Undoubtedly the United States is the most prodigal of nations. Approximately sixty per cent of its population is now urban. Simple rural life is practically gone; and those artificial and extravagant standards of the city which destroy body, mind, and soul have taken its place. "Fullness of bread and abundance of idleness," two of the reasons assigned by the Scriptures for the downfall of Sodom, are conditions which to-day are ruining American civilization. No other nation has ever indulged such extravagance and prodigality as has the United States. We search the world over for table delicacies. American inventive genius has made it possible to have foods from all parts of the world, both in season and out of season. The arts of canning and preserving and the making of factory foods have loaded our cupboard shelves with eatables of which our fathers never dreamed. While this interchange has its advantages, and we should appreciate the privilege of eating the wholesome products of other countries, yet when easy methods of transportation lead people to limit their productions to money crops, forsaking the raising of their own food, a wrong principle has been introduced. The benefit to be derived from this variety of imported food is neutralized by the extravagant habits and tastes thus cultivated. _Economy of Food Elements_ Man is made from the dust of the earth; and by divine law, his body continues to build and rebuild from chemically organized soil. To be intelligent, food economists require a knowledge of the four food elements,--proteins, carbohydrates, fats, and minerals,--and the relation each sustains to the human body. Later chapters contain valuable instruction in these respects. It is poor economy to allow valuable mineral salts to be removed from flour by milling, from rice by polishing, and from vegetables by wrong methods of cooking. These minerals are necessary for the development of the child, for the preservation of teeth and bones, for high efficiency in the nervous system, and for a proper functioning of the various organs in the body. There is no economy in buying denatured grain, even though it is put up in cartons, at ten times the price of the natural grain. "Put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite." Stop the immense waste of strength, energy, money, and time due to mere gratification of appetite. Stop preparing food that is intended simply to coax the appetite to the point where eating becomes gluttony. In the words of an eminent authority, "Most men would attain better health and greater efficiency if they would reduce their rations by twenty-five per cent or more." The celebrated Dr. Osler tells us that "we eat too much after forty years of age," and he advises every wise man to restrict his eating as he grows older, "and at last descend out of life as he ascended into it, even into a child's diet." _Overeating_