25-10 - Flipbook - Page 6
Hephzibah
Ministries
Built From the Food We Eat
God Appointed the Inclinations and Appetites4Our natural inclinations and appetites ...
were divinely appointed, and when given to man, were pure and holy. It was God9s design
that reason should rule the appetites, and that they should minister to our happiness. And
when they are regulated and controlled by a sanctified reason, they are holiness unto the
Lord.
A Subject of Divine Solicitude4The education of the Israelites included all their habits of life.
Everything that concerned their well-being was the subject of divine solicitude and came
within the province of divine law. Even in providing their food, God sought their highest
good. The manna with which He fed them in the wilderness was of a nature to promote
physical, mental, and moral strength.... Notwithstanding the hardships of their wilderness
life, there was not a feeble one in all their tribes.
Built From the Food We Eat4Our bodies are built up from the food we eat. There is a constant breaking down of the tissues of the body; every movement of every organ involves
waste, and this waste is repaired from our food. Each organ of the body requires its share of
nutrition. The brain must be supplied with its portion; the bones, muscles, and nerves demand theirs. It is a wonderful process that transforms the food into blood and uses this
blood to build up the varied parts of the body; but this process is going on continually, supplying with life and strength each nerve, muscle, and tissue.
Begin With Correct Infant Feeding4The importance of training children to right dietetic
habits can hardly be overestimated. The little ones need to learn that they eat to live, not
live to eat. The training should begin with the infant in its mother9s arms. The child should be
given food only at regular intervals, and less frequently as it grows older. It should not be
given sweets, or the food of older persons, which it is unable to digest. Care and regularity
in the feeding of infants will not only promote health, and thus tend to make them quiet
and sweet-tempered, but will lay the foundation of habits that will be a blessing to them in
after years.
Educate Tastes and Appetite4As children emerge from babyhood, great care should still
be taken in educating their tastes and appetite. Often they are permitted to eat what they
choose and when they choose, without reference to health. The pains and money so often
lavished upon unwholesome dainties lead the young to think that the highest object in life,
and that which yields the greatest amount of happiness, is to be able to indulge the appe-
tite. The result of this training is gluttony, then comes sickness....
Parents should train the appetites of their children and should not permit the use of unwholesome foods.
Ellen G. White
