The Art of Body-Building Versus The Art of Self-Poisoning
By
Lauretta
Kress
M. D.
MAN is composed of what he eats, and he should go about the work of body-building just as intelligently as he goes about the work of house-building. One who desires to put up a substantial building selects the very best materials. He also knows something of the quality of wood, brick, iron, etc., required. He puts thought and study into his work.
What the quality of the structure of the body shall be, is left with each individual to decide for himself. The one who subsists on inferior food, even if he is capable of digesting it without experiencing inconvenience, cannot expect to build up superior body tissues.
The carpenter cannot improve the quality of timber furnished him. All he can do is to hew and square it, and prepare it for the building. The body is similar. Man should select only the best body-building material, and he should be intelligent regarding the various elements, and the approximate quantity of each required. The digestive organs cannot convert an unclean thing into a clean. All they can do is to dissolve or prepare the elements, good or bad, furnished them for the body.
Worse than Clay
THE term "food" should not be applied to every substance that satisfies or arrests the appetite, although real food does both. Savages, in the absence of food, may satisfy their craving and arrest appetite by swallowing lumps of clay; but clay is not a food. More civilized man often satisfies his appetite by substances equally indigestible and even more harmful.
Food must contain elements identical with those of our bodies, or capable of transformation into those elements. It must not irritate and destroy the organs of digestion or elimination, and its nature must be such that it can be digested within a proper period.
Frequently we hear of men and women breaking down from physical or mental overwork; and when inquiry is made, we are surprised at the small amount of work they have actually done. Others who do double the work remain in health, are always cheerful and happy, and experience no mental or physical depression or fatigue. The fact is, most of these breakdowns are due to overworked stomachs and livers, clogged brains, and the like.
Men crowd into their stomachs pickles, mustard, pepper, and foods made indigestible by being saturated with grease. Again, foods that are quite wholesome in themselves are often washed into the stomach without proper mastication. The fermentation resulting from these indigestible masses in the alimentary canal produces alcohol and other poisons, which, carried by the blood to the brain, benumb the moral and mental sensibilities. This causes drowsiness, headache, physical debility, and other general depression.
Should Relish What We Eat
THE little energy derived from the food has to be used by the body in efforts to throw off these impurities. Consequently no energy is available for muscle or brain work. The will power is weakened, thought is confused, and mental or physical exhaustion results from the least exertion.
When food is introduced into the stomach, its mere presence, unknown to the subject, creates a flow of saliva and stomach juice; but in order to have a good quality of gastric juice and good digestion, it is necessary to relish and enjoy what is eaten. It is commonly observed that the mere sight, smell, or thought of food that is relished, causes a copious flow of saliva. A glimpse of the stomach under such circumstances would show the gastric juice trickling down its walls, and the whole digestive apparatus getting ready for reception and digestion of the expected food. Disappointment in obtaining the food desired and expected, may produce indigestion; for the kind of digestive juices secreted are especially adapted for the digestion of the food one has thought of, and these juices are not well adapted for the digestion of any other food. The juices thus formed possess many times the digestive power that is possessed by juices formed when food is eaten mechanically, without a special relish.
The Culinary Art and City Life
IN the past, much ignorance has existed regarding the wholesomeness and nutritive value of foods. The only thing consulted was the appetite. Our forefathers ate what they relished. Hard out-of-door work gave them a relish for simple foods even in small variety. The digestive fluids were always of a superior quality, and consequently indigestion was not common.
But when the land and out-of-door employment are exchanged for city life and the office, naturally the simple foods are no longer relished. Nature says, in language too plain to be misunderstood, "He that worketh little should eat little," and wisely removes the appetite for food. Delicacies, complicated dishes, and a variety of spicy and highly seasoned foods, are then invented to tempt the appetite, but result in indigestion and disease. The prevalence of disease during recent years, and the physical degeneracy that everywhere exists, have forced upon many the need of making reforms in their manner of living, and of studying the nutritive value, wholesomeness, and combination of foods.
Appetite of First Importance
WITH this increase in knowledge, we would naturally expect digestive troubles speedily to disappear. But many persons, after eating foods more wholesome and more carefully combined, have not realized therefrom all the benefit they desired or expected. The food, although easier of digestion, may really not be digested as readily, because the much needed appetite juice is absent. This has frequently led those who had made partial reforms along these lines, to abandon them, and return to former habits, with apparently good results.
All should be encouraged to make a study of foods, and to eat that which is wholesome; but it is unwise to ignore the need of stimulating the appetite, and eat foods that are not relished. Some eat even the most unwholesome foods, yet digest double the quantity they actually need. They eat that which appeals to the palate, and thus create a copious flow of appetite juice. Such a course is not to be recommended, although it results in an abundance of flesh; for it results also in general diseases, as gout, rheumatism, and fatty degeneration of the heart. It also wears out the digestive organs prematurely, and shortens life.
