p. 14 | As He Eateth, so Is He by D. H. Kress, M.D.

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Feb 17, 1909

As He Eateth, so Is He

By D. H. Kress, M.D.

By D. H. Kress, M.D., Medical Supt. of Washington Sanitarium, Washington, D. C.

IN the minds of many observing men and women there exists little doubt that a very intimate relation exists between what man eats and drinks and what he is. From my own observations during the past twenty years, I have again and again been forced to recognize that there is truth in the old German adage, "As he eateth, so is he." So thoroly am I convinced of this, that on determining on short acquaintance what a man is, either physically or morally, I rely more on observing what he eats and drinks, than upon a physical examination, or on the way he may speak or deport himself while in my presence.

A friend of mine in answer to the salutation "How are you?" replied, "I am well; don't you think so? Look at me." Altho he looked robust and the picture of health, I replied, "You may feel well and look well, but in order for me to say you are well, I would have to know something of what you eat and drink."

The beer-drinker under the influence of his drink feels well and looks well, but he is not well. Let pneumonia, cholera, typhoid fever, or some other germ disease, fasten upon him, and his case is almost hopeless. He may have a red face and an abundance of tissue, but it is inferior in quality. He may be good-natured, but his good nature is not constant. Let some difficulty arise and his good nature disappears. The beer-drinker is not well, either physically or morally, altho he may appear so.

Food has as great an influence on the health and disposition of an individual as drink. No man can be in health who has a sour stomach, and no one can have a sour stomach and a sweet, amiable disposition at the same time.

Sydney Smith, many years ago in a letter to Arthur Kingslake, said: "Character, talents, and virtues, are powerfully affected by beef, mutton, pie-crust, and rich soup. I have often thought," he added, "I could feed or starve men into many virtues and vices and affect them more powerfully with my instruments of cookery than Timotheus could do formerly with his lyre. Frequently it is that those persons whom God has joined together in matrimony, ill-cooked joints and badly boiled potatoes have put asunder."

The matter of diet is already receiving more attention by the medical profession. Many obscure diseases of the past are now recognized to be due to auto-intoxication or intestinal infection resulting from dietetic errors. The noted Dr. Arthur Blythe, in his authoritative manual on "Health and Diet," wrote: "There are diets by which diseases may be prevented and diseases cured; there are diets which make the skin glossy, the frame vigorous, and the spirits joyous; others which mar the face with wrinkles, speckle the body with eruptions, and make the form lean, hollow, and prematurely old."

Is it not time for those who are engaged in the work of moral reform to recognize that the same intimate relation which exists between the diet and the health also exists between the diet and the morals? If it is necessary to give attention to diet in order to promote health, it is equally important to give attention to diet in order to elevate the morals.

When this scientific fact is appreciated as it should, and will be, much more will be said from the pulpits in regard to the need of eating and drinking to the glory of God. Undoubtedly many a crime and many a sin has been committed on the impulse of the moment because the brain was at the time under the narcotic influence of poisons generated in the stomach and intestines. Serious errors in judgment are frequently due to indigestion, resulting from the quality and quantity of food eaten. Many a poor man has, no doubt, in the past served double sentence while others have not been sentenced who should have been; simply because the judge was suffering from dyspepsia and auto-intoxication.

The impatience of the mother, the unreasonable disposition of the father, the rebellious nature of the children, may frequently with little difficulty find an explanation in the food served them by a well-meaning but ignorant cook. The humiliating confession on the part of parents was anciently made "this our son is stubborn and rebellious; he is a glutton and a drunkard."

Dr. Wiley, our government chemist, evidently realizes that an important relation exists between diet and domestic happiness. In addressing the Bakers' Association at Atlantic City, recently, he said, "Good bread, in my opinion, would help solve the American evil of divorce. If bakers make good bread and then educate the people to buy it, the great destroyer of domestic happiness — dyspepsia — will be removed, and we will hear no more of the divorce problem."

In order to have health and peace in our homes, the preparation of the food must receive consideration; it can not be entrusted to ignorant and illiterate cooks. Cookery will in the near future be regarded as one of the greatest and most important of sciences, worthy of the attention of our most highly educated young women.

Even if the food is well prepared, too great a variety of such foods will create indigestion. The free use of sugar or butter will also favor fermentation and the production of irritants; the first symptoms apparent after their absorption are impatience, irritable temper, despondency, and in the presence of these, domestic happiness can not exist.

There are certain foods which contain products which, in themselves, tend to develop the most undesirable traits in a man's make-up.

Dr. Baron Liebig says, "The ingestion of flesh produces in carnivorous races a ferocious and quarrelsome disposition, which distinguishes them from non-meat eaters;" while the noted Gauthier, after his prolonged research and study, concludes that "a flesh diet is a more important factor in determining a savage or violent disposition in any individual, than the race to which he belongs."

In conducting experiments in his laboratory on various creatures, he observed that animals when fed upon grains remained gentle, and when given flesh to eat they became quarrelsome, unmanageable and destructive. He found he could change their disposition at will by merely changing the quality of their food.

Byron, the poet, in relating his own experience, said, "Flesh-eating makes me ferocious; the devil always comes with it until I starve him out." While Cannon Home Littleton, head of Hallyburg, one of the greatest British public schools, concludes, "It is well nigh impossible for even the best intentioned man to live physically pure if he eats meat in excess."

A noted preacher, some years ago, observed this intimate relation, and in one of his sermons, said, "I have known men who prayed for the grace of good temper in vain, until their physicians told them to stop eating meat. So long as they ate animal food, they could not control themselves; they were so irritable. But as soon as they began living on a diet of grains and fruits, they were able to keep their temper. They were not unwise in praying, but they were wise when to prayer they added medical advice."

These scientific demonstrations may be explained by the fact, well known to science, that meat has concealed within its fibers poisonous wastes which exert a similar narcotic influence on the brain to that of alcohol. For this reason the meat habit is almost, if not quite, as difficult to give up as is the alcohol habit. But in order to reach the highest ideal in health or in morality it will be found necessary to give up not only the alcohol but the meat habit as well. It will be necessary, aside from this, to learn to eat of the wholesome foods in such a way as to prevent the formation of alcohol and other narcotic poisons in the alimentary canal.

Food reform lies at the foundation of all moral reform. To elevate men morally as well as physically it is necessary to correct their physical habits. This is a truth that needs to be taught by all who are working for the betterment of man.