Counsels On Diet and Foods -- Study Guide

Vegetarianism Pays Off

The position of Adventists in nutritional lines, and especially vegetarianism, which was long frowned upon by many who were considered well-informed people, and often ridiculed, is now recognized as sound and advantageous. Appendix B, appearing on pages 53-58, presents an article from Today’s Health, a publication of the American Medical Association, “What You Should Know About Vegetarianism.” Its uninhibited, scientifically supported declarations of the adequacy of a nonflesh diet, when proper pains are taken to supply the body with all the now-known needed nutritional elements, is gratifying and in full support of what Seventh-day Adventists have from experience known for many years. It provides verification for Ellen White’s general statement that “the instruction that was given in the early days of the message is to be held as safe instruction to follow in these its closing days.”— Selected Messages, book 1, p. 41. CD-SG 5.8

It also points up that to which Ellen White continually called attention, namely, the need of approaching the diet question intelligently, avoiding extremes, and making sure there is ample provision to supply all the nutritional needs of the body. When, as has at times occurred, a dietary program is built on less than the full array of counsels, malnutrition and impaired strength and health result, bringing health reform into disrepute. CD-SG 6.1

Many of the statements in Counsels on Diet and Foods are items touching the field of nutrition, selected from periodical articles and book chapters more general in their over-all content. A little time spent with the original sources, when they are available, will be rewarding. The first Ellen G. White comprehensive presentation on health lines was published in 1864 in Spiritual Gifts, volume 4, pages 120 to 151. This volume is available in facsimile reprint at your Adventist Book Center. The six Ellen G. White articles appearing in 1865 in the six pamphlets of “Health, or How to Live” constitute Appendix 1 to Selected Messages, book 2, currently available. The first one deals with diet. All the E. G. White Review and Herald articles are available in facsimile reprints. CD-SG 6.2