Health

Restoring the Temple – Proper Education, Part I

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Health is a great treasure. It is the richest possession we can have. Wealth, honor, or learning, is dearly purchased, if it be at the loss of the vigor of health. None of these attainments can secure happiness if health is wanting. It is a terrible sin to abuse the health God has given us. Every abuse of health enfeebles for life, and makes us losers, even if we gain any amount of education.

Parents who are wealthy, in many cases do not feel the importance of giving their children an education in the practical duties of life, as well as in the sciences. They do not see the necessity, for the good of their children’s minds and morals, and for their future usefulness, of giving them a thorough understanding in useful labor. This is due their children, that, if misfortune should come, they could maintain noble independence, having a knowledge how to use their hands. If they have a capital of strength, they can not be poor, even if they have not a dollar. Many, who in youth are in affluent circumstances, may be robbed of all their riches, with parents and brothers and sisters dependent upon them for sustenance. Then how important that the youth be educated to labor, that they may be prepared for any emergency. Riches are indeed a curse when the possessors let them stand in the way of their sons’ and daughters’ obtaining a knowledge of useful labor, that they may be qualified for practical life.

Useless Lives

Those who are not compelled to labor, frequently do not have active exercise sufficient for physical health. Young men, for want of having their minds and hands employed in active labor, will acquire habits of indolence, and will frequently be obtaining, what is to be most dreaded, a street education, lounging about stores, smoking, drinking, and playing cards.

The young ladies will read and excuse themselves from active labor, because they are in delicate health. Their feebleness is generally the result of their lack of exercising the muscles. They may think they are too feeble to do housework, but will work at crochet and tatting, and preserve the delicate paleness of their hands and faces, while their care-burdened mothers toil hard in washing and ironing their garments. These ladies transgress the fifth commandment. They do not honor their parents. But the mother is most to blame. She has indulged and excused her daughters from bearing their share of household duties, until work becomes distasteful to them, and they love, and enjoy, delicate idleness. They will eat, and sleep, and read novels, and talk of the fashions. Their lives are useless.

Teach Children to Work

Poverty, in many cases, is a blessing; for it prevents youth and children from being ruined by inaction. The physical should be cultivated and properly developed, as well as the mental. The first and constant care of parents should be that their children may have firm constitutions, that they may be sound men and women. It is impossible to attain this object without physical exercise. Children, for their own physical health and moral good, should be taught to work, even if there is no necessity as far as want is concerned. If they would have virtuous and pure characters, they must have the discipline of well-regulated labor, which will bring into exercise all the muscles. The satisfaction children will have in being useful, of denying themselves to help others, will be the most healthful pleasure they ever enjoyed. Why should the wealthy rob themselves and their dear children of this great blessing?

Parents, inaction is the greatest curse that ever came upon you. Your daughters should not be allowed to lie late in bed in the morning, sleeping away the precious hours lent them of God to be used for the best purpose, and for which they will have to give an account to God. The mother is doing her daughters great injury in bearing the burdens the daughters should share with her for their own present good and future benefit. The course many parents have pursued in allowing their children to be indolent, and to gratify a desire for reading romance, is unfitting them for real life. Novel and story-book reading are the greatest evils that youth can indulge in. Novel and love-story readers always fail to make good, practical mothers. They live in an unreal world. They are air-castle builders, living in an imaginary world. They become sentimental, and have sick fancies. Their artificial life spoils them for anything useful. They are dwarfed in intellect, although they may flatter themselves that they are superior in mind and manners. Exercise in household labor will be of the greatest advantage to young girls.

Advantages of Physical Labor

Physical labor will not prevent the cultivation of the intellect. Far from this. The advantages gained by physical labor will balance them, that the mind shall not be overworked. The toil will then come upon the muscles, and relieve the wearied brain. There are many listless, useless girls who consider it unlady-like to engage in active labor. But their characters are too transparent to deceive sensible persons in regard to their real worthlessness. They will simper and giggle, and are all affectation. They appear as though they could not speak their words fairly and squarely, but torture all they say with lisping and simpering. Are these ladies? They were not born fools, but were educated such. It does not require a frail, helpless, overdressed, simpering thing to make a lady. A sound body is required for a sound intellect. Physical soundness and a practical knowledge in all the necessary household duties, are never a hindrance to a well-developed intellect, but highly important for a lady.

Well-Balanced Minds

All the powers of the mind should be called into use, and developed, in order for men and women to have well-balanced minds. The world is full of one-sided men and women, because one set of the faculties are cultivated, while others are dwarfed from inaction. The education of most youth is a failure. They over-study, while they neglect that which pertains to practical business life. Men and women become parents without considering their responsibilities, and their offspring sink lower in the scale of human deficiency than they themselves. Thus we are fast degenerating. The constant application to study, as the schools are now conducted, is unfitting youth for practical life. The human mind will have action. If it is not active in the right direction, it will be active in the wrong. And in order to preserve the balance of the mind, labor and study should be united in the schools.

Education

There should have been in past generations provisions made for education upon a larger scale. In connection with the schools should have been agricultural and manufacturing establishments. There should have been teachers also of household labor. There should have been a portion of the time each day devoted to labor, that the physical and mental might be equally exercised. If schools had been established upon the plan we have mentioned, there would not now be so many unbalanced minds.

The Health Reformer, April 1, 1873.

—To be continued . . .

Restoring the Temple – Proper Education, Part II

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God prepared for Adam and Eve a beautiful garden. He provided for them everything their wants required. He planted for them trees of every variety, bearing fruit. With a liberal hand he surrounded them with his bounties—the trees, for usefulness and beauty, and the lovely flowers, which sprung up spontaneously, and flourished in rich profusion around them, were to know nothing of decay. Adam and Eve were rich indeed. They possessed beautiful Eden. Adam was monarch in this beautiful domain. None can question the fact that Adam was rich. But God knew that Adam could not be happy unless he had employment. Therefore he gave him something to do. He was to dress the garden.

The Creator of man never designed that he should be idle. The Lord formed man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. It was the law of nature, therefore the law of God, that brain, nerve, and muscle, should be in active motion. Young gentlemen and ladies that refuse to labor because they are not compelled to, and because it is not fashionable, are not guided and controlled by enlightened reason. Those who shun manual labor, cannot have physical stamina. In order for the young to enjoy perfect health and perfect happiness, every organ and function must be in perfect operation as God designed they should be. If all the organs act their natural part, life, health, and happiness, will be the result. Too little exercise, and staying in-doors too much, will bring on feebleness and disease of some one or more of the organs. It is sinful to impair or weaken one of the powers God has given us. The great Creator designed that we should have perfect bodies, that we might preserve them in health, and render to him the offering of a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.

Exercise in useful labor will be carrying out the original plan of God, when he bade Adam and Eve to dress the garden. Life is precious, and should be preserved intelligently by regarding the laws of our being.

Idleness = Unhappiness

Fashionable idlers, who have plenty of leisure, fail to attain happiness. They have been educated to regard honest labor as only fit for the poor, while it would degrade the wealthy. They rob the brain and nervous system, by fashionable indolence, of a supply of animal energy that keeps the machinery of the body in healthful activity.

In order for the brain to have clearness and strength of thought, retentive memory, and mental power, the muscles of the body should have exercise a portion of each day in order to preserve and improve health.

Adam was in glorious Eden. He was perfectly developed, and then set to work by his Maker that in exercise all his muscles should preserve their elasticity. Many young men and ladies are too proud, or too lazy, to engage in useful labor in the house or in the garden.

