Muscle, brain, and diet : a plea for simpler foods

Front matter

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MUSCLE, BRAIN, AND DIET

Part I.— Good Health

Chap, I. What Good Health is not -

II. What Good Health is: and some tests and signs of it -

III. Some Causes of Bad Health -

IV. Some Signs of Bad Health -

V. Helps to Good Health, apart from Food

Part V.— Advantages Of The Simpler Foods

Chap. XIII. What should Foods be and do ? General

Advantages of the Simpler Foods- - 127

XIV. Advantages for Individuals - - - 132

XV. Advantages for Special Classes - - 145

XVI. Advantages for the whole Nation - 153

XVII. Advantages for all Nations ... j6o

XVIII. Advantages for Posterity - - 162

XIX. Advantages for Animals .... 164

XX. Notes on the Simpler Foods and Science 167

XXI. The Simpler Foods, and some of the

greatest evils of the day - - - 179

XXII. Other Evidences as to the Value of the

Simpler Foods - • 186

XXIII. Quotations from Authorities - 201

Part Vi.— Difficulties Admitted , And Objections Answered

Chap. XXIV. Real Difficulties of the Simpler Foods, with

Notes 227

XXV. Fallacies exposed, and further Objections

to the Simpler Foods Answered - 249

XXVI. A List of Difficulties and Objections - 269

Contents xxx IX

PART VII.— HO W TO ADOPT THE SIMPLER FOODS , WITH WARNINGS AND SUGGESTIONS OF GENERAL REFORMS.

Chap. XXVII. Hints and Helps for adopting the Simpler

XXVIII. A few Warnings 289

XXIX. Some General Reforms suggested - - 291

Part Viii.— New Ideas, And Summary

Chap. XXX. Notes on Political Economy, Disease, and

XXXI. How Fortunes might be made - 316

XXXII. Summary and Conclusions - - - 321

XXXIII. Rhymes, etc., for helping the Memory - 334

PAGE other Topics

Table of Food Values Index -

FOODS.

PRELUDE.

A SOCRATIC CONVERSATION ON FOOD AND HEALTH.

“ If, my friend, you wished to know the best way of living happily with your wife, would you apply to one who was himself a most miserable husband ? ”

“ No, of course not.”

" Not even if he said that he knew how to live most happily with his wife, and that he would teach you also, on condition that you paid him a great price?”

“ No ; for I should either think that he was attempting a certain kind of wit at my expense, or I should repeat to him that great saying, ‘ Physician, heal thyself.’”

“ You would, then, choose a very nappy husband to be your instructor ? ”

“ Undoubtedly I should, if at least I could find such an one.”

“ And would you choose one who had a lovely and excellent wife, and who had always been happy, or one who had an unpleasant and ugly wife, and who

A had once been a most miserable husband, but now was the happiest of men ? ”

“ I should certainly consider the advice of the second man as likely to be far more valuable.”

“In the same way with virtue ; should you think that the man who professed to be able to teach virtue to others, on condition that they paid him enough money, was likely to be a good teacher, if he himself were a wife-beater, and a drunkard, and in fact in every way the reverse of virtuous ? ”

“ I should say that he would not be likely to be a good teacher, unless indeed he were to use himself as an example of all those things which men ought to avoid.”

“ Quite so. Having, then, as it were, pointed out the track which we shall follow, let us proceed at length to consider Good Health. You, I suppose, like most men, are anxious to be as healthy as possible ? ”

“Yes, for who is not ? ”

“ And in what respects would you desire to be healthy ? ”

“ I do not yet understand what you mean.”

“I mean, would you desire to be just like some well-known runner, or sculler, who won some great prize yesterday ? ”

“ Not exactly.”

“ And why ? ”

“Why, though I should indeed like to equal him in running or sculling, I have my daily work to do ; for, as you know, I earn my money not by my legs or arms so much as by my brain, and I do not observe that such athletes use their brains so much as I must needs do ; in fact, it has often seemed to me that, at any rate while they are training their body and limbs for the races, most of them are almost unable to work hard and steadily with their brains also ; at any rate they very rarely do so, and rather seem to display a certain restlessness with regard to such studies.”

