Food – Cashew Rice Loaf

Inspiration Councils Against Stimulants and Narcotics

Here we are again, changing seasons. What a blessing! Well, you may not think so, but where did all the obnoxious bugs go? And the chiggers and the ticks? So there are blessings, depending on which part of the world you live in. We have been marooned in sunny California, since my husband’s accident last March, so we have tried to adjust, and it has not been too difficult. The above nuisances are not to be found here, and we are just two blocks from very excellent medical help in case of an emergency. So we just thank our Heavenly Father, daily, for one more day to praise Him for His wonderful management of our lives. For He knows the end from the beginning, which we definitely do not!

We are now going to study about stimulants and narcotics from God’s Word. “Under the head of stimulants and narcotics is classed a great variety of articles that, altogether used as food or drink, irritate the stomach, poison the blood, and excite the nerves. Their use is a positive evil. Men seek the excitement of stimulants, because, for the time, the results are agreeable. But there is always a reaction. The use of unnatural stimulants always tends to excess, and it is an active agent in promoting physical degeneration and decay.

“In this fast age, the less exciting the food, the better. Condiments are injurious in their nature. Mustard, pepper, spices, pickles, and other things of a like character, irritate the stomach and make the blood feverish and impure. The inflamed condition of the drunkard’s stomach is often pictured as illustrating the effect of alcoholic liquors. A similarly inflamed condition is produced by the use of irritating condiments. Soon ordinary food does not satisfy the appetite. The system feels a want, a craving, for something more stimulating.

“Tea acts as a stimulant and, to a certain extent, produces intoxication. The action of coffee and many other popular drinks is similar. The first effect is exhilarating. The nerves of the stomach are excited; these convey irritation to the brain, and this in turn is aroused to impart increased action to the heart and short-lived energy to the entire system. Fatigue is forgotten; the strength seems to be increased. The intellect is aroused, the imagination becomes more vivid.

“Because of these results, many suppose that their tea or coffee is doing them great good. But this is a mistake. Tea and coffee do not nourish the system. Their effect
is produced before there has been time for digestion and assimilation, and what seems to be strength is only nervous excitement. When the influence of the stimulant is gone, the unnatural force abates, and the result is a corresponding degree of languor and debility.” The Ministry of Healing, 325, 326.

Let us not forget to be thankful this season for all God’s many mercies to us. And especially remember Him in thank offerings and praise for all His goodness to us in many ways; for life itself and health and the wonderful blessing of this health reform message!

Recipe – Cashew Rice Loaf

1 c. cashews

½ c. sunflower seeds

1 medium onion, chopped

1 c. cashew or soy milk

2 ½ c. cooked brown rice

½ c. wheat germ

¼ c. parsley, chopped fine

1 t. sweet basil

2 t. chicken style seasoning

½ t. onion salt

½ t. salt

½ t. Italian seasoning

Blend cashews and sunflower seeds until fine. Add onion and milk and blend slightly. Pour into a bowl, add remaining ingredients and mix well. Pour into a casserole dish and bake for one hour at 350°.

Food for Life – Raisin-Nut Treats

Inspiration Counsels Against Stimulants and Narcotics

Happy Holidays! How are you going to spend this holiday? Are you going to think of your Best Friend and how much He has done for you? Or are you going to serve self and those you love better than Jesus? Do think this matter over seriously, dear friends, and determine by the grace of God to do better than you have in the past. God gave all Heaven for you, in the form of His Beloved Son, how can you do less for Him? So determine in your hearts that you will return to the Giver what He requires of you, and thank Him mightily for all His goodness to you in this past year. Then you will have a truly happy holiday and also be laying up treasure in Heaven where “moth and rust doth not corrupt.”

Now to continue last month’s article on the bad effects of narcotics and stimulants: “The continued use of these nerve irritants is followed by headache, wakefulness, palpitation of the heart, indigestion, trembling, and many other evils; for they wear away the life forces. Tired nerves need rest and quiet instead of stimulation and overwork. Nature needs time to recuperate her exhausted energies. When her forces are goaded on by the use of stimulants, more will be accomplished for a time; but, as the system becomes debilitated by their constant use, it gradually becomes more difficult to rouse the energies to the desired point. The demand for stimulants becomes more difficult to control, until the will is overborne and there seems to be no power to deny the unnatural craving. Stronger and still stronger stimulants are called for, until exhausted nature can no longer respond.

“Tobacco is a slow, insidious, but most malignant poison. In whatever form it is used, it tells upon the constitution; it is all the more dangerous because its effects are slow and at first hardly perceptible. It excites and then paralyzes the nerves. It weakens and clouds the brain. Often it affects the nerves in a more powerful manner than does intoxicating drink. It is more subtle, and its effects are difficult to eradicate from the system. Its use excites a thirst for strong drink and in many cases lays the foundation for the liquor habit.

“The use of tobacco is inconvenient, expensive, uncleanly, defiling to the user, and offensive to others. Its devotees are encountered everywhere. You rarely pass through a crowd but some smoker puffs his poisoned breath in your face. It is unpleasant and unhealthful to remain in a railway car or in a room where the atmosphere is laden with the fumes of liquor and tobacco. Though men persist in using these poisons themselves, what right have they to defile the air that others must breathe?

“Among children and youth the use of tobacco is working untold harm. The unhealthful practices of past generations affect the children and youth of today. Mental inability, physical weakness, disordered nerves, and unnatural cravings are transmitted as a legacy from parents to children. And the same practices, continued by the children, are increasing and perpetuating the evil results. To this cause in no small degree is owing the physical, mental, and moral deterioration which is becoming such a cause of alarm.

“Boys begin the use of tobacco at a very early age. The habit thus formed when body and mind are especially susceptible to its effects, undermines the physical strength, dwarfs the body, stupefies the mind, and corrupts the morals.” The Ministry of Healing, 326–329.

Recipe – Raisin-Nut Treats

2 cups shelled nuts

6 tablespoons Fruit Source syrup

2 tablespoons raisins

2 tablespoons carob powder

½ cup sesame seeds

In blender grind nuts to flour and put in mixing bowl. Add syrup and mix well. Add the raisins and mix to a sticky mass. Measure carob powder and sesame seeds into two small bowls. With a teaspoon and your hands shape a lump of syrup-nut mixture into a one inch ball. Dip these, one at a time, in the carob powder and place on wax paper. After 15 minutes, the syrup will soak through the carob; now roll the carob covered balls into the sesame seeds. Makes about 36 treats.