Just between George E. Vandeman's first series of meetings in Pittsburgh, and the second series, he launched a better health week. This was comprised of two main features—several talks by a doctor over the week end, and a four-day cooking school during the week.
Arrangements had been made for Dr. Wayne McFarland, of the General Conference Medical Department, to speak on Friday and Sunday nights to the church members, new converts, and interested people who attended the evangelistic services in Soldiers' and Sailors' Memorial Hall. He also talked at the workers' meeting (West Pennsylvania Conference) on Sunday afternoon. After the week-end evangelistic meetings Miss Bess Ninaj, R.N., Bible instructor at the Washington Sanitarium, conducted a cooking school each day, Monday through Thursday.
At the Friday night meeting, to introduce better health week, Dr. McFarland spoke on "Fear, Worry, and Resentment," and how to conquer them. These and other destructive emotions have put many a man into his grave before his body normally gave out. They affect the stomach, intestinal tract, and blood pressure. Nothing in the doctor's medicine bag can cure such ills. We must find peace of mind and health of body by trusting in God and obeying His laws.
On Sunday night there was a combination lecture by the doctor and the evangelist. The doctor's subject was "The Relation of Diet to Intelligence and Personality Quotients," or "Food and Mentality." Among other things he spoke of the importance of eating an adequate breakfast to start the day. "Breakfast is the key meal of the day. Get enough under your belt to keep under the disposition. You can't eat enough of any kind or kinds of food to make up for breakfast."
Thus was carried out the counsel of God's messenger that it is the Lord's plan for physicians well versed in the Bible to work with ministers laboring in the cities, and aid in giving as a whole the harmonious message of warning to the world. Truly, good health and religion blend together.
Opportunity was given the large audience to enroll in a free correspondence course of eighteen health lessons, and more than three hundred responded. Between two and three hundred women signed up for the cooking and nutrition school which was to start the next day. At first it was feared that there would not be room enough to seat the large group in the studio which had been arranged for, but no one had to be turned away. The auditorium seated approximately two hundred people, and on the first night every seat was taken. The attendance varied. The last class period was in the afternoon. The attendance dropped considerably, perhaps because so many women were employed during the day.
The cooking school was held in the home arts studio of Rosenbaums, one of the leading department stores in Pittsburgh. The director of the studio was the daughter-in-law of a Seventh-day Adventist, and she offered all her facilities free to the evangelistic company.
At one end was the model kitchen, fully equipped with gas stove, cabinets, sinks, tables, refrigerator with deep freeze, and cooking utensils. Several tables were set up just below and to the front of this model kitchen. On these tables were displays of various packaged foods, fresh vegetables, and health food products. On one table various cookbooks were displayed and placed on sale. Almost seventy dollars' worth were sold in two nights.
A door to the right of the model kitchen opened into a large auxiliary kitchen, where, unseen by the audience, several women from the church were busy preparing samples in larger quantities of the recipes being demonstrated in the model kitchen in view of all. Each day there was a health lecture as well as a food demonstration, after which either the evangelist or his associate gave thanks for the food, and samples were passed out.
Miss Ninaj in white uniform was assisted by two other nurses, also in uniform, in the demonstrations. She usually started her lecture with a Bible text or some pertinent quotation. Mimeographed lessons and recipes were Prepared and given out each of the four days. These were three to four pages in length, and covered the lecture and daily demonstrations well.
General Program for Four Days
LESSON I.—In general, during the first class (Monday night) the body's needs were considered, under five groups of foods—proteins, fats, carbohydrates, minerals, and vitamins. Lists of food sources for each group were given, both from the platform and in the lesson which was passed around. This mimeographed material also included a "scientific yardstick," a daily meal-planning pattern, and several protein recipes (gluten cutlets, gluten gravy, savory eggs, potpie, and lentil loaf).
Emphasis was placed on proteins, fats, and carbohydrates in this first lecture. Protein dishes were demonstrated at the request of the evangelist, for he felt there was need for instruction on the positive side as well as the negative in regard to meat eating. Several good protein foods were in evidence on the tables in front of the audience, and these were pointed out by the speaker (milk, eggs, peas, beans, lentils, cottage cheese, grains, nuts). Ten per cent of the diet should be protein.
