Counsels on Diet and Foods
Part 2—Lard and Grease
[Grease is defined by Webster as “Animal fat, especially when soft; any fatty, oily, or unctuous substance.” Ellen White stated that olives, properly prepared, may be eaten with benefit at every meal, the oil in them providing a substitute for animal oil and butter. (See The Ministry of Healing, 298; Testimonies for the Church 7:134.) This seems to indicate that a limited amount of fat, particularly from vegetable sources, is a part of a healthy dietary.]
593. Many do not feel that this is a matter of duty, hence they do not try to prepare food properly. This can be done in a simple, healthful, and easy manner, without the use of lard, butter, or flesh meats. Skill must be united with simplicity. To do this, women must read, and then patiently reduce what they read to practice.—Testimonies for the Church 1:681, 1868 CD 353.4
[Lard Discarded from Principle—317]
594. Fruits, grains, and vegetables, prepared in a simple way, free from spice and grease of all kinds, make, with milk or cream, the most healthful diet.—[Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 47] Counsels on Health, 115, 1890 CD 354.1
595. Food should be prepared with simplicity, yet with a nicety which will invite the appetite. You should keep grease out of your food. It defiles any preparation of food you may make.—Testimonies for the Church 2:63, 1868 CD 354.2
596. Many a mother sets a table that is a snare to her family. Flesh meats, butter, cheese, rich pastry, spiced foods, and condiments are freely partaken of by both old and young. These things do their work in deranging the stomach, exciting the nerves, and enfeebling the intellect. The blood-making organs cannot convert such things into good blood. The grease cooked in the food renders it difficult of digestion.—[Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 46, 47] Counsels on Health, 114, 1890 CD 354.3
597. We do not think fried potatoes are healthful, for there is more or less grease or butter used in preparing them. Good baked or boiled potatoes, served with cream and a sprinkling of salt, are the most healthful. The remnants of Irish and sweet potatoes are prepared with a little cream and salt and rebaked, and not fried; they are excellent.—Letter 322, 1905 CD 354.4
598. Let all who sit down at your table see upon it well-cooked, hygienic, palatable food. Be very careful in regard to your eating and drinking, Brother -----, so that you will not continue to have a diseased body. Eat regularly, and eat only food that is free from grease.—Letter 297, 1904 CD 354.5
599. A plain diet, free from spices and flesh meats and grease of all kinds, would prove a blessing to you, and would save your wife a great amount of suffering, grief, and despondency.—Testimonies for the Church 2:45, 1868 CD 354.6
600. Grains and fruits prepared free from grease, and in as natural a condition as possible, should be the food for the tables of all who claim to be preparing for translation to heaven.—Testimonies for the Church 2:352, 1869 CD 355.1
[Lard not used in White home—Appendix 1:4]
[Camp Meeting Food to Be Simple and Free from Grease—124]
[Greasy mixtures Not used in the White home—Appendix 1:21]