Counsels On Diet and Foods -- Study Guide

Response to God’s Call for Changed Living Habits

A few isolated voices were heard calling for reform, but they went almost unheeded. People were skeptical and slow to change an accepted way of life. But when the Lord God of heaven called the attention of our spiritual forefathers to the basic principles of life and health through visions given to Ellen White, and by this means, as wrote Elder J. H. Waggoner, placed the elements of healthful living “on a level with the great truths of the third angel’s message,” the people took heed. They saw health reform to be “the means whereby a weak people may be made strong to overcome, and our diseased bodies cleansed and fitted for translation.” They saw all this as “an essential part of present truth to be received with the blessing of God, or rejected at our peril.” For an accurate, interesting account of this phase of Adventist history, we direct you to the book by D. E. Robinson, The Story of Our Health Message.…. CD-SG 4.4

Amazingly, within a few years the denomination changed its living habits. This was most apparent in dietetic practices. As early Adventists sought to make the simple elements of nutrition both attractive and easily available, the health-food industry was born, one segment of which has developed into the cereal-food industry of America. This has greatly changed the dietetic habits of a nation and has influenced millions in other lands. CD-SG 4.5