Counseling Sheet

Agatha M. Thrash, M.D.
Preventive Medicine

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With the assistance of your Lifestyle Counselor, write out your going-home plan, including a sample daily schedule, which will help you to incorporate into your "life at home" those things you have learned here and ideas that will help you to achieve and maintain your goals.

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NUTRITION

• Vegetables. Eat freely.
• Fruits, generously.
• Grains, moderately.
• Nuts and seeds, sparingly.
• Avoid oils, margarine, shortening, greases, and fried foods as much as possible.
• Omit all animal products: meat, milk, cheese, eggs, butter, yogurt, ice cream.
• Vegetarianism is best. However, if meat and eggs are eaten, they should be overcooked to try to kill germs, and blotted to remove excess fat. Limit use, in accordance with the recommendations of the American Heart Association, to two to five times a week, except for objectionable meats such as pork, ham, bacon, sausage, hot dogs, hamburger, canned meat spreads, pressed meats, and canned composite meats such as Spam, which should all be permanently eliminated.
• Use mostly whole grain cereals, bread, pastas.
• Use legumes five or more times weekly.
• Use honey, molasses, barley malt, maple syrup, and turbinado sugar, instead of white sugar, brown sugar, and confectioner's sugar; but use these all sparingly.
• Dried fruits—use moderately.
• Two to three meals per day. Two are better. Never snack. Not a sip or a taste or a morsel between meals.
• Have a set time for meals. Establish regularity and regimentation, as far as meal schedule is concerned. The digestive organs should be stimulated only at certain specified intervals, so that they can maintain their rhythmical pattern. Therefore, mealtimes should be very regular, with as little variation as possible, and nothing eaten between meals.
• Read labels for irritants and harmful foods and additives such as vinegar, monosodium glutamate, pepper (black, cayenne, hot), baking powder, soda (sodium bicarbonate), ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, all spices, animal products (whey, sodium caseinate, gelatin, mono- and diglycerides), mace, and lactose.
• Omit one to three meals weekly, unless underweight.
• Eat a lot of your fruits and vegetables raw.
• Eat slowly and chew well.
• Cook grains for three hours at least. Use Crock-Pots.
• There are cheeses, butters, and sauces made from nuts, potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, onions, or other vegetables and seasonings that provide delightful creams, spreads, and dips for vegetables, pastas, and breads. Simple and inexpensive dishes can be made from appropriate recipes. (See below for recommended cookbooks!)
• Cheese is not the best food. The putrefactive process results in the production of amines, ammonia, irritating fatty acids (butyric, caproic, caprylic, etc.), and lactic acid. These are all waste products, which cause irritation to the nerves and gastrointestinal tract. Tyramine, one of the toxic amines produced in cheese may cause migraine headaches. Certain of the amines can interact with the nitrates present in the stomach to form nitrosamine, a cancer-producing agent. An intolerance to lactose, the chief carbohydrate of cheese and milk, is probably the most common food sensitivity in America. Rennet is used in the curdling of milk for cheese manufacture. Most rennet is obtained from the whole stomach lining of calves, kids, or pigs, and a very small percentage from vegetable sources.
• Omit liquid foods at meals, except on rare occasions. Liquid foods are pops, juices, water-based soups, and other beverages.
• Use frozen fruit blended with a little fruit juice as an ice-cream substitute. Investigate for recipes for nondairy "ice-creams." At health food stores (and now, at many grocery stores), you may order soy or rice-based ice cream substitutes.
• Shop at health food stores and produce markets.
• Put five hours between the end of one meal and the beginning of the next. Eat a substantial breakfast and lunch; supper, if eaten, should be only whole grains or fruit. We have found that the two meal plan allows the body the greatest opportunity for recovery from the heavy work of digestion. There should be at least five hours between meals. Do not vary mealtime by so much as a few minutes. Take no fluids with meals. Chew well.
• Never use soft drinks, coffees, teas, medicines, or chocolate. Use herb teas and cereal beverages.
• Use: Country Life Something Better cookbook, Of These Ye May Freely Eat cookbook, and Eat for Strength cookbook for starters. All three contain excellent reading material, as well.
• Do not use white bread, buns, melba toast, crackers and saltines, cakes, cookies, white macaroni, spaghetti, white rice, bolted corn meal, cream of wheat, and other refined grain products. Make your own whole grain melba toast and melba waffles. Crackers, cakes, and cookies are unhealthful when made with baking soda or powder, eggs, milk, shortening, artificial flavorings and colorings, and sugar. They can, however, be made healthfully. The whole grain pastas require a little more cooking, but with a bit of experience the cook handles these just as well as the white varieties.
• Milk products are not recommended. Milk sensitivity is the commonest form of food sensitivity in the United States. Many symptoms that have obscure or unknown causes have their origin in the use of milk. There is invariably a stomach problem in persons with the hypoglycemic syndrome. Leaving off milk will benefit some of these individuals more than they could believe. Recommended are nut milks, soy milk made from soybeans or flour (not commercial soy milks which are heavily sweetened), cheeses made from nuts, flours, or vegetables, and sour and sweet creams made from special recipes. These milks may be used sparingly in cooking and in limited quantities with meals.
• If used, high protein meat substitutes (meat analogs) are best used as a temporary measure, while making the change to the vegetarian diet. They are more healthful than meats, but not as good as the unconcentrated, unrefined foods from which these products were obtained. The meat substitutes are generally manufactured from soybeans and grains. It should be emphasized that all concentrated foods should be used sparingly, mainly as seasonings.
• It is best to learn to eat foods in their natural, unsweetened state as much as possible. One should cultivate the habit of leaving off sweeteners. If one does risk the use of substitutes, they should be used in small amounts, not more than the equivalent of three teaspoons of sugar daily.
• Do not eat bread within 24 hours of the baking time. Time is required to ensure that the yeast is deactivated and the alcohol is evaporated away.
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EXERCISE

