states that certain rendered animal products are processed with heat “which may further minimize any risk of infectivity.” Two paragraphs later they state that the prions that cause BSE are resistant to heat. Tested in laboratories, these infectious proteins cannot be destroyed with 1000° Fahrenheit heat.

Conclusion

A Washington State cow, after slaughter and distribution, was discovered to be infected with BSE, commonly known as Mad Cow Disease. While other countries, notably Great Britain, have experience with this disease and its human counterpart, vCJD, this event is thought to be the first known case in the U. S. However, poor practices including insufficient BSE testing, ineffective tracking methods, and weak vCJD screening abilities, make it impossible to know the true extent of the diseases.

If we follow God’s laws of health, we will be protected from many illnesses, such as CJD. However, it is also our duty to let our light shine and continue to help others understand what risks they are taking by going against the laws of health.

Sheryle Beaudry, a certified teletriage nurse, writes from Estacada, Oregon where she lives with her husband and twin daughters. She may be contacted by e-mail at: sbeaudryrn@hotmail.com. If there is a health-related question you would like answered in LandMarks, please e-mail your question to: landmarks@stepstolife.org, or mail it to: LandMarks, Steps to Life, P. O. Box 782828, Wichita, KS 67278.

Restoring the Temple – A Low Fat Diet

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Why a Diet Low in Fat and Cholesterol Can Help You

Heart and blood vessel problems, such as angina and hypertension, disorders such as diabetes and hypoglycemia, which involve the body’s ability to handle sugar, and other ailments as well, are beginning to be recognized as primarily due to the diet we consume. The diet eaten in advanced countries such as the United States has a total fat content of 40 to 50 percent of calories consumed. It is also very high in refined carbohydrates. Scientific investigators have found that in poorer countries, where the people eat a diet, usually fewer than 20 percent of calories in fat, consisting mainly of unrefined carbohydrates such as whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, these diseases are almost never found. The more fat and refined carbohydrates eaten, the more degenerative disease problems are found.

Scientists have studied the effects of our typical diet in laboratories and clinics and have confirmed the suspicions that the large amounts of fat and refined carbohydrates consumed in this country can bring on these degenerative diseases. A diet in which fat and refined carbohydrates are sharply curtailed can cause these disease symptoms to lessen and even to disappear completely.

The kind of fat does not seem to matter. The fats may be those from dairy products, such as those found in whole milk, butter, and cheese; or in the form of vegetable fats as found in the oil of nuts, seeds, avocados, olives, and vegetable oil spreads such as margarine or nut butters; or fat as found in animal foods. It is the total amount of fat of all kinds that is consumed that matters—the more fat, the more disease symptoms.

Cholesterol

In addition to the fat contained, animal muscle tissue of all kinds—beef, pork, lamb, poultry, fish, shellfish, but especially organ tissue (liver, brains, kidneys) and eggs (chicken eggs, fish roe)—introduce still another harmful substance into our body—cholesterol. While the body needs some cholesterol, it produces all that it requires. If additional cholesterol is added to the diet, it becomes stored in the blood and tissues, since the body is unable to excrete it. In the presence of blood that has a high concentration of fat, the excess-stored cholesterol, in time, causes lesions called plaques to form inside the blood vessels. This condition is known as atherosclerosis.

On our usual high fat diet, these plaques begin to form even in the very young, gradually building up over a period of time and narrowing the channels in the blood vessels. This narrowing of the blood vessels reduces the amount of blood flow to the tissues served by these vessels, and in time, the heart compensates by elevating the blood pressure more and more, producing high blood pressure or hypertension.

If the blood vessels that serve the heart (coronary vessels) become sufficiently clogged by plaques, any circumstance that further reduces the already diminished oxygen sup-ply to the heart muscle will cause the heart to “cry out” in pain—the terrible pain of angina. A slight exertion such as running a short distance, an emotional episode, or even a single fat meal, can bring on an angina attack. In one experiment, the angina patient subjects did nothing but drink a glass of cream. Even though they were at complete rest, all of them suffered angina attacks.

Oxygen Deprivation

A fatty meal reduces the oxygen supply to all of the body tissues, not only to the vessels serving the heart. This will happen even if plaques do not clog your arteries—though few adults are so lucky, unless they have been on a lifelong low-fat, low-cholesterol diet. Even in a baby, fat steals oxygen from the body cells. It steals oxygen from the tissues just as carbon monoxide does when taken in by smoking. In the case of fat, this happens because of several mechanisms. When the digested fat is broken down, it forms tiny fat balls, which tend to clump together in the bloodstream. These aggregate with solid elements in the blood and block the blood flow in the tiniest arteries, thus depriving the cells in the tissues fed by those arteries of needed oxygen nourishment. The tiny fat balls also coat these solid elements in the blood. As a result, the red blood cells that are the body’s oxygen carriers become stuck together in formations resembling rows of coins. The clumping of the red blood cells further slows the circulation, depriving the tissues of even more oxygen. When the clumped red blood cells reach the lungs, where they should take up oxygen from the air breathed in, being clumped together, much of their surface area is not free to pick up oxygen. In this way, much less oxygen is carried back into the tissues, which are still further deprived of oxygen.

