Fletcherism: What It Is; Or, How I Became Young at SixtyFletcher, Horace
Science
Fletcherism: What It Is; Or, How I Became Young at Sixty
Fletcher, Horace
Mastication; Nutrition
Without beginning this discipline of the muscular equipment at
the right point and in the right manner, no solid structure of
Efficiency-Building can be secured. Any amount of indigestion, or
unnecessary strain put upon metabolism, interferes with the smooth
working of the organism in the same way that an infinitesimal weight
put at the tip end of the long arm of a lever multiplies the burden of
resistance at the short end many, many fold.
Therefore, the Crux of Fletcherism is found in first training the
muscular and mental apparatus to proceed with thorough deliberation
relative to every thing taken into the body; for from this intake, and
especially from the manner of the handling of this material along the
line of the alimentary canal, come efficiency or inefficiency.
It is first necessary to know what you want the muscles to habituate
themselves to doing in connection with nutrition. They must learn
to know what constitutes a true appetite, in contradistinction to
indefiniteness of want or desire. The muscles will soon learn to know
that real hunger (body need) is not expressed by any uncomfortable
feelings below the guillotine line. Only in the head, where the
senses are all bunched together for the most important team-work, is
honest hunger sensed. We may rightly add to the list of the senses,
Appetite, and trust it with confidence to tell us what the body can use
to advantage of the foods available at the time. That the foods are
appetizing is the only recommendation necessary to a set of muscles
trained to treat them as Nature requires when they enter the laboratory
of the mouth.
Connected with the training of the mouth-muscle outfit, there is the
one standing order. Challenge everything applying for entrance, whether
by special invitation or in the way of surprise, by testing it for
taste-acceptability at the tip of the tongue. Then keep on tasting and
testing, with reverential appreciation of the gustatory delight there
is in it, in the full knowledge that both digestion and assimilation,
which are the prime necessities of nutrition, are healthfully
stimulated by accentuated enjoyment.
It is not necessary to dwell intensively on sensual enjoyment of
the material being automatically handled by the methodical muscles.
The pleasant sense sensations surrounding taste may serve as an
accompaniment to agreeable conversation, to the delight of beauty in
any form, to flowers, to music, to graceful and vivacious femininity,
or to any sort of charm, with added strength given to the effect on
wholesome nutrition.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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