The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1906-08-18
DANGERS OF DIETING.

Professor Alexander Haig, ar
English dietary expert, has writer
from London to the medical frater
nifty Of New York warning Ameri
cans against the popular belief that
the average man eats too mich. he
says that the increasing number ol
deaths from heart failure is largely
due to undertaking.
The notion that science is a more
unerring guide than is nature is con-
stantly gaining ground. In the
good old days men drank when they
were thirsty and ate whatever they
wished until their hunger was salts
fed. Now science condemns such
foolishness as primitive. 1t pre-
scribes one glass of water one hour
before meals and one glass one hour
after meals-no more, no less. II
you happen not to be thirsty at those
times, no matter, drink that amount
anyway. If perchance you are
thirsty and would like two glasses
you must not yield; it is only ma
ture that prompts you, and nature is
an unsafe guide. Or, you may be
"abnormally" thirsty at meals
nevertheless do not drink then.
AS to our amounts of food, we are
directed to consume so many grams
of the carbohydrates and so many
grams of fat, while we here learned
discourses upon large calories and
the supreme importance of exactly
maintaining our nitrogen balance
whatever that they mean.
have purposely not mentioned
the precise number of grams of the
different food elements, for the sim
pie reason that our eminent authori-
ties have not yet agreed upon this
important point. All give different
figures.
Scientists, however, following the
lead of Russell H. Chittenden, Phi.
D., IL. D., have pretty well agreed
that the average man eats twice
more than he needs. If half his
customary amount of food does not
satisfy him it ought to, they say,
and it will eventually, provided he
keeps on suppressing his natural and
therefore unscienti6c instincts.
But just here lies danger. 1t is
true that one can accustom himself
to a much smaller quantity of food
than that to which he has been hab-
ituated and that eventually he will
desire that smaller and no more, but
when he attains to this condition his
digestive power will have been re-
duced by one half. AS result he
will lose from ten to thirty pounds
in weight that is to say, his MUS
cles and organs will decrease by so
much in bulk and strength. Now,
if the heart decreases considerable in
strength there will always be danger
of its collapse, particularly if it be
subjected to any extra strain, as
when one runs for a car or rapidly
up flight of steps. Excitement
alone may be fatal to weak heart.
Rigorous dieting to reduce weight
is always dangerous. A better plan
is to work off the superhuous flesh
by exercise.
Lack of sleep has depressing
effect on the heart, for during sleep
cerebral circulation diminishes, when
the blood can devote itself to the
rest of the body.
Eating before going to bed, parti-
cularly if one is up late, is a good
practice. it being most favorable to
thorough body repair that the blood
at night be rich in nourishment.
Accustoming the digestive organs
to a small amount of food results Is
a decline of appetite, whereas our
object should be to increase appetite
and thereby strengthen our digestive
powers by judicious exercise in the
open air or in well ventilated room.
If the doctrine that a small appe.
tite is preferable to large appetite
be true-and this is what economy
in nutrition teaches-then open air
exercise, which manifestly increases
appetite, must be injurious to health.
Or why should we exercise to in
crease appetite if we may eat only SO
much?
The notion is wholly absurd.
The first sign of illness in a man or
an animal is loss of appetite. And
unually appetite is a measure of
health.
To build up the heart and muscu-
lar system generally we must vigor-
ously exercise the muscles.
1t is not enough that one should
stuff himself; it is all important that
he should desire every morsel he
eats, and this he will do only if he
undergoes general physical and men,
tai exercise. Food that is ingested,
and even digested, will be absorbed
only by those organs that need it
that have been exercised. This fact
explains why many persons that are
good "feeders" are yet inadequately
nourished. If they are brain work
ers and take no physical exercise
their brains absorb what nourishment
they need the rest is excreted.
Magnificent as are the results oi
brain work we must bear in mind
that there could be no result without
the cooperation of the body, and
that the body in its turn depends
primarily on the integrity of its
heart, lungs and stomach.-Nez
York Wo1ld.