Plaques

It is because of this process of depriving the body cells of oxygen that fats enable cholesterol to form the atherosclerotic plaques. The artery walls become more easily penetrated by fats and cholesterol when the blood that bathes them is deficient in oxygen, thus encouraging the plaques to form. On a high-fat diet, the process of plaque formation goes on hour after hour, day after day, in all of the arterial vessels throughout the body. In the course of many years, the constant narrowing of these vessel channels by the ever-growing plaque formations causes many symptoms. High blood pressure and angina are two of the common symptoms. Other symptoms include a gradual deterioration in hearing and vision, and even senility and impotency.

Low-fat Diet Advantages

In many studies, it has been shown that by going on a diet in which fat and cholesterol intake are sharply reduced, the plaque-forming process can be reversed and the symptoms produced by the artery damage lessened or even eliminated. Refined carbohydrates and added salt have been found to contribute significantly to the development of heart and blood vessel problems. On a low-fat diet, the plaques or sores that are narrowing the arteries should gradually begin to disappear so that near-normal circulation will be restored.

This same diet has proved successful in reversing diabetes and hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia is a pre-diabetic stage, caused by similar abnormal conditions in the blood. Diabetes and hypoglycemia appear under circumstances that occur when the concentration of fats in the blood is very high. By lowering the blood fats by a diet low in fats of all kinds and low in simple carbohydrates like sugar, honey, and molasses, a Canadian investigator, Dr. I. M. Rabinowitch, treating 1,000 diabetics over a five-year period, had a high rate of success. Even insulin-dependent diabetics no longer required insulin or other drugs in 25 percent of the cases. Had the diet been even lower in fat content, Dr. Rabinowitch would have obtained an even higher reversal rate, based on the experiences of others.

High blood fats bring about a situation where the insulin from the pancreas is unable to effectively act upon blood sugar. Studies have been done where perfectly normal young men were made diabetic in a period of days or even hours, depending upon how fast fats were introduced into their blood. When fats were introduced rapidly, by injection into the bloodstream instead of by diet, they became diabetic in two hours. The scientists who did this study were also able to reverse diabetes by chemically lowering the blood fats.

If you would lower your blood fats by a gradual and permanent means by your diet, the fast results you could obtain would surprise you, if you adhered to the diet closely.

Certain kinds of arthritis also respond well to a diet by which blood fats are reduced. High blood fat levels cause the watery part of the blood (plasma) to seep out of the tiniest arteries (capillaries) at an abnormally high rate, due to the pressure built up in the capillaries when the circulation becomes slowed. The resultant swelling or edema produced in the tissues pro-vides the environment conducive to the development of arthritic symptoms. When the edema and slowed circulation in the capillaries are improved, marked relief and recovery can occur. Other diseases also have shown an improvement on this type of diet, such as colitis, gallbladder disease, hypertension (high blood pressure), and obesity.

Restoring the Temple – Why Not Meat?

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While you might be a vegetarian or a vegan, you probably know many people that are not. Do you know what to tell them when they ask, “Why not meat?” The following information will help you answer that question, and you are encouraged to do research on your own so that you are armed with knowledge—not only to help others but also to strengthen your own convictions.

So what is so wrong with meat, anyway? Is meat that comes from an organic farm healthy to consume? These are common questions, and there are clear and proven answers as to why vegetarians choose to avoid meat and why vegans avoid all animal products. For the purposes of this article, meat is defined as any non-dairy part of any animal, such as cattle, pigs, poultry, and fish.

Chemicals

Non-organic meats are laden with chemicals that are harmful to the human body. Not enough research has been done in order to determine the effects, both short- and long-term, on humans. These chemicals include pesticide residue from the feed, antibiotics used both to keep the animals alive longer and to stimulate rapid growth, and growth hormones. Of all the antibiotics manufactured, 40 percent is used on animal agriculture, and 80 percent of that is used to promote growth.

So what if the package of meat claims it is organic? Under the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rule, meat labeled certified organic must not have been given antibiotics or growth hormones and must have been fed an exclusively organic diet. Note that the label certified organic is regulated to a point, but many companies label their products organic and natural or make claims that the animals were not given antibiotics. These claims are not regulated and are essentially meaningless. Even with certified organic meat, the system is far from perfect. The United States Department of Agriculture’s organic meat regulations state, for instance, that livestock must have been continuously organic from the last third trimester of gestation and poultry can start being organically managed at the second day of life. Breeder stock can be non-organic, meaning the mother can be given whatever and pass on disease to the fetus, but the baby animal can still be considered organic. The regulations also state that farmers “must not administer synthetic parasiticides on a routine basis,” so administering these drugs occasionally must be considered acceptable. Also, livestock can be given drugs if ill—and it does not appear there is any ruling against slaughtering for meat livestock with known cancer. There are also no regulations that attempt to make organic meat less contaminated with microbes than non-organic meat.