“ Quite true, and you have exposed a great error of the common people with regard to what Good Health really is ; but, anyhow, if you were seeking someone who should teach you how to be healthy, you would not, I presume, choose someone who was himself unhealthy ? ”

“ Well, to tell you the truth, it has never yet occurred to me to consider the point, for I have followed others, who themselves have followed the Tyrant ‘ Custom \ But, now that you have awakened me as it were from an unreasoning and sleepy imitation such as the sheep loves, I certainly think I ought not to have done so. I ought rather to have sought someone who was himself healthy ; but I have not a a little excuse, for, as you yourself know, such men can seldom tell others by what means they themselves are healthy. They generally seem to me to teach little more than this : ‘ Behold me, who am healthy “ Exactly ; so that you would seek for a man who not only was himself quite healthy, so far as concerns activity and energy of body and mind, but who also knew by what means he was healthy. And, if possible, you would choose a man who had been unhealthy before he used these means and who became unhealthy again whenever he no longer used them ? ”

“Yes; this man, it seems to me, would be the teacher to whom we might reasonably listen, or rather, to whom we shall listen, if we do our duty.”

“ And would you demand that he should show any further advantages as coming from these same means of health, which he uses ? ”

“ What kind of advantages do you mean ? ”

“ I mean, for instance, that he should be a less anxious and a happier man, and also a better man, than when he lived in the other way, and that his present way should be cheaper and should help him to save and gain not only money but also time? ”

“ Why, now that you mention it, these things are truly of vast importance in life. Indeed, I am inclined to think that greater happiness or freedom from care, and greater virtue, and greater economy, and the making of more money and of more time, are among the most precious things of life.”

“ There is yet another point, about which one might easily be mistaken — viz. with regard to those wines (and many things besides) which we might partly compare to a kind of stimulus or spur or goad. Now, in the case of horses, is a horse more healthy when it runs very fast for a short time, as often as a spur is applied, but afterwards shows many signs of tiredness, or when it runs very fast for a longer time and without a spur being applied, and afterwards seems scarcely to have run at all, so far is it from being exhausted ? ”

“ Why, of course, this second horse would be the healthier.”

“ Even if the former horse enjoyed the goad ? ”

“ Yes, for how could that make a difference?”

“ Let us take another case, lest perchance in this one case we may somehow have erred. Would a fire which burnt brightly for a long time when fed with simple and cheap fuel be a better fire — I mean more useful and advantageous to the householder — than a fire which would not burn brightly except at intervals, and that too only when one had applied to it either oil or straw or some expensive thing in order to rouse it up ? ”

“ Assuredly it would be far more useful.”

“ Then in the same way you would trust the man’s health more, if he did such things as he did without this stimulus, whether wine or some other expensive luxury — for such things are not quite the cheapest of all ? ”

“Yes; it certainly never appeared to me in this light before, for I had regarded it rather as a sign of good health to take wine and such things, but now I certainly should trust to this man’s health in preference.”

“ Let me ask a few more questions, if you are not yet tired ; supposing that this man used to live very much as you live now, with regard to both eating and drinking and in many other ways, and supposing that he had found that, whenever he returned to this old way of living, he was not half as active in mind and body, and not half as healthy, and that he spent far more than double the amount of money and time, and that he felt greater desire for some stimulus, what should you say then, my friend ? ”

“ I should say that his advice would be still more valuable than I had thought it before.”

“ And now to come back to -exercise ; would you count the man as healthier who is indeed able to take much exercise, if he wishes, but is also able to do without it, if there should be much work to be done, or the man who is unable to do without exercise, that is, who feels ill when he does not take exercise frequently ? ”

“ I count the former man as the healthier.”

“ And the same with regard to very good air, and many other things by which we cannot doubt that health is improved ? ”

“ Yes, for the man who could do without such things and at the same time keep healthy would be a better adviser than he who fell ill directly he breathed in air which was not the best ; for instance, it would be of little use to me to be healthy only when the air was very good, seeing that my work often has to be done in air which is far from good.”

“ And the same of holidays ? ”

“ Yes, he who could do without them, or at any rate he who could do without much holiday or leisure, would be likely to be healthier, I think, than he who fell ill unless he had a great part of the year for leisure and amusement.”

“ And, supposing he professed complete knowledge concerning the subject, would you believe him ? ”

“ Not I, by Zeus.”

“ You would rather believe a man who offered certain things, not as the best possible, but as the best which he himself had found out zvith regard to himself at any rate up to that time ; especially if he said he was willing to try other means instead of those means which he was then trying, or else in addition to them, and moreover to practise them if they should suit him better than his present means ? ”

“Yes, I should.”

