Mental Blocks

The monthly health evangelism column.

M. DOROTHEA VAN GUNDY, Nutritionist, International Nutrition Research Foundation

Coming home from a recent Arizona camp meeting, some friends and I found a barri­cade across the road a few miles west of Blythe, California. The officer asked where we were going and I answered, "Riverside, California."

"You're not going there tonight, lady," he said.
 
We were told there had been a flash flood that washed out two bridges. It was expected that the repairs to take care of traffic could not be made until the next afternoon. We had hoped to be home that night, but instead had to go back to a motel in Blythe.

This experience started me thinking about mental blocks and how they affect our progress in the field of nutrition. One of my favorite pastimes is talking to people about their food habits, likes and dislikes, as well as their ideas about food. In these discussions I find mental blocks which indicate many people cannot, or will not, make progress in maturing in this particular area. These blocks are often put up in childhood through certain conditioning ex­periences and carry over in reactions to food throughout adult life.

In the United States News of February 14, 1958, a surgeon general of the Army was quoted as saying, "The less evidence there is, the more rigid is the prejudice." This is par­ticularly true of food.

Let us take a look at just a few of the rigid mental blocks that are standing in the way of advancement in a better nutritional pro­gram. These often prevent people from enjoy­ing food as an adventure, and also give excuses to some for their lack of self-control and poor nutritional habits.

I. Are three meals a day necessary for good nutrition? Some feel that the two-meal-a-day plan is sufficient. This is a mental block that should be removed. If you would take a sur­vey in America you would find a large per­centage are on a two-meal-a-day plan, eating lunch and dinner but going without breakfast.

While attending a popular health meeting I heard the lecturer say that he had just discovered a health secret that would be worth a million dollars to his students if they would follow it. He gave this health secret such a build-up that he practically had all of us sit­ting on the edge of our seat for fear we would miss it. Then he told his audience to eat a good breakfast and a good meal at noon and omit the evening meal, or at least cut it way down —just take some broth, herb tea, or fresh fruit.

Please don't get the idea that I am advocat­ing that everybody should omit the evening meal. What I want you to do is to tear down that mental block that says omitting it is fa­natical.

2. Some people will eat anything that has raw sugar in it, or will overeat on raw sugar, thinking it is good for them. Actually, how­ever, any concentrated sweet, including honey and molasses, should be used in minimum quantities.
 
3. Another mental block that may stop many in attaining nutritional maturity is the idea that vegetable proteins are inferior to ani­mal proteins. This is not true, but is too large a subject to deal with here and will be taken up in a separate article.

There are some people who are allergic to milk and eggs, and when they are included in their menu they become ill. It is generally conceded that when a person is allergic to these foods they can, by careful planning, get adequate nutrition from a variety of other foods.

4. If a person has investigated the milk and egg supply in his locality and is not satisfied with it, and wishes to substitute foods that are not health hazards, should he be considered in the fanatical class, or is this another mental block?

We would do well to consider the following quotation from Dr. R. R. Harris, professor of nutrition, Massachusetts Institute of Technol­ogy:

Man can formulate his diet from a wide variety of foods. Good nutrition is not measured necessarily by eating prescribed quantities of rice, wheat, milk, eggs, meat, maize, and similar foodstuffs. Good nutrition results when an individual obtains ade­quate amounts of various amino acids, vitamins, minerals, and calories required to meet his needs for growth and maintenance. It does not matter whether the calcium comes from milk or from tor­tilla, whether the iron comes from meat or tam­pella, whether the niacin comes from liver or peanuts, whether the tryptophane comes from eggs or soybeans, or whether the calories come from wheat or rice, so long as these nutrients are available.

5. Another false concept people have con­cerning food is that if it is good for one it isn't supposed to taste good—the little girl summed up this theory when she said, "The gooder it is for you the worser it tastes." What many fail to realize is that nine times out of ten the first time you come in contact with a new food it will be disliked. Repeated contacts with the new flavor, however, will develop a liking for it. Just think of how many experiences you needed with olives and avocados before you devel­oped a fondness for them.

Many people think the best food for them is the food they like best whenever they want it and in the quantity they wish. Appetite given a free rein is a poor guide.

The fear of being considered fanatical keeps many from taking care of their human ma­chine, especially when it comes to eating. Did you ever hear of a Cadillac owner being con­sidered fanatical when he gave his car the best possible care? Strange how most of us take better care of our automobile than we do of our most priceless possession—our health.

Now that we have mentioned the word "fa­natic" let us just look at the definitions. "One who is intemperately zealous, or wildly ex­travagant about a certain idea." In relation to food, a "food fanatic" would be one who is intemperately zealous over some particular food or food program. Intemperance has no place in a good health program.

God has established certain laws governing the human body and has given specific instruc­tion for healthful living. It is a well-balanced program. What we eat or how or when we eat should not receive more prominence than other health habits such as rest, exercise, and other phases of health. Actually it makes little or no difference what you or I think, about what or how we should eat; but it does make a great deal of difference what God says about it. He has given in the Bible the great principles of conduct governing the care of the body. These same principles are enlarged upon and given in more detail in the writings of Ellen G. White.

There is so much ignorance, propaganda, and prejudice concerning food that it is diffi­cult for one to know what is truth.

Some people who are extremely careful about what they eat look so unhealthy that others often get the idea that anyone following a good nutritional program will not look healthy and well. This is not true. Following such a pro­gram should make a person look and feel bet­ter, as the three Hebrews demonstrated to King Nebuchadnezzar after ten days.

It is true that many people who are careful in nutritional matters are anything but healthy looking. Investigation will show in many of these cases that they were sick to begin with, and because of their health program they have lived years beyond their normal life expectancy.

Some think that by improving their nutri­tional program they cannot possibly enjoy food flavors as much as formerly. This also is a mental block that should be removed. Ellen G. White says:

God has furnished man with abundant means for the gratification of natural appetite. He has spread before him, in the products of the earth, a bounti­ful variety of food that is palatable to the taste and nutritious to the system. Of these our benevo­lent heavenly Father says that we may "freely eat." We may enjoy the fruits, the vegetables, the grains, without doing violence to the laws of our being. These articles, prepared in the most simple and natural manner, will nourish the body, and pre­serve its natural vigor.—Testimonies, vol. 3, p. 50.

We have considered only a very few men­tal blocks in regard to food and nutrition. Our whole program should be studied with an open mind. It is time for us to put up our mental shades, take down our road blocks, and study the information God has given us. In future articles I hope to give factual information that will be helpful to you and your family in at­taining nutritional maturity, and that will help you combat the misinformation you are meeting

M. DOROTHEA VAN GUNDY, Nutritionist, International Nutrition Research Foundation

April 1959

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