Healthful Living

Chapter 19—Flesh Foods

General Statements

435. Meat is not essential for health or strength, else the Lord made a mistake when he provided food for Adam and Eve before their fall. All the elements of nutrition are contained in the fruits, vegetables, and grains.—The Review and Herald, May 8, 1883. HL 96.1

The Ideal Diet

436. The Lord intends to bring his people back to live upon simple fruits, vegetables, and grains. He led the children of Israel into the wilderness where they could not get a flesh diet; and he gave them the bread of heaven. “Man did eat angels’ food.” But they craved the flesh-pots of Egypt, and mourned and cried for flesh, notwithstanding the promise of the Lord that if they would submit to his will, he would carry them into the land of Canaan, and establish them there, a pure, holy, happy people, and that there should not be a feeble one in all their tribes; for he would take away all sickness from among them.... The Lord would have given them flesh had it been essential for their health, but he who had created and redeemed them led them through that long journey in the wilderness to educate, discipline, and train them in correct habits. The Lord understood what influence flesh eating has upon the human system. He would have a people that would, in their physical appearance, bear the divine credentials, notwithstanding their long journey.—Unpublished Testimonies, November 5, 1896. HL 96.2

437. Let no meat be found at our restaurants or dining tents, but let its place be supplied with fruits, grains, and vegetables. We must practise what we preach. When sitting at a table where meat is provided, we should not make a raid on those who use it, but should let it alone ourselves; and when asked the reason for doing this, we should kindly explain why we do not use it.—Unpublished Testimonies, March, 1896. HL 97.1

438. The diet of animals is vegetables and grains. Must the vegetables be animalized, must they be incorporated into the system of an animal, before we get them? Must we obtain our vegetable diet by eating the flesh of dead creatures? God provided food in its natural state for our first parents. He gave Adam charge of the garden, to dress it and to care for it, saying, “To you it shall be for meat.” One animal was not to destroy another animal for food.—Unpublished Testimonies, November 5, 1896. HL 97.2

439. Those who have lived upon a meat diet all their lives do not see the evil of continuing the practise, and they must be treated tenderly.—Unpublished Testimonies, June 19, 1895. HL 97.3

Substitutes for Meat

440. Something must be prepared to take the place of meat, and these foods must be well prepared, so that meat will not be desired.—Unpublished Testimonies, December 20, 1896. HL 97.4

441. I know that with care and skill, dishes could be prepared to take the place of meat. But if the main dependence of the cook is meat, she will encourage meat eating, and the depraved appetite will frame every excuse for this kind of diet.—Unpublished Testimonies, February 17, 1884. HL 97.5

442. Meat is the most expensive diet that can be had.—Unpublished Testimonies, February 17, 1884. HL 98.1