# The Road to Wellville/Chapter 8

A Glimpse Around the Turn in the Road
Adult bodies are finished; we can only improve and repair them. But children are in the process of construction, and it is in them that the hope of a higher level of national health lies.
Think of the blind years when we did not know that a child-bearing woman should have abundant milk and whole grains, and laxative, mineral-bearing fruits and vegetables. If nature cannot get lime for the framework of the little body, it takes it from the mother’s teeth and bone supply—it will have it! The vitamins A, B, C, and D are most essential to the successful bearing and nourishing of a child. The foundation of tooth ​health for a lifetime is laid before birth and during lactation, and the vitamins and minerals are necessary for a good start toward the great blessing of sound teeth.
Think of the special food, nerve poise, and quiet necessary to lactation. The child who gets a six to nine months’ supply of breast milk perfectly adapted to his needs, from a healthy, happy mother, has a start on the Road to Wellville that gives him incalculable odds over the bottle-fed baby in the race of life. We know, as a matter of statistics, that the breast-fed child wins at least from two to four times as often as the one artificially fed. And the more subtle advantages, following the survivors through a lifetime, are undoubtedly as great.
On Starting the Day BeforeSlowly, through the food laws that ensure clean milk and pure foods, and through the organized work of the national, state, and city governments for nutrition and health instruction in the schools, we are “getting over” to the future mothers and fathers of the nation how to travel the Road to Wellville! The place to start the procession is with the preceding generation! And to aid in this work is the purpose of this book—and of every Post Health Product.
The appended list, Appendix, page 101, of simple, readable books and booklets, for practical use, covers the articles of this creed on which libraries could be written. Only a few outstanding points are given here on the food phases of this travelogue of health for those who are just starting on the journey of life.
​When the glare of war high-lighted our truths and errors, we found out what were really the most important factors in obtaining and maintaining good health, and food about led the list. In the midst of that dire catastrophe, the President, the head of the army, said: “Only second to our duty of caring for the troops at the front is our work of caring for the children at home.” If that is true in war, in peace our duty is obvious.
And yet, with our ultra prosperity, we find six million malnourished children and fifteen million handicapped with defects that might be remedied.
Fourteen Health Points for Little Men and WomenHere are some simple rules for righting this wrong:
2. Drink at least four glasses of water a day.
3. Eat at least two vegetables every day, one of which should be potatoes, with a green leafy vegetable three or four times a week, at least.
4. Eat fresh fruit every day, if possible, but at least three or four times a week. Eat dried fruit on the days no fresh fruit is eaten.
5. Eat some one of the following every day: fish, meat, dried peas, beans, or cheese.
6. Eat some butter and an egg every day.
7. Eat your sweets at the end of the meal. Post’s Bran Chocolate is especially wholesome.
8. Eat your breads brown, not white—at least half of the time—Boston brown bread, rye, and whole wheat. And use brown cereals, too, such as Grape-Nuts and Post’s Bran Flakes.
9. Take a bath “all over” twice a week, at least. A bath every day is a longer step towards abundant health.
10. Brush not only the teeth but the gums twice a day, morning and night (salt in the water, one teaspoon to the glass ​is excellent). Use only good paste for the face of the teeth and the top surface. Scrub on the line where the tooth leaves the gum—there’s where the real trouble begins!
11. The bowels should move once a day, at least. Post’s Bran Flakes is the pleasantest of natural, nutritious laxative foods.
12. Exercise out-of-doors every day.
13. Sleep ten to twelve hours with the windows open. Fresh air purifies the blood while you rest.