“ And can you add any other merits which you would like your teacher to have ? ”

“ I cannot yet think of anything else, but I will tell you, supposing I do.”

“ Very wed, then, . . . may I gather up into one bundle, so to speak, the claims of this man to teach you ? ”

“ Please do.”

“ At one time he himself was not very healthy, and his way of living, which was like that of his neighbours, had many other disadvantages also, and whenever he returns to this way of living he suffers much the same things as formerly. But now, not only is he healthier both in body and mind, not only does he take harder exercise, and work harder and quicker, and with more success and less fatigue, not only is he happier and better, not only does he save more money and more time, not only can he avoid stimulants, not only does he find that exercise (though very useful) is not absolutely necessary every day as it used to be, and the same also with regard to the best air and holidays and many other excellent things for health, but besides all this he himself knows by what means, and — partly — owing to what causes, this new way of living is better ; and he does not profess that it is the best possible for everyone else, but only that it is the best for himself that he has as yet found, and that it might possibly be very good for many others ; and, last of all, he hopes that others will try on the chance of succeeding or even of finding out some new truths which may benefit the rest of mankind. And is this all ? ”

“ I think so.”

“ Well, but what if these advantages were not only present but were also increasing more and more as time went on, I mean his health and the other things ? ”

“ That might with advantage be added.”

“ Well, that also is true in his case.”

“ And now, my friend, I no longer ask you what you would say, but I ask you, a sensible person, having the divine gift of intelligence and reason, and being, as I think, responsible for the exercising of that gift for yourself with perfect freedom, I ask you, ivhat will you do ? I will tell you who this man is, and I will prove to you that he is such as I say, and I will show you some of the things which he can do by these means which he uses : will you, for your part, try these means fairly — for they are quite pleasant and easy — in the hope that what has happened in his case will happen also in yours ? ”

“ And how much hope is there, my good sir ? ”

“ I have some hope, my friend, because to some extent all of us are alike; and, if certain means do without doubt help one man to take very hard

A Socrcitic Conversation on Food and Health 9

exercise, and to do very hard work, with happiness and economy and other blessings, and without need of stimulus, such means may also enable others to do, if not as much, yet at least a great deal more than they do at present.,,

“ And you would urge me to try his plan, my dear sir, although he is not a doctor, and does not advise me to buy expensive drugs, or to go away for a long holiday, or to rest and be idle ? ”

“Yes, in spite of all this, I would urge you to try ; and, on reflection, if I remember rightly, I have now and again heard some of the greatest of these doctors say — and I have often read the same in the books of the most learned men — that as to what happens to the food within the body, Science knows little or almost nothing. It seems to me, then, that we shall never reach that knowledge of the truth which I for my part ardently pray for, both for myself, and for every other human being that lives, except by one path atoned

“ And what might that one path be ? ”

“That we should actually try , each for himself, and that we should be guided, not by what these doctors tell us is bound to happen, but by what certainly does happen in our own particular case. Or can you suggest any other way ? ”

“No, I fear I cannot. And perhaps it might be likely enough that the thing which docs actually happen in my case is, after all, more true and real than that which the doctor tells me is bound to happen. Though I admit that most people whom I know, when they put the two different things side by side, in order to judge which of the two is true and real, decide in favour of the opinion of the doctor.”

“ That is very human, and it reminds me that the very man of whom I am speaking was once informed by a doctor that those things, which he was then doing, were impossible ; but he, being guilty of a certain kind of irreverence, did not quite believe the doctor’s words. And now are you willing to try for yourself? ”

“Yes, now I am, provided that you first answer me concerning two things.”

“ I will try to do so.”

“ How is it that many of those who are called ‘ Vegetarians ’ have failed ? ”

“Well, though in reality it scarcely concerns him, as he is not one of those who are known to the people as using ‘Vegetarianism’, but rather employs the words ‘ the Simpler Foods ’, yet I think I can explain. For, whereas he endeavours to take just as much as is sufficient and neither more nor less, and that too of the right things for food, and nourishment, and health, and of these only, the latter have the reputation of eating many things without true knowledge, so that they often take too much of this kind of food and too little of that ; moreover, he eats slowly, while they often eat as in some great contest of speed. Nor does he indulge so much as they often do in tea and coffee.” “ And are not such Simpler Foods as he uses apt to be somewhat monotonous and wearisome ? ”

