In Case of Digestive Problems... Allergies...

In cases of digestive problems the following guidelines should be kept judiciously...

1. do not mix fruits and vegetables... and combine other foods intelligently.
2. eat yeast bread that is at least 2 days old... better still use no leaven at all... or at least eat it in the form of Zweiback.
3. do not use baking soda or powder in cooking and baking.
4. eat foods in as natural a state as possible...
   • no refined sugar... and minimize raw sugar use,
   • minimize the use of healthy oils, and
   • no white flours or white rice.
5. eat simply.... simplify dishes and do not crowd into meals more than 2, 3 or 4 dishes.
6. masticate your food well.
7. do not drink liquids with your food... drink water 30 mins. before or 2 hrs. after.
8. do not eat food that is too hot or too cold.
9. regularity in meal times.
10. no eating between meals, that is... no snacking!
11. two meals are better than three.
12. the last meal should be at least several hours before bed.
13. eat meals five to six or more hours apart.

There should not be a great variety at any one meal, for this encourages overeating, and causes indigestion.
It is not well to eat fruit and vegetables at the same meal. If the digestion is feeble, the use of both will often cause distress, and inability to put forth mental effort. It is better to have the fruit at one meal, and the vegetables at another.

(1905) M.H. 299, 300 (CD 112).

If we would preserve the best health, we should avoid eating vegetables and fruit at the same meal. If the stomach is feeble, there will be distress, the brain will be confused, and unable to put forth mental effort. Have fruit at one meal and vegetables at the next.

Y.I., May 31, 1894 (CD 395).

Disturbance is created by improper combinations of food; fermentation sets in; the blood is contaminated and the brain confused.

The habit of overeating, or of eating too many kinds of food at one meal, frequently causes dyspepsia. Serious injury is thus done to the delicate digestive organs. In vain the stomach protests, and appeals to the brain to reason from cause to effect. The excessive amount of food eaten, or the improper combination, does its injurious work. In vain do disagreeable premonitions give warning. Suffering is the consequence. Disease takes the place of health.

(1902) 7T 257 (CD 110).

Knowledge in regard to proper food combinations is of great worth, and is to be received as wisdom from God.

Letter 213, 1902 (CD 109).

Bread which is two or three days old is more healthful than new bread.

Letter 142, 1900 (CD 317).

Bread should be light and sweet. Not the least taint of sourness should be tolerated. The loaves should be small, and so thoroughly baked that, as far as possible, the yeast germs shall be destroyed. When hot, or new, raised bread of any kind is difficult of digestion. It should never appear on the table. This rule does not, however, apply to unleavened bread. Fresh rolls made of wheaten meal, without yeast or leaven, and baked in a well-heated oven, are both wholesome and palatable.

(1905) M.H. 300-302 (CD 316-317).

Zwieback, or twice-baked bread, is one of the most easily digested and most palatable of foods. Let ordinary raised bread be cut in slices and dried in a warm oven till the last trace of moisture disappears. Then let it be browned slightly all the way through. In a dry place this bread can be kept much longer than ordinary bread, and if reheated before using, it will be as fresh as when new.

(1905) M.H. 300-302 (CD 317).

The use of soda or baking powder in breadmaking is harmful and unnecessary. Soda causes inflammation of the stomach and often poisons the entire system. Many housewives think that they cannot make good bread without soda, but this is an error. If they would take the trouble to learn better methods, their bread would be more wholesome, and, to a natural taste, it would be more palatable.

(1905) M.H. 300-302 (CD 316).

Hot biscuit raised with soda or baking powder should never appear upon our tables. Such compounds are unfit to enter the stomach. Hot raised bread of any kind is difficult of digestion.

R. & H., May 8, 1883 (CD 319).

Grains, fruits, nuts, and vegetables constitute the diet chosen for us by our Creator. These foods, prepared in as simple and natural a manner as possible, are the most healthful and nourishing. They impart a strength, a power of endurance, and a vigor of intellect, that are not afforded by a more complex and stimulating diet.

(1905) M. H. 295, 296 (CD 81).

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.

(1869) 2T 352 (CD 63).

Fruits, grains, and vegetables, prepared in a simple way, free from spice and grease of all kinds, make, with milk and cream, the most healthful diet.

[C.T.B.H. 47] (1890) C.H. 115 (CD 314).

Some fall into the error that because they discard meat, they have no need to supply its place with the best fruits and vegetables, prepared in their most natural state, free from grease and spices.

(1870) 2T 486, 487 (CD 399).

Sugar is not good for the stomach. It causes fermentation, and this clouds the brain and brings peevishness into the disposition.

MS 93, 1901 (CD 327).

The grease cooked in the food renders it difficult of digestion.

[C.T.B.H. 46, 47] (1890) C.H. 114 (CD 354).

Do not have too great a variety at a meal; three or four dishes are a plenty. At the next meal you can have a change. The cook should tax her inventive powers to vary the dishes she prepares for the table, and the stomach should not be compelled to take the same kinds of food meal after meal.

R. & H., July 29, 1884 (CD 109).

It would be much better to eat only two or three different kinds of food at a meal than to load the stomach with many varieties.

Letter 73a, 1896 (CD 110).

There should not be many kinds at any one meal, but all meals should not be composed of the same kinds of food without variation. Food should be prepared with simplicity, yet with a nicety which will invite the appetite.

(1868) 2T 63 (CD 110).

Many are made sick by the indulgence of their appetite. . . . So many varieties are introduced into the stomach that fermentation is the result. This condition brings on acute disease, and death frequently follows.

MS 86, 1897 (CD 110).

The variety of food at one meal causes unpleasantness, and destroys the good which each article, if taken alone, would do the system. This practice causes constant suffering, and often death.

