I am convinced that four things are killing the American people~too much food, bad food, wrong combinations of food, and anxiety and worry which stem from an absence of faith and trust and wisdom that comes from God.
Daniel purposed in his heart not to defile himself, first of all, by eating the wrong thing and then by drinking. Daniel 1:8
The wise man said in Proverbs 23:21, "For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty." In that verse, he yoked the glutton~the man who eats too much~with the drunkard.
The Psalmist said that man is wonderfully and fearfully made. Man has never made a machine with a motor that would run 969 years like the heart of Methuselah. The human body is the only machine that will repair itself if given the proper cooperation. Man is not a mechanical machine, but a living organism and has innate wisdom that no other part of God's creation has been able to exercise.
The birds and chickens and other fowl change from summer to winter clothes without having to go shopping. The ducks and geese have a built-in radar that guides them safely to the South to spend the winter. The dog becomes his own doctor as he puts himself on a fast except for maybe some green grass and licks his bleeding wounds with the healing salve that comes through his tongue. A dog's tongue is a very valuable member of his body, not only to be used to bark with, to taste with, to eat with, but it's his first-aid kit and also his air-conditioner. When you see a dog panting, he has his air-conditioner going, apart from which he would smother to death.
Physically, you can only be what you eat or at least what you assimilate and use of that which goes into your body. Doesn't it seem strange to you that the average parent knows more about the physical needs of the chicken in the pen, the hog in the lot, or the dog in the house than he does the needs of his own children? The average man knows more about the needs of his automobile than he does about the physical needs of his own child. America is the sickest nation she has ever been with heart trouble, cancer, leukemia, poliomylitis, hepatitis, nervous disorders, and mental maladies. I believe much of it can be laid at the door of improper diet.
In the first place, who started the three meals a day? Most people feel that they are religiously bound to eat three squares a day, with coffee breaks and all sorts of supplements in between. God only fed Elijah twice a day and it probably wasn't too much of a ration because it was brought by a raven which of course couldn't have had too big a baggage department. And yet, Elijah was a specimen of tremendous physical health who could outrun the king's horses.
Find out what your body needs and then in spite of the cost and criticism, stay with it to live longer and stronger. All of us are victims of a depraved appetite. We were born with that. That's the reason a baby will eat dirt, trash, roaches, pins, tacks~and sometimes the reason a baby does that is because he is craving something that he is not getting that his little body needs.
For thirty-five years, I lived (or rather died) on potatoes, meat, gravy, and refined sweets, my main excuse being~"I don't like it." Therefore, I turned down the fresh lettuce, the green beans, the english peas, and many other delightful and healthful things that came straight out of our garden. As a result, I was the sickest boy of the three in our family and baffled the doctors and was treated for everything except the right thing, namely, an improper diet.
Now don't get the idea in the first few sentences of this book that I am suggesting that you starve yourself to death or go on some unhappy diet. No sir, I'm enjoying eating now more than I ever have before, even though the last ten days, as I write this book, I have eaten only one cooked meal. But, it doesn't mean that I haven't enjoyed eating figs, dates, raisins, almonds, pecans, honey, apples, grapes, grapefruit, oranges, cashew butter, almond butter, and feel fine and my weight is practically the same. If you have a normal body, you will have no weight problem if you'll eat right.
Let us return to the simple things like God gives them. Even though we are all aware of the fact that man has poisoned the water system, the ground, and polluted the air, I still believe in spite of the terrible conditions upon us that with the right effort, man can have a large measure of health. The food situation is sort of like the Gospel. It's been decorated, advertised, and glamorized, but at the same time, it's been refined and de-lifed. It looks good, tastes good, and lasts longer without spoiling and the American people are sort of like the little bird when the mamma bird comes home~he just throws his mouth wide open and aparently it doesn't make any difference whether a beetle or a bumblebee goes down his throat.