“ No; for there are various kinds of foods, and many of these can be eaten raw or cooked, and can be combined in various ways, so that for each day in the year you might have different meals if you chose. For instance I must tell you that these Simpler Foods include milk, fruits (such as oranges and apples), vegetables, grains (such as wheat and oats), nuts, water, cheese, Hovis bread, and ‘ Protene \”

“ Then why do not all the doctors both use such food themselves, or at any rate advise their patients to do so ? ”

“ My friend, are you not yet aware that Oedipus the king is already dead ? And as to other things which you might like to ask, will you not rather seek the book itself which this man has written ? ”

“Yes, and that too as soon as I possibly can.”

“ And having read the book, you will not forget to try for yourself? ”

“ No ; for, if I said that I had forgotten to try, I should be like that man who, when found still reclining in bed by those whom he had invited to breakfast with him, alleged as his excuse that he had forgotten to get up.”

PART I. Good Health

I. What Good Health is not.

II. What Good Health is: and some Tests

and Signs of it

III. Some Causes of Bad Health.

IV. Some Signs of Bad Health. '

V. Helps to Good Health, apart from Food

I

CHAPTER L

WHAT GOOD HEALTH IS NOT.

There are some very common and very injurious fallacies about good health, and I wish to expose these before I proceed to suggest my own definition.

Firstly, it is often supposed that there should be some absolute or arbitrary standard of good health. “Jones,” we hear people say, “is a healthy man. He can walk and bicycle, and yet he can work hard. Smith, on the other hand, isn’t nearly so healthy ; he can’t keep up with Jones.” The question should rather be, “Is Jones healthy, if we take into account the constitution which he inherited, and the conditions under which he has lived ? ” ; “ Is he nearly as healthy as he ought to be?” not “ Is he healthier than Smith ? ”, who may have inherited a very inferior constitution, and may have lived under very unfavourable conditions, and yet may have made nearly the most out of these conditions.

Secondly, it is wrong to imagine that good health can be one-sided, that it can be merely appearance, or merely appetite, or merely strength, or merely the capacity for hard work. How often we are told that so-and-so is healthy because he looks healthy, because he has a red face, or is fat, or is genial-looking. How often, again, we are told that another is healthy

IS because he is so “jolly”, which often includes a huge craving for food, and a capacity for gross over-eating and over-drinking; or because he has physical strength and endurance, because he has such “ muscles ” ; or even because he can work very hard with his brain, either regularly or for short spells. Is it not strange that we seldom, if ever, hear a man called healthy because he is morally healthy, although assuredly this should be one of the crucial tests of health, even of mere physical health ?

Of these characteristics, we may at once dismiss some, such as fatness, as no proof of health at all ; as to any other, taken by itself, we may say of it that it is, per sey no more a conclusive proof of a man’s health than a rich upper class is, per sey a conclusive proof of a nation’s health. For, as we shall see in the next Chapter, true health, like true virtue, is a combination of many things forming a harmonious unity. To be healthy, a man must be healthy from every point of view.

The case of the man who can take severe exercise or do severe brain-work only for short spells and under high pressure will illustrate yet a third fallacy, viz. that good health is anything else than an even tenour of good health, in fact, a high average .

Fourthly, it is an egregious fallacy to imagine that good health is merely “ not being ill ”, or “ not being in bad health”, especially if “ illness”, or “ bad health”, be taken in their ordinary sense of what is generally recognised as “ illness ” or “ bad health ”, for instance, bronchitis.

It would be as ridiculous to be content with this

What Good Health is Not definition as to be content with the definition of “virtue” as “not breaking the letter of the Ten Commandments.’* “ Good health ”, like “ virtue ”, is not solely negative, the mere absence of some things which are obviously bad, but also positive, the active presence of whatever is truly good,

B

Chapter II. What Good Health Is : And Some Tests

AND SIGNS OF IT.

We have just seen that good health is not absolute but relative — relative to the individual’s inherited capacities and conditions for using these capacities ; thus a lame man with only one eye and with an inherited tendency to consumption may be healthier than a famous athlete, in proportion to his chances and capacities for health. A far better test than what the man is will be what the man has been , as compared with what he is ; in other words, what he is becoming ; allowance being made for his particular conditions and “ environment.”

