Counsels on Diet and Foods

Chapter 19—Desserts

Part 1—Sugar

525. Sugar is not good for the stomach. It causes fermentation, and this clouds the brain and brings peevishness into the disposition.—Manuscript 93, 1901 CD 327.1

526. Far too much sugar is ordinarily used in food. Cakes, sweet puddings, pastries, jellies, jams, are active causes of indigestion. Especially harmful are the custards and puddings in which milk, eggs, and sugar are the chief ingredients. The free use of milk and sugar taken together should be avoided.—The Ministry of Healing, 302, 1905 CD 327.2

[See Milk and Sugar—533, 536]

[Use Only a Little in Fruit Canning—476]

[A Little Sugar Permissible—550]

527. Sugar clogs the system. It hinders the working of the living machine. CD 327.3

There was one case in Montcalm County, Michigan, to which I will refer. The individual was a noble man. He stood six feet, and was of fine appearance. I was called to visit him in his sickness. I had previously conversed with him in regard to his manner of living. “I do not like the looks of your eyes,” said I. He was eating large quantities of sugar. I asked him why he did this. He said that he had left off meat, and did not know what would supply its place as well as sugar. His food did not satisfy him, simply because his wife did not know how to cook. CD 327.4

Some of you send your daughters, who have nearly grown to womanhood, to school to learn the sciences before they know how to cook, when this should be made of the first importance. Here was a woman who did not know how to cook; she had not learned how to prepare healthful food. The wife and mother was deficient in this important branch of education; and as the result, poorly cooked food not being sufficient to sustain the demands of the system, sugar was eaten immoderately, which brought on a diseased condition of the entire system. This man's life was sacrificed unnecessarily to bad cooking. CD 327.5

When I went to see the sick man, I tried to tell them as well as I could how to manage, and soon he began slowly to improve. But he imprudently exercised his strength when not able, ate a small amount not of the right quality, and was taken down again. This time there was no help for him. His system appeared to be a living mass of corruption. He died a victim to poor cooking. He tried to make sugar supply the place of good cooking, and it only made matters worse. CD 328.1

I frequently sit down to the tables of the brethren and sisters, and see that they use a great amount of milk and sugar. These clog the system, irritate the digestive organs, and affect the brain. Anything that hinders the active motion of the living machinery, affects the brain very directly. And from the light given me, sugar, when largely used, is more injurious than meat. These changes should be made cautiously, and the subject should be treated in a manner not calculated to disgust and prejudice those whom we would teach and help.—Testimonies for the Church 2:369, 370, 1870 CD 328.2

[Sweet Breads and Crackers—410, 507, 508]

528. We should not be prevailed upon to take anything into the mouth that will bring the body into an unhealthy condition, no matter how much we like it. Why?—Because we are God's property. You have a crown to win, a heaven to gain, and a hell to shun. Then for Christ's sake, I ask you, Will you have the light shine before you in clear and distinct rays, and then turn away from it and say, “I love this, and I love that’? God calls upon every one of you to begin to plan, to cooperate with God in His great care and love, to elevate, ennoble, and sanctify the whole soul, body, and spirit, that we may be workers together with God.... CD 328.3

It is better to let sweet things alone. Let alone those sweet dessert dishes that are placed on the table. You do not need them. You want a clear mind to think after God's order.—The Review and Herald, January 7, 1902 CD 328.4

[See Part III-Pie, Cake, Pastry, and Puddings]

[Candy Not to Be Given Infants—346]

Sale of Knickknacks on the Campground

529. Years ago I had a testimony of reproof for the managers in our camp meetings bringing upon the ground and selling to our people cheese and other hurtful things, and presenting candies for sale when I was laboring to instruct the young and old to put the money they had expended for candy in the missionary box and thus teach their children self-denial.—Letter 25a, 1889 CD 329.1

530. Light has been given me in regard to the foods provided at our camp meetings. Foods are sometimes brought onto the campground which are not in keeping with the principles of health reform. CD 329.2

If we are to walk in the light God has given us, we must educate our people, old and young, to dispense with these foods that are eaten merely for the indulgence of appetite. Our children should be taught to deny themselves of such unnecessary things as candies, gum, ice cream, and other knickknacks, that they may put the money saved by their self-denial into the self-denial box, of which there should be one in every home. By this means large and small sums would be saved for the cause of God. CD 329.3

Not a few of our people need instruction in regard to the principles of health reform. There are various confections that have been invented by manufacturers of health foods, and recommended as perfectly harmless; but I have a different testimony to bear concerning them. They are not truly healthful, and their use should not be encouraged. We need to keep more strictly to a simple diet of fruits, nuts, grains, and vegetables. CD 329.4

Let not foods or confectionery be brought upon our campground that will counterwork the light given our people on health reform. Let us not gloss over the temptation to indulge appetite, by saying that the money received from the sale of such things is to be used to meet the expenses of a good work. All such temptation to self-indulgence should be firmly resisted. Let us not persuade ourselves to do that which is unprofitable to the individual under the pretext that good will come of it. Let us individually learn what it means to be self-denying, yet healthful, active missionaries.—Manuscript 87, 1908 CD 329.5

Sugar in Ellen G. White's Diet

531. Everything is plain yet wholesome because it is not merely thrown together in a haphazard manner. We have no sugar on our table. Our sauce which is our dependence is apples, baked or stewed, sweetened as is required before being put upon the table.—Letter 5, 1870 CD 330.1

532. We have always used a little milk and some sugar. This we have never denounced, either in our writings or in our preaching. We believe cattle will become so much diseased that these things will yet be discarded, but the time has not yet come for sugar and milk to be wholly abolished from our tables.—Letter 1, 1873 CD 330.2