The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1909-02-12
DIET AND.
HEALTH
By DR.. J. T. ALLEN
o Food Specialist
Author Of Eating for a
Purpose" 1.-The Metz
Gospel Of Health"
Etc.
ECONOMICS OF EATING
Copyright, by Joseph B. Bowles.)

ECONOMICS OF EATING
An army marches on its stomach.
This is well established principle in
warfare. A hungry man cannot fight
long, and general whose brain is
clouded by auto-intoxication cannot
conceive brilliant or wise movements.
Every nation considers carefully
what ration will best support the man
behind the gun-at least in war time
and some have won great victories
by superior feeding, notably the jap
anese, in the recent contest with
Russia
The Roman gladiators were fed on
rye and wheat, and the modern ath-
lete is very carefully fed by the scien-
tific trainer. Only the average man
who has the battle of life to fight gets
no dietetic training.
You cannot eat your cake and leave
1t, too. Suppose that l have de-
gree of vitality for daily use represent
ed by 80 on a scale of 100. Another
might have 80 or 60 or 90 But it is
certain that l can no more use my
stock of vitality for the day in two
ways than l can be in two places at
once.
Suppose l eat for dinner fried pota-
toes, fresh pork, boiled cabbage.
pickles and pie, with a cup of coffee.
should expect to be very "logey"
during the afternoon; at least four
fifths of the nervous energy that l
ordinarily spend on my work would
have to be spent in digesting the
heavy meal. If by using the whip l
persisted in spending as much vitality
in brain exercise as l generally do,
and ate an evening meal as usual, lack
of vivacity in the hours following and
disturbed sleep would be the obvious
| and necessary result.
l might continue on this basis for
days, weeks, months, or possibly
years, if l had an iron constitution,
but the end would be breaking down,
prematurely, of the system, disease
showing itself in the guise Of "dyspep-
STA, rheumatism" diabetes" "tuber-
culosis," typhoid" one or more of
them, according to my Inheritance
from "the third and fourth genera
| tion," according to excess in eating
meat, starch, pickles, according to the
supply in the food of iron, phosphorus,
sulphur, etc., and according very large
ly to the air, water, exercise, physical
and mental, and the drinks 1 had
taken during those days, weeks,
months or years when l was prepar-
ing to enter hospital or a sanitarium
for classification as an acute, chronic,
durable or incurable sufferer
/ must not here divert attention too
far from the main point that I wish to
establish, the importance of using
little common sense and a little sci
ence in the choice of diet, but
with this simple illustration in mind
is it not clear that errors in diet are
the fundamental cause of all our
troubles that are not of mechanical
origin? Is it not true that as l have
suggested in saying that the mind
would be less vivacious during the
waking hours and disturbed during
sleep by dreams, that food has fun
damental bearing upon thought and
upon the moral life?
In framing a dietary, the first re-
quirement is to know what one needs.
There are certain average require
ments which we have already consid-
cred briefly, and there are certain
notifications depending upon the in
dividual, his temperament, his
work, his temporary condition of
health, the climate or season, and
other circumstances
1t is said that lone mans meat is
another mans poison" This must be
true to some extent; because tempera-
ments differ, mental states differ, and
temporary bodily conditions differ.
know a man who sickens at the
thought of eating oysters, and another
who cannot eat spoonful of honey
without suffering. The former once
ate freely of oysters and was made
very sick, thus establishing a subjec-
tive impression that causes nausea
when the eating of oysters is suggest
ed Investigation of a number of
cases like this has led me to the con-
clusion that idiosyncrasies of this
character are caused by errors in eat
ing and that they are hereditary. In
fact, / suppose the bilious tempera-
ment is the result of one habit of eat
ing, the effects of which are heredi-
tary, the sanguine of another, the
nervous of another, just as the physi-
CAN finds in his daily practice that
Of CTR oh Of
bowel digestion or of liver can be
traced in family history. This ex-
PLANTATION harmonizes with that an
cient saying: 1.-THE parents ate sour
grapes, and the children's teeth are
set on edge"
these peculiarities and for pathology
ical conditions, such as diabetes, in
which starch and sugar must be avoid
ed. there should be little variation in
the diet of persons of the same age,
doing the same kind of work. The
appetite of neither adult nor child
should be pampered. The practice of
inducing over-eating by tempting the
appetite with unnaturally seasoned
and unnaturally mixed foods destroys
the natural appetite, and, therefore,
the natural enjoyment of eating. If
a lad cannot enjoy good crust of
bread ne does not need to eat. The
appetite that does not prefer dates,
figs and raisins to artificial sweets is
not natural.
The average working man needs
daily about two ounces of proteid
(uncoagulated) and vegetable salts,
four ounces of fat and twelve ounces
(dry) of carbohydrate in the form of
fr,,;+ c,,1o, ~ rob IF nDtofo oaraol