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Thy Saving Health

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 26, 1912

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 89, No. 52.

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“Thy Saving Health”

By James D. Montgomery

JAMES D. MONTGOMERY

Some Dietetic Principles

“God be merciful unto us, and bless us; . . . that thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.” Ps. 67:1, 2.
ALL true diet reform has its origin in the teachings of the Sacred Scriptures. In fact, every true reform must of necessity be derived from the source of all truth—God. It will be the object of this article to point out the fundamental principles of dietary well-doing as they are laid down in the Bible.
The very foundation principles of all reform in diet, whether in sickness or in health, are well set forth in the following passages of Scripture: “Blessed art thou, O land, when . . . thy princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness!” Eccl. 10:17. “Harken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which
is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.” Isa. 55:2. Are not the general principles of dietetics practically covered by these texts of Scripture,—not the details, of course, but the underlying, foundation principles? The details will appear from the use of other texts as we proceed with the study of the subject.
In the statements quoted above we have the following principles brought to view:—
  1. Food should be eaten in due season.
  2. It should be eaten for strength, and not for drunkenness.
  3. Only that which is good should be eaten.
  4. Man should harken diligently unto the Lord.
It will be profitable to notice these principles in detail, and to apply them to every-day life:—
1. The practise of eating in due season is one of the most important considerations of the whole diet problem. What is the meaning of the expression “in due season”? It certainly signifies that food is to be taken when needed, and at no other time. Even nature itself teaches this lesson by removing the desire for food when it is not needed for the repair of the tissues. In health “the eyes of all wait upon Thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire [the appetite] of every living thing” (Ps. 145:15, 16); while in sickness “their soul abhorreth all manner of meat.” Ps. 107:18.
In health the appetite disappears when one has eaten sufficiently for his present needs, and in sickness the appetite is completely removed for the time being, and the very thought of food is repulsive. Hence, we say, nature teaches and at times enforces this principle of eating in due season, and at no other time. It may take wisdom successfully to carry this out in the every-day life; but if we lack wisdom, we are invited to appeal to God, “and to learn of Christ the science of eating and drinking to the glory of God.” We can pray, as did Solomon, “Give me neither poverty nor riches: feed me with food convenient for me: lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.” Prov. 30:8, 9. From this it appears that the eating of food that is not needed and that is not used in due season leads one to deny his God, while the lack of sufficient food tends to cause one to steal and to use God’s name profanely,—the first because of the sense of well-being and comfort brought about by surfeiting, and the other because of the nervous impatience induced by poverty and consequent hunger. So, “blessed art thou, O land, when . . . thy princes eat in due season.”
2. To eat “for strength, and not for drunkenness,” one must use foods that will produce strength in the human organism. To supply energy, to generate heat, to repair tissue, to promote the processes of metabolism, is the purpose ofingesting food. To use more than enough for this, would in a measure defeat the purpose for which food is taken, and would prove a clog, a burden, to the system. To use an insufficient quantity for the purpose would be to fail to provide necessary elements, and would impoverish all the tissues of the body. The expression under consideration, therefore, refers to quantity as well as to quality of food used. It must of necessity be so, as the correct quantity is as important as the correct quality in this matter of eating for strength.
It must also include the use of foods containing the necessary elements to produce strength, as it is not possible for the system to obtain strength from foods that are deficient in strength-building elements. To make this choice wisely demands intelligence. One needs to understand the chemical composition of foods, and it is only when we are informed along these lines that we are able to eat for strength in the true meaning of the term.
To eat for drunkenness, whether consciously or unconsciously, is the reverse of eating for strength. Good food in large quantities, or poor food in almost any quantity, will eventually produce food drunkenness. The definition of the term drunkenness may be stated as a condition of either stimulation or stupor. The first stages are those of stimulation, while the latter stages are those of stupor, or torpor. Hence, the habitual use of stimulating foods is a mild form of intoxication, differing only in degree from the drunkenness produced by the use of alcohol. That surfeiting, or gluttony, produces a sort of intoxication akin to that of alcoholic drinks is the opinion of most medical writers and thinkers. Milder, of course, is this poisoning, but poisoning it is nevertheless. ‘Be not’ therefore ‘among wine-bibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh: for the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.’ Prov. 23:20, 21.
3. ‘Eat ye that which is good.’ All foods—good, bad, and indifferent—have their advocates, though it must be confessed that some of those advocates are interested in the profits derived from the sale of the foods, rather than in the profit gained from their use. The only food ever pronounced ‘very good’ by One competent to judge, was given to man in the beginning, when all things were said to be ‘very good.’ The fare then consisted merely of fruits and grains and nuts, but was afterward made to include herbs, or vegetables, to meet the needs of man after his inglorious fall.
About sixteen centuries later the use of flesh was permitted, to meet the changed conditions incident to the deluge. But this was restricted to ‘clean’ meats. No animal not called clean was to be used as food under any circumstances; neither was blood to be eaten. And later certain parts of the fat were prohibited as food, and the flesh of the beast was to be eaten while fresh. These restrictions would rob meat eating of much of its popularity were they enforced to-day as they were in ancient Israel.
4. ‘Harken diligently unto me.’ The first thing to do in any health or other reform is to harken to what God says about that reform.