LESSON 2.—After a brief review of the previous lesson, Tuesday evening was devoted to minerals. A list of the chemical elements contained in the body was given, with their percentages. Calcium, phosphorus, iron, and iodine are the elements most likely to be lacking. A comprehensive list of the food sources for these four elements was given in the mimeographed lesson for the day, also vegetable-salad recipes rich in minerals. Vegetable-soup recipes were given out later.
Mention was made of the value of contrast and variety in color, texture, and plan in meals. We should always have a supply of fresh vegetables and fruits on hand, because these are good sources of minerals and vitamins.
A prize cookbook had been offered to the lady who listed the highest number of vegetables. A few listed as high as eighty, and one list was in the nineties. One enterprising woman brought an encyclopedia of vegetables. The longest list was 247 (114 leafy, 59 root, 74 fruit).
LESSON 3.—On Wednesday night further emphasis was given to protein in the diet—building and repair foods. High-protein foods were listed under legumes, nuts, animal and dairy products, cereals, and meats. (Fruits and vegetables are low-protein foods.) Then the question was considered, Is flesh food a necessity? Various scientific sources and proofs were quoted to show that it is not. Leviticus II and Deuteronomy 14 were cited from the Bible as listing clean and unclean meats. The speaker also described complete and incomplete proteins, and spoke of the relatively low cost of nonftsh dishes as compared with meats. Additional protein recipes were given out for garbanzo and carrot loaf, chopletburger, gluten roast, and gluten potpie.
LESSON 4.—On Thursday it was necessary to have the lesson in the afternoon instead of the evening. Vitamins were considered at this meeting. Excellent and good sources of the various vitamins (A, B complex, C, D, E, and K) were listed in the mimeographed lesson for the day.
Recipes were given for fruit salads and fruit drinks. Other health drinks were listed (soy milk, Postum, Soy Koff, cereal coffee, malted milk). The speaker showed that coffee and tea are definitely not foods. They are stimulating in effect, but depressing in their aftereffects.
On the last day of the cooking school our group was invited to participate in an informal fifteen-minute radio broadcast called "Meet the Mrs." This came just before the cooking school in the Home Arts Studio, and the class was invited to come early so as to be there for this feature. The director of the program interviewed Miss Ninaj and Richard Barron, a young evangelist associated with Elder Vandeman. These two had been notified previously that they could ask any questions or make any statements they wished by way of guiding the trend of thought in the program.
Thus they were able to bring out facts of interest regarding our chain of sanitariums in North America, our health food companies, and vegetarian cafeterias, as well as putting in a hit of free publicity regarding the Vandeman Bible lectures being conducted in the city. They emphasized that the objective of the cooking school was to teach women ways and means of preparing a healthful, economical diet. Just before the program went off the air the announcer interviewed several women in the audience, asking them how they had enjoyed the cooking school, and enthusiastic comments were made.
(The substance of lesson 1, together with some of the recipes, will appear in a later issue Of THE MINISTRY.)
The following cookbooks, charts, and other aids on nutrition are available:
Nutrition Lessons
Home Health Education Service Tracts (set of twelve lessons, with questions on cooking and nutrition), Pacific Press, 3.5 cents a set; $1.3o a hundred.
Cookbooks
Homemakers' Cookbook and Guide to Nutrition, Review and Herald, r946, $7.50.
Recipes With Supplement, Washington Sanitarium, compiled by Myrta Cornor.
Esther L. Gardner, Tasty Table Treats, 1947. Stirring Passages, Home Economics Club of Walla Walla, Pacific Press.
Taste Teasers, South Lancaster Dorcas Society, Box 357, South Lancaster, Mass., $1.5o.
Our Community Exchange of Favorite Recipes, Emmanuel Missionary College, $1.00 and $1.5o. Health food company recipe books.
Books and Pamphlets
G. K. Abbott, M.D., The Balanced Diet, Recipes and Menus for Meatless Meals, Pacific Press.
"Meatless Meals and Food Conservation" (4-page reprint), Review and Herald, $11.5o a thousand.
Henry C. Sherman, The Science of Nutrition, Columbia University Press, 1943.
White, E. G., Counsels On Diet and Foods.
Charts
"Conserving Minerals and Vitamins" (chart), Life and Health office, Takoma Park 12, D.C. (so- cents each ; less in quantities).
"Our Daily Food Needs" (large colored chart, free), General Conference Medical Department, Takoma Park 12, D.C.
