LESSON 29:
Better Nutrition
1: "Can your wife cook?" "Well, sure!" I hear you men say to yourselves. "She knows how to cook rice, at least, any woman does.
2: But cooking and meal-planning are actually not as simple as brides have often thought they would be. It has been said that women spend the first years of their lives wondering whom they will marry. And then they spend the remaining years wondering what to prepare for dinner!
3: Yes, the painful truth is that you women soon realize that meals even for two are complicated by food likes and dislikes, by food costs, by the time required for planning, buying and cooking, to say nothing of the little matter of washing the dishes after every meal! The fact is, men, that you eat three meals a day, each lasting from 10 minutes to an hour, 365 days each year, and that your wife has not only your likes and dislikes to think of but those of the entire family as well. Such are the cooking responsibilities of a wife!
4: Now here are some hard facts:
(1) Good cooks are few! Many, many of you mothers and wives need to take lessons in cooking so that you can set before your family well-prepared, nutritious, nicely served meals.
(2) The knowledge of food preparation is one of the strongest foundations in attaining good health, for nine-tenths of our ills spring from wrong eating habits.
(3) The one who understands the art of properly preparing food, and who uses this knowledge, is of more worth than those engaged in any other line of work. This talent is closely connected with life and health.
5: In every human being there is a strong drive for food. Hunger is a normal part of life that you have from birth till death. And when you stop to think that your bodies, the bones, soft tissues, blood, brain, nails, teeth, hair, every part of you, is made up of the food that you eat, you cannot help realizing the importance of properly using the food that our Creator has so bountifully and graciously given. So, anyone who truly values life will be concerned about the food he eats. And cooking is a science and an art that every woman has the capacity to learn and appreciate.
6: Now let us consider the basic needs of the body. First we need heat and energy. If only you could actually look at what is going on inside your body you would see that each of the trillions of cells that make up YOU is actually a busy factory that operates every second of every minute of every hour of every day from the day you are born till you die.
7: From what does your body get the materials to build, operate, and protect these factories? From the food you eat. And remember:No one food contains all the materials those factories need! Also remember:natural food, before refining, contains many materials needed by your busy factories. For example, milk is considered to be a more or less complete food. But if you try to live on milk alone, you will soon have many problems! You need variety and balance.
8: We usually think of rice as a starchy, or energy rich food, and it is. But unpolished rice has more than 30 other very important elements that your body needs! When you eat polished rice your body is robbed of so many good things, but there are still a few elements left besides the fuel, or starch. There is some protein, vitamins, and minerals. However, when you eat polished rice, your body needs even more of other natural, unrefined foods as you will learn later on. The same is true of white bread or flour, instead of whole-grain bread or flour.
9: Now you should know the simple, basic needs of these factories of yours. First of all, they need fuel just as a car needs gas. So, you should know which are fuel or energy rich foods, and you should be sure to have one or two kinds at each meal.
10: We mentioned that we are composed of trillions of cells. Did you know, however, that you actually started from the union of only 2 cells? Those two multiplied and multiplied until you were born. How did that marvelous growth take place? It was largely due to the building materials in the food your mother ate. Your building foods are very important as long as you live. Normal growth from conception to maturity, and the continual process of building new cells that goes on all through life depends on the quality of building foods you get.
11: These are our protein-rich foods. You should have at least two or three servings from this group. They include such foods as beans, nuts, whole grains and seeds. These are the building foods, and remember that adults as well as children need these every day. Children, and those who work very hard physically, need a little more of these building foods than do adults. We can be very thankful for providing the foods we need for our bodies.
12: For example, when a car stops running, why? There must be trouble. Is it out of gas? No, the tank is full. Maybe we should check the battery terminals. That's it. Now just tighten it properly, and the motor will run nicely. Maybe you wonder why we mention this. It was such a small thing all right, but enough to paralyze the whole car, wasn't it? You know, your body is just like that car. It may have plenty of fuel and building materials, but if it is lacking in those tiny substances, we call minerals and vitamins, its efficiency is greatly affected. These are your body protectors and regulators. We get them by eating different kinds of fruits and vegetables.