Contamination

For the sake of argument, let us say that the meat you just bought is truly organic. There are no antibiotic, pesticide, or growth hormone residues present. So now what is wrong with it? Contamination. The vast majority of food poisonings is due to contaminated meat products. There are two types of contamination: intrinsic and extrinsic. Diseases affecting the animal before it died and that is in the meat cause intrinsic contamination. This includes the particle that causes Mad Cow Disease, bovine immunodeficiency virus (cause of bovine AIDS), leukemia, brucellosis, and cancer—all of which are potentially transmittable to humans.

Why do you think that there are so many precautions for handling meat but not so many for plant foods? Microbes on the meat (not just on the surface) that got there during processing and packaging cause extrinsic contamination. There are many types of microbes that live and thrive on meat, many of which are harmful to humans. There are microbes on plant foods, but the truly harmful microbes thrive wildly on meat. While cold storage does decrease the generation time of bacteria (how long it takes for one bacterium to become two), it does not kill them. Bacteria still grow in the freezer. This contamination causes illnesses such as food poisoning and can be deadly to the very young, to the old, and to people whose immune systems are not functioning properly.

Human Anatomy

You may have heard the argument that we are supposed to eat meat or that we have evolved to be omnivorous, which means that we eat everything—plants and animals. However, basic anatomical differences between humans and carnivorous or omnivorous animals tell a different story. The meat-eating animals’ teeth are designed to tear apart raw meat. Humans, even omnivorous ones, do not eat cows straight out of the field by gnawing them with their teeth! Not only do people not have a desire to do this carnivorous behavior, they are dentally unable. Predators have claws that rip flesh. Humans have hands ideal for gathering and picking. Human saliva contains alpha-amylase, an enzyme that starts the digestion of carbohydrates in the mouth. The saliva of carnivores does not contain alpha-amylase, since meat contains zero carbohydrates. The high amount of protein in meat is difficult to digest; therefore, carnivores have a lot of hydrochloric acid in their stomachs. Herbivores (including humans) have ten times less. Finally, meat putrefies quickly due to the high amount of microbes that colonize it. Putrefaction produces chemicals that are toxic. To take care of this problem, carnivores’ intestines are about eight feet long so the feces exit the body quickly. The intestinal tract of herbivores is about 25 feet long, which is ideal for digesting the complex carbohydrates found in plant foods but a very inefficient design for digesting meat.

Causes Disease

Health care costs in the United States related to meat consumption are estimated to be $60–$120 billion annually. Meat consumption causes disease for all the aforementioned reasons and more.

The most popular argument against a vegetarian diet is protein intake. Do vegetarians have to struggle to get enough protein, or do meat-eaters get too much? Almost all plant foods, with the exception of fruits, contain between 10 and 40 percent protein. We need only 8 to 15 percent of our daily intake to be protein. Omnivorous diets contain twice this amount.

So what? Protein breaks down into amino acids. Animal and plant proteins contain all the same amino acids. However, animal proteins can contain too much of the sulfur-containing amino acids methionine and cysteine. The breakdown of these two amino acids causes the blood and urine to become acidic. The body then dumps calcium from its bones to neutralize the acid, and the excess blood calcium is then excreted through the kidney into the urine (leading to osteoporosis). Further, methionine is metabolized into homocysteine, which is a risk factor for heart disease.

You may have heard that obesity has surpassed cigarette smoking as the United States’ major cause of disease and death. An animal-food diet contributes to obesity. Meat-eaters are generally 10 percent heavier than vegetarians and 20 percent heavier than vegans. This is because animal-food diets are calorie dense and generally high fat. High- fat diets may:

  • make it difficult to meet nutrient needs.
  • lead to obesity.
  • increase risk for chronic diseases such as cancer.
  • result in a rise in free radical reactions and oxidative damage to body tissues, thus increasing the risk for heart disease, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, age-related health problems, and neurological disorders.

The brain, kidneys, and heart are also at risk. Animal protein damages the kidneys, while plant protein does not. Animal protein raises blood cholesterol levels, while plant protein lowers it. Animal protein comes with an ugly package deal: it is always combined with saturated fat and cholesterol, which cause many chronic diseases, especially heart disease.

Cancer has already been mentioned. Studies have shown that ingesting cancerous tissue can cause cancer. But even non-cancerous meat has been shown to cause cancer and is number one on the list of foods that cause cancer.

You now know that high protein diets cause osteoporosis, but meat consumption causes other nutrient imbalances. For instance:

  • Vitamins E and C protect the heart and brain, but omnivores get less Vitamins E and C than vegetarians (since meat and dairy products contain almost no Vitamin C).
  • Folate protects the heart—omnivores consume less folate than vegetarians do.
  • Fiber protects the heart and reduces the incidence of breast cancer, colon cancer, and diabetes—there is zero fiber in animal foods. The recommended daily intake of fiber is 20 to 35 grams/day—omnivores get 10 to 12 grams. Vegetarians get two or more times the amount of fiber than meat-eaters.

