Ellen Chat Conversation

# Ellen White's Counsel on Being Overweight Ellen White addressed the issue of excess weight directly, teaching that carrying too much flesh is actually detrimental to health. She wrote, "You have flesh, but it is not good material. You are worse off for this amount of flesh" (2T 61.1). She specifically counseled that losing twenty-five or thirty pounds of your gross fleshthrough a more spare diet would make people "much less liable to disease" (2T 61.1). Her concern was that excess weight creates a state of inflammation in the body, making it vulnerable to illness. She explained that those carrying extra weight "are liable to acute attacks of disease, and to sudden death, because you do not possess the strength of constitution to rally and resist disease" (2T 61.1). The apparent strength that overweight individuals might feel is deceptive—she warned that "there will come a time when the strength and health you have flattered yourself you possessed will prove to be weakness" (2T 61.1). ## The Root Cause: Diet and Overeating Ellen White identified specific dietary causes for excess weight. She pointed to flesh-meat consumption, stating that "the eating of flesh meats has made a poor quality of blood and flesh. Your systems are in a state of inflammation, prepared to take on disease" (2T 61.1). Beyond meat consumption, she identified overeating itself as a serious problem. She wrote that "overtaxing the stomach is a common sin, and when too much food is used, the entire system is burdened. Life and vitality, instead of being increased, are decreased" (CD 131). Even healthful foods, when eaten in excess, create problems—she noted that "disease and suffering, from overwork on the one hand and overeating on the other, is the result" (CD 132.2) of elaborate feasts where guests consume too much. ## The Solution: A Spare Diet The remedy Ellen White prescribed was straightforward: adopt a more spare dietthat would naturally reduce excess weight (2T 61.1). This wasn't about extreme restriction, but about eating moderately and avoiding foods that create inflammation in the body. Her counsel emphasized that proper diet should support health and vitality, not burden the system with excess that weakens rather than strengthens. Her underlying principle was clear: "It is not the chief end of man to glorify his stomach. You have animal wants to be supplied; but because of this necessity shall man become all animal?" (2T 61.1). She called people to recognize that eating should serve life's higher purposes, not become an end in itself. --- 💡 **You might also want to explore:** • What specific dietary principles did Ellen White recommend for maintaining healthy weight? • How did Ellen White connect physical health and diet to spiritual life? • What did she teach about the dangers of overeating even healthful foods? --- 📚 **thousands of passages found** containing these search terms — [Explore in Full-Text Search](/advanced-search?q=over+weight)