The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-06-10
KEEPING HEALTHY.

KEEPING HEALTHY.
A sprightly old gentleman, who does
not lack for the means of being driven
in a coach and four between his subur-
ban home and the business section OF
the town, is often seen. even in very
warm weather, making the journey on
foot. He has an easy and rapid step,
his complexion is fair, and his eyes
bright and his mind is as dependable
as it ever was Though he may be
stricken in years, he is not stricken
with infirmities. 1t ought to interest
everybody to know how he keeps well
enough to walk miles every day, and of
these processes we have, perhaps, a
j glimpse in the following letter from
him: - sT
3 Editor Advertiser: 1t may interest
some of your readers to learn that the
value of oranges and lemons imported
into England during the past year
amounted to $13.177.355. This total has
never been exceeded in the whole history
of the trade, with the exception Of the
year 1897 when the value reached $l3.-
s85, $50.
s II more fruit were eaten here and less
beef, butter. beer and coffee consumed,
there would be greater enjoyment Of life
and much less work for the doctors.
Verbum sap. GOOD HEALTH.
The diet of people here is not reg
ulated in a scientific or even in COM
mon sense way, because 1t takes small
account of climate or occupation. We
stick to three meals per day, and these
of conventional character, though
some Of us ought to eat but two meals,
or, as Mark Twain not long ago point
ed out in magazine article. one and
a half. 1t is all a question of what
kind Of work we do, and what kind of
climate we live in. Because our work
aday ancestors, hewers of wood and
drawers of water on the English moors
and in German forests or amid the pri-
mevai conditions of America, needed
three square meals a day to make up
for a tremendous waste of physical vi
tality, is no reason why people of easy
or sedentary lives-people who put
themselves to no physical stress
should follow the practice. And 1t is
more unreasonable yet for people who
live in warm climates to stuff them
selves with the foods which are used
abundantly elsewhere to produce ami
NAL heat. The man who was brought
up, as so many of us were, in the cold
to keep himself warm; but it stands to
reason that. when he gets close to the
equator, he should touch these products
lightly and take more of the edibles
that cool the blood and do not overtax
the digestion.
Our correspondent thinks that beef.
butter. beer and coffee should not be
consumed in anywhere near the guam
titles that are common in cool climates
Probably we ought to use some beef,
II 1t Is good, and some butter, but mod
Grafton should guide the appetite If we
wish to live long. AS for beer, it is
probably the worst drink in which the
dweiler in the tropics can indulge Doc
tors say that a regular beer drinker is
almost hopeless patient when he
comes down with any hurt or sickness.
His wounds will not easily heal; his
: maladies are stubborn In their resist
ance to sickness. AS for the effect of
beer on the liver, it is generally disas-
trous in hot climates. In all climates
& which, like this, do not predispose one
to exercise. the liver becomes sluggish,
and that is why the natives in low lati-
tudes usually have some article of food
of peppery sort, which stirs the liver,
in spite of the lazfness of the man. The
hot curry and mango chutney of India,
and the tamale, chile con carne and en-
chilada of Mexico and Spanish America
generally are scientific foods for people
living as we do here. But beer is in
excusable. It renders the liver more
sluggish. and in that and other ways
enervates the system and diminishes
the working power of the Individual
OF the deleterious effects of coffee we
n M bur- ,,at,. t,,,&
pondent Is assuredly man whose regf-
men speaks for itself. We infer that
he is a consumer of acid fruits. and in
that he shows his appreciation of one
of the prime requisites of a healthy
life under the vertical sun. Lemon and
lime juice stirs the liver, cools the
blood and refreshes the whole physi-
cal being: and the pulp and Juice Of the
orange and other sub-acid fruits does
likewise. and also assists the digestion.
The latter function is Of the first and
greatest. Importance, indigestion being
habitual In the tropics and the mother
OF thousand Ills Half the so-called
heart disease and heart failure people
have Is caused by indigestion.
IL any one of sedentary life feels run
down he may save himself a costly trip
to the coast or a long doctors bill by
some such course of living as this:
1. Reasonable exercise before break
fast, ending with shower bath.
Q. Breakfast Of grains and fruits. No
bread, for bread is the staff of death.
s. A light lunch at noon, for which
sea-food. milk, eggs, vegetables, cur
ries and fruits, native edibles, light
soups, game. etc.. may suggest a menu
One need not disdain to eat prunes,
which are reservoirs of health
4. A dinner at six, in which all heat
producing foods are avoided, and from
which one rises without the sense of
complete safety. For drink there is
water. tea. lemonade, ginger ale, milk
and wine to choose from. A glass or
two OF light wine can do no harm and