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(Note: In what follows “CD 101.2” means “Counsels on Diet and Foods, page 101, paragraph 2 and so on.”)

Physical Effects of Overeating

154. What influence does overeating have upon the stomach? It becomes debilitated, the digestive organs are weakened, and disease, with all its train of evils, is brought on as the result. If persons were diseased before, they thus increase the difficulties upon them, and lessen their vitality every day they live. They call their vital powers into unnecessary action to take care of the food that they place in their stomachs.—Testimonies for the Church 2:364, 1870 {CD 101.2}

155. Often this intemperance is felt at once in the form of headache, indigestion, and colic. A load has been placed upon the stomach that it cannot care for, and a feeling of oppression comes. The head is confused, the stomach is in rebellion. But these results do not always follow overeating. In some cases the stomach is paralyzed. No sensation of pain is felt, but the digestive organs lose their vital force. The foundation of the human machinery is gradually undermined, and life is rendered very unpleasant.—Letter 73a, 1896 {CD 101.3}

Digestion Aided By Moderate Exercise

My brother, your brain is benumbed. A man who disposes of the quantity of food that you do, should be a laboring man. Exercise is important to digestion, and to a healthy condition of body and mind. You need physical exercise. You move and act as if you were wooden, as though you had no elasticity. Healthy, active exercise is what you need. This will invigorate the mind. Neither study nor violent exercise should be engaged in immediately after a full meal; this would be a violation of the laws of the system. Immediately after eating there is a strong draft upon the nervous energy. The brain force is called into active exercise to assist the stomach; therefore, when the mind or body is taxed heavily after eating, the process of digestion is hindered. The vitality of the system, which is needed to carry on the work in one direction, is called away and set to work in another. {CD 103.2}

Aided by Pure Air

159. The influence of pure, fresh air is to cause the blood to circulate healthfully through the system. It refreshes the body, and tends to render it strong and healthy, while at the same time its influence is decidedly felt upon the mind, imparting a degree of composure and serenity. It excites the appetite, and renders the digestion of food more perfect, and induces sound and sweet sleep.—Testimonies for the Church 1:702, 1868 {CD 104.1}

Hindered by Liquid Diet

162. I told them that the preparation of their food was wrong, and that living principally on soups and coffee and bread was not health reform; that so much liquid taken into the stomach was not healthful, and that all who subsisted on such a diet placed a great tax upon the kidneys, and so much watery substance debilitated the stomach. {CD 105.2}

I was thoroughly convinced that many in the establishment were suffering with indigestion because of eating this kind of food. The digestive organs were enfeebled and the blood impoverished. Their breakfast consisted of coffee and bread with the addition of prune sauce. This was not healthful. The stomach, after rest and sleep, was better able to take care of a substantial meal than when wearied with work. Then the noon meal was generally soup, sometimes meat. The stomach is small, but the appetite, unsatisfied, partakes largely of this liquid food; so it is burdened.—Letter 9, 1887 {CD 105.3}

Food to Be Warm, but Not Hot

163. I would advise all to take something warm into the stomach, every morning at least. You can do this without much labor.—Testimonies for the Church 2:603, 1870 {CD 106.1}

164. Hot drinks are not required, except as a medicine. The stomach is greatly injured by a large quantity of hot food and hot drink. Thus the throat and digestive organs, and through them the other organs of the body, are enfeebled.—Letter 14, 1901 {CD 106.2}

Vital Force Depleted by Cold Food

165. Food should not be eaten very hot or very cold. If food is cold, the vital force of the stomach is drawn upon in order to warm it before digestion can take place. Cold drinks are injurious for the same reason; while the free use of hot drinks is debilitating.—The Ministry of Healing, 305, 1905 {CD 106.3}

166. 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. {CD 106.4}

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.—[Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 51] Counsels on Health, 119, 120, 1890 {CD 106.5}

Eat Slowly, Masticate Thoroughly

168. 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.—[Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 51, 52] Counsels on Health, 120, 1890 {CD 107.2}

169. 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.—The Ministry of Healing, 305, 1905 {CD 107.3}

Avoid Undue Anxiety

175. Another serious evil is eating at improper times, as after violent or excessive exercise, when one is much exhausted or heated. Immediately after eating there is a strong draft upon the nervous energies; and when mind or body is heavily taxed just before or just after eating, digestion is hindered. When one is excited, anxious, or hurried, it is better not to eat until rest or relief is found. {CD 109.2}

Combination of Foods

177. 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.—The Review and Herald, July 29, 1884 {CD 109.5}

183. Disturbance is created by improper combinations of food; fermentation sets in; the blood is contaminated and the brain confused. {CD 110.6}

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.—Testimonies for the Church 7:257, 1902 {CD 110.7}

Fruits and Vegetables

188. …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. {CD 112.3}

Rich Desserts and Vegetables

189. Puddings, custards, sweet cake, and vegetables, all served at the same meal, will cause a disturbance in the stomach.—Letter 142, 1900 {CD 112.5}

Sugar and Milk

191. Far too much sugar is ordinarily used in food. Cakes, sweet puddings, pastries, jellies, jams, are active causes of indigestion. Especially harmful are the custards and puddings in which milk, eggs, and sugar are the chief ingredients. The free use of milk and sugar taken together should be avoided.—The Ministry of Healing, 302, 1905 {CD 113.1}

The contents above are excerpts taken from the book entitled “Counsels on Diet and Foods” by Ellen G. White.

You can read all of the writings of Ellen G. White for free at egwwritings.org. Other official websites related to Ellen White are whiteestate.org and ellenwhite.org. There is also a free smartphone app named EGW Writings 2 for Android phones and the iPhone with which you can freely read, search, and download the Ellen G. White writings to your phone. One great feature of the app is that once you have downloaded books to your phone, you can read them offline.

Further Reading

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