The Greasy Reality of Consuming Free Fat

In Sister White’s compilation book entitled “Counsels on Diet and Foods” there is a part in Chapter 21 called “Lard and Grease.” Here are some selections from it:

Fruits, grains, and vegetables, prepared in a simple way, free from spice and grease of all kinds, make, with milk or cream, the most healthful diet.

[Please note that we now have coconut milk/cream largely available, a good replacement now that animals are diseased.]

You should keep grease out of your food. It defiles any preparation of food you may make.

The grease cooked in the food renders it difficult of digestion.

We do not think fried potatoes are healthful, for there is more or less grease or butter used in preparing them.

Eat regularly, and eat only food that is free from grease.

Grains and fruits prepared “Grains and fruits prepared free from grease, and in as natural a condition as possible, should be the food for the tables of and in as natural a condition as possible, should be the food for the tables of all who claim to be preparing for translation to heaven.

These are strong words. Have we been heeding them? I know I didn’t for many years, and my digestion suffered for it. Oh, friends, why are we not taking heed to the Testimonies that God gave to our people to prepare us for translation to heaven? We have been eating and dressing like the world! It is no wonder we have seen no great revival as of yet; we are not walking in light that God gave us well over 100 years ago! And what we eat affects our minds, for when our digestion is hindered, our brains become less efficient in order to compensate for the extra energy it takes to digest our food. And we’re not getting the nutrients out of our food that we should be getting because the oil is coating our food, preventing it from being properly digested.

Do you think that Sister White was only referring to animal grease such as lard? I used to think that. But we need to stop assuming things. Remember, she says that we should not be eating “grease of all kinds.” That means plant and animal. But in case there is still doubt in your mind as to what she meant, J.H. Kellogg, who wrote against using grease over the same time period that Sister White did. As we will see, he did not just restrict the definition to animal fats. Here he puts it very simply in answering a question that someone had:

Question: Are nut oils, cottonseed oil, and similar preparation of vegetable oils wholesome?
Answer: No. The chief objection to the use of oil, lard, tallow, butter and other forms of ‘grease’ is that they present the fat in an artificially concentrated form, in which it does not harmonize with the other elements of food while undergoing digestion in the stomach.

— Shall We Stay to Eat, 1906

The following is the first part of an article he wrote in the “Health Reformer” (a publication that many Seventh-day Adventists received at the time) on 5/1/1877 entitled “Vegetable Fats”:

Many people suppose that the great objection to fats as articles of food is found in their animal origin. This supposition is unfounded, for the essential constituents of most fats are identical, whether their origin is animal or vegetable. Nevertheless, it should be noted that fats of animal origin are likely to be contaminated with the products of disease while vegetable fats are of course wholly free from such deleterious elements. This, however, is not the great objection to the use of fats as food. The objection is not against fat, per se, but against taking it in a free state. When taken in the form in which nature presents them, enclosed in cells in such vegetable foods as maize, oatmeal, nuts, and some fruits, fats are wholesome and nutritious elements of food. It is only when separated from the other elements and taken in a free state that they become unwholesome.

When taken into the stomach in the form in which nature furnishes them, they offer no obstacle to digestion. It is only when taken as free fats that they become a means of producing disturbance of the digestive functions. When taken in their natural state, vegetable fats are likely to be taken only in such quantity as they can be digested and appropriated; but when taken in a free state, they are almost invariably taken in excess. When taken into the stomach in the form in which nature furnishes them, they offer no obstacle to digestion. It is only when taken as free fats that they become a means of producing disturbance of the digestive functions. When taken in their natural state, vegetable fats are likely to be taken only in such quantity as they can be digested and appropriated; but when taken in a free state, they are almost invariably taken in excess. It makes little or no difference, so far as the interference with digestion is concerned, whether the fat is animal or vegetable. The results of excess in quantity are also essentially the same, whichever may be the origin.

In view of these facts, the persistent efforts of individuals to discover some cheap vegetable substitute for butter and lard are painfully ludicrous.

Ellen White recommended eating the oil of olives in its whole state – that is, simply eating the olive itself; here are a couple more quotes from the same chapter we looked at earlier:

When properly prepared, olives, like nuts, supply the place of butter and flesh meats. The oil, as eaten in the olive, is far preferable to animal oil or fat. It serves as a laxative. Its use will be found beneficial to consumptives, and it is healing to an inflamed, irritated stomach.

Olives may be so prepared as to be eaten with good results at every meal. The advantages sought by the use of butter may be obtained by the eating of properly prepared olives. The oil in the olives relieves constipation; and for consumptives, and for those who have inflamed, irritated stomachs, it is better than any drug. As a food it is better than any oil coming secondhand from animals.

In several other places in her writings, she also advocates the use of olive oil in its free state for people suffering with certain conditions, but never with food – only as a special natural remedy. Also, she recommends the use of nuts and nut foods, as recorded at the beginning of the next chapter of the compilation we’ve been reading from. But she gives this disclaimer:

Nuts and nut foods are coming largely into use to take the place of flesh meats. With nuts may be combined grains, fruits, and some roots, to make foods that are healthful and nourishing. Care should be taken, however, not to use too large a proportion of nuts. Those who realize ill effects from the use of nut foods may find the difficulty removed by attending to this precaution.

Here is another statement by J.H. Kellogg, emphasizing again the replacing of grease with nuts:

It is not necessary for us to eat pork, or cottonseed oil, or rancid olive oil, or oleomargarine, or anything of that sort to get fat. We have the nuts, which may be taken either in their natural or some prepared state. The addition of nuts to the regular dietary of fruits and grains, taken in the proper way, satisfies all the requirements of nature.

— General Conference Daily Bulletin, 3/5/1899

When it comes to frying with grease, there is an additional layer to this dilemma that renders the food unhealthful: the “Maillard Reaction,” which involves “advanced glycation endproducts” (AGE’s); and the protein, sugar, and carb combo, by the way, produces glycation as well, which is why Sister White said to avoid the milk, egg, and sugar combination (and I would say vegan deserts would act similarly). We really need to avoid processed and complex foods and go to a simple, natural diet, for there are many harmful reactions that take place with rich, complex foods, or any food that is heated to high temperatures, which is common in food manufacturing. Carcinogenic compounds form and proteins become denatured. Some of the reactions are mutagenic; that means that they can alter our DNA, which may program us to be more susceptible to sin.

Without getting into the science of it, the Millard Reaction is what happens when food is cooked at high temperatures, especially when it is browned; and it can be a factor in causing many diseases. We should even be careful in toasting bread and not eating any very browned food if we want to avoid disease. So, it may be reasons such as this that raw foodists generally have better health; they are avoiding oil as well as frying. But perhaps they are lacking certain elements in nutrition that are in grains and legumes and may suffer from continually having cold food to eat, not to mention their eating of coarse vegetables (most raw vegetables), which Sister White tells us we are not to eat as they are not good for the digestion.

Those who are preparing for translation should be partaking of a plain, simple diet, for we will have to pass through a test like Daniel and his three companions had to go through with mandated false worship. Our minds and bodies have to be as much as possible in a pristine condition to make it through without for a moment making a wrong decision. And just as meat-eating impedes the mind from functioning optimally, so does the use of oils in their free form. The only exception might be adding a little oil into our breads so that they are not terribly dry and fall apart, though there may be alternatives to even this. I am even getting away from eating flax oil for the omega-3 fatty acids and instead will just eat several tablespoons of freshly ground flax seeds.

So, let us make a firm resolution to make this reform by the Holy Spirit’s power and for God’s glory.

Ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

— 1 Corinthians 6:20