The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1907-12-14
EAT LESS AND LIVE LONGER.

The Romans said: Eat, drink
and be merry, for tomorrow you die"
And their banquets quite equaled
those of the American millionaire of
this twentieth century. They ate,
and the Roman empire died. But
we of America choose to live, and to
live long and to live we'll. And so
the maxim of today is, "Eat less, and
be merry anyhow.
Why eat less? Simply because, as
nation, we eat too much. Thirty
years ago so per cent. of the diet was
meat. Today it has diminished to
one-third.
''Never eat quite as much as you
think you want" is the continual ad-
vice of learned physician to the
young man who would gladly be a
Roman if he could.
The person who leads physically
active life needs plenty of energy
building food. because each hour he
uses up energy and nature demands
that which will create more energy.
He doesn't require stimulants, most
especially not in excess, because the
artificial excitement always has an
untoward reacting. But active per-
sons must eat heartily to keep the
body's machinery we'll fed.
Persons whose work is dependent
on mental effort, on nerve and tact,
ought not to keep the engine at fire
heat. When the days work is end
ed, then is the demand for the food
to rebuild-for the rest of recreation
to relax.
An individual who returns home
too tired to eat deprives the body of
its need, and also overtaxes the brain,
for when the blood has work to do in
the stomach 1t leaves the BRAIN, anu
the brain becomes less alert, and, as
matter of course, inactive. Sleep
lessness at night is often overcome by
trifing night lunch.
More and more among leaders in
life is the question Of nutrition receiv
ing attention. Rheumatic people learn
to do away with meat diet abso.
lutely. So great is the relief that
sweets and other questionable, but
much liked, articles of diet soon fol-
low. And while the prohibition and
restriction sound hard of practice,
persons do it daily, and always say
that they don't care. Oddly, it is
the women who are the more likely
to complain in the beginning.
"Eat to live 1t is said that cow
boys and men leading rough life
have the strongest digestion, despite
the varying quality of their fare. Life,
generally, is so Luxurious today that
even the digestive organs are saved
unnecessary labor, and predigested
foodstuffs, minced croquettes, and so
forth, lessen daily the working power
of these organs, making them more
liable to diseased conditions. And
the hospital dispensaries say that dis
eased conditions increase, and slight
disturbances are often the beginning
of more serious troubles. Il do not
think that you could afford to have
appendicitis p one person exclaimed
to another.
1t may seem long stretch to say
the food question can affect interna-
tional politics. Yet, because the labor
ing classes of other nations eat less,
their living is cheaper, and they work
without sacrifice for lower wage
than our republic born men.
The American laborer is fond of
things fried and of pies. He eats
heavily during the noon hour, not
stopping to realize that he has fed his
furnace with non -combustible stuff,
that brings unnecessary effort upon
the digestive system. The foreigner
at his side eats more sensible-some-
how the older nations have learned
and not taught-and the foreigner is
more "ft," more contented. He is
teachable, and his work is good. He
costs less money, and, therefore, the
international problem.