For Beginners

[Dugald T Lewis MD]

Dear Friends,

Joan raised a good point. What do we tell beginners? I mean those people who still eat meat, who use animal products loosely, who
pay no attention to diet as a major contributor to health. There has to be a way to get started on the road to optimal temple preparation for the Holy Spirit.  

What is the best way to start?

Sincerly
Dugald

[Suzanne]

Good question, Dr. Dugald. What really helped me to change my diet and start living a healthier lifestyle was to really read up on the subject. Believe me, I read, read, and read some more. And what I found was just plain old scarry. I never thought that I would get to the place where I found it repulsive to eat any kind of flesh, fish or fowl. When I'm with friends or family who are eating meat I picture in my mind the live animal that produced that article of meat. Was it healthy? or did they have to remove diseased parts or whatever. Did the animal suffer greatly in the process? And on and on it goes. No thank you, I cannot indulge.

Perhaps a good way to start on the vegetarian lifestyle is to have one day per week where no meat products are served. Collect tasty meatless recipes and experiment. Gradually increase it to 2 days a week and so on, all the time reading, studying and getting info from the internet, vegetarian cookbooks and church members. Is there a good vegetarian cook in your church. Ask if he/she will come over and help you, or go to her place and get some pointers.

We have some marvelous vegetarian cooks in our church who make "veggie steaks" from scratch--the best I ever tasted!

And don't forget to ask the Lord to lead and guide you in your endeavors.

These are just a few pointers. Please!!!! Let's hear from others as we help each other on the road to better health.

Sr. Suzanne  

[Liane H]

I remember when I first became an Adventist my mother reminding me of something I said years before when she had brought up about eating unclean foods.  She was Jewish.

I told her the day I gave up my pork chops would be the day I would die.

Well she realized I had become an Adventist, she asked me if I ate pork or shell fish anymore.  I said no.  She said will you gave it up and your still alive, reminding me of that previous quote.

I answered her, no, I did die, I died in Christ.

But it took me 25 years before I could stop eating flesh meat. I started with red meat first, even years before I knew of Mad Cow Disease, but still ate chicken and fish.

Now I am a total vegetarian and I could never go back to eating meat again. I am like Suzanne, all I can think of is that some poor animal was put through all that suffering so that I could enjoy a few minutes of food.  What I consume in perhaps 15 minutes amounted to hours of suffering by that animal.  From being hearded, thrown in cages, transported in trucks going 60 to 75 miles an hour.  Then hung upside down and having it's legs tied, then as they are flaping their wings trying to get upright, they take their neck and then cut it off.

Oh God have mercy on us, what we have done to our animal kingdom for our own selfish needs.

Most of us think of changing our eating habits for our own needs, what is good for us, but do we ever think of those poor animals and what they go through.

It never mattered before, I knew, but it was when God planted in my heart this pain for these aniamls, then and only then did I see the change come for me now.  

Now what was good enough for Adam and Eve in the garden is good enough for me now.  I feel better, taste food now and enjoy my life knowing that not a single animal has had to suffer because of me.

Liane