A Call to Return
113. The Lord intends to bring His people back to live upon simple fruits, vegetables, and grains.... God provided fruit in its natural state for our first parents.—Extracts from Unpublished Testimonies in Regard to Flesh Foods, 5, 6, 1890.CD 81.4
114. God is working in behalf of His people. He does not desire them to be without resources. He is bringing them back to the diet originally given to man. Their diet is to consist of the foods made from the materials He has provided. The materials principally used in these foods will be fruits and grains and nuts, but various roots will also be used.—Testimonies for the Church 7:125, 126, 1902 CD 81.5
115. Again and again I have been shown that God is bringing His people back to His original design, that is, not to subsist upon the flesh of dead animals.He would have us teach people a better way.... CD 82.1
If meat is discarded, if the taste is not educated in that direction, if a liking for fruits and grains is encouraged, it will soon be as God in the beginning designed it should be. No meat will be used by His people.—Letter 3, 1884 CD 82.2
[Israel Brought Back to the Original Diet—644]
[God’s Purpose in Restricting Israel’s Diet—641, 643, 644]
Part 2—The Simple Diet
An Aid to Quick Perception
116. If ever there was a time when the diet should be of the most simple kind, it is now.—Testimonies for the Church 2:352, 1869 CD 82.3
117. God wants men to cultivate force of character.Those who are merely timeservers are not the ones who will receive a rich reward by and by. He wants those who labor in His cause to be men of keen feeling and quick perception. They should be temperate in eating; rich and luxurious food should find no place upon their tables; and when the brain is constantly taxed, and there is a lack of physical exercise, they should eat sparingly, even of plain food.Daniel’s clearness of mind and firmness of purpose, his strength of intellect in acquiring knowledge, were due in a great degree to the plainness of his diet, in connection with his life of prayer—Testimonies for the Church 4:515, 516, 1880 CD 82.4
[Simple Diet Chosen by Daniel—33, 34, 241, 242]
118. My dear friends, instead of taking a course to baffle disease, you are petting it and yielding to its power. You should avoid the use of drugs, and carefully observe the laws of health. If you regard your life, you should eat plain food, prepared in the simplest manner, and take more physical exercise. Each member of the family needs the benefits of health reform. But drugging should be forever abandoned; for while it does not cure any malady, it enfeebles the system, making it more susceptible to disease.—Testimonies for the Church 5:311, 1885 CD 82.5
Saving Much Suffering
119. You need to carry out the health reform in your life; to deny yourself and eat and drink to the glory of God. Abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. You need to practice temperance in all things. Here is a cross which you have shunned.To confine yourself to a simple diet, which will preserve you in the best of condition of health, is a task to you. Had you lived up to the light which heaven has permitted to shine upon your pathway, much suffering might have been saved your family.Your own course of action has brought the sure result. While you continue in this course, God will not come into your family, and especially bless you, and work a miracle to save your family from suffering. A plain diet, free from spices, and flesh meats, and grease of all kinds, would prove a blessing to you, and would save your wife a great amount of suffering, grief, and despondence....—Testimonies for the Church 2:45, 46, 1868 CD