The scientific data makes it clear. Not only do we not need to eat meat to be healthy, but eating meat leads to illness. We are born to be herbivores—plant-eaters—which is how we were designed by the Creator.

Sheryle Beaudry, a certified teletriage nurse, writes from Estacada, Oregon, where she lives with her husband and twin daughters. She may be contacted by e-mail at: sbeaudryrn@hotmail.com.

Restoring the Temple – Decreasing Your Risk of Disease

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God, the great governor of the universe, has put everything under law. The tiny flower and the towering oak, the grain of sand and the mighty ocean, sunshine and shower, wind and rain, all obey nature’s laws. But man has been placed under a higher law. He has been given an intellect to see, and a conscience to feel, the powerful claims of God’s great moral law, the expression of what He desires His children to be.” The Signs of the Times, July 31, 1901.

“In the beginning God placed man under law, as an indispensable condition of his very existence. He was a subject of the divine government, and there can be no government without law.” Ibid., July 23, 1902.

In outline form, we will look first at those factors that weaken the body’s ability to ward off disease. These are the habits we want to overcome or avoid. Next we will look at those factors which help the body ward off disease.

Factors Associated with Increased Risk of Disease

1 Certain nutritional supplements.

We do not have complete information on all of the nutritional supplements that might increase the risk of disease, but a few include beta-carotene supplements and large supplements of vitamin A. Beta-carotene supplements have actually been shown to increase cancer risk. It can also cause depletion of vitamin E. Large amounts of vitamin C and vitamin E supplements can actually favor the development of free radicals in the body.

2 Cow’s milk formula for infants.

Infants given cow’s milk formula are over 50 percent more likely to develop diarrhea and ear infections than infants who are breast-fed. With the development of antibiotics, we have become unaware of the dangers of cow’s milk for infants. In a 1930 study of 20,000 infants, before the development of antibiotics, the death rate for infants fed cow’s milk during the first nine months after birth was over 50 times the death rate of infants who were breast-fed. The breast-fed infant receives antibodies and white blood cells from the mother. Human breast milk is usually sterile which is never the case with cow’s milk. The mother’s milk can also help the infant avoid a deadly build-up of E. Coli bacteria in its intestine.

3 Use of cow’s milk by adults.

Cow’s milk has been shown to have a relationship to many serious and deadly diseases, including coronary artery disease, cancer, neurological diseases, allergies, and even Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Multiple Sclerosis.

4 Use of tobacco.

Smokers have twice the risk of colon cancer as non-smokers. Smoking one “joint” of marijuana does the equivalent damage to the lungs as a full pack of 20 regular cigarettes.

5 Use of alcohol.

Even moderate consumption of alcohol can significantly damage the immune system, making the person more susceptible to cancer and other serious diseases. As few as two drinks can reduce antibody production by two-thirds.

6 Excessive exercise.

Exercise to the point of exhaustion, as in competitive sports, can result in a decreased immune response by the body.

7 Meat eating.

Animal protein has been shown to be a cancer-producing substance. Women who eat meat every day have a higher risk of developing breast cancer than those who do not eat meat at all (over eight times in one study). Regular meat eaters have a colon cancer risk of about three to four times those not eating meat at all.

8 Stress.

People who are not coping with major stressors in their lives have a greater chance of developing life-threatening diseases.

9 Use of refined sugar.

Refined sugar reduces the ability of white blood cells to destroy bacteria. For example, one study showed that one white blood cell could destroy 14 bacteria before sugar had been consumed, but after consumption of 24 teaspoons of sugar, only one bacterium could be destroyed.

Factors Associated with Decreased Risk of Disease

1 Sunshine.

One researcher has estimated that regular, moderate exposure to sunshine could prevent 30,000 deaths caused by cancer per year in America.

2 Regular, moderate exercise.

Cancer deaths are significantly lower in those who exercise regularly.

3 Foods rich in carotene (pro-vitamin A).

The high-level carotene foods are those that are deep orange in color—such as carrots, yams, pumpkin, cantaloupe, apricots, mangos, persimmons, sweet potatoes—and those that are dark green, such as spinach, kale, turnip greens, broccoli, collard greens, and beet greens.

4 Foods rich in vitamin E

The high-level vitamin E foods are nuts, seeds, and the germ of grains—wheat germ, sunflower seeds, and almonds and the dark greens as mentioned above in the rich carotene foods.

5 Foods rich in vitamin C.

These vegetable foods include bell peppers, Brussel sprouts, broccoli, potatoes, tomatoes, and cabbage. Fruits such as kiwi, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and citrus fruits are also
beneficial.

6 Foods containing natural chemicals.

Only a few of these phyto-chemicals are presently known, but if you use a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and grains, you will get all of these chemicals—even the ones that are not well-known. The secret to helping the body resist disease is not in finding the protective elements in a food and mega-dosing on those through supplements, but consuming foods that contain a balanced form of many compounds. This balance will help the body, but the artificial use of supplements often unbalances the chemistry of the body.

