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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (June 27, 1901)
' - * ' . T fat Hbe Conservative * learning. While this is obviously a fact , it is yet the paramount duty of every in dividual as a matter of self-interest , if upon no higher ground , to conserve health ; and the knowledge which places within the grasp of each man and woman the power of avoiding disease and pro longing life , is one which must in time repay a thousandfold the labor expended in its study. If what I have written appears to contain unnecessary repeti tion , my excuse must be that there now exists in the United States a religious sect , claiming to number a million ad herents , which insists that all disease is apparent , not real ; that a properly reg ulated diet is folly ; and that knowledge of physiology and anatomy is injurious to one's health. "While the devotees of this cult were never so numerous as to day , the deaths in New York state dur ing 1900 were 6,647 more than in 1899 , and 8,000 above the average for the past five years. What part of the increased death-rate is due to neglect of ordinary precautions by Mrs. Eddy's followers , I cannot say ; but the figures which I have quoted prove that well-known laws of health are being systematically violated by thousands of persons. HealtH-Rules Practical. What I am about to write has been prepared in order to place within the grasp of each reader practical and easily understood details of the principles which regulate the prevention of disease in both the person and the house. Apart from the labor of every-day life in which brain and muscle engage , an immense amount of work is performed in the mere'act of keeping alive. No where in nature is work performed with out proportionate waste , or wear and tear of the machine which does the work. This assertion is as true of the human body as of the locomotive ; and just as the machine whatever it may be requires to be supplied with the conditions necessary for the production of force , so the living body similarly de mands a supply of material from which its energy the power vof doing work can be derived. As the locomotive ob tains the necessary conditions from the fuel and water which it consumes , so the living body derives its energy from the food upon which it subsists. Food , therefore , is anything taken from the outside world , from which the human body derives the substances required for the repair of the waste which the con tinued work of life entails. In the young , food serves another purpose it provides material for growth , and it also affords substance from which the supply of force is derived. In the adult , while food supplies.actual loss of substance , it is especially devoted to the duty of maintaining the equilibrium between work and repair which constitutes health. Scientific Dieting. Tiirning to general rules for scientific : ? * meal-taking , the most important is founded upon the obvious fact that in the food we must find the substances necessary for the repair of our bodies , and for the production of the energy through which work is performed. Food-substances , from this point of view , fall into two well-marked classes nitrogenous and non-nitrogenous. Another classification divides them into organic and inorganic , the former being derived from animals and plants , while the latter is derived from the world of non-living matter. Animal and plant substances , then , represent organic foods ; while water and minerals , both of which are absolutely essential to the support of the body , represent inorganic food materials. From living-matter alone do we derive the materials essen tial to the generation of force. Never theless , the inorganic water and miner als are necessary in carrying out the chemical changes which are continually .taking place within the body. Taking the usual classification of foods into the nitrogenous and non- nitrogenous groups , we find examples of the first class in such substances as al bumen , seen almost daily in the "white" of egg ; casein found in milk ; gluten ob tained from flour , etc. All these sub stances are very similar in chemical composition , and it seems as if the process of digestion reduces them to an almost identical state. On this account they can , to some extent , replace each other in the daily diet of mankind. The nitrogenous foods are often called "flesh-formers , " and the name is a suit able one , for , as the result of experi ment , it has been ascertained that the chief duty performed by albumen and allied nitrogenous substances is that of building up and repairing the tissues of the body. It is true that they also pro duce heat , as a result of being chemi cally changed in the blood , thus aiding in the production of force or energy. In addition , it is fairly certain that in some complex manner the nitrogenous parts of our bodies assist or regulate in some very exact manner the oxidation or chemical combustion of the tissues. The reader should note'that the so-called nitrogenous foods are composed , chem ically of the four elements , nitrogen , carbon , oxygen and hydrogen , the pres ence of the first element giving the char acteristic name. Non-Nitrogenous Foods. The non-nitrogenous foods include four groups viz. : (1) ( ) starches and sug ars ; (2) ( ) oils and fats ; (8) ( ) minerals ; (4) ( ) water. The starches and sugars in clude not only starch and sugar as we know them , but also various gums and some acids , such as acetic and lactic. Group (1) ( ) includes all substances tech nically classed as carbohydrates , which contain , in addition to carbon , oxygen and hydrogen , in the same proportions as ? in water. These foods go directly to maintain animal heat , and to give energy to the animal frame. Although starch as found in bread and potatoes is a most important food , the heat-creating power of all starches and sugars is inferior to that of the fats and oils. The car bohydrates aid in the digestion of the nitrogenous foods , but the exact manner in which they do so is not yet satis factorily explained. Perhaps it should be mentioned that starches and sugars are converted into fat within the sys tem , so that persons who suffer from obesity should consume them in mod eration. That oils and fats are heat- producers is shown by the experience of mankind concerning the large consump tion of those articles of diet by northern nations. Further , fats being chem ically burned in the blood , give rise to the force which we exert in ordinary muscular work. Nor is this all. The fatty products of our diet assist in the duty of removing waste .products from the . As to the body. heat-creating pow ers of oils and fats , as compared with starches and sugars , the former may be regarded as very much superior , the figures being about 26 to 1. Mineral Foods. The mineral proportions of our food play an important part hi the mainten ance of the frame. We require iron for the blood , phosphorus for the nerves and brain , and lime for the bones. A variety of other minerals are found in the blood and other fluids of the body , but their use has not yet been accurately determined. It is certain however , that , although the quantity of some minerals ( potash for example ) , required for the work of the body is extremely small , de rangement of health follows complete deprivation of them. Common salt ( chloride of sodium ) forms an important part of many of the secretions , and it aids the formation and chemical integ rity of the gastric juice of the stomach. But many persons eat far too much of it , with the result that the kidneys are overworked in its excretion , and serious disease makes its appearance. Importance of Water. Water , of course , is a most important food , for it can , in the absence of all other nourishment , sustain life for a period numbering many days. While a man will probably die in less than eight days if deprived of water , and of solid food , he may live for fifty days upon water alone. The great importance of water may bo demonstrated by the fol lowing facts : It constitutes about two- thirds of the weight of the body ; it enters into the weight of the brain to the extent of 80 per cent ; bone contains 10 per cent of it ; and 76 per cent of the blood is water. Entering into the com position of every fluid and tissue of the body , and being perpetually given off by means of the kidneys , lungs and skin ,
