p. 1520 | COMMON ERRORS IN DIET by L. A. S.

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 13, 1901

COMMON ERRORS IN DIET.

By L. A. S.

THERE are two ways in which the body may become poisoned. One is by taking poison into the body; the other is by the failure of the eliminative organs to expel the poisons that are constantly being generated in the body.

People become poisoned in the first of these ways by eating improper food—food which contains poisons. All flesh foods contain the poisons that in all animal bodies, as in the human body, are constantly being formed. Decay is another source of poison in foods. An illustration of this is seen in the violent illness sometimes following the eating of fish or of shell fish. Decayed fruit is also a poisoned food. All food put up in tin cans is to be regarded with suspicion, because of the lead used in the manufacture of the cans, which is almost sure to become more or less absorbed into the contents of the can, especially when the can contains acid fruit.

It is generally understood that care must be exercised to select foods that will not be a means of introducing poison into the system; but it is not so well understood that an equal or even greater source of danger in this respect lies in the possible failure of the eliminative organs to properly perform their work of throwing poisons out of the system.

As before stated, poisons are constantly being generated in all animal bodies, even the healthiest, and these poisons must be constantly thrown off or the health of the individual will immediately suffer. These poisons are deadly, and would cause death in a few hours’ time if the eliminative organs—the skin, the kidneys, the liver, etc.—should cease their action. When any of these organs become deranged, therefore, some of the work which naturally falls to the affected organ is left undone, and the poison which should have been thrown off is absorbed into the system. Under these circumstances it is impossible for an individual to be healthy.

Aside from the injury caused by taking poisoned foods or drugs into the system, the eliminative organs may receive injury in two ways,—by being overloaded with work, or by being insufficiently nourished; in other words, by the individual’s eating too much, or eating too little. When a person overloads his stomach, although the food may be of the proper kind, some of it fails to be digested, and the result is decay, producing poisons which irritate the organs called

upon to get rid of them. In this way some of the digestive organs may become so weakened as to be unable to do even a normal amount of work, and then results that most common of ailments—dyspepsia. The dyspeptic person is continually unable to assimilate his food. Every time he eats, some of the food he takes decays, giving rise to various unpleasant symptoms, and what food he assimilates is insufficient for the demands of his body. The poisons produced by indigestion and resulting decay are carried throughout the system, and thus the evil is extended to other organs besides those of digestion.

By eating too little also, or by eating food that is not assimilated, every organ of the body may become weakened from simple starvation; and because thus weakened, the eliminative organs may fail to perform their work, and the system become full of poison. Explorer Stanley, in his book, “Darkest Africa,” mentions that the men in one division of his command which was left behind in the march across the continent, experienced the horrors of starvation; and in describing their condition when found, he says that even a scratch which under ordinary circumstances would have been unnoticeable, produced on their bodies a festering sore. This was simply because their blood was full of the poisons which the exhausted eliminative organs had been unable to throw off.

This point is worthy of more attention than is generally given it. People do not generally eat too little except from a sense of duty, but we have known individuals who had confounded a health diet with a starvation diet, and suffered accordingly. We have known people who thought it a duty to eat little, and to fast often, under the impression that this was demanded by the laws of hygiene. For fleshy persons, it is true, this course may often be highly advantageous; but for others, it may very easily lead to a consumptive’s grave.

A healthful diet is always a nourishing diet. The body must be nourished; every organ must be continually built up by a generous supply of blood, that it may be strong and able to perform its work. There are individuals who overlook this point. They would hold up their hands in horror at the thought of eating pork, but at the same time they practice dietetic errors which impair the usefulness of the digestive and eliminative organs so that their bodies become filled with poisons every bit as bad as those that are found in pork. They carefully guard against the introduction of poison from without, but forget that it is equally essential to guard against the retention of the poisons that are continually forming within.

There are some people also who starve themselves not by eating too little, but by trying to live on theory. Theory is not food. They make their food agree with the theory, regardless of whether or not it agrees with them. The Creator designed that eating should be a pleasure — that people should relish their food. If you do not relish your food, it is pretty certain your food does not relish you; in other words, does not nourish you. This is not to say that you should eat everything that you relish — far from it. But it is useless to eat things you do not relish, simply because they are theoretically the proper food. Eat food that is theoretically proper, but only such kinds as you relish, and acquire a taste for others before you attempt to make them the basis of physical health and strength.

L. A. S.