• Swim.
• Split wood.
• Cycle—stationary or three-wheeled bikes, etc.
• Walk. Walk. Walk.
• Jog on padded surfaces, as appropriate.
• Jump on rebounders.
• Garden.
• Do lawn care.
• Be consistent: daily, progressively, and religiously!
• Time exercises after meals, which is especially beneficial.
• Continue for at least 20 minutes and up to 10 miles walking daily.
• Massage for passive exercise.
• Do aerobics.
• Do stretching exercises.

Exercise is your best friend. Exercise produces brain substances (endorphins) that "doeth good like a medicine." Twenty minutes per day is minimal. One hour daily is better, but on certain days three to five hours may be needed. Do not get sunburned, and do not make your muscles sore with too much exercise. Both of these are unhealthful. Gradually build to a good exercise level, without ever developing sore muscles. Exercise helps keep your appetite under control, neutralizes stress, lowers blood cholesterol, promotes digestion, and normalizes blood sugar. Make it your companion. Breathe deeply while exercising, and meditate on nature as you work out. By active exercise in the open air every day the liver, kidneys, and lungs also will be strengthened to perform their work (2T 533, HL 133). The studied habit of shunning the air and avoiding exercise closes the pores, the little mouths through which the body breathes, making it impossible to throw off impurities through that channel. The burden of labor is thrown upon the liver, lungs, kidneys, etc., and these internal organs are compelled to do the work of the skin (2T 524, HL 135). When oxygen is cut off from normal cells they are damaged to the extent that they are no longer able to burn foodstuffs down to carbon dioxide and water, because oxygen is needed for this reaction. The cells then have to depend upon the energy obtained from metabolizing sugar to lactic acid, which does not supply adequate energy to maintain normal structure and function. As a result, the cell turns cancerous (Sunlight Could Save Your Life, Dr. Kime, MD, MS 96). "Morning exercise, walking in the free invigorating air of heaven is the surest safeguard against colds, coughs, congestions of the brain and lungs... and a hundred other diseases" (HL 903). Walk up to eight miles daily!‍

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WATER

• Drink 6-10 cups of water between meals each day.
• All beverage herb teas are acceptable: lemon grass, lemon mint, etc. Postum, Pero, and other coffee substitutes are also acceptable, but some of these types of beverages have molasses or sugar beet residues in them. Check labels carefully. Remember that tea and coffee should be light drinks, not hearty and rich or nourishing. The only nutrient is water. All the rest is coloring, flavoring, or sweetening.
• Do not use sweeteners in your teas. They are medicinal and may not appeal to your taste. The herbs were given to us by our Creator for healing.
• A daily bath is essential—personal hygiene is a must. Wear a clean change of clothes daily.
• Clean and neat living conditions and fastidious kitchen facilities are important.
• Water is the best liquid to cleanse the tissues (HL 673). Drunk freely, it helps to supply the necessities of the system and assists nature to resist disease (MH 237). Pure water to drink and fresh air to breathe invigorate the vital organs, purify the blood, and help nature in her task of overcoming the bad conditions of the system (Water Seminar Syllabus, Loma Linda University, 100:2). A good sign: Drink water till urine is pale.‍