We have seen also that good health is not to be confused with any one or two of the factors of good health apart from the others, whether that factor be the appearance, or physical success, or intellectual success. Good health is a combination of many factors. And we have seen that good health is not merely a temporary state of high excellence, but is a permanent level of high excellence.

Again, we have seen that good health is not merely negative — that is, not merely “ not being ill ”, according to the popular ideas of “ illness ” — but that it

What Good Health Is also has its positive and active side. For I must insist on two points :

(1) I must insist on a wider definition of illness, or bad health (or whatever we like to call it). It must include not only such extreme forms as “ bronchitis ”, but also such common forms as headaches, insomnia, nervous irritability, depression, and many other symptoms.

(2) I insist on good health being not merely an absence of certain more or less definite signs of illness, or bad health, but on its being also a positive and active tendency towards whatever is good , the tendency to develop e, as God meant man to dev elope, in every direction , both physical , mental , and moral. Similarly, “virtue” is not the mere avoidance of vice, but is, in its fullest sense, the positive and active tendency towards whatever is morally good.

Having repeated this by way of introduction, I can now proceed to mention some of the tests and signs of good health.

Among the ordinary tests, out of a large number may be mentioned the mean between fatness and thinness, the clear eye, the clean, fresh, unwrinkled skin, the soft arteries, the kidneys and the freedom of the urine from symptoms of Diabetes, Bright’s disease, etc. ; the bowels and freedom from constipation ; the liver and the stomach and freedom from biliousness, indigestion, etc, ; the right action of the heart, and so on. All these are most intimately connected, especially by the blood that flows throughout the body, carrying, feeding, and removing refuse.

In addition to these tests there is required, of course the capacity for many kinds of prolonged physical exertion, with ease, skill, rapidity, and pleasure. But this by itself is not enough. There must also be the capacity — and here I will go a step further and add the tendency or even the desire — for many kinds of prolonged intellectual exertion, again with ease, skill, rapidity, and pleasure.

But even these two combined are not enough. For there must also be the tendency and the desire — here, certainly, the mere capacity is not enough — for moral activity and exercise (strange as the term may sound) with ease, skill, and pleasure.

There is yet a fourth condition, which is really included in the third. Good health almost compels a man to desire that everyone else shall be healthy also, and actually to work for that end. The healthy man feels the universal brotherhood of mankind, and recognises the claim of that brotherhood upon his powers. He also recognises the universal Fatherhood of God, and welcomes his own responsibilities and privileges as a son.

My new definition, then, would supersede the old ideas of health by including them, by combining them, by correcting them, and by expanding them. The really “ healthy ” man ( a ) will not only look healthy, but he will also be able to keep up with pleasure and without exertion, without stimulants, without fatigue, and for long stretches of time together, ( b ) many kinds of physical activity ; ( c ) many kinds of intellectual activity, for which he will feel a positive tendency and desire, (d) He will also have a positive

What Good Health Ts tendency and desire to think and speak and do what is right Let me add also that ( e ) he will be content, nay, he will prefer, to live as cheaply and as simply as his circumstances allow.

If you wish to decide whether a certain person, at any given period of his life, is healthy or not healthy, the following tests are worth applying :

“ Does he think that the things of this world are valuable chiefly as a means to an end, or chiefly for their own sakes ? ”

“ Is he generally happy, or worried and dissatisfied?” “ Is he generally an optimist or a pessimist ? ”

“ Has he many interests, and does he manage not to waste his time ? ”

“ What does he like doing when he has finished his work, or when he wants a change ? ”

“ What effects have stimulants upon him ? ” (see p. 49).

In conclusion, let me try to sum up my ideas as to what good health really means.

If a man not only looks healthy and satisfies the doctor’s tests, but also is enabled to get out of himself nearly the most possible good in whatever noble direction and for whatever noble end he chooses, then and not till then I call him “healthy”. For such a man is bound to feel a tendency and a desire to bring everyone else into a similar state of good health.

Chapter III. Some Causes Of Bad Health

The problem of the causes of bad health is extraordinarily complicated ; for instance, one cause (e.g. excess in eating and drinking) may produce certain results (e.g. depression), which may in their turn become causes (e.g. of a further excess in eating and drinking). To work back to the few primary causes is a most bewildering task, and the searcher is only too apt to fix his attention upon, and to exaggerate the importance of, some single evil which is either only one cause out of many, or is rather a symptom than a cause. Possibly I have erred in this way.