7 Trust in God.

It has been statistically demonstrated that unresolved stress can both cause and exacerbate some of our most serious health problems, such as cardio vascular disease, cancer, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, hypertension, ulcers, and, of course, depression. God has given the answer to stress in Matthew 11:28–30.

8 Adequate water drinking.

Adults generally need eight glasses or more of water per day, depending on their activity and the climate conditions.

9 Cleanliness of person, clothes, and living environment.

About 100 years ago, Ellen White published the following counsel, which, if heeded, would decrease infectious diseases throughout the world approximately 85 percent (according to the estimates of some researchers)!

“Every form of uncleanliness tends to disease. Death-producing germs abound in dark, neglected corners, in decaying refuse, in dampness and mold and must. . . . Nothing unclean or decaying should be tolerated within the home. In towns or cities regarded perfectly healthful, many an epidemic of fever has been traced to decaying matter about the dwelling of some careless householder.” The Ministry of Healing, 276.

10 Adequate rest.

The exact amount of needed rest varies with different individuals, but the vast majority of human beings need between seven and nine hours of sleep per day.

Many people are looking for the miracle food or the miracle vitamin, mineral supplement, or herb that will cleanse the body of all problems and disease. “Miracle foods” come in and out of vogue. The secret of health and long life does not reside in finding the miracle potion, medicine, or herbal supplement but in following, in moderation and with good judgment, all the laws of health that the Creator has made and provided for our use.

Appetite

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The subject of this study is one that many people never consider when determining whether or not they are going to stand in the last days. After we read the statements that will be presented here, I think you will see that, in the last days, the matter of appetite is at the foundation of standing for God. We are going to address seven questions, and we will rely on the Bible and the writings of Ellen White for the answers.

The question is, “What Will it Take to Stand in the Last Days?” The Bible promises salvation only to the overcomer. (See John 8:32–36; Romans 8:1–14; 1 John 3:4–10; Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21; 21:5–7.) The work of overcoming begins with the overcomer.

Question 1

Where did the workings of the temptation and the fall begin? How did the devil tempt Adam and Eve? The fall of man was on the point of appetite. When the devil came to Jesus on the mount of temptation, he used three temptations. What was his first temptation? It was appetite.

“If we would elevate the moral standard in any country where we may be called to go, we must begin by correcting their physical habits.” Counsels on Health, 505. We must begin by correcting peoples’ physical habits. Some people who have been Christians for a while might think that they do not need to be concerned about this. They may think that they have already corrected their physical habits, but think this through for a moment. We have to maintain control over our physical habits for the rest of our lives.

When we speak of physical habits, we are not just referring to smoking, drinking alcohol, or using some type of harmful substance. Now, these things are involved, and if you are using a harmful substance or drinking something that is harmful or smoking, you need to put all those things aside—if you are going to get your physical habits corrected so you will be living in harmony with the divine government. But we are talking about something more basic than that.

Every day of your life, you have to deal with what and how much you are going to drink and what and how much and when you are going to eat. As long as you live in this world, you will have to make these decisions. The choices you make lie at the foundation of either your success or your failure in developing a Christian character, going through the last days, and at last being ready for Jesus to come. It sounds like a long jump to make something that simple so directly involved in how we will stand, but let us read a few statements and ask some more questions and we will then see the answer develop.

Question 2

What is the relationship between health reform and preparation for the Second Coming of Christ?

We are told in Testimonies, vol. 3, 492, that “those who are slaves to appetite will fail in perfecting Christian character.” Does perfecting of Christian character have to do with standing in the last days? If we are slaves to appetite, we are going to fail. That is what the prophet says.

We want to learn the relationship between health reform and preparing for Christ’s return, so we will read some more statements and then ask the question, What can we do to get in control?

In 1973, I began an educational process at the School of Public Health at Loma Linda University [Loma Linda, California]. One of the very first classes I attended was on the subject of nutrition. At that time, we were told that America had a greater problem with eating in that the weight of Americans was more out of control than in any other nation in the world. Now this was in 1973, and the findings were that, in America, over 40 percent of the population had a severe problem in this area. At that time, Europe was quite poor at 25 percent, but in places like India and Africa, it was only 10 percent.

When I first heard these facts, I could hardly believe them, but if you have been listening to the news lately, you know that over 60 percent of America’s population is overweight today. Why is this so?

Temptation to Indulge

“As we near the close of time, Satan’s temptation to indulge appetite will be more powerful and more difficult to overcome.” Ibid. Is the temptation to indulge more powerful today than when Ellen White wrote these words? When she penned this statement, was there McDonalds? No! Did we have Burger King or Taco Bell yet? No! The fast food industry did not exist.

Some of you are old enough to remember that there was a time when, if you wanted to eat out, you had to do so during the times the restaurants were open. They served breakfast for a set time in the morning, and then, in the middle of the day, they served dinner or lunch for so long a time, and in the late afternoon and early evening, they served supper or dinner for so long a time. You had to go during those times, or you could not get anything to eat.

After World War 11, that all changed. I remember, when I was a boy, something called Dairy Queen came to our town. A person could go to the Dairy Queen and get a great big ice cream cone for 10 cents. The Dairy Queen was not just open from 4 to 6 o’clock for supper; it was open extended hours.