Role of Women

The world is full of women with but little vitality, and less common sense. Society is in great need of healthful, sensible young women, who are not afraid to work and soil their hands. God gave them hands to employ in useful labor. God did not give us the wonderful human machinery of the body to become paralyzed by inaction. The living machinery God designed should be in daily activity, and in this activity or motion of the machinery, is its preserving power. Manual labor quickens the circulation of the blood. The more active the circulation the more free will be the blood from obstructions and impurities. The blood nourishes the body. The health of the body depends upon the healthful circulation of the blood. If work is performed without the heart being in it, it is simply drudgery, and the benefit which should result from the exercise is not gained.

Toiling mothers, who have given their children the advantages of education, and have brought them up without disciplining them to self-denial and physical labor, and have given them liberty to follow their own pleasure, will not receive much happiness and comfort from these children. In my travels I have seen that those women who entered upon the married life wholly unprepared for domestic duties, were not happy. They did not receive the training and the education in their youth that fitted them for the responsible position they had by most solemn covenant agreed to fill. The parents had made a great mistake. When children, they were excused from exertion in order “to enrich the mind.” They could play an instrument of music, but were not educated to take responsibility. They enjoyed burying their minds in novels, but had no love to keep their houses in order. They were as incompetent for the responsible position of mothers as a girl of fifteen years. Economy of means they knew nothing of, and yet these are the mothers that are bringing up children to take their place upon the stage of action, to act their part in the drama of life. The characters of youth should not be spoiled by over-fond mothers. Parents should consider that as they neglect to thoroughly educate their daughters in domestic labor and economy, they are giving characters to them which will make their f ture married lives miserable. There will be disappointed husbands, and neglected children, because of inefficient wives and mothers.

What Constitutes Wealth?

Men and women of this age who have a large amount of earthly treasure may be estimated as wealthy. But their riches, in comparison with the paradise of wealth given the lordly Adam, are very insignificant. Yet the so-called wealthy sometimes regard it degrading for them and their children to engage in useful physical labor. Their views are not in harmony with God’s original plans. They educate their children by precept and example that physical labor is beneath their exalted station, and, in order to be gentlemen and ladies, their hands must be unemployed, so far as useful labor is concerned. They are early sent to a boarding school or a seminary to obtain book knowledge, or they pass away their time in ornamenting their persons, or in gratifying their inclination for amusements. For this education, high and noble duties are neglected.

We have no right, my Christian sisters, to waste our time, and give example to others who are less able than we to waste their time and energies, upon needless ornaments, upon dress or furniture, or to indulge in superfluities in food. We have religious duties to perform, and if we neglect these duties, and give our time to needless things, we will dwarf the intellect, and separate the affections from God. The Author of our existence has claims upon our time and our money. He has poor and suffering ones all around us that money may relieve, and cheering, encouraging words bless. Christ identifies himself with the wants of suffering humanity. As you neglected to visit the widow and orphans tried in the furnace of affliction, suffering want and privation, you did not realize that Christ would mark the circumstances against you in the book of records, as though you had neglected him.

The impression that in order to be gentlemen and ladies the hands must be unskilled in useful employment, and delicate idleness be cultivated, is not in accordance with the Lord’s plans in the creation of man. These false notions open a wide door for temptation.

Purpose

Many professed Christian parents show by their course of action that the main object of their lives is to secure their own enjoyment. They follow inclination and look for happiness in amusements. Happiness is not secured by depending on various gratifications within our reach. All who imitate the life of Christ, and conform their character to his, and engage in active, useful labor in self-denying benevolence, will have happiness. “For even Christ pleased not himself.” He said, “I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” [John 6:38, 39.]

Inaction and delicate idleness is weakening the life-forces of young women. There are those who spend hours of precious time in bed, which is not blessing them with increase of strength, or relieving others from burdens, but is bringing upon them debility and confirming them in wrong habits. These hours idled away needlessly in bed can never be regained. The sin of time thus lost is marked in the book of records.

There is enough to do in this busy world of ours. There are enough in God’s great family who need sympathy and aid. If our own work does not demand our time, there are sick to be visited, the poor to be helped and encouraged. But while hours are being idled away, there is a pressure frequently of labor close at home. Rooms may need to be put in order, garments may need repairing, and there may be a variety of little duties that some one must attend to. There may be a necessity for careful oversight of provisions, that nothing may be wasted.

The Health Reformer, May 1, 1873; June 1, 1873.

To be concluded . . .

Health Nugget – Vegan vs. Vegetarian

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The study in the area of health is never ending. One health article brought to my attention that there were more than just two or three categories of vegetarians and vegans. I am sure many of you will be as surprised as I was to know just how many different descriptions there are. You may find the category you are in, or maybe you are in the middle of a couple of them. Read on!

“According to the Vegetarian Society, ‘Vegetarians don’t eat any fish, meat or chicken’ and also ‘don’t eat products or by-products of slaughter.’ Vegetarian diets may contain variable amounts of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, nuts, and seeds. Dairy and eggs may be included, depending on the type of diet you follow. The most common types of vegetarians include:

  • Lacto-ovo vegetarians: Avoid all animal flesh, but do consume dairy and egg products.
  • Lacto vegetarians: Avoid animal flesh and eggs, but do consume dairy products.
  • Ovo vegetarians: Avoid all animal products except eggs.
  • Vegans: Avoid all animal and animal-derived products.*
  • Pesco: Pescatarians, while not technically meeting the common definition of vegetarian, follow a semi-vegetarian diet that includes fish and other seafood but no poultry or meat.
  • Flexitarians: Part-time vegetarians do eat animal flesh and, although primarily plant-based, they technically do not fall under the definition of vegetarianism.

“In some literature you might come across these as well:

  • Demi Vegetarian: Consumes fish, eggs, and dairy products but not meat.
  • Semi Vegetarian: Another group of vegetarians who sometimes voluntarily control their meat intake and who may be viewed as flexitarians.

“Veganism is currently defined by the Vegan Society as ‘a way of living which seeks to exclude, as far as is possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose.’ Since this is the strictest form of vegetarianism, a vegan or plant based diet not only excludes animal flesh but also any animal-derived ingredients, as well as dairy and eggs.

“These products include gelatin, carmine, pepsin, shellac, albumin, whey, casein, among others. Vegans consciously choose to avoid all animal by-products because they believe not only that this has the largest impact on their health and the environment but also because they seek to avoid all forms of animal exploitation and harm.

“Vegans may be categorized into different types:

  • Ethical Vegans are the most common and put their ethics first. They respect and care for animals and the environment. Ethical vegans do not consume any dairy product, whether it is animal milk or cheese made from animal milk. They also avoid eggs and honey, as well as the use of any product made from animal skin or parts.
  • Plant-Based Vegans follow diets based on plant foods only.
  • Raw-Food Vegans do not eat any animal by-product or anything cooked above the temperature of 115-degree Fahrenheit. It is believed that this causes food to lose its nutrients and enzymes.”

www.myhdiet.com/healthnews/science_of_her/what-is-the-difference-between-vegan-vegetarian

Were you able to figure out into which category you might fit?

The reality is that God wants each of us to be health-conscious and to preserve our bodies in the best condition we can that we may give glory to Him.

Most people are aware of the health-destroying foods that are available. May God give us the courage to choose the right and to live the sixth commandment, “Thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13). We must preserve our bodies in the best way we can. God says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee” (Hosea 4:6).

