HOW TO KEEP HEALTHY by David Paulson

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jul 13, 1915

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 42, No. 27.

HOW TO KEEP HEALTHY

By David Paulson

Some Choice Health Hints — Simple Means for Keeping Well

By DAVID PAULSON, M. D.

GOOD health is a good form of life insurance. When you sell health for money, you exchange wealth for trash. If you want to preserve your health, you must fight those things which cause disease.

FRESH AIR AND SUNSHINE

Your lungs cannot be washed, but they can be aired.

There is no fresh air trust. No one has a "corner" on the air market.

You would not offend your stomach with dirty water. Then why fill your lungs with filthy air?

A flood of sunshine in the home may fade carpets, but it puts the bloom of health upon your cheeks. Take your choice.

An open window is better than an open grave.

Warm, stuffy rooms have killed more people than ever froze to death.

If you sleep out-of-doors, you can get along with an hour's less sleep than otherwise. You save that much time by breathing fresh air.

One of the most certain ways of producing unhealthy blood and also unhealthy mucous membrane is to poultice the lungs sixteen times a minute with impure air. Why not do the heroic thing — that is, screen your veranda and fit it up for an outdoor bedroom?

DEEP BREATHING

You will live longer if you take longer breaths, for you will have better blood.

You ought to practice deep breathing until it seems as natural as saying your prayers, and then you are not far from the kingdom of health.

Deep breathing improves the digestion. Practice it frequently during the day. More die of air starvation than of food starvation.

After each meal, breathe as deeply as you can, ten times in succession, then breathe naturally for a minute, then take ten more deep breaths. Increase this by one round every day until you take from three to four hundred deep breaths daily as a regular habit.

DIETETIC SUGGESTIONS

Do not eat a morsel between meals.

If you keep your digestive mill constantly grinding, it will soon wear out.

Food must be well relished in order to be well digested.

Avoid iced foods and drinks.

Do not make a cold storage plant of your stomach.

Many a man feels "put out" because of what he "takes in."

Fletcherize. If you taste your food before you swallow it, you will not have to taste it afterwards.

Chew for your lives. If you chew long, you will live long; and you will not need to eat so much.

Eat your bread with gladness.

Some one has well said, "Do not eat when you are mad, or bad, or sad; only when you are glad."

It is not only necessary to bring a good appetite to the table, but it is also important to come with a good state of mind.

When one eats in an ugly, dissatisfied, contemptible state of mind, he is sinning against God, and is wrongdoing himself. The correct ideal is to thank God at the beginning of the meal, and then continue feeling thankful during all the meal.

Do not eat between meals. Children should not be permitted to piece at all hours of the day. Nature does everything in regular rhythm. When we persist in breaking into that, we speedily break down the digestive system.

Eat more natural foods. Such green garden truck as cold-slaw, lettuce, spinach, and carrots cleanse the alimentary canal by their bulk, and the blood by their "vitamines" and mineral salts.

Do not fry starch foods in grease. In frying them, the grease percolates down through, and covers every little particle of starch with a coating of fat, so that it is bomb-proof to both mouth and stomach digestion. The digestive juices cannot get at it until the food reaches the small intestine, and the bile cuts off the grease.

Genuine, old-fashioned Graham flour is better for the health than white flour, because God has put the "vitamines" and much of the mineral in the covering of the grain. The same is true of natural brown rice. Fowls that were fed exclusively on polished rice for three weeks, began to be paralyzed, and suffered other symptoms of disease. When they were fed on whole rice, they were soon restored.

It is a mistake to suppose you must eat flesh in order to be strong. The ox does not get its strength by eating another ox. Corn is not improved by being changed into pork; in fact, it may have trichinæ or tapeworm added to it. There is no advantage in eating secondhand food, any more than there is in wearing secondhand clothes.

DRUGS, SPICES, AND CONDIMENTS

"Avoid patent medicines as you would a pestilence."

Intemperate eating is much more common than intemperance in drinking.

Tea and coffee are drugs, not foods, and should come from the drug store instead of the grocery.

Use salt sparingly. Condiments should be wholly discarded, because they irritate the stomach, tending to produce gastric and intestinal catarrh.

Foods that taste hot when they are cold, continue to be hot after they are swallowed.

Mustard plasters may be applied externally, but they should not be used internally.

It is because we have so little scientific cookery that so many have to resort to crude flavors that give the palate a "twist," but that also injure the nervous system.

WATER DRINKING

Do not drink while eating, nor eat while drinking.

If you do drink at mealtime, you should drink between the mouthfuls instead of with the food.

Drink a glass of water on rising and on retiring, and as frequently as convenient during the day.

During the winter, many people almost forget to drink water. Such should be reminded that water drinking is simply bathing on the inside. The average mortal would live much more comfortably if he drank a larger quantity of water.

EXERCISE

When we are resting, two thirds of the blood is in the internal organs; when we are exercising, two thirds of it is out in the muscles. Active exercise is the best means to relieve internal congestion. The benefit remains a long time after the exercise has been taken.

There is no better all-round exercise than vigorous, energetic walking. It should be taken with the head erect, chest up, abdomen drawn in, breathing deeply through the nose, maintaining at the same time a cheerful state of mind, trying to be in harmony with nature and nature's God.

A capital way of strengthening the abdominal muscles is to sit well forward in a chair, and then tilt forward and backward, raising the knees each time. Do this a few times a day, when you have nothing else to do, and you will be astonished, in a short time, to find how it strengthens the abdominal muscles; and it is far more important to have strong abdominal muscles than it is to have strong muscles in the arm.

The prevailing athletic mania, which is so "highly esteemed among men," we may be sure is an "abomination in the sight of God." Luke 16: 15.

The United States Public Health service says "that the champion athlete often dies young. It recommends moderate exercise outdoors every day. Walk to your business. Walk for the sake of walking. Keep chickens, make a garden, wheel the baby, take two hours' outdoors exercise every day."

The present athletic craze is unquestionably of the devil; the "work cure" is of God. Take your choice.

RELIGION AND HEALTH

Health and happiness result from obedience to God's laws. Misery and unhappiness result from disobedience.

We shall make but little progress in this campaign for better health until our souls

are gripped with the great truth that the laws of health are the laws of God, that sickness and suffering are directly or indirectly due to the violation of these laws.

If we coöperate intelligently with God in the restoration of health, making use of such opportunities as are within our reach, discarding such things as God has clearly shown us are wrong, God will give us all the health that He sees, in His infinite wisdom, we will put to good use in this life; and He will bless

to our own good and to the good of His work whatever infirmities He permits us to retain, just as He did in Paul's case. In other words, He will make them work together for our good.

Every invalid should heed the divine injunction, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest," and have implicit, personal faith in the God who upholds the universe, and has promised He will never leave us nor forsake us.