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SUNSHINE

• A 20-60 minute sunbath daily would be healthful. Expose at least face and arms.
• Sunlight increases the production of lymphocytes. The lymphocyte is also capable of producing a substance called interferon. Interferon is effective against several different kinds of cancer including carcinoma, sarcoma, and leukemia. This fact spurred the American Cancer Society to spend 2 million dollars to purchase interferon from Finland for experimental use. Dr. Hans Strander of Finland discovered that he could give interferon to terminal bone cancer patients and double the number of long-term, disease-free survivors. Our own bodies' lymphocytes manufacture this wonderful interferon that can help so dramatically in cancer and viral infections. Sunlight is a great stimulus for increased lymphocyte production and thereby increases the production of interferon (Dr. Kime MD, MS, Sunlight Could Save Your Life 176, 177).
• Sunlight generates vitamin D (Dr. Kime MD, MS 141).
• Sunlight destroys bilirubin (Dr. Kime MD, MS 265).
• Blood pressure dropped an average of 6 mm Hg systolic and 8 mm Hg diastolic after a single sunlight treatment (Dr. Kime MD, MS 67).
• Two hours after sunlight treatment, a 13% drop in blood cholesterol occurred (Dr. Kime MD, MS 53).
• "To the sick it is worth more than silver and gold to lie in the sunshine or in the shade of the trees" (7T 85).

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TEMPERANCE

• God will supply power and help to overcome once and for all: Overeating, snacking between meals, indulgence of unhealthful habits (caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, and marijuana), purging, prescription or non-prescription drug usage, masturbation, and all other improper expressions of sexuality.
• True temperance teaches us to dispense entirely with everything hurtful and to use judiciously that which is healthful (Te 138).
• Drugs never heal; they only change the features of the disease (Letter 116).

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AIR

• Fresh, outdoor air. Avoid smog, motor exhaust, hydrocarbons, and tobacco smoke.
• Keep correct posture.
• Keep sleeping rooms well aired, being careful not to sleep in a draft.
• Spend more time out-of-doors.
• Take 20 deep breaths outdoors or near an open window 2-4 times per day.
• Blow up balloons to encourage oxygenation of tissues.
• Hike.
• Spend time out of cities as much as possible.
• Remember that prayer is the breath of the soul.
• A group of rats with cancer were allowed to breathe charged (outdoor) air, while an equal number breathed common indoor air. After one month the cancer in the rats breathing the indoor air was twice the size of the cancer in the rats breathing the charged air (Dr. Kime MD, MS 192, 193).

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REST

• Reinstate regularity, routine, order, and predictability of daily activities.
• Make simplicity and quietness of living the goal.
• Stop overworking.
• Quit your overly stressful job and whittle various involvements out of your life.
• Prioritize your life with much prayer.
• Keep the Sabbath holy. You need a day of Rest. God made the Sabbath for man and specially blesses those who commune with Him that day by spending every possible moment in Bible reading, meditation, prayer, study of spiritual lessons in nature, and innocent family pleasures.
• Rise and retire at set times.
• Omit TV, Rock n Roll, novels, love stories, idle talk, frivolity, and other exciting but unnecessary activities.
• Learn to live simply, spending less money on yourself, more to help others.
• Refuse to defend yourself or argue, worry, or complain.
• If you are not sleeping at night, do not nap during the afternoon. Do not sleep in late and take breakfast off schedule. A nap before lunch can be taken instead.
• If you work afternoon or night shifts, change job assignments, if at all possible.
• Make sure you have one day off each week besides Sabbath. Use this day for personal chores and private projects; this is not selfish. Your first duty to God and to others is that of self-development.
• Plan outings, campouts, canoeing, hikes, and weekends away for rest in nature and a change of pace from the daily round of activities.

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TRUST IN DIVINE POWER

• Re-evaluate your relationship to God.
• Begin each day or end each day with a quiet hour or so alone with God in prayer and Bible reading.
• Keep your joys (thanks), your wants (needs), your sorrows (sins), your cares, and your fears before God.
• Talk to Him all day. Practice His presence.
• Read Desire of Ages, Ministry of Healing, Health and Happiness, and Counsels on Diet and Foods by Ellen G. White.
• Resume or continue morning and evening family devotions.
• Become a Christian anew every day.
• Accept the circumstances of daily life, even if they are not what you may have planned or chosen.
• Pray for God's will to be done and do not insist on healing.