True Foods and Emergency Foods by George B. Starr

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 10, 1911

True Foods and Emergency Foods

By George B. Starr

G. B. STARR

True food, that provided by the Creator for all the creatures of his vast creation, contains just the elements essential for the supply of energy, waste, and repair; the complete and harmonious building up of all the body processes.

True food does not walk about and so expend energy, but it grows standing still, or waving only in the breeze, receiving from sun, and air, and earth, and storing up energy and heat for man and animal to break up and use.

Man and animal and all organized life are dependent upon the products of the earth — fruits, grains, nuts, vegetables, and grasses — for nourishment and all energy supply; there is positively no other original supply; all foods must be made from this storehouse.

True food contains no poison. It is impossible to conceive of a loving and benevolent Creator providing for the sustenance of his children and other creatures anything that would harm them in any way, causing either sickness or pain. No true food substances, in their natural and healthy condition, contain anything that would in any way interfere with the delicate working of the intricate body machinery. Poisons could be introduced only by an enemy.

The flesh of animal or fowl, in the light of science, can be regarded only as emergency food, to be used only when true food is not obtainable. The flesh of animal or fowl contains only the remnant of energy and food elements and nutrition originally obtained from the grains, which the animal has not used up in its own vital functions. This remnant of energy amounts to twenty-eight per cent to the one hundred parts of flesh food eaten. In the grains the percentage is eighty-eight to the one hundred parts, with twelve parts of waste matter; thus it is seen that the animal has used up sixty per cent of the original energy stored. This is exactly as intended by the Creator. The animal was created to be the servant of man. His muscles were made for work, and not for food. When eating flesh, we are eating muscle and nerve-fiber, mingled with veins and arteries, broken-down tissue, carbonic acid, and uric acid. Thus remnants of food elements are mingled with seventy-two parts of waste matter, much of it decidedly poisonous and destructive to life, and positively injurious and obstructive to the delicate working of the body machinery. Certainly this is not true food.

It is an error to imagine that by eating the flesh of a strong ox, man may obtain strength. It is true that by eating the same grains that the ox eats, man may obtain strength.

People feel stronger after eating flesh because it is a rapidly burning fuel, and, like oil or pine, produces a quick and flashy fire, from which immediate but not lasting effects are obtained. Flesh is also stimulating because of the presence of the large amount of waste and poisonous matter, which the body recognizes and puts forth energy to expel rapidly. This effort on the part of nature to rid herself of poison is mistaken for real energy, the same as it is when tea, coffee, cocoa, and alcohol are taken. The body temperature is raised from 98½° to 99½° or 100° in ten or fifteen minutes after a meal of flesh.

True food is beautiful to the sight, is pleasant to handle, is inviting to the most delicate person, and when the taste is natural, is most agreeable to the taste-buds, as seen in the choice of foods made by children and most animals.

Flesh is unpleasant to the sight, disagreeable to handle, and repulsive to the unperverted taste or smell. Nature’s storehouse furnishes an abundance for all the human family without the taking of a single life of bird or beast for food, except under emergency conditions.

Melrose, Mass.