*Much counsel has been given in regard to the healthiest balanced diet—the vegan diet, consisting of fruit, grains, vegetables and nuts. However, the vegan lifestyle, as with many others, has ditches on either side which are easy to fall into. One is to eliminate all animal products including honey and leather. To eliminate the use of skins and furs from those people living in freezing climates would cause great hardship. The other ditch claims that soft drinks and potato chips are an acceptable vegan diet. God calls upon His people to be balanced and use common sense.

Restoring the Temple – Proper Education, Part III

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I have observed a great deficiency in so-called educated ladies. They may have graduated with honors, but are shamefully deficient in the practical duties of life. They are destitute of the qualifications necessary for the proper regulation and happiness of the family. They may talk of woman’s elevated sphere and of her rights, while they themselves sink far below the true sphere of woman. God designed that women should become intelligent in the most essential duties of life. . . . It is the right of every daughter of Eve in our land to be thoroughly educated in household duties, having a knowledge of all the branches of practical life in domestic labor. She may preside in her family as queen in her domain, her household being her kingdom. . . . It is woman’s right to be qualified to direct the expanding minds of her children. It is her right to have an understanding of her own and her children’s organisms, that she may know how to treat her children, and save them from the poisons of doctors’ drugs. She may adore her gracious Creator as she contemplates how beautifully and simply nature carries on her work when she is not interfered with. She may be an intelligent nurse and physician of her own dear children . . . . It is woman’s right to know how to regulate her own habits, and those of her children, in diet and dress, in exercise and in domestic duties, and employment in the open air in relation to life and health.

Of all the living organisms that God has created, none rank in the scale of value with him anywhere near to man. And if human beings would become intelligent in regard to their own bodies, and understand their relation to life and health, and regulate their habits of eating, of dressing, of working and resting, their lives would be prolonged in health and happiness. Many mothers do not take half the interest in the constitutional wants of their children that the intelligent farmer shows to the brutes around him. It is woman’s right to look after the interest of her husband, to have a care for his wardrobe, and to seek to make him happy. It is her right to improve her mind and manners, to be social, cheerful, and happy, shedding sunshine in her family, and making it a little heaven. And she may have an interest for more than “me and mine.” She should consider that society has claims upon her.

The false education of young ladies leads them to regard uselessness, frivolity, and helplessness, as desirable attainments. Many parents give their daughters the advantages of literary attainments, support them in amusement, and relieve them from the burdens of domestic care. They give them an abundance of time and nothing to occupy it. Flattery and the artificial, without an object or aim—nothing substantial to satisfy the mind and strengthen principle—leave empty nothingness.

I copy the following appropriate paragraph from “The American Woman’s Home,” by C. E. Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe:

“Our land is now full of motorpathic institutions, to which women are sent at a great expense to have hired operators stretch and exercise their inactive muscles. They lie for hours to have their feet twigged, their arms flexed, and all the different muscles of the body worked for them, because they are so flaccid and torpid that the powers of life do not go on. Would it not be quite as cheerful, and a less expensive process, if young girls from early life developed the muscles in sweeping, dusting, starching, ironing, and all the multiplied domestic processes which our grandmothers knew of? A woman who did all these, and diversified the intervals with spinning on the great and little wheel, did not need the gymnastics of Dio Lewis, or the Swedish movement cure, which really are a necessity now. Does it not seem poor economy to pay servants for letting our muscles grow feeble, and then to pay operators to exercise them for us? I will venture to say that our grandmothers went over, in a week, every movement that any gymnast has invented, and went over them with some productive purpose, too.”

There are many popularly-educated women who have no love for domestic labor because they have cherished thoughts that their education placed them above household employment. Young women should be educated for their important life-work with the advantages of the highest moral and physical strength, and should receive the purest cultivation.

God placed Adam and Eve in the garden to labor. They were both to unite their efforts in dressing and keeping the garden. If young women waste their time in uselessness, they are meeting with great loss. Their time should be employed in becoming rich in good works, and in this manner they are indeed cultivating the intellect for a purpose. The most essential education for youth is a knowledge of the branches of labor important for practical life.

“The American Woman’s Home” continues: “There has been a great deal of crude, disagreeable talk in these conventions, and too great tendency of the age to make the education of woman anti-domestic. It seems as if the world never could advance, except like ships under a headwind, tacking and going too far, now in this direction, and now in the opposite. Our common-school systems now reject sewing from the education of girls, which very properly used to occupy many hours daily in school a generation ago. The daughters of laborers and artisans are put through algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and the higher mathematics, to the entire neglect of that learning which belongs distinctively to women. A girl often cannot keep pace with her class if she gives any time to domestic matters; and accordingly she is excused from them all during the whole term of her education. As the result, the young women in some of our country towns are, in mental culture, much in advance of the males of the same household; but with this comes a physical delicacy, the result of an exclusive use of the brain and a neglect of the muscular system, with great inefficiency in practical, domestic duties. The race of strong, hardy, cheerful girls, that used to grow up in country places, and made the bright, neat, New England kitchens of olden times—the girls that could wash, iron, bake, . . . embroider, draw, paint, and read innumerable books—this race of women, pride of olden time, is daily lessening; and in their stead come the fragile, easily-fatigued, languid girls of a modern age, drilled in book learning, ignorant of common things. The great danger of all this, and of the evils that come from it, is, that society, by-and-by, will turn as blindly against female intellectual culture as it now advocates it, and having worked disproportionately one way, will work disproportionately in the opposite direction.”

The Health Reformer, June 1, 1873.

Restoring the Temple – Indulgence of Appetite

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Christ paid a dear price for man’s redemption. In the wilderness of temptation He suffered the keenest pangs of hunger; and while He was emaciated with fasting, Satan was at hand with his manifold temptations to assail the Son of God, to take advantage of His weakness and overcome Him, and thus thwart the plan of salvation. But Christ was steadfast. He overcame in behalf of the race, that He might rescue them from the degradation of the Fall. Christ’s experience is for our benefit. His example in overcoming appetite points out the way for those who would be His followers and finally sit with Him on His throne.

Christ suffered hunger in the fullest sense. Mankind generally have all that is needful to sustain life. And yet, like our first parents, they desire that which God would withhold because it is not best for them. Christ suffered hunger for necessary food and resisted the temptation of Satan upon the point of appetite. Indulgence of intemperate appetite creates in fallen man unnatural desires for the things which will eventually prove his ruin.

Degradation

Man came from the hand of God perfect in every faculty of mind and body; in perfect soundness, therefore in perfect health. It took more than two thousand years of indulgence of appetite and lustful passions to create such a state of things in the human organism as would lessen vital force. Through successive generations the tendency was more swiftly downward. Indulgence of appetite and passion combined led to excess and violence; debauchery and abominations of every kind weakened the energies and brought upon the race diseases of every type, until the vigor and glory of the first generations passed away, and, in the third generation from Adam, man began to show signs of decay. Successive generations after the Flood degenerated more rapidly.

Appetite and Passion

All this weight of woe and accumulated suffering can be traced to the indulgence of appetite and passion. Luxurious living and the use of wine corrupt the blood, inflame the passions, and produce diseases of every kind. But the evil does not end here. Parents leave maladies as a legacy to their children. As a rule, every intemperate man who rears children transmits his inclinations and evil tendencies to his offspring; he gives them disease from his own inflamed and corrupted blood. Licentiousness, disease, and imbecility are transmitted as an inheritance of woe from father to son and from generation to generation, and this brings anguish and suffering into the world, and is no less than a repetition of the fall of man.