Letter 54, 1896 (CD 110).

In order to secure healthy digestion, food should be eaten slowly. Those who wish to avoid dyspepsia, and those who realize their obligation to keep all their powers in a condition which will enable them to render the best service to God, will do well to remember this. If your time to eat is limited, do not bolt your food, but eat less, and masticate slowly. The benefit derived from food does not depend so much on the quantity eaten as on its thorough digestion; nor the gratification of taste so much on the amount of food swallowed as on the length of time it remains in the mouth. Those who are excited, anxious, or in a hurry, would do well not to eat until they have found rest or relief; for the vital powers, already severely taxed, cannot supply the necessary digestive fluids.

[C.T.B.H. 51, 52] (1890) C.H. 120  (CD 107).

Food should be eaten slowly, and should be thoroughly masticated. This is necessary, in order that the saliva may be properly mixed with the food, and the digestive fluids be called into action.

(1905) M.H. 305 (CD 107).

Many make a mistake in drinking cold water with their meals. Food should not be washed down. Taken with meals, water diminishes the flow of saliva; and the colder the water, the greater the injury to the stomach. Ice water or ice lemonade, taken with meals, will arrest digestion until the system has imparted sufficient warmth to the stomach to enable it to take up its work again. Masticate slowly, and allow the saliva to mingle with the food.

The more liquid there is taken into the stomach with the meals, the more difficult it is for the food to digest; for the liquid must first be absorbed.

[C.T.B.H. 51] (1890) C.H. 119, 120 (CD 106).

After the regular meal is eaten, the stomach should be allowed to rest for five hours. Not a particle of food should be introduced into the stomach till the next meal. In this interval the stomach will perform its work, and will then be in a condition to receive more food.

In no case should the meals be irregular. If dinner is eaten an hour or two before the usual time, the stomach is unprepared for the new burden; for it has not yet disposed of the food eaten at the previous meal, and has not vital force for new work. Thus the system is overtaxed.

Neither should the meals be delayed one or two hours, to suit circumstances, or in order that a certain amount of work may be accomplished. The stomach calls for food at the time it is accustomed to receive it. If that time is delayed, the vitality of the system decreases, and finally reaches so low an ebb that the appetite is entirely gone. If food is then taken, the stomach is unable to properly care for it. The food cannot be converted into good blood.

If all would eat at regular periods, not tasting anything between meals, they would be ready for their meals, and would find a pleasure in eating that would repay them for their effort.

MS 1, 1876 (CD 179)

Regularity in eating should be carefully observed. Nothing should be eaten between meals, no confectionery, nuts, fruits, or food of any kind. Irregularities in eating destroy the healthful tone of the digestive organs, to the detriment of health and cheerfulness.

(1905) M.H. 384 (CD 180).

Children are generally untaught in regard to the importance of when, how, and what they should eat. They are permitted to indulge their tastes freely, to eat at all hours, to help themselves to fruit when it tempts their eyes, and this, with the pie, cake, bread and butter, and sweetmeats eaten almost constantly, makes them gormands and dyspeptics. The digestive organs, like a mill which is continually kept running, become enfeebled, vital force is called from the brain to aid the stomach in its overwork, and thus the mental powers are weakened. The unnatural stimulation and wear of the vital forces make them nervous, impatient of restraint, self-willed, and irritable.

Health Reformer, May, 1877 (CD 181).

When traveling, some are almost constantly nibbling, if there is anything within their reach. This is a most pernicious practice. Animals that do not have reason, and that know nothing of mental taxation, may do this without injury, but they are no criterion for rational beings, who have mental powers that should be used for God and humanity.

R. & H., July 29, 1884 (CD 182).

Gluttonous feasts, and food taken into the stomach at untimely seasons, leave an influence upon every fiber of the system.

Health Reformer, June, 1878 (CD 182).

Regularity in eating is very important for health of body and serenity of mind. Never should a morsel of food pass the lips between meals.

[C.T.B.H. 50] (1890) C.H. 118 (CD 181).

For persons of sedentary habits, late suppers are particularly harmful. With them the disturbance created is often the beginning of disease that ends in death. In many cases the faintness that leads to a desire for food is felt because the digestive organs have been too severely taxed during the day. After disposing of one meal, the digestive organs need rest. At least five or six hours should intervene between the meals; and most persons who give the plan a trial, will find that two meals a day are better than three.

(1905) M.H. 304 (CD 173-4).

A second meal should never be eaten until the stomach has had time to rest from the labor of digesting the preceding meal. If a third meal be eaten at all, it should be light, and several hours before going to bed.

(1865) H. to L., ch. 1, pp. 55-57 (CD 174).

The stomach, when we lie down to rest, should have its work all done, that it may enjoy rest, as well as other portions of the body. The work of digestion should not be carried on through any period of the sleeping hours.

(1865) H. to L., ch. 1, pp. 55-57 (CD 174).

...eat less frequently and less liberally, and be satisfied with plain, simple food, eating twice, or, at most, three times a day. The stomach must have its regular periods for labor and rest; hence eating irregularly and between meals, is a most pernicious violation of the laws of health.

(1865) H. to L., ch. 1, pp. 55-57 (CD 174).

The stomach must have careful attention. It must not be kept in continual operation. Give this misused and much-abused organ some peace and quiet and rest. After the stomach has done its work for one meal, do not crowd more work upon it before it has had a chance to rest and before a sufficient supply of gastric juice is provided by nature to care for more food. Five hours at least should elapse between each meal, and always bear in mind that if you would give it a trial, you would find that two meals are better than three.

Letter 73a, 1896 (CD 173).