13: This group of foods is the most colorful of the three groups. I am sure that God made them this way to tempt our appetites and make sure we get enough of those essential vitamins and minerals. It is true that the first and the second groups contain many of these substances, but the foods that have the richest supply are the fruits and vegetables. So, remember to always include some fruits and vegetables in each of your meals every day.
14: Now we have briefly looked at the "Big Three" of our diets. First of all the energy foods, then the building food, and lastly the protective foods. Of course, each group also has some of the other two groups in it.
15: You may be asking, 'Why all this emphasis on diet? Does it really matter that much? Can't I just eat what I want as long as I get filled up and feel satisfied?" Paul wrote, "whether therefore ye eat or drink . . do all to the glory of God." Friends, I think you can see that you are what you eat! If you want to have true happiness, you must be as healthy as possible. Health depends so much on what you eat. Health and happiness vitally affect our homes. Do you want to have a happy marriage? Do you want a happy home? Then wives, ladies, learn to cook wholesome, balanced meals and you will contribute much to making marriage a lot of fun.
16: It was God who started a home on earth. Adam and Eve were the first parents. They were put into a beautiful garden home. There were all kinds of fruits their hearts could desire. Eve was made from one of Adam's ribs, from a bone in his side. Why was she not made from a bone from a leg or from the head? God wanted them both to be helpmates for one another, to be equal. The wife was not to rule, nor to be a servant to her husband.
17: They were to work in the garden and thereby get physical exercise which is so essential for human life. Work is one of God's great blessings. This was a really happy family.
18: The family circle is a sacred circle and no third person should be allowed to come in because it will cause a breach of love and happiness. Husband and wife are to stay together, plan together, and work together. They should be one.
19: One day Eve strayed away from her husband, and admiring the beauties of Eden went farther and farther away from her husband. Before she realized it, she found herself near the forbidden tree. Suddenly she heard a voice. When she looked up it was a beautiful serpent speaking to her from the tree. You know the rest of the story. Think of the chaos, sufferings, and, sorrow brought into this world by just one wrong step. When Satan sees a happy family, he tries his utmost to break it. So, it is very, very essential that a family stay together.
20: Husband and wife are the foundation of an ideal happy home. The children generally take the characters of their own parents. A smoker, for example, will have smoking children. A liar will inculcate in the minds of his children this poison of lying. Saintly parents will have saintly children. In other words, the parents have to be what they want their children to be.
21: A story is told of a couple who were celebrating their first marriage anniversary. Both had planned secretly to present a gift to the other. Each wanted to give a gift the other most wanted. The day came quickly. The morning broke and there was the mutual exchange of gifts. The husband, in order to buy for his wife a comb, which she had greatly admired, had sold his pocket watch. And the wife had sold her hair from off her head to buy her husband a chain he liked very much for his pocket watch. Having opened their gifts they realized what each had done. Tears of joy rolled down their cheeks.
22: The secret of love and happiness is in serving others. The husband trying to please his wife and the wife trying to please her husband. All selfishness is put aside. Love stands supreme. Then when they have children added to their family, there will be joy in this home.
23: God planned it this way. A family should have no more children than they can feed, clothe and educate. This is an ideal family. Health of the family must be given proper consideration.
24: The Bible has some wonderful counsels for husbands and wives and children showing to each one his or her responsibility. We will read some of them. We will begin with the parents. "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husband as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body." Ephesians 5:22, 23. "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it .. So ought men also to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself." Ephesians 5: 25:28.
25: "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honour thy father and thy mother. . That it may be well with thee and thou mayest live long on the earth." Ephesians 6:1.3. "Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old:' Proverbs 2322. "Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath; but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." Ephesians 6:4. "Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6.
26: The Word of God has so many instructions for us. Let us read them and ask God to help us to follow them and then ours will be a home where love dwells. Jesus is coming back soon and He will take only those families where there is love. God is love. Where there is no love, there is no God. Jesus should be the head of every family. God wants every member in a family to be saved in His kingdom. Let us strive for it. If we submit to Him, He will help us make a happy home which will be ready to be taken to heaven when Jesus comes.
Here is additional information about family and children:
"Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." :Ephesians 6:4.
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do His commandments." Psalm 111:10.
"And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." Deuteronomy 6:6:7.
"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6.