Transgression of Rules

A continual transgression of nature’s laws is a continual transgression of the law of God. The present weight of suffering and anguish which we see everywhere, the present deformity, decrepitude, disease, and imbecility now flooding the world, make it, in comparison to what it might be and what God designed it should be, a lazar house; and the present generation are feeble in mental, moral, and physical power. All this misery has accumulated from generation to generation because fallen man will break the law of God. Sins of the greatest magnitude are committed through the indulgence of perverted appetite.

Stimulants

The taste created for the disgusting, filthy poison, tobacco, leads to the desire for stronger stimulants; as liquor, which is taken on one plea or another for some imaginary infirmity or to prevent some possible disease. Thus an unnatural appetite is created for these hurtful and exciting stimulants; and this appetite has strengthened until the increase of intemperance in this generation is alarming. Beverage-loving, liquor-drinking men may be seen everywhere. Their intellect is enfeebled, their moral powers are weakened, their sensibilities are benumbed, and the claims of God and heaven are not realized, eternal things are not appreciated. The Bible declares that no drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of God.

Tobacco and liquor stupefy and defile the user. But the evil does not stop here. He transmits irritable tempers, polluted blood, enfeebled intellects, and weak morals to his children, and renders himself accountable for all the evil results that his wrong and dissipated course of life brings upon his family and the community. The race is groaning under a weight of accumulated woe, because of the sins of former generations. And yet with scarcely a thought or care, men and women of the present generation indulge intemperance by surfeiting and drunkenness, and thereby leave, as a legacy for the next generation, disease, enfeebled intellects, and polluted morals.

Selfishness

Intemperance of any kind is the worst sort of selfishness. Those who truly fear God and keep His commandments look upon these things in the light of reason and religion. How can any man or woman keep the law of God, which requires man to love his neighbor as himself, and indulge intemperate appetite, which benumbs the brain, weakens the intellect, and fills the body with disease? Intemperance inflames the passions and gives loose rein to lust. And reason and conscience are blinded by the lower passions. Testimonies, vol. 4, 29–31.

Health – A Little Dirt Won’t Hurt

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As a little girl, I always liked to share. I would prepare in the back yard the most awesome meals and for dessert—pies! For some reason many people did not want to participate but my little brother was always very happy to join me. I would present mud patties and my dessert of mud-pies sprinkled with grass, flowers and any other pretties found in the dirt. I was just so proud! We would enjoy it until, suddenly, mama would come barreling out of the house with a dish rag and water and her big finger to try to clean all of that good food out of our mouths. I just couldn’t understand why she would do that! Oh, if Mama could read the latest headline: “Dirtying up our Diets,” she might have appreciated my mud pies!

Here are a few excerpts to show why a few little mud-pies won’t hurt.

“Increasing evidence suggests that the alarming rise in allergic and autoimmune disorders during the past few decades is at least partly attributable to our lack of exposure to microorganisms that once covered our food and us. …

“In a world of hand sanitizer and wet wipes, we can scarcely imagine the preindustrial lifestyle that resulted in the daily intake of trillions of helpful organisms. For nearly all of human history, this began with maternal transmission of beneficial microbes during passage through the birth canal — mother to child. However, the alarming increase in the rate of Caesarean section births means a potential loss of microbiota from one generation to the next. And for most of us in the industrialized world, the microbial cleansing continues throughout life. Nature’s dirt floor has been replaced by tile; our once soiled and sooted bodies and clothes are cleaned almost daily; our muddy water is filtered and treated; our rotting and fermenting food has been chilled; and the cowshed has been neatly tucked out of sight. While these improvements in hygiene and sanitation deserve applause, they have inadvertently given rise to a set of truly human-made diseases.

“While comforting to the germ-phobic public, the too-shiny produce and triple-washed and bagged leafy greens in our local grocery aisle are hardly recognized by our immune system as food. The immune system is essentially a sensory mechanism for recognizing microbial challenges from the environment. Just as your tongue and nose are used to sense suitability for consumption, your immune system has receptors for sampling the environment, rigorous mechanisms for dealing with friend or foe, and a memory. Your immune system even has the capacity to learn.

“For all of human history, this learning was driven by our near-continuous exposure from birth and throughout life to organisms as diverse as mycobacteria from soil and food; helminth, or worm parasites, from just about everywhere you turned; and daily recognition and challenges from our very own bacteria. Our ability to regulate our allergic and inflammatory responses to these co-evolved companions is further compromised by imbalances in the gut microbiota from overzealous use of antibiotics (especially in early childhood) and modern dietary choices.

“The suggestion that we embrace some ‘old friends’ does not immediately imply that we are inviting more food-borne illness — quite the contrary. Setting aside for the moment the fact that we have the safest food supply in human history, the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and food processing plants and farmers continue to take the blame for the tainted food that makes us ill, while our own all-American sick gut may deserve some blame as well. …

“As we move deeper into a ‘postmodern’ era of squeaky-clean food and hand sanitizers at every turn, we should probably hug our local farmers’ markets a little tighter. They may represent our only connection with some ‘old friends’ we cannot afford to ignore.” Excerpts from: www.nytimes.com/2012/06/21/opinion/lets-add-a-little-dirt-to-our-diet.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

In his article, “Why I Don’t Use Hand Sanitizers,” Al Sears, M.D. states: “I went out to my favorite restaurant with my friend. Instead of washing her hands, she rubbed hand sanitizer on while we were waiting for our food. Then she handed it to me. But I told her I wasn’t touching the stuff.

“The truth is, hand sanitizers don’t do what they’re intended to do. A new University of Virginia study tested hand sanitizers on two groups of people. One used hand sanitizers every three hours for 10 weeks. The other group just went about their daily lives, as usual. The result? There was no difference in the viruses on the hands of the participants in the two groups. And that’s a good thing. Because being exposed to germs can help prevent a ton of health problems. …

“Bottom line: Not only do you not need hand sanitizers to fight off germs, it’s a very bad idea to use them. What you really need to do is be exposed to bacteria and build a stronger immune system. … eat natural foods. They’re the best source for the vitamins and nutrients you need to prevent colds. Load up on immune-boosting foods like red and pinto beans, blueberries, cranberries, artichokes, raspberries, strawberries, apples, plums, pecans, oranges, and green leafy veggies. These foods will help you fight off infections and protect your cells from damage. … you can boost your immunity by eating garlic. It’s one of nature’s best antibiotics. And unlike antibiotics, it doesn’t kill off the good bacteria in your gut while fighting off the bad stuff. All you need are a few cloves a day to wipe out germs. You even can create your own natural “V8” by blending some tomatoes, sea salt, garlic cloves and your favorite mix of veggies.” https://alsearsmd.com/2010/10/why-i-dont-use-hand-sanitizers/

Oh, if mama could understand that my mud pies were just fine!

Restoring the Temple – Is Milk Necessary? Part I

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In much of Westernized society, the concept that milk (cow’s milk) is necessary for strong bones is widespread. From early in life, children are encouraged to drink their milk by well-meaning parents who have been taught that milk is the ideal food from which to obtain calcium for growing and maintaining healthy bones and teeth. As a child grows into a teenager, he or she is further taught that milk is necessary if a young person wants to grow tall and excel in sports or any other activity of choice. Then, in adulthood, this person is encouraged to continue drinking milk to make sure of maintaining those strong bones, and, especially if that person is a female, she is told that she must drink milk in order to avoid getting osteoporosis later in life.

However, is all of this true? Is milk the miracle food for bones? In this article we will look at these issues, as well as take a much broader view of the subject of bone health.

