Question: Doctor, do you have any ad vice for the wives of young men just coming into the ministry?
Answer: I surely do. Hippocrates is credited with saying, "Diseases do not come to men suddenly but are collected and pile up bit by bit." Oftentimes warning flags begin to fly during the twenties while on the other hand some men sail along without a flicker of pain or distress until they reach their fifties. We might say that the years between twenty and forty are the critical years. During this time, while all seems bright and there is never a thought of impending danger, the coronary and cerebral arteries gradually fill up due to excesses of fats, sugars, and total calories. Then between forty and sixty the hazards that piled up earlier and passed unrecognized strike fiercely with strokes and heart attacks. The way you wives feed your husbands, the environment you provide for them, and the peace you generate in your homes, vitally affects their destinies. They may live and enjoy abundant health in their seventies, eighties, and even nineties, but, to a great extent, the key rests in your hands.
Question: Do you really believe that the way a man lives has much to do with how long he lives? Isn't heredity the main factor?
Answer: Heredity is important. There isn't much you or your husband can do to change it. Nevertheless, you are responsible from here on, and fortunately you both can do something about it. Dr. Page, of Cleveland, Ohio, described his formula of good living: "[It] consists, among other things of good weight control, regular exercise, disciplined life, participation in those things you can influence and avoidance of those you cannot, and living with a purpose and without fear as though you would live forever."—Your Heart Has Nine Lives, p. 140. When Ellen G. White was asked, "What course shall I take to best preserve my health?" she replied, "Cease to transgress the laws of your being; cease to gratify a depraved appetite; eat simple food; dress healthfully, which will require modest simplicity; work healthfully; and you will not be sick."—Counsels on Health, p. 37.
Question: What about jogging? Is it good? If so how can I encourage my husband to get into it?
Answer: Jogging is probably one of the best exercises a person can enjoy. Of course, before your husband starts in with it he should have a thorough physical examination. His physician will indicate at what level of jogging he can appropriately begin and how fast he should step up the program. Jogging is an ideal exercise: it is free, and it requires no special equipment or facilities. One can start the moment he leaves his door; thus, it is readily available. All can do it and it is fun. It can be a family sport; it thrives on companionship. If you feel the need of getting more exercise or if your waistline has begun to stretch, try jogging too. Encourage your husband to join you. The challenge will jar him into it. As you jog along together you'll both feel the thrill of new life surging through your vessels. Make it a game.
Question: My husband does very well at home, but I notice he gains weight on every trip. And then he barely loses half of that ill-gotten gain before he leaves on another trip. How can he survive entertainment without gaining weight?
Answer: One is rarely dined three times daily. If he knows that he is going to be feasted he might consider dropping either the meal before or the one after. It's the total calories eaten over a given period of time that count.
Question: Many ministers do not like to eat before they preach. What can be recommended for our evangelists who hold night meetings and do not get home until ten o'clock or later?
Answer: They have a problem. They will find that they get along better, that they can speak more freely and their minds are clearer if they refrain from eating late at night. The Iowa University Breakfast Studies showed that maximal efficiency is obtained by eating 25 per cent of the day's caloric intake at breakfast. Food eaten in the morning and at noon is burned, that eaten at night is stored in the form of fat. We have been counseled, "Most people en joy better health while eating two meals a day than three; others, under their existing circumstances, may require something to eat at suppertime; but this meal should be very light."—Counsels on Health, p. 156.
Question: You mention tension as being a factor in health. What can a wife do to prevent tension?
Answer: It's usually the little things that either make or break a man. Tension results from an accumulation of little things. Here is where a wife can make her greatest contribution to the success of her husband. Get up in the morning in time to help him get off to work or to his appointment. Don't delay him by making him wait for a clean shirt, for his breakfast, or anything else. Maintain a spirit of calm without hustle or confusion. Anticipate his needs and possible problems, then help him solve them before they happen.
Question: That's asking a lot, Doctor. Anything else?
Answer: Most wives will not admit it, but there is one characteristic many possess that can actually wreck their husbands, and that is nagging. Good wives do not mean to be critical, but remember, very few husbands see life through their wives' eyes and consequently do not react the same way. Failing to accept husbands as they are, trying to remake them by correcting and reproving them on the slightest provocation—that's nagging. Husbands do not like it. It irritates them, creates tension, raises blood pressure, gives them ulcers, and not too infrequently breaks their hearts.
Question: Sounds bad. Is nagging so serious?
Answer: Yes. Health of body, mind, and soul are dependent to a great extent upon the pleasantries of the home. Solomon said, as you know, "Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones" (Prov. 16:24). And just to show how desirable a happy home actually is he further stated, "It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and an angry woman" (Prov. 21:19). Straight talk, isn't it?
Question: Frequently we hear that a person must include meat in his diet occasionally in order to maintain proper nutrition. Is this correct?
Answer: No. Meat is not necessary for adequate protein nutrition. This fact has been proved conclusively. Take such statements as these: "By combining different proteins in appropriate ways, vegetable proteins cannot be distinguished nutrition ally from those of animal origin."—Proceedings of the sixth International Congress on Nutrition. "The proteins provided by suitable mixtures of vegetable origin enable children to grow no less well than children provided with milk and other animal proteins."—Lancet, 2:956, Nov. 29, 1959. And further, "The biological value of single meals containing either rice and beans, or corn and beans, compared favor ably with the same meal containing milk or meat."—American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 13:243, 1963. And then again, "A reasonably chosen plant diet, supplemented with a fair amount of dairy products, with or without eggs, is apparently adequate for every nutritional requirement of all age groups."—Journal of American Dietetic Association, 45:541, 1964. A final word comes from N. W. Pirie and published in Science, 152:1705, 1966, "The (leaf) protein is better nutritionally than most seed proteins, as good as many animal proteins and can be presented at the table in palatable forms."
