Maintaining Health (Formerly Health and Efficiency)Alsaker, Rasmus Larssen
Science
Maintaining Health (Formerly Health and Efficiency)
Alsaker, Rasmus Larssen
Diet; Hygiene
The efficient body is clean internally. An unclean skin is bad. A foul
alimentary tract is worse. But the worst of all is a foul condition of
all the tissues, including the blood-stream, a condition in which much
of the body's waste is stored up, instead of being excreted.
If such a condition can not be remedied through moderation and
simplicity in eating, the only thing that will prove of value is
temporary abstinence.
It would be an easy matter to enumerate many long fasts, such as that of
Dr. Tanner, who proved to an astonished country that fasting for a month
or more is not fatal, but on the contrary may be beneficial. Or we could
cite cases like the fasts carried on by classes under the direction of
Bernarr Macfadden. Or we could refer to the experiments of Professors
Fisher and Chittenden of Yale.
However, we will only look into one more case, that of Dr. I. J. Eales,
whose fast created considerable interest several years ago. The doctor
was too heavy, so he decided to take a fast to reduce his weight, also
for scientific purposes. For thirty days he lived on nothing but water
with an occasional glass of lemonade and one cup of coffee. At the end
of thirty days he broke his fast on a glass of malted milk.
The doctor worked hard during all this period, losing weight all the
time, being thirty pounds lighter at the end of his fast than at the
beginning. However, he did not lose strength, being able to do as much
work and lift as heavy weights at the end of the fast as at the
beginning. Anyone who is much over weight can with benefit do as the
doctor did, for the body will use the stored up fat to produce heat and
energy. This fast is fully detailed in Dr. Eales' book called
Healthology.
Fasting is the quickest way to produce internal cleanliness, which is
health. When the system is clean the cravings, longings and appetites
are not so strong as when the body is full of poisons. For this reason a
fast is the best way to destroy the cravings for tobacco, coffee, tea,
alcohol and other habit-forming drugs. If, after the fast is over, the
individual lives moderately and simply, and is fully determined not to
return to the use of these drugs, a permanent cure will be the reward.
However, it is very easy to drift back into the old habits. A permanent
cure requires that there be no compromise, no saying, "I shall do it
this time, but never again." Once the old habit is resumed, it is almost
certain to be continued.
CHAPTER XXVI.
ATTITUDE OF PARENT TOWARD CHILD.
Healthy, happy children are the greatest of all rewards. All parents can
have such children, and it is a duty they owe themselves, the children
and the race. It is a most pleasant duty, for the returns are far
greater than the cost.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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