“Got Milk?”

The National Milk Mustache “Got Milk?” campaign and website target young people, and the public in general, in an effort to convince them that milk is absolutely necessary for a healthy diet. Actors and sports stars are shown with milk mustaches along with their comments about how important milk is to them and their performance. Nutritional information is provided, particularly about calcium, and it is stated that three glasses of any kind of milk will give your body the calcium it needs. The website even states that milk is a better choice compared to soda pop, sports drinks, and many juices.(1)

However, since this campaign is “funded by America’s milk processors” and they believe that “America finds itself in a calcium crisis today because consumers aren’t drinking enough milk,”(1) it may be wise to look to some other potentially less biased sources of information that do not have something to gain through increased sales of milk.

Studies are mixed as to whether or not dairy supports bone health and will prevent osteoporosis. In one study which measured the BMD (bone mineral density) of 745 men and women more than 60 years old, higher dairy product consumption was associated with greater hip BMD in the men, but not in the women. However, calcium supplementation protected both men and women from bone loss in those whose dairy intake was low.(2) In a review of 57 studies of the effects of dairy foods on bone health, 53 percent were not significant, 42 percent were favorable, and 5 percent were unfavorable. Of 21 stronger-evidence studies, 57 percent were not significant, 29 percent were favorable, and 14 percent were unfavorable.(3)

The Big Picture

The status of bone health is not limited to how much dairy a person consumes. Generally, the underlying premise that increased milk consumption will strengthen bones is based upon the fact that bones contain a high percentage of calcium (the biggest reservoir of calcium in the body), and that the more calcium you consume the more likely your bones will be strong. And since milk contains fairly large amounts of calcium, all you need to do is to drink your milk, and your bones will be fine. However, this is a very narrow view of bone health.

There are a variety of other factors that influence bone health, and when these are taken into consideration, milk is no longer the miracle food for bones and, at best, is unessential and, at worse, a detriment to bone health. In addition to calcium, bone formation is also dependent upon vitamin D, vitamin C, vitamin K, and phosphorus. Other factors include increasing calcium absorption, minimizing calcium loss from the bones, minimizing calcium loss from the body, and promoting bone strength through other healthy means.(4)

Milk and dairy products are the best known sources of calcium, but they are not the only foods that contain good amounts of calcium. Other sources of calcium are green and leafy vegetables, such as broccoli, kale, mustard greens, and turnip greens, sesame seeds, almonds, soymilk, calcium-set tofu, and beans, such as pinto beans, black-eyed peas, and navy beans.

Many people think that just because they eat or drink a food with lots of calcium that all of the calcium ingested will contribute to strong bones. However, this is not the case. All sources of calcium have various calcium absorption percentage rates. For instance, the calcium absorption rate for milk is about 32 percent. That means that if you drink one cup of 2 percent milk with 297 mg. of calcium, only about 95 mg. of calcium is actually absorbed into your bloodstream for use in your bones. However, the absorption rate for many green vegetables is 50 percent or even more, as is the case with broccoli at almost 53 percent and mustard greens at almost 58 percent.(5) Along with these plant foods come cancer fighting phytochemicals and fiber; they are low in hypertensive sodium and artery clogging saturated fat, and have no heart disease promoting cholesterol. Milk does not have all of these benefits!

Another important consideration is that as calcium consumption increases, calcium absorption decreases. Thus, just throwing more calcium at your body does not automatically mean stronger bones. Reducing calcium loss from the bones and ultimately from the body is very important. Without minimizing calcium loss, merely consuming more calcium is like trying to fill a bucket with water that has a hole leaking out a similar amount of water to the amount being poured in.

A high intake of acid-forming foods, high intake of sodium, and low intake of potassium all contribute to calcium loss from the bones and the body. Acid-forming foods increase the acid load in the body, and the body responds by releasing calcium, which is alkaline and will neutralize the acid, from the bones. The foods that increase the acid load most significantly are all meats, fish, cheese, and eggs. These items are also low in calcium, so the resulting calcium balance is much lower, meaning that there is less calcium in the body than before these foods were eaten. Milk also increases the acid load, but since it also supplies calcium, the resulting negative calcium balance in the body is not so great. Some grains, particularly refined grains, are also acid-forming, but not as much as animal foods. However, fruits and vegetables positively affect the body’s calcium balance and minimize calcium losses. Thus, even though plant foods appear on nutritional charts to have less calcium per serving, the calcium that is consumed from them is much more effective in maintaining positive calcium levels in the body, and the net result is positive instead of negative. Again, milk is not able to out-perform plant foods for bone health.(6)

References:

1. MilkPEP (Milk Processor Education Program). Internet: http://www.whymilk.com (accessed February 20, 2005).

2. L. D. McCabe, B. R. Martin, G. P. McCabe, C. C. Johnston, C. M. Weaver, M. Peacock. “Dairy intakes affect bone density in the elderly.” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2004 October; 80(4):1066–1074.

3. R. L. Weinsier, C. L. Krumdieck. “Dairy foods and bone health: examination of the evidence.” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2001 March; 73(3):660–661.

4. Stephen Walsh. “Diet and bone health.” A Vegan Society briefing paper. January 2002. Internet: http://www.vegsource.com/articles/walsh_diet_bone.htm (accessed February 20, 2005).

5. Brie Turner-McGrievy. “Sources of calcium and calcium balance.” Vegetarian Nutrition. Internet: http://webct.ua.edu/SCRIPT/1554820051/scripts/serve_home (accessed February 20, 2005).

6. S. A. New. Nutrition New. Nutrition Society Medal lecture. “The role of the skeleton in acid-base homeostasis.” Proceedings of the Nutrition Society. 2002 May; 61(2):151–164.

To be continued . . .

Diane Herbert is a naturopath and lifestyle consultant. She received training from the NAD Lifestyle Consultant program, Thomas Edison State College, Clayton College of Natural Healing, and Bastyr University. Diane teaches health classes at the Gilead Institute located in Norcross, Georgia, gives health presentations, and contributes to the Institute’s literature and health flyer series. She may be contacted by e-mail at: gilead.net@usa.net.

Restoring the Temple – Is Milk Necessary? Pt. II

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Sodium also increases calcium excretion through the kidneys. Studies show that when sodium is reduced from the high levels common in some diets, the effect on bone density is similar to consuming approximately 890 mg. of calcium. A plant-based diet focusing on whole grains and unrefined foods has a significantly lower amount of sodium, since it is estimated that approximately 75 percent of the average salt intake is due to what was added during processing and manufacturing. Many dairy products and most processed meats are very high in sodium.(7)

Because of the reduced calcium excretion rates accompanying a diet low in animal protein and sodium, it is easy to understand why the World Health Organization recommends only 400–600 mg. of calcium per day. Most of the rest of the world does not eat the large quantities of animal protein and salt that people eat in Westernized countries.