The cookstove is the murderer in your house and after our foods are poisoned, killed, cooked, fried, baked, boiled, stewed, mashed, hashed, and seasoned, we don't get much of the original good that was in them when they were harvested. it would be a wonderful start for you to take one day a week just to fast and if necessary, drink a little unsweetened fruit juice or eat a piece of fruit. The body is about ninety per-cent liquid and therefore out to have a lot of liquids, but liquids of the right kind.
The average American eats meat for breakfast, dinner, and supper. When you think of breakfast, ordinarily one thinks of bacon, eggs, toast, jelly, and coffee, or either a sweet roll and coffee. Now then you say, "Well, what am I going to do if I don't eat meat three times a day?" Well, just remember that egg yolks, cottage cheese (especially when it is home-made), avocados, nuts, and the right kind of cheese are very good meat substitutes.
Now, if I haven't lost my readers, in just a moment, I want to give you some practical suggestions about what you can eat. But in order to allay your fears that you'll starve to death or become too weak to work, let me remind you that I can run a mile right now without stopping at an age of nearly forty-six. Now, if you want to be healthy, don't be a pincushion for a hypodermic needle. Don't let your system stay saturated with chemicals that are foreign to the human body. Eat natural foods and use natural means for healing in case you become sick, such as fasting, the Word of God and prayer, and whatever liquids are necessary to cleanse your system.
For meat, eat fish, fowl, wild game, avocado, egg yolks, nuts, cheese, and cottage cheese, sunflower seeds, and a minimum of other meats. Drink a lot of juices~always unsweetened~forty-five minutes to an hour before the meal, or a couple of hours after the meal. Everyone ought to have a vegetable juicer. You say, "that's too much money." And yet, how much does one trip to the hospital cost when you have illness in your family.
Now let me bear a personal testimony about how I begin my day with a great big juicy verse or a chapter of the Word of God and then, before reading a number of chapters and entering into a season of prayer, I usually drink a big glass of grapefruit juice. If I cannot get grapefruit, a big glass of lime or lemon water and if no juice is available, I will drink a big glass of water. However, I usually see that juice is available. In my plane or car, I carry an icebox with all arrangements made for fruits and juices.
For breakfast, sometimes I will have chopped dates, figs, raisins, a banana, a piece of whole wheat toast or other good whole grain bread and honey, along with some nuts or sunflower seed sprinkled over the fruit. Or, I may have a bowl of steel cut oats or whole grain cereal or other health food cereal that still has the life in it. Many times, in grape season, I have grapes, pears, apples, or fresh peaches, with nuts. Or, I may have dried apples or apricots that have been properly soaked, mixed with some cashew butter or almond butter and honey, with nuts and various seeds, which make a delicious breakfast. And occasionally, if I eat an egg or maybe two or three eggs, I eat the yolks steamed slowly in butter in a covered pan or either poached, with toast and honey, or with toast and Fig Pep, which is a product made from black mission figs. Or during fruit season, I may have a cantalope or a watermelon. Sometimes I put a little cream over my cereal and over the dates, figs, and raisins or preferably goat milk. Raw milk, of course, is better because it still has the culture and the life.
It would be well if you had the opportunity and the place to keep a good milk goat and a cow and your own chickens and feed them properly in order to have the right kind of food. Also, it would be wonderful if you had a little garden spot and would organically grow, without commercial fertilizers and poisons, your own vegetables and some of your fruits.
The television set has done plenty to damage the health of the people as they sit hour after hour and especially has it damaged the health of the little children because instead of playing in the back yard or on the soft ball lot, they are sitting around watching television and many times in positions that are not good for developing the body. Excuse me for this, but I thought of it and I might as well say it~the Lord gave us one seat and two feet, therefore, He must intend for us to walk and stand more than He does for us to sit.
Now, let me summarize the thing that I've been trying to say~eat natural foods as much as possible, don't over-eat, stay away from things that may not be particularly harmful or kill you right away, but simply do not have any contribution to make to your over-all health picture. Paul says there are some things that may not be the sin, but they are weights and he suggested we lay them aside. And most people are trying to run the race of life weighted down with too much luggage.
AMEN!!