As time went on, we eventually got to the place where we decided we needed to have our eating establishments open 24 hours a day. There are a number of eating establishments in Wichita [Kansas] that are open 24 hours a day. I am not usually downtown late at night, but the few times I have had occasion to be there late at night, I have found it to be an amazing sight! As you drive by some of these places at 10 o’clock at night—or even later—the cars are lined up, and they are not lined up to buy apples. They are lined up to buy food that has a very high fat and protein content. If you eat food like that late at night, the stomach and small intestines will be digesting and assimilating it until 6 or 7 or 8 o’clock in the morning. The more fat in the food, the longer it takes to digest, and if you eat a lot of deep-fat-fried food and a lot of meat with fat in it, it is not going to be out of your stomach in three or four hours. It is going to be in there a long time.

This kind of eating pattern did not exist 60 years ago. The places offering food like this were not on the market then. The concept of “fast food” had not yet been developed.

Our children are flooded with advertisements on television about eating. By the way, the food being featured on these advertisements is not apples either—or oranges or bananas. It is food that is high in protein and fat.

Let us look at some additional statements Ellen White gives that deal with the relationship between health reform and preparation for the Second Coming.

“Nine-tenths of the wickedness among the children of today is caused by intemperance in eating and drinking.” Review and Herald, October 21, 1884. That is a startling statement!

Then this one: “As our first parents lost Eden through the indulgence of appetite, our only hope of regaining Eden is through the firm denial of appetite and passion.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, 59. So if we are to go to heaven, what do we have to learn? We must learn to control our appetites. That is foundational; that is number one. If I am not in control of my appetite, I will not be in control of my passions, and I will not be in control of my thoughts or my feelings. It is just that simple.

We have studied during this Week of Prayer about the necessity of controlling our thoughts. That is important, but if our appetites are out of control, we will find it impossible to control our thoughts and our sexual passions, too.

People come to preachers saying that somehow the plan of salvation does not work for them. Why does it not work? They say they have been praying and praying and praying. Let me ask you a question. Now this is a cruel question and a crude one, too, but I want you to think. If I were to climb onto the roof of a building and jump off, I am going to get hurt because of gravity. But can I jump off the building and then—if I pray hard enough—not get hurt? No, that would never happen, because I have violated a physical law. There are physical laws in the body, and the foundation of overcoming—so that we are ready to stand in the last days—has to do with learning to live in harmony with the physical laws in the body. If we do not live in harmony with the physical laws of the body, we will not be able to control our thoughts, and eventually, we will not have patience. Ellen White says that an intemperate person cannot be a patient person. (Review and Herald, February 21, 1888.)

She also wrote: “We want our sisters who are now injuring themselves by wrong habits to put them away and come to the front and be workers in reform. The reason why many of us will fall in the time of trouble is because of laxity in temperance and indulgence of appetite.” Temperance, 150.

That is quite a statement! Many of us are going to fall in the time of trouble, because we have not learned to control our appetites. Please, friends, let us not look at anyone else. Let me share with you some information I received from a physician about 30 years ago.

The digestive systems of some people are so efficient with food that they can overeat just a little bit, and over a period of time, they will gain a lot of weight. He said that there are other people whose systems are efficient enough that they can throw off all the extra food they eat and stay skinny. But, he said, the skinny sinners are just as much sinners as the fat sinners. So do not look at someone else who has a different kind of metabolism than you have. If you have not learned to be in control of your intake of food, you have just as much a problem as they have, even if you are skinny! The other person has to work on his problem, but we each have to work on our own problem.

You are probably familiar with this statement: “Many who are now only half converted on the question of meat eating will go from God’s people to walk no more with them.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, 382.

Question 3

Let us try to understand some relationships between how we eat, how it affects the body physically, and what happens to us mentally and spiritually. What do the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy say about the relation of physical habits and Christian living?

In 1 Peter 2:11, Peter shows that there is a relationship between our physical habits and our Christian experience: “Dearly beloved, I beseech [you] as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.” Ellen White quotes that text and says, “Many regard this warning as applicable only to the licentious; but it has a broader meaning. It guards against every injurious gratification of appetite or passion.” Counsels on Health, 67, 68.

What we are studying is something to which a large part of the Christian world is apparently oblivious. They do not understand it, and this is one of the reasons there is trouble in many Christian churches. They do not understand the principles of temperance. In fact, there is such a lack of understanding that some churches even use fermented wine for communion! Are you aware of the fact that some people have become drunkards just by going to communion?

We are not focusing primarily on liquor and tobacco use. We are addressing the things that are more basic—the water we drink and the food we eat.

How would you describe the relationship between physical habits and Christian living?

For one thing, however we overload the physical system has a direct bearing on the mind and, consequently, on the spiritual and the emotional faculties. Our physical habits are going to affect our minds, our ability to think.