Also important for bone formation is vitamin D. Vitamin D stimulates calcium absorption and bone formation, and decreases calcium excretion. Vitamin D is formed in our skin upon exposure to sunlight. Sufficient sunlight can satisfy our vitamin D requirements, and this is the best way to get vitamin D in the body. While vitamin D may be found in some fish and eggs or is added to milk, animal protein inhibits the body from being able to use it, due to the acid-forming nature of these foods. Studies show that season and latitude (how far north or south a person lives) affect vitamin D levels in the body. Levels were higher in the summer and higher the farther south a person lived. It is estimated that 10 to 15 minutes of sun exposure on the face and hands three times per week provide enough vitamin D for an adult, with the elderly requiring longer exposure and dark-skinned people needing as much as six times the exposure. It is important that a person takes advantage of the sun in the summer, as studies show that vitamin D levels during the following winter are determined by the previous summer’s sun exposure.(8)

Vitamin K, which is found in large quantities in green leafy vegetables, has been shown to significantly reduce calcium excretion in postmenopausal women, especially those not on hormone replacement therapy. This vitamin apparently works synergistically with calcium and vitamin D in their beneficial effects on bone health. Vitamin C, which is found in abundance in fruits and vegetables, especially peppers, broccoli, tomatoes, and oranges, is important for the formation of the collagen framework in the bones. Other important minerals are potassium and magnesium, which are found in good quantities in plant foods. Phosphorus is also needed for bone formation, but not too much of it; otherwise it will have a negative effect. Plant foods, especially fruits and vegetables, contain appropriate levels of phosphorus for good calcium absorption, while liver, chicken, beef, pork, and fish contain levels of phosphorus that hinder calcium absorption. Thus we continue to see that eating our fresh fruits and vegetables is very important for healthy bones.(4, 9, 10) Milk is not able to supply all of these important nutrients for bones at optimal levels.

Other Considerations for Building Strong Bones

Exercise is very important for strong bones. It is the concept of “If you don’t use it, you lose it.” If you do not give your bones a workout through physical exercise, they are not stimulated to build up bone density. In fact, the level of physical activity engaged in while a teenager can have significant beneficial effects on bone density later in life. In one study of women 45 years and older, those who exercised four or more times per week as teenagers were only a quarter as likely to have a hip fracture compared to those who exercised once a week or not at all.(11)

Some studies have suggested that estrogen helps maintain a positive calcium balance. However, in his clinical work, the late Dr. John Lee discovered that it is the addition of natural progesterone, along with a good diet and exercise, which actually increases BMD. His tests showed that women with the lowest bone densities experienced the greatest increase of bone densities when they used his program of natural progesterone, good diet, and exercise, even though some had already lost as much as five inches in height due to osteoporosis. Thus, it appears that estrogen only temporarily retards bone loss, but natural progesterone administered transdermally actually reverses bone loss.(12)

Most people do not see water as an essential nutrient; however, Dr. F. Batmanghelidj sees it as a preventative for many chronic problems, including osteoporosis. He believes that chronic dehydration, brought about by simply not drinking enough water and by the use of diuretics, such as coffee and other caffeine containing foods and beverages, is a major cause of this disease. The solution is to daily drink one-half ounce of water for every pound of body weight.(13) Considering the large quantities of caffeine that are consumed in the United States (which should be eliminated for a bone healthy lifestyle anyway) and insufficient water intake by most people, he may really be on to something very important.

Other important considerations for building strong bones include Omega-3 fatty acids (1–2 teaspoons of flaxseed oil daily) in the diet, as well as good sources of beta-carotene, which include carrots, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, dark green leafy vegetables, and red peppers. Proanthocyanidins and anthocyanidins, found in deep red-blue berries such as blackberries, blueberries, cherries, and raspberries, have the ability to stabilize the collagen matrix.(14) Inclusion of these items in the diet or supplementing with grapeseed extract may be an important aspect of an osteoporosis prevention program. MSM supplementation may also hold promise for supporting the connective tissue matrix of bones. While animal protein has a negative effect on calcium balance, particularly due to the increased acid load, studies do show that a sufficient (but not excessive) intake of protein is necessary for bone health. Again, plant sources of protein best suit this need.(4) Of course, smoking and alcohol should be eliminated, as these items also induce a negative calcium balance.

Conclusion

The issue of healthy bones is a complex one that includes a variety of diet and lifestyle factors. The assertion that milk is the solution to the osteoporosis and bone health problem ignores all the other important aspects of bone health except calcium. It is important to realize that milk is not the only food containing calcium, and instead there are other dietary sources from which the calcium is better utilized by the body. These sources are plant based, with fruits and vegetables needing to be emphasized. Legumes are also important, as they provide both calcium and protein. Animal foods need to be eliminated because of the acid load they bring to the body, along with the problems of saturated fats, cholesterol, and lack of fiber.

A review of studies dealing with bone health shows that vegetarians have a normal bone mass. Researchers would like to determine which aspects of a vegetarian diet contribute to bone health.(15) However, it may be concluded in the end that it is the synergistic effects of a good plant based diet along with healthy lifestyle factors. Certainly, a bone healthy program should include many, if not all, of the factors discussed above.

References (Continued):

  1. Stephen Walsh. “Diet and bone health.” A Vegan Society briefing paper. January 2002. Internet: http://www.vegsource.com/articles/walsh_diet_bone.htm (accessed February 20, 2005).
  2. V. Messina, R. Mangels, M. Messina. The Dietitian’s Guide to Vegetarian Diets. Sudbury, Massachusetts: Jones and Bartlett. 2004:108, 109
  3. Ibid.: 106, 107, 183–186.
  4. S. A. New. “Intake of fruit and vegetables: implications for bone health.” Proceedings of the Nutrition Society. 2003 November; 62(4):889–899.
  5. John Robbins. Diet For a New America. Walpole, New Hampshire: Stillpoint. 1987:196–198.
  6. J. W. Nieves, J. A. Grisso, J. L. Kelsey. “A case-control study of hip fracture: evaluation of selected dietary variables and teenage physical activity.” Osteoporosis Institute. 1992: 2:122–127.
  7. John R. Lee. What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Menopause. New York: Warner Books. 1996: 164–168.
  8. F. Batmanghelidj. Water for Health, for Healing, for Life. New York: Warner Books. 2003: 213–218
  9. M. Murry and J. Pizzorno. Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine. Rocklin, California: Prima Publishing. 1991:461.
  10. S. A. New. “Do vegetarians have a normal bone mass?” Osteoporosis Intstitute. 2004 September; 15(9):679–688. E-publication, 2004 July 16.

Diane Herbert is a naturopath and lifestyle consultant. She received training from the NAD Lifestyle Consultant program, Thomas Edison State College, Clayton College of Natural Healing, and Bastyr University. Diane teaches health classes at the Gilead Institute located in Norcross, Georgia, gives health presentations, and contributes to the Institute’s literature and health flyer series. She may be contacted by e-mail at: gilead.net@usa.net.

Restoring the Temple – God’s Original Diet

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When God created the Garden of Eden with all the beautiful plants, shrubs, trees, birds, animals, fish, and man, He proclaimed that “[it was] very good.” Genesis 1:31. Everything, including man, was in its perfect state; and every living thing was doing exactly what it was originally designed to do. This included the diet of each creature.

Original Diet

To man, “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. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein [there is] life, [I have given] every green herb for meat: and it was so.” Genesis 1:29, 30.

This constituted our original diet, which God gave us when we were in a perfect environment. Let us understand what it was. “Behold, I have given you every herb [a plant without a strong woody stem or trunk] bearing seed” is generally understood to mean grains (wheat, oats, corn, rice, rye, barley, millet, etc.), seeds (sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame, flax, etc.), legumes (soybeans, kidney beans, lentils, split peas, peanuts, etc.), and other foods containing seed, some of which we today call vegetables (eggplants, bell peppers, pumpkins, cucumbers, tomatoes, okra, squashes, melons, etc.). “ . . . and every tree [plant with a strong woody stem such as a shrub, bush, or tree], in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed.” This is generally understood to mean fruits (oranges, lemons, cranberries, apples, pears, mangos, strawberries, dates, cherries, blueberries, bananas, coconuts, avocados, olives, etc.), and nuts (almonds, pecans, cashews, walnuts, chestnuts, pine nuts, brazil, etc.). The green plants of the field were the food for the animals and birds.

