The Colorado statesman., 1909-02-20
EATING FOR YOUTH
AND BEAUTY

In the blood-quality of flesh and mus
Gle and bone, and deeper than these,
in the thought that builds the body
from material, food. The question of
beauty says Emerson, takes us out
OF surfaces, to thinking of the founda-
tlons of things "
Whatever may be the true standard
Of beauty, it is not superficial polish.
The reality of beauty is its soul, whose
outward expression we see in the
body
My body is not 1, but the expression
of me- | am my mind. My body is
mine; and as | build my body accord
ing to the model in my mind, can
build a different body by changing the
model and the material The Greeks
understood this fully Their heroes
were their models of valor their hero
ines, of grace: and one word defines
their habit in eating, Spartan simplic
ity.
There is no limit to the change you
can make in your body, except the
limit to the change you can make in
your thought, and your change of the
building material, food. We change
little, because thinking and eating are
fundamental race habits, always slow
to change.
young man of 20, employed as
night foreman in bakery for several
years, went to an Illinois college to
study for the Christian ministry Three
years afterward | met him and dis
tinctly observed marked change in
his features as a result of the changed
ideals that had been dominating his
mind during that period and of a
change in his diet.
1t is well known that the most i'm
portant period of development is the
prenatal period. that an infant is ex-
tremely plastic, but that it becomes
more difficult to mold or to remodel
1t as it grows older. Yet even after
maturity, change takes place as the
predominating thoughts. and the food,
are varied. Feeding in the prenatal
period is important: food largely
makes the difference between the Jap
and the Eskimo, between the Arab
date eater and the German bread eat
er, and largely because food influences
thought.
The food eXperimenter who has sys-
tVniatically varied his food for consid-
cradle periods can bear witness to the
fact that not only does he feel differ
ent when living on different foods, but
his habit of thought changes.
A curious relation subsists between
food and thought. 1t is literally true
that food influences thought. The diff
far hnt ha
horse is, very largely, the difference
in their food. Yet you could not make
Jap of an Eskimo by feeding him on
rice and beans. The gorilla, a strict
vegetarian, is no less fierce when at
tackled than the tiger that lives ON
blood. The dog is but a wolf that has
learned to think mans thoughts, to a
degree, as the nobleman has learned
TO think Gods thoughts.
1t is said that a man is as old as his
arteries, and this is literally true. 1t
is physiological fact that some are
s5 old at 80 as others at 60, as the con-
dition of the arteries distinctly indi-
Gates.
The question may naturally be
raised here, What is old age? We do
not hesitate to say that certain per-
son is old when we see that his frame
is stiff, his skin dry and hard, the
roseate hue gone from his cheek, and
the sparkle from his eye. Now what
causes this condition and how can ii
be delayed, if not overcome?
The hardening of the frame, of all
the tissues, including the arteries, is
due to the deposit in the tissues of
mineral matter taken in the food and
Drink, absorbed into the blood and
gradually deposited, much as earthly
matter is deposited in a tea-kettle or
slime and earth in city water pipes
This mineral matter, chiefly phosphate
and carbonate of lime, destroys the
elasticity of the arteries and gradually
hardens the tissues, including the
brain.
Now there are two chief sources
from which this earthly matter is intro
duced into the blood, bread, especially
fine white bread, and hard drinking
water. The percentage of lime in
bread is large, and white bread is es-
pecially liable to form concretions of
lime in the lower intestine (often in
ducing appendicitis), which are alb
sorbed into the blood and deposited
in the tissues, gradually producing
that dry and hardened condition of
the skin which is distinguishing
mark of old age,
The activity of the brain is deter
mined largely by its blood supply, and
when the arteries that supply it are
hardened by the deposit of mineral
matter it must become sluggish. Loss
of memory of recent events is an in
variable accompaniment of age: the
old live in the past. To live in The fu-
ture requires the vivid Imagination of