Based on Ellen White's extensive writings on health and diet, here is her comprehensive guidance: ## Core Dietary Principles **God's Original Plan** Ellen White taught that "God is trying to lead us back, step by step, to his original design,— that man should subsist upon the natural products of the earth" (CTBH 119.1). She emphasized that "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" (HL 78.6). ## The Vegetarian Diet **Moving Away from Meat** She strongly advocated for eliminating flesh foods: "Among those who are waiting for the coming of the Lord, meat-eating will eventually be done away; flesh will cease to form a part of their diet" (CTBH 119.1). Her reasoning included both health and moral considerations: - **Health concerns**: "If meat eating was ever healthful, it is not safe now. Cancers, tumors, and pulmonary diseases are largely caused by meat eating" (9T 159) - **Mental effects**: "Flesh food has a tendency to animalize the nature, to rob men and women of that love and sympathy which they should feel for everyone" (9T 159) - **Logical reasoning**: "Those who eat flesh are but eating grains and vegetables at second hand; for the animal receives from these things the nutrition that produces growth... How much better to get it direct, by eating the food that God provided for our use!" (MH 313) ## Meal Timing and Regularity **Structured Eating Schedule** "Regularity in eating is of vital importance. There should be a specified time for each meal. At this time let everyone eat what the system requires and then take nothing more until the next meal" (MH 303.2). She recommended: "It is quite a common custom with the people of the world to eat three times a day, besides eating at irregular intervals between meals... Should these persons change their practise, and eat but two meals a day, and nothing between meals, not even an apple, a nut, or any kind of fruit, the result would be seen in a good appetite and greatly improved health" (HL 84.2). ## Food Preparation and Cooking **Importance of Proper Preparation** "It is a religious duty for those who cook, to learn how to prepare healthful food in a variety of ways, so that it may be both palatable and healthful. Poor cookery is wearing away the life energies of thousands" (CTBH 48.3). Key preparation principles: - "Food should be thoroughly cooked, neatly prepared, and appetizing" (HL 48) - "The meals should be varied. The same dishes, prepared in the same way, should not appear on the table meal after meal and day after day" (MH 300.1) - "Food should be prepared in such a way that it will be appetizing as well as nourishing" (9T 161) ## Balanced Approach - Avoiding Extremes **Practical Wisdom** While advocating for health reform, she warned against extremes: "Some of our people, while conscientiously abstaining from eating improper foods, neglect to supply themselves with the elements necessary for the sustenance of the body" (9T 161). She provided practical guidance: "Milk, eggs, and butter should not be classed with flesh meat. In some cases the use of eggs is beneficial... There are poor families whose diet consists largely of bread and milk. They have little fruit and cannot afford to purchase the nut foods" (7T 134.6). ## Foods to Include **Recommended Foods** - Fruits, grains, nuts, and vegetables - Milk and cream (in moderation) - Simple, well-prepared dishes - "Grains, fruits, nuts, and vegetables, in proper combination, contain all the elements of nutrition" (Ed 204.3) ## Foods to Avoid **Harmful Substances** - Flesh meats - Tea and coffee - "Fine-flour bread, pickles, coarse vegetables, candies, condiments, and pastries fail of supplying proper nutriment" (Ed 204.3) - Rich, highly seasoned foods - Foods eaten between meals ## The Connection Between Diet and Spirituality **Holistic Health** Ellen White consistently connected physical health with spiritual well-being: "Diet exerts a powerful influence upon the health... If those who profess to be Christians desire to solve the questions so perplexing to them, why their minds are so dull, why their religious aspirations are so feeble, they need not, in many instances, go farther than the table" (CTBH 83.1). Her health and diet guidance was comprehensive, practical, and always connected to the larger purpose of preparing people physically, mentally, and spiritually for service to God and preparation for His kingdom.