Week 115: Counsels on Diet and Foods

Ellen G. White, Counsels on Diet and Foods (1946)

The Menzies Collection contains numerous books that were gifted to Sir Robert for his birthday (20 December). Many are touching, some are playful, and others are quite philosophical. Counsels on Diet at Foods seems to defy such categorisation.

At first one might assume that the gifting of a diet book meant that someone was implying that Menzies was overweight – and though he was an avid walker there is little doubt that 18 years’ worth of prime ministerial engagements most definitely took a toll on his waistline. Such a book might have been given in jest, or it might reflect a genuine concern that Menzies make changes to prolong his life.

However, Counsels on Diet at Foods is no ordinary diet book. Its author Ellen White was the co-founder of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, and claimed to have experienced over 2000 visions from God during her lifetime. Her views on what people should eat and drink were about as eccentric (and humourless) as one might expect from such a figure – though she did live to 87 at a time when life expectancies were much shorter, so maybe she was onto something. While some of her dietary advice has stood the test of time and is still upheld by vegetarians and intermittent fasters, for the most part, she saw variety and pleasure in food as a ‘gateway drug’ to other forms of sin. Notably, she was involved in the Sanatorium movement, and employed John Harvey Kellogg, who would invent corn flakes while hoping that the plainness of the food would help to prevent masturbation.

Her advice included:

‘The less exciting the food, the better’
That people should abstain from alcohol, tobacco, coffee, tea, meat, and spices
That ‘all mixed and complicated foods are injurious to the health of human beings’
That ‘condiments, so frequently used by those of the world, are ruinous to digestion’
That people should ideally only eat two meals in a day, and nothing in between ‘not even an apple’
That ‘soft or liquid food are less wholesome than dry foods, which require thorough mastication’
That you shouldn’t eat fruit and vegetables in the same meal
That you shouldn’t drink hot drinks, except as medicine, because this will enfeeble the organs
That you should never use baking soda or powder in cooking because it causes inflammation
That bread is healthier when it is two or three days old
That the use of vinegar in salad dressing causes the food to putrefy in your stomach rather than digest
That ‘in the families of children who are given to sensual habits [masturbation], eggs should not be used’
That ‘cheese should never be introduced into the stomach’
That meat is ‘second hand food’ since the animal has eaten the grains and vegetables that you would be better off eating yourself