One of the faculties of the mind is willpower. If the willpower is weakened, is that going to affect the Christian experience, especially when we are faced with a temptation? Yes, it is. The classic example generally used is the way alcoholic drink will anesthetize the will. Someone in this condition will fall for just about anything the devil puts in his or her way. The Bible says, “Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.” Proverbs 23:33. People will do and say crazy things, and afterwards, when they come to their senses, they will ask, “What in the world did I do that for?” Their will was turned off by what they drank.

Although it is not totally anesthetized, the will can be weakened by improper physical habits. For instance, would you want to take a college examination after you have eaten something that has made you drowsy? It would not be too prof-itable, would it?

Your physical habits affect the different faculties of the mind and your ability to think. One of the faculties of the mind, as we have discussed, is the will. Another is the ability to exercise faith. If you are drowsy and cannot think, does that affect your ability to exercise faith in God? Yes, it certainly does.

Even eating too much of good things can make our minds drowsy. That is one of the reasons Ellen White told us that it would be well for us to eat less food on Sabbath than on other days. On the Sabbath, people are less physically active than on other days. If we eat the same amount of food on Sabbath that we eat on other days, we will have the tendency to go to sleep in church.

“We should not provide for the Sabbath a more liberal supply or a greater variety of food than for other days. Instead of this, the food should be more simple, and less should be eaten, in order that the mind may be clear and vigorous to comprehend spiritual things. A clogged stomach means a clogged brain. The most precious words may be heard and not appreciated, because the mind is confused by an improper diet. By overeating on the Sabbath, many do more than they think, to unfit themselves for receiving the benefit of its sacred opportunities.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, 46.

This is something that is good to remember if you are ever driving a car for long distances. Eating too much food is a way to become drowsy, and even if you do not go to sleep, your reflex actions may be slowed, and if a quick response is needed, you may have an accident.

Question 4

Where does the devil have the strongest hold on the human race? On appetite!

“[Satan’s] strongest hold on man is through the appetite, and this he seeks to stimulate in every possible way.” Ibid., 150. If, by the grace of God, we gain the victory on appetite, we are going to gain the victory on everything else. If we do not obtain the victory on appetite, Christian perfection will be impossible.

One of the challenges we face is that we have to eat every day. That is why it is such a struggle. To eat is necessary, yet it calls for control. We do not have to drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes, but we do have to eat every day. When I was at the School of Public Health, the instructors used to say that dealing with overeating and overweight was a much more difficult problem than even alcoholism. You can quit alcohol or tobacco, but eating, you cannot quit. You have to do it in a controlled way, and that is much more difficult than quitting something.

That is even true with dieting. There have been people who sought to solve their overweight problem by stopping to eat. The world record for fasting is 382 days—at least it was when I went to school. Ceasing to eat is not encouraged, because it is very dangerous.

There was a woman who fasted under medical supervision. Her electrolytes were kept up and medical professionals monitored her. She was not given any calories and she lost weight very quickly. She was on the fast for 210 days, and she did reach normal weight, but a week or two later she was admitted to the hospital and died. Since her fasting diet was medically supervised, an autopsy was performed to learn the cause of death. From the autopsy, it was found that approximately 64 percent of the myofibrils in her heart had been removed. When the body loses weight, about half the calories it loses are protein calories, so muscle mass is lost. The fasting diet took the protein right out of the heart, and she died.

The fasting diet then went out of vogue and was replaced with protein modified fasting, which was really the “in” thing for several years. In fact, it is still being done. This is dangerous, too. Numerous people have died on these various kinds of programs.

The important thing is not how much we weigh. The important thing is for us to get in control of our appetites. Then, if we are controlling our appetites and actively exercising, the Lord will help us with our problem with weight. The important thing is being in control of our appetites.

Control of the appetite is the most basic place where overcoming must begin. That is where the devil has the strongest hold on the human race.

Question 5

Why is appetite the most basic human drive that must be brought under control?

“Entire cities have been swept from the face of the earth because of the debasing crimes and revolting iniquity that made them a blot upon the fair field of God’s created works. The gratification of unnatural appetite led to the sins that caused the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. God ascribes the fall of Babylon to her gluttony and drunkenness. Indulgence of appetite and passion was the foundation of all their sins.” Ibid., 147.

What was the foundation of the whole problem? “The indulgence of appetite” was the foundation of all their sins. Indulgence of appetite! Does it sound important? It is at the foundation of a large number of things.

I want to tell you friends, I have been a minister for several decades now, but I do not ever go to the table, in private or public, without asking the Lord to give me wisdom to make the right choice—not just for the kind of food but for the appropriate amount of food to eat. I need wisdom; I need help; I need divine grace to make the right choice.

Appetite is the most basic human drive that has to be brought under control. Look at what happens if the appetite is not in control: “Through the channel of appetite, the passions are inflamed, and the moral powers are paralyzed . . . .” Temperance, 183.

Stop there for a moment. If your moral powers are paralyzed, are you going to be able to stand in the last days? There is no way! You are not going to make it. Your moral powers will be paralyzed, if your appetite is not in control.

