The idea has been spread far and wide that the diet of the American working man, which is the richest in proteid of any race in the world, is responsible for the greater economic thrift of the American people. It is a matter of history that rich diet is always associated with prosperity, but the theory that the diet is the cause of the prosperity is an egregious error. Meat and rich foods gain a hold upon the appetite as do alcohol and narcotics. When nations or cities become wealthy, intemperance in eating is the usual result, but this in nowise indicates that a heavy consumption of food is the cause of a nation's greatness. History recites many instances of the rise and growth of a people to power and prosperity, together with the consequent adoption of excessive and luxurious habits of eating and drinking, only to be followed by physical deterioration. [Sidenote: Excessive food a waste of energy] It is not the quantity of food that is eaten, but the quantity of food that will give the greatest vitality and capacity to do things, that should determine our dietary standards. It is reasonable to assume that this amount would be the least quantity that would maintain activity without using up the food material stored in the body. All food taken in excess of the amount actually required must be cast from the body at a tremendous expense of energy. To do a given amount of work, or to add one pound of muscular tissue to the body, requires a definite quantity of energy-yielding or tissue-building material, but if more food is taken than the body can use, the excess ferments in the stomach and in the alimentary tract, producing poisonous products which are absorbed into the blood. These poisonous products cause a great number of human ills. The process of eliminating these poisons we call "dis-ease." [Sidenote: Former dietary standards cut in half] The assumption that the correct amount of food that should be taken by the body is the least quantity that will maintain normal body-functions, has been amply proved by recent scientific investigations to be correct. Many years of experience on the part of the writer have shown that to make food remedial and curative, the old dietary standards must be, roughly speaking, cut in half. TRUE FOOD REQUIREMENTS [Sidenote: Quantity of food required for various occupations]