Appointed Diet

After Adam and Eve sinned, God told them, “Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb [plants] of the field.” Genesis 3:18. Now God instructed man to also eat of the plants of the field, which originally were given for the animals to eat. This is generally understood to mean leafy, flower, and root vegetables (lettuce, spinach, parsley, fennel, beets, Brussels sprouts, watercress, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, turnips, potatoes, garlic, onions, etc.). This was very wise on God’s part, because many of the vegetables contain medicinal properties that are necessary to sustain us in a sinful, polluted world. This new diet was God’s appointed diet for man.

Temporary Diet

Many years later God destroyed all living things from the face of the earth by the Flood, except the occupants of the ark. When Noah and his family emerged from the ark, there were no trees, bushes, greenery, or plants of any kind available for food. It was going to take a little while before they could get gardens planted and harvested and trees ready to bear. So God gave them permission to eat the flesh of animals and to use their products. God said, “Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.” Genesis 9:3. God gave them permission to use meat temporarily or as a temporary diet because of insufficient plant food available immediately after the Flood. Shortly after man began eating meat, his lifespan dropped from almost 1,000 years to less than 100 years.

During the time of the Israelites’ wandering in the wilderness, God endeavored to start weaning His people from flesh and animal products. He gave them instructions as to which animals to eat and which ones not to eat; He told them “to make a difference between the unclean and the clean, and between the beast that may be eaten and the beast that may not be eaten.” Leviticus 11:47. However, when God gave the Israelites only manna to eat, they were not too happy. Instead, they craved the fleshpots of Egypt. After much murmuring and complaining, they were given quails to eat, but as a result many of them died.

Restitution

The Bible tells us of restitution or restoration: “ . . . the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.” Acts. 3:21. In other words, there will be a time of restoration among God’s people, of getting back to the way God appointed things to be. Of course, this includes diet. During the reign of sin here on earth, God appointed our diet to consist of plant foods: grains, fruits, nuts, and vegetables. Flesh and animal products were given because of a temporary need when there was not enough plant food to sustain Noah and his family after the Flood. However, now that need does not exist, and certainly we are approaching the times of restitution. Thus, it is time that we gradually make the transition back to God’s appointed diet.

In God’s kingdom, there will be no death, nothing will eat any other creature, and humans will not kill animals and eat their flesh or use their products that were intended for the nourishment of their young. Isaiah describes that wonderful time: “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” Isaiah 11:6–9

Let us not be like the ancient Israelites who complained and murmured against God when He tried to get them away from animal products. Let us instead focus on the exciting time ahead of us in the times of restitution, and get ready for those times by training our taste buds to enjoy the food God intended us to eat: first, the appointed diet while we are yet in this sinful world and, eventually, God’s original diet when we are finally fully restored.

If you would like more information on how to make a transition to God’s appointed diet, or on how to live a healthy lifestyle, please contact us at the following address or telephone number:

The Gilead Institute of America
6000 Live Oak Parkway, Suite 114
Norcross, Georgia 30093
Phone: 770-270-1087
Web site: www.gileadinstitute.org

Diane Herbert is a naturopath and lifestyle consultant. She received training from the NAD Lifestyle Consultant program, Thomas Edison State College, Clayton College of Natural Healing, and Bastyr University. Diane teaches health classes at the Gilead Institute located in Norcross, Georgia, gives health presentations, and contributes to the Institute’s literature and health flyer series. She may be contacted by e-mail at: gilead.net@usa.net.

 

Health – 100 Years ahead of her time

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It was early in the morning at Elmshaven, Ellen White’s residence in northern California. As usual, she was up before sunrise, writing and working on her manuscripts. Although she was seventy-seven years of age, her pen was still busy sending messages and writing books and articles, just as she had been shown. This year, 1905, climaxing more than forty years as a popular speaker on health and temperance subjects, Mrs. White was putting the final details into her monument on health. Called The Ministry of Healing, this 500-page book was destined to reach around the world with translations into several major languages, a medical and health book that would never really go out-of-date.

The early experiences of Ellen White and her family in the use of natural remedies were born of necessity. Many common infectious diseases were taking their toll. Persons in the prime of life succumbed to what today would be called “minor illnesses.” Vaccinations were not yet available. Antibiotics were decades in the future. Antisepsis and skilled hospital care were in their infancy. And so diphtheria, pneumonia, typhoid, tuberculosis, and many other devastating diseases ripped into families, snuffing out lives of babies and children, as well as of parents.

It was fortunate for the struggling group of pioneer Seventh-day Adventists that light was given in regard to healthful living. One of Ellen White’s earliest published health series comprised six articles, one for each of a series of pamphlets compiled from various writers and called How to Live. In light of today’s modern science, it is amazing how accurate each observation was, down to minute clinical details. In that Victorian age, antedating modern scientific discoveries, the use of toxic drugs was widespread. Physicians understood little of physiology, let alone nutrition. Their scientific training was often confined to a few weeks of formal study, plus a short apprenticeship. A popular misconception prevailed that their drugs cured disease.

From this unusually gifted woman, writing in the prime of motherhood and a happy marriage, there came as a medical bombshell the words, “Drugs never cure disease. They only change the form and location. Nature alone is the effectual restorer, and how much better could she perform her task if left to herself.” Selected Messages, Book 2, 451. Her statement challenged the entire medical profession to come up with better answers. Fortunately, some solutions were found.

In upstate New York, even before the Civil War, Dr. James C. Jackson was receiving publicity for his unusual cures in “Our Home on the Hillside.” One of the leading water-cure institutions in America, this center at Dansville, New York, developed hydrotherapy (the treatment of disease by the external use of water) to a science, and in combination with natural foods and rest, achieved amazing results. Patients from all over the East came in search of health and restoration. Shortly after the close of the Civil War, Seventh-day Adventists would have their own institution, located in Battle Creek, Michigan. Originally the “Western Health Reform Institute,” the name was changed after ten years to the “Battle Creek Sanitarium.” Under Dr. John Harvey Kellogg’s dynamic and enthusiastic leadership, it became the pacesetter of the world in hydrotherapy and natural healing.

But it is to Ellen White that this natural-healing movement is primarily indebted for insights on health with a balance seldom manifested by fledgling idealists. Drugs such as mercury, calomel, opium, and nux vomica (the source of strychnine) were commonly used for all manner of diseases. It was thought that the hand of “Providence” and “Divine Grace” permitted the sufferer to go finally to his rest. But in Ellen White’s articles the curtain was pulled aside, and the finger of guilt clearly pointed to such toxic and destructive drugs as the culprit in too many premature deaths.

Charcoal

Then there was her experience with charcoal. On one occasion powdered charcoal was put into water and given to a man sick with dysentery. Upon drinking this mixture, the patient improved within a half hour. Poultices of powdered charcoal mixed with flaxseed were successfully used on painful swellings, bruises and boils. Writing to Dr. Kellogg, Ellen White shared this advice: “One of the most beneficial remedies is pulverized charcoal, placed in a bag and used in fomentations. This is a most successful remedy. If wet with smartweed, boiled, it is still better.” [Smartweed is a summertime plant commonly found in open fields. It induces dilation of blood capillaries in the skin and makes the treatment even more effective.] Selected Messages, Book 2, 294. Also, “The most severe inflammation of the eyes will be relieved by a poultice of charcoal, put in a bag, and dipped in hot or cold water, as will best suit the case. This works like a charm.” The Place of Herbs in Rational Therapy, 144. And with a bit of humor, always understanding as to the prejudices of her audience, she added, “I will expect you will laugh at this; but if I could give this remedy some outlandish name that no one knew but myself, it would have greater influence.” Ibid.

