The No Breakfast Plan and the Fasting-CureDewey, Edward Hooker
Science
The No Breakfast Plan and the Fasting-Cure
Dewey, Edward Hooker
Fasting; Nutrition
For merely _practical purposes_, all that is necessary to know about the
digestive process is that by a peculiar arrangement of the muscle forces
of the stomach the food is made to revolve in such a way as to wipe the
exuding digestive juice from the walls; that, therefore, the finer the
division of the solids by mastication the more rapid the solution to the
absorbing condition. That meat in finer particles will sooner dissolve
than meat in large, solid masses is clearly seen.
It will be recalled that digestive conditions are really soul
conditions, as if there were actual wires extending from the very depths
of the soul itself to each individual gland, with power to ebb and flow
as the mental condition shall determine.
It may be presumed that _power_ to digest is the power to revolve food
in the stomach and the power to generate the gastric juice as determined
by the power of the brain, the glands themselves not holding their juice
in mere reserve, but power to generate in reserve. Thus it is seen that
food in excess is in every way exhaustive as the immediate result.
These may be called the subjective conditions of digestion. Now let us
consider some of the objective conditions from the standpoint of moral
science. What the sunshine of a warm day is to all growing things on the
earth, so is that shining seen in other faces that reaches the depths of
the human soul with brightness and life.
_Overeating_ is so universal from the general ignorance of practical
physiology that few stomachs have a time for a full clearing with the
needed rest before the time of another filling arrives. It is therefore
a matter of sheer necessity not only to attain and maintain the utmost
possible cheer of soul, but it is also a necessity to have cheer in
other souls with whom relations are intimate.
As a matter of extraneous _digestive aid_, a cheerful soul in a family
is an abiding source of digestive energy to all in social contact. It
affects the digestive energy of all, as the breeze the fire, as the
clearing sky the low spirits from the gloom of chill and fogs. The eyes
that do not glisten with higher life, the lines upon the face that are
not alive with cheerful, kindly emotions, the frowning look, the word
that cuts deeply, have their repressive effects upon digestive energy
within their remorseless reach.
The _moral science_ of digestive energy is a new study; it is not known
as a factor in the process of digestion; but the time is coming when
cheer of soul will become a study as of one of the finer arts, and then
human homes will not be so much like lesser lunatic asylums without the
restraining hands of a wise superintendent.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account