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Show HOW TO fclVE Common Sense Comments on Health, Happiness and Longevity ; By GEORGE F. BUTLER, A. M., M. D. j Copyright, bj- ImomaUon&l fress Bnraaa VARIETY IN DIET. I do not believe in a great variety of food at one meal a ten or twelve-tourse twelve-tourse dinner, or anything of that sort, Neither do I think it is best to restrict the diet to one or two or three articles arti-cles of food, eating the same thing day in and day out. The digestive organs or-gans get into a rut and become sluggish. slug-gish. AS a ruie, the more civilized a man becomes, the greater becomes his variety va-riety in diet. As I have said, variety in food does not mean a great variety at any one meal, nor does it mean rich pastries and indigestible stuffs. 1 think that a meal of two or three articles ar-ticles is really better than a greater number, but each meal should be different dif-ferent from the others. Breakfast, dinner and supper should consist of different articles of food, and these be varied from day to day. A variety va-riety of wholesome foods well cooked. The sensible housewife is the one who does not serve to husband and children chil-dren the same things day after day until their appetites are cloyed and their stomachs go on a strike. The food should vary from season to season, sea-son, from day to day, from meal to meal. Eat meat, eat fish, eat vegetables, eat fruits, eat cereals, but do not try to eat them all in one day. Remember Remem-ber your body is made up of many different dif-ferent elements, and it is best nourished nour-ished by many different kinds of foods. There is no single food, not even milk, that will keep a man in health and vigor for any great length of time. Even the domestic animals are kept In better condition by slight changes in diet, or changing from one pasture to another. Nature has provided such a variety of products for food that it seeems only reasonable to conclude that they are of use in the nourishment nourish-ment of the body. We may change our coat twice daily and substitute a new one as often as the fashion monthly leader dictates a new style; bat, no variation in clothes alters the personality, whereas the food we eat may either improve or deteriorate the character of the body which is our soul-garment. The fact that important changes in tnimal characteristics are produced by variation in food cannot be doubted by any observer of birds and animals in a state of domestication. Seeing then that the food plays so great a part in these cases, It may safely be inferred that its effects will be still more apparent in the civilization ot mankind. This being found true, is it not highly desirable that we should seek to adopt a diet tending directly to Improve the body, in order that it may become a more efficient vehicle foi the mind, or, more correctly speaking, the ego? A sickly, waning appetite can frequently fre-quently be stimulated by some exceedingly exceed-ingly simple change in the commonest articles of daily food. For example, slices of dry bread are particularly uninviting, but the same bread, lightly light-ly browned, with a delicately poached egg resting on the crisp toast, becomes altogether another item in the daily menu. There are some forty or fifty ways in which to prepare potatoes, yet how few are the tables where one sees the vegetable save in the stereotyped stereo-typed boiled, mashed, or fried ! A great variety oZ delightful dishes can be made with apples at all seasons ot the year. The.-e is no need to enumerate enum-erate the host of what are known as made dishes. It is always better to set on the family table, not courses of elaborate dishes, but a wholesome, agreeable, and yet economical diversity diver-sity of food. The best route to health in relation to food Is by way of variety. Always variety 1 It need not necessarily cost any more than the deadly monotony, either In time, labor or money. In fact it should cost less In all direc- ! tlons. A little practice, a list of foods, for easy reference, and a sincere desire de-sire for health and comfort, these are enough to start the ball of strength and content rolling, a ball that will roll more and more smoothly as it gathers momentum with time and practice. LEARN HOW TO LIVIi ACTIVITY. The four great forces at work in nature na-ture to keep us living and well, all merge into one great trunk or center; and that is activity. Life is like the great locomotive that goes screaming down our valleys and across our plains. The coal in the tender is like food to the man ; both furnish the heat and are the source of power. The breeze that fans the spark in the firebox fire-box and which kindles the flame, that heats the water, that produces the stwjm, that turns the great drive-wt'jeel, drive-wt'jeel, is like "flame or vitality in mfcn." The drive-wheel, the puffing smokestack, the ringing bell, the rattling rat-tling wheels; ill telling us that glad filings or frinnds are being brought to us is cheerfulness. All good and useful use-ful things are active. The cheerful tire that warms us, or cooks our food, is roaring, cracking, dancing, leaping. The sparkling water that quenches our thirst comes trickling down over the pebbles, or falls in rain, penetrates the earth, until it strikes the bed rock, and then comes bubbling up again, ever moving. The light that comes to us from the sun is generated by vibration. vibra-tion. The wind that blows is only the result of nature's activity. The air Is only pure when in constant motion. A cessation of activity is succeeded by stagnation, and stagnation means disease dis-ease and death. Rest yes, most assuredly, you must rest, but get tired first, and then enjoy every moment of your rest to the fullest full-est extent possible. What is it to be tired? I'll tell you. There are two sources which supply the body with materials with which the blood is ever busily engaged in rebuilding or replacing replac-ing the countless little cells which make up our body. The one is the food which is operated on by the digestive organs, and the other is the oxygen which is assimilated by the lungs. If our exercise is a little in excess of that which our bodies are accustomed ac-customed to, the tissues of the body are broken down more rapidly than the blood can refurnish, and with the flat chest and undeveloped lungs, the blood is not furnished with enough oxygen, and thus the muscles and nerves are being starved and cry out for rest; pr, in other words, that you cease to draw upon them until the blood has time and opportunity to renew re-new itself. If proper food is furnished, rest will stop the destruction of tissue; tis-sue; the lungs will soon furnish sufficient suf-ficient oxygen and the normal condition condi-tion will soon be established. Nature provided many helps to digestion, such as cleanliness, pure air, sunshine, and cheerful surroundings; but the only possible means of distribution, development, devel-opment, strength and health are by proper exercise. Health, long life, education, progress, prog-ress, in shorty everything of worth accomplished ac-complished in life depends on mental and physical activity properly directed. di-rected. If physical stamina, health, and intellectual culture are to be attained, at-tained, mental and physical activity must be so regulated and systematized to not only symmetrically develop both brain and body, but to simultaneously develop one with the other. An un-symmetrically un-symmetrically developed body will not have stamina or remain long in health, nor will a brain that is not all-round or symmetrically developed reason logically ; nor, on the other hand, will a developed brain in a dwarfed body, or a dwarfed brain In a developed body, accomplish great things. All life is movement, it Is its very essence. LEARN HOW TO LIVE. |