The list of simple remedies used by Ellen White goes on and on. We cite them only to observe that these remedies, though a legacy from a former generation, are being rediscovered by medical science today. Emergency rooms a decade ago were stocked with the “universal antidote” for the treatment of poisoning. Now all contain activated charcoal.

Balanced Counsels

In her emphasis on the simple, readily available remedies Ellen White was not against the progress in scientific medicine. On one occasion she even wrote to Dr. D. H. Kress, “There is one thing that has saved life—an infusion of blood from one person to another; but this would be difficult and perhaps impossible for you to do. I merely suggest it.” Selected Messages, Book 2, 303. How interesting to find such a modern lifesaving measure suggested to a physician even before blood typing and crossmatching had been conceived!

Ellen White also took some X-ray treatments for a skin cancer and was grateful for the successful results. However, the therapeutic use of radiation was still in its infancy and she cautioned physicians to be careful about X-rays, for she had been shown their dangers.

The climax of Ellen White’s counsels on healthful living, mentioned earlier, was The Ministry of Healing published in 1905.

“The only hope of better things is in the education of the people in right principles. Let physicians teach the people that restorative power is not in drugs, but in nature. Disease is an effort of nature to free the system from conditions that result from a violation of the laws of health. In case of sickness, the cause should be ascertained. Unhealthful conditions should be changed, wrong habits corrected. Then nature is to be assisted in her effort to expel impurities and to re-establish right conditions in the system.” The Ministry of Healing, 127.

Ellen White always offered “something better,” and some of the natural remedies recommended, often summarized as “nature’s eight doctors,” are as follows:

“Pure air, sunlight, abstemiousness, rest, exercise, proper diet, the use of water, trust in divine power—these are the true remedies. Every person should have a knowledge of nature’s remedial agencies and how to apply them. It is essential both to understand the principles involved in the treatment of the sick and to have a practical training that will enable one rightly to use this knowledge.

“The use of natural remedies requires an amount of care and effort that many are not willing to give. Nature’s process of healing and upbuilding is gradual, and to the impatient it seems slow. The surrender of hurtful indulgences requires sacrifice. But in the end it will be found that nature, untrammeled, does her work wisely and well. Those who persevere in obedience to her laws will reap the reward in health of body and health of mind.” Ibid. [Emphasis supplied.]

Perspective

In the last few years scientific research has demonstrated much value in each of these remedies. Physical exercise is definitely a lifesaver, with today’s trend toward moderation. Walking is not only safer, but even more healthful than marathons, triathlons, and competitive body building. And Ellen White’s concerns about the influence of coffee on the heart have been validated. Injurious addictive properties in opiates are unquestioned. Tobacco is under attack by major health organizations, even the AMA (American Medical Association). And smoking is even recognized as a potential cause of the sudden-infant-death syndrome. In 1864 Ellen White said:

“The infant lungs suffer, and become diseased by inhaling the atmosphere of a room poisoned by the tobacco-user’s tainted breath. Many infants are poisoned beyond remedy by sleeping in beds with their tobacco-using fathers. By inhaling the poisonous tobacco effluvia, which is thrown from the lungs and the pores of the skin, the system of the infant is filled with the poison. While it acts upon some as a slow poison, it affects the brain, heart, liver, and lungs, and they waste away and fade gradually, upon others it has a more direct influence, causing spasms, fits, paralysis, palsy, and sudden death.” Selected Messages, Book 2, 467.

Yes, second-hand smoke, side-stream smoke, even the body odor of smokeless tobacco users is hazardous to your health.

Scientists and public health authorities all vote for fresh air, adequate ventilation, vaccinations (see Selected Messages, Book 2, 303), and regular bathing—measures that were little understood or appreciated in her day, but which Ellen White was promoting a century ago.

Nutritionists agree that reducing the amount of fat in the diet, cutting down on salt, and using less sugar are sensible preventive measures against heart disease and cancer. Growing numbers of vegetarians are evidence of concern regarding inadequate animal-inspection standards and burgeoning diseases. What Ellen White has written is as current as tomorrow in the area of diet.

“Again and again I have been shown that God is trying to lead us back, step by step, to His original design—that man should subsist upon the natural products of the earth.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, 380.

“From the light God has given me, the prevalence of cancers and tumors is largely due to gross living on dead flesh.” Ibid., 388.

How could she consistently be on the right side of issues that were largely unknown, not only to her, but also to the medical and scientific community of her day? One of her oft-used expressions, “The Lord has shown me,” reveals the source of her remarkable insights.

For this reason her books are enthusiastically sought and read, inspiring health professionals and instructing everyone, while increasing our confidence in the spiritual gift possessed by this remarkable American woman. It is one thing to be a pioneer; it is another to be a pacesetter. In Ellen White you will find the best of both combined.

 

Recommendations to Reduce Cancer Risk
Summarized from American Cancer Society and National Academy of Science Publications Information provided more than a century ago through the writings of Ellen G. White
1. Eat plenty of high fiber foods such as whole grains, beans, fruits, and vegetables. 1896: “Cancers, tumors, and all inflammatory diseases are largely caused by meat eating. From the light God has given me, the prevalence of cancer and tumors is largely due to gross living on dead flesh.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, 388.
2. Eat plenty of foods that are high in vitamins A and C, such as dark green and deep yellow vegetables, citrus fruits, and yellow/orange fruits. 1896: “Both the blood and the fat of animals are consumed as a luxury. But the Lord gave special directions that these should not be eaten. Why? Because their use would make a diseased current of blood in the human system. The disregard for the Lord’s special directions has brought a variety of difficulties and diseases upon human beings.” Ibid., 393, 394.
3. Eat more cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and cauliflower). 1905: “Fine-flour bread is lacking in nutritive elements to be found in bread made from whole wheat.” The Ministry of Healing, 300.
4. Maintain proper body weight. 1890: “Fruits, grains, and vegetables, prepared in a simple way, free from spice and grease of all kinds, make, with milk or cream, the most healthful diet.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, 314.
5. Reduce dietary fat intake to no more than 30 per cent of total calories. 1871: “Alcohol and tobacco pollute the blood of men, and thousands of lives are yearly sacrificed to these poisons.” Temperance, 57.
6. Avoid salt-cured, smoked and nitrite-cured meats. 1905: “Tobacco is a slow, insidious, but most malignant poison.” The Ministry of Healing, 327.

*Later, Mrs White wrote: “Let the people be taught how to prepare food without the use of milk or butter. Tell them that the time will soon come when there will be no safety in using eggs, milk, cream, or butter, because disease in animals is increasing in proportion to the increase of wickedness among men.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, 346.
7. Don’t smoke.
8. Alcohol is not recommended, but if it is used, go easy on consumption, especially if you also smoke or chew tobacco.
9. Guard against overexposure to sunlight.

Health for Today, Hope International, 1991, Richard A. Hansen, M.D., 18–20.

 

Dr. Richard Hansen is a family medicine doctor in Creswell, Oregon. He received his medical degree from Loma Linda University School of Medicine and has been in practice for more than 20 years. He was formerly the Medical Director of Wildwood Lifestyle Center and Hospital.