Experience has shown that vegetable proteins contain all of the growth factors found in meat and that in many respects these are superior. It has also been found that growth and maturation in vegetable protein-fed animals is accompanied by a lessened tendency to develop degenerative diseases and senility. The messenger of the Lord in Testimonies, volume 9, page 159, says: "If meat eating was ever healthful, it is not safe now. Cancers, tumors, and pulmonary diseases are largely caused by meat eating."
Question: You have referred to Mrs. White as an authority on health matters. I'm glad to hear this. What is the attitude of scientists of the world toward her work?
Answer: In commenting on her writings, the late Clive McCay, Ph.D., professor of nutrition at Cornell University, said, "When one reads such works by Mrs. White he is impressed by the correctness of her teachings in the light of modern nutritional science." The thought has been expressed by a number of writers that Mrs. White was a hundred years ahead of her time.
Question: Our husbands work hard and when they get home at night they are tired. I've heard a lot about this exercise business but I just do not have the heart to urge my husband to exercise. Don't you think rest does more good when a man is exhausted?
Answer: I see your point, but do not forget, recreational activities of all kinds, including vigorous physical activity, help to build muscles, improve the circulation, and increase endurance. Exercise does more than this. It helps the lungs to in crease their ability to take in more air and thus more effectively utilize inhaled oxygen, which is essential to the well-being of all body cells. Adequate rest is essential but optimal health depends upon three basic factors: adequate nutrition, rest, and exercise. Abundant living depends upon a balance of these three.
Question: Your description intrigues me —food, rest, and exercise. Is it true that the more my husband eats the more he must exercise?
Answer: Yes. We measure the fuel value of food in terms of calories. It takes fuel to do work, and therefore, the more a per son exercises, the more he needs to eat if he expects to maintain the same weight level. The problem with most ministers is that they eat more than they burn and consequently they gain weight. Don't tempt your husband with a chocolate malt, it contains around five hundred calories. To burn those five hundred calories he needs to run fast for a half hour and cover five miles during those thirty minutes. That's hard work and a high penalty to pay. Running at the rate of ten miles per hour burns approximately fifteen calories per minute, or nine hundred calories per hour. In other words, your husband would have to run at top speed for four hours to burn up one pound of fat!
Question: Just how important is a vacation? What can the minister's wife do if her husband feels he is too busy to take one?
Answer: An annual vacation should be considered a must. Denominational policy provides for it. The American Medical Association has given this counsel, "The vacation, which used to be a luxury limited to the few, is now among the best health prescriptions for the many." Minister-husbands need vacations. By carefully suggesting ideas and plans wives should help develop a program that will get their husbands and families away from the routine duties of a demanding job and into the great out-of-doors, away from stresses and heavy responsibilities.
Question: Some of my friends feel that when their husbands arrive home their duty is to prepare a snack for them regardless of the time or its relationship to regular meals. How about it?
Answer: Eating between meals is always bad unless your husband has an ulcer or is on a frequent-feeding schedule ordered by his physician. Ellen G. White states: "Regularity in eating is very important for health of body and serenity of mind. Never should a morsel of food pass the lips between meals."—Counsels on Health, p. 118. "After the regular meal is eaten, the stomach should be allowed to rest for five hours. ... In this interval the stomach will perform its work, and will then be in a condition to receive more food."—Counsels on Diet and Food, p. 179.
By means of X-ray it is possible to determine the emptying time of the stomach after a regular meal. Experiments have shown that a breakfast of cereal and cream, bread and butter, cooked fruit, and an egg can be digested and the stomach empty in four hours. A few days after this was proven by X-ray the same meal was repeated but with various other foods eaten two hours later. These were the results:
Undigested food lies in the stomach, sours, and adversely affects the entire system. Sour stomachs make sour personalities. Sour ministers do not make sweet husbands.
Question: Tell me more about this calorie business and how it affects our husbands. Isn't it true that we eat to live, and therefore food is essential? Why must we be so concerned about it as long as we can get good food?
Answer: You are absolutely right—food is essential—but you know, even a good thing can be overdone. It has been said that if calories were money, most preachers would be rich. Most of our good men do well with their calorie incomes, but they tend to be stingy in spending them. The excess doesn't add to their worth, only to their girth. I know you hate to ask them to go hungry. They probably wouldn't like it if you did. So why don't you compromise? Feed them just enough of the right sort of food to keep them from leaving the table hungry and then encourage them to spend a few more calories. A nice brisk walk, around fifteen minutes of it every day, will burn up an extra seventy-five calories. Just that should account for eight pounds in a year. Mayer has said, "To avoid obesity, we must step up our activity, or else be mildly or acutely hungry all our lives in our efforts at weight control."—Your Heart Has Nine Lives, p. 103.
Food is important but exercise is even more so. Mrs. White has left this excellent counsel, "We are more dependent upon the air we breathe than upon the food we eat. Men and women, young and old, who desire health, and who would enjoy active life, should remember that they cannot have these without a good circulation. Whatever their business and inclinations, they should make up their minds to exercise in the open air as much as they can."— Counsels on Health, p. 173.
