Eating for Strength by W. M. Scott

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 24, 1908

Eating for Strength

By W. M. Scott

THE human body is constantly expending the solids, liquids, and gases of which it is composed; and hence their renewal is indispensable for the maintenance of health and life. We furnish the so-called aliments thus required in the shape of food, drink, and air, the first two being received into the system by the stomach, the last by the lungs, and thus introduced, they are applied to different purposes.

The first grand health rule laid down was that which prescribed fruits, grains, and herbs (vegetables and salads) as an important part of man’s diet. These things are both food and medicine for our bodies; and the more we rely upon them for our sustenance, the healthier we shall be.

Our food should be of good quality. Healthy blood and strong muscles can not be formed out of inferior materials. Common sense will teach us that unwholesome food must have a bad effect upon our health. “The staff of life” is bread. In its natural state the kernel of wheat contains, in about right proportions, all the elements necessary for building and repairing the body, giving energy and heat, and supplying food for brain and nerves. In removing the bran, or outer covering, some of the most important elements of the wheat are sacrificed; namely, the nitrogenous portion and the medicinal salts, both of which lie near the surface. The modern bakers’ loaf, made from highly refined white flour, can not be called a “staff;” it is often a “broken reed,” upon which many are leaning with disastrous results to their health. Put good, wholesome, well-baked loaves of Graham bread upon your tables; and then mark the improvement that will soon exhibit itself in the health of yourself and family. A handful of currants and raisins added to the flour will make a very appetizing and nourishing fruit bread, costing little, and far more wholesome than rich cakes.

Dates, raisins, currants, figs, and prunes, as well as other dried fruits, all stand very high in nourishing and healthful properties. Then comes the abundant variety of fresh fruits,—apples, oranges, grapes, plums, pears, strawberries, gooseberries, currants, etc.,—our mouths water as we think of them. All of these contain grape-sugar, a highly nutritious food element, which gives energy and heat; but the pure, distilled water which they contain, and the valuable acids and mineral salts, are of even greater value. If you suffer from constipation, try what one or two “Golden Pills,” taken in the morning before breakfast, will do for you (we refer to oranges). More of the herbs, in the form of tender green salads and vegetables generally, ought to be eaten. They contain in large measure those valuable salts and alkalies which feed our nerves, and give energy and vitality to our blood. Many persons are really suffering from “saline starvation” (of which anemia, or bloodlessness, is one symptom) through lack of these valuable salts, which we find contained in vegetables, salads, fruits, and in the whole-wheat flour, oatmeal, rye, and in the cheaper varieties of good rice. The finely polished and glossy-looking rice is not nearly so valuable for health as the cheaper “unpolished” varieties.

Three meals a day are ample for all. Late suppers are a fruitful cause of headache, coated tongue, and bilious attacks. If you feel hungry in the evening, after having partaken of three meals, try eating a few apples or oranges, or simply sipping a glass of pure cold water. Your sleep will be sweet, and you will rise refreshed and vigorous in the morning; that is, of course, provided your room is well ventilated.

An excellent way of providing your family with the very essential saline elements contained in the vegetables, is to make a thick soup, or Scotch “broth,” of various vegetables, chopped fine, a handful of rice, a cupful of lentils, and a pinch of salt. No meat will be required, as the lentils take its place. Cook slowly for two or three hours, and serve with stale bread and butter. There is ample here to constitute a good, nourishing meal, upon which hard work can be accomplished. Graham bread and butter, stewed currants, raisins, or prunes, and a glass of milk or cocoa, make an excellent breakfast or tea meal, and will build healthy bodies and give pure, red blood.

Tea is not a food. It is simply a stimulant and nerve-poison. Tea and coffee are undoubtedly common factors in bringing on an attack of the “nerves,” as well as many obstinate forms of indigestion, the tannin they contain preventing the digestion of portions of our food. If luscious, juicy fruit is taken in abundance, the desire for drinking at meals will gradually disappear, and we shall be all the healthier for it; for overloading the stomach with liquid is also a source of trouble. But drink plenty of pure, cold water between meals, allowing two or three hours to elapse after a meal, and then sipping it slowly, small quantities at a time. Drinking large quantities of cold liquids reduces the animal heat, and often results in disastrous consequences, especially when one is heated from exertion.

Do not swallow anything until you have tasted it, chewed it, and reduced it to the fluid state of milk. You will find that added enjoyment of your food, and increase in health and happiness, result from this custom.—W. M. Scott.