system 26

THE MINOR SOURCES OF HEALTH

What I have hitherto rccommcnded and included in " My System ' m these pages. namely lung. skin, and museular gymnastics in conjunc tion with fresk air. sunlight. and water, are the mam sources of health. If they be drawn upon daily, less attentioncan be devoted to the minor sources. Although they have no place within the fiftecn minutes’ limit. I will nevertheless briefly State my own cxpericnce with regard to them.

Suitable Diet

Thcre arc morę people whoslowly eat themselves to death than there are who die of hunger. So do not always eat as much as you thm you can stuff into you. espeeially at night. and do not believe that your hunger is always real : the fceiing may be due to soine fermentation in the stoma li A great deal of the food will probably pass through undigesied. Tlńs wears out your digestue organs before their time. Vou can see froin this how foolish the wise man’s words wcre when hc said : “ A man is what he eats.” They ought rather to run . " What a man is depcnds on how he eats.” or " how he digests.”

Leave off bolting your food ; do not wash every mouthful down with a drink ; and leave off reading the newspaper at mcal-times, thus forgetting to masticate properly. Still you must not fancy that you can live to be eighty sirnply by chewing everv mouthful thirty-six times. If you feel unwell lt wili most often be because vour stornach is overloaded. and in that case you will feel better for skipping a meal. or for fasting for a day and drinking nothing but water. The plainest meal will then taste delicious

When your digestion has been linigorated through physical exercise you can safely eat almost everv kind of food, but avoid vinegar. strong spices, and condiments. and remember that wholemeal bread. vegetablesand fruit, gi\ eone morestrength and less gout than roast meat and beef steak. Feople who eat too much meat often surter from tamted breath. How often have I not secn digesting the so-called ” boat-race steaks” exhaust a crew to such an extont that they came in far behind us others. włio had only eaten porndge with milk and rye bread with butr#»r. I Uave scen big, strong Italians. whosc farę consisted only of dry I'rcnch rolls and thin coffee. work much harder and with greator endurancc than, for instance. the Danish workinen. wlio are fed on meat and strong beer.

Richly prepared meat, highly seasoned dishes, fooil with vinegar ^such as beetrooti, sardines. lobsters, strong cheese, and so forth are poison to the stomachs of young people under sixteen. The same applies to such drinks as winę, strong beer, coffee and tea. Even grown-up people would do well to remember that *' strong drink makes weak men.' But I am not a faddist. I believe in eating and drinking