“. . . so that parental instruction in the principles of morality and true goodness falls upon the ear without affecting the heart.” Ibid. If the appetite is not in control, it will be impossible for the parents to train their children to be Christians. Have you ever thought about that? It will be impossible; it will not work.

This is one of the problems in our society. The appetites of the children are not in control. They are eating at all hours of the day and night and eating all kinds of foods that are not healthful for them.

“Satan is no novice in the business of destroying souls. He well knows that if he can lead men and women into wrong habits of eating and drinking, he has gained, in a great degree, the control of their minds and baser passions.” Ibid., 161.

Sometimes we are dense. We do not know what is going on, but the devil knows. He knows that if he can get us to indulge our appetites, he is going to get control of our minds and our passions. Do you want the devil to be in control?

Are you going to go through the last days and stand? If the devil is in control of your passions, you are not going to make it.

Question 6

How can I bring my appetite under the control of my mind and reason?

We can talk about the temperance pledge, about removing temptation as far as possible, but we cannot succeed unless we have help. We have to cooperate with the Holy Spirit.

We cannot succeed unless we receive divine grace, but God is not going to help us unless we cooperate. “This could not be the case if Christ alone did all the overcoming. Man must do his part. Man must be victor on his own account, through the strength and grace that Jesus gives him. Man must be a co-worker with Christ in the labor of overcoming, and then he will be partaker with Christ of His glory.” Review and Herald, November 21, 1882.

One of my favorite statements is, “Jesus knows the circumstances of every soul. The greater the sinner’s guilt, the more he needs the Saviour. His heart of divine love and sympathy is drawn out most of all for the one who is the most hopelessly entangled in the snares of the enemy. . . .

“Today He is standing at the altar of mercy, presenting before God the prayers of those who desire His help. He turns no weeping, contrite one away.” Temperance, 124.

If you are trapped, keep praying! Jesus is not going to leave His children to be overcome and perish, even if they are weak and very sinful, as long as they continue asking for help, saying “Lord, I am stuck.” Friend, when we are referring to this problem of appetite, you and I are stuck. Unless we receive divine help, we are never going to get control of it, and if we do not get control of it, we are not going to get control of our passions. We are not going to be in control of our thoughts, and we are not going to be in control of our feelings. Then we will not stand in the time of trouble.

The Lord has made provision so that we can be overcomers, if we cooperate with Him. “What a work is before the Christian! Yet, however great the struggle, he may overcome. By the help of that divine power which withstood the fiercest temptations that Satan could invent, he, too, may be entirely successful in his warfare with evil, and at last may wear the victor’s crown in the kingdom of God.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, 167.

I need help, do you? We might as well face it, we all need help. Unless the Lord helps us, we are not going to gain control, and we have to have control if we are going to go through to the kingdom.

Question 7

It is human nature to go to extremes, and we want to be sure that we do not go to extremes. What are the two errors that the beginning temperance reformer must avoid with regard to diet?

Those who understand the laws of health and who are governed by principles will shun the extremes of both indulgence and restriction. “Health reformers, above all others, should be careful to shun extremes.” Ibid., 207.

There are different kinds of people in the world. When this subject is studied, some people recognize they have been overeating and determine to eat less. Other people are so gung ho that they restrict themselves until, Ellen White states, they damage their health.

“Some of our people, while conscientiously abstaining from eating improper foods, neglect to supply themselves with the elements necessary for the sustenance of the body.” Ibid. Diseases caused by improper nourishment are some of the most difficult with which the physician deals.

Mrs. White wrote to an aged minister about his extremes: “I have been informed that you have taken but one meal a day for a period of time; but I know it to be wrong in your case, for I have been shown that you needed a nutritious diet, and that you were in danger of being too abstemious. Your strength would not admit of your severe discipline. . . .

“I think that you have erred in fasting two days. God did not require it of you. I beg of you to be cautious and eat freely good, wholesome food twice a day. You will surely decrease in strength and your mind become unbalanced unless you change your course of abstemious diet.” Ibid., 191.

We are talking about temperance. We are not talking about restricting the nourishment our bodies need. Health reform, dietary reform in regards to getting control of our appetites does not mean that we restrict ourselves until we damage our bodies. God wants us to get all of the nutrition that our bodies need; He does not want us to deprive ourselves. We are to avoid the extremes of doing like the monks and the nuns and the priests during the Middle Ages.

Martin Luther wrecked his health fasting. He said if he had kept on doing it much longer, he would have died. He damaged his health for the rest of his life and shortened his life because he fasted so much. That is one extreme.

The other extreme is to eat so much that you damage your health because of your overeating. What if we are getting twice what we need? “We ought always to eat the most simple food. Often twice as much food as the system needs is eaten. Then nature has to work hard to get rid of the surplus.” Medical Ministry, 295. Have you ever done that? I am sure I have done it more than once, but I am determined that I am not going to live in this way any more. The Lord wants to deliver us from both extremes.

We have to have control of the appetite if we are going to have control of the thoughts and the passions. Remember, “The reason why many of us will fall in the time of trouble is because of laxity in temperance and indulgence of appetite.” Temperance, 150.