Sugar, tobacco, alcohol, and sweetened beverages in the form of coffee, etc., produce a stimulating effect upon the sympathetic ganglia near the base of the brain and through these arouse the emotional nature, exciting the nerves of sociability, the facial muscles, the sense of sight, the sense of speech and the nerves controlling the organs of reproduction and those of muscular action. Excitability of one set of nerve fibres will always produce a morbid condition upon the opposites, and these are the finer instincts and sensualities.
An individual with a delicate, nervous structure or one who has bony displacement or contracted tissue in the cervical region interfering with normal blood flow, would therefore be more injured by such irritants or stimuli than one whose structures and functions are working harmoniously. A person who, in addition to these physical defects, has weak kidneys and intestinal obstruction interfering with the glycogenic functions of the liver will suffer far more often in spite of total abstinence from all such stimulants because he indulges in foods such as canned, watery cooked fruits in combination with yeast bread, potatoes and a variety of cooked foodstuffs which his eliminating organs are not able to manage, and alcoholic fermentation is the result. The blood, instead of being a transparent, homogeneous, and alkaline fluid, resembles in appearance sour milk. The coagulated constituents of the blood clog the fine capillaries and infiltrate the structures of the lower body, allowing the watery contents to circulate in the tissues of the brain and chest, exciting the nerves and vital organs and producing an undue pressure upon the glandular secretions of the suprarenal capsules, tyroid and pituitary body, leading to diabetes or dropsy. The symptoms of such conditions are similar to those of chronic alcoholism.
Persons of the latter class should avoid all artificial stimulants, and use natural stimulants such as sweet fruits and honey in very moderate quantities (during the winter only), and never at the morning meal. They should restrict themselves to a diet of dry natural foods, including a considerable amount of fats properly combined with acids and raw greens in the form of salads. In addition to these they may use legumes in moderate quantities, raw or plain boiled cereals without sugar, also nuts several times per week. Clabber milk and cottage cheese are also good. Fresh milk, if agreeable, should be modified with one-third water and milk sugar added, heating to 170° F. The heating of the milk to this point prevents fermentation. During hot summer months when the skin is active, there is less tendency to fermentation by such people, and heating of milk, if fresh, is generally unnecessary. (However, this is not the case with infants or people who have a tendency to diarrhea.)
Artificial sweets, white bread and poisonous beverages develop butterflies that crave excitement and artificial life. The world is full of people that are without substance, power or principle. They earn their living the easiest way they can. Wrong feeding is responsible for such conditions. Social reformers and humanitarians cannot solve problems until they have learned how to feed the race.
The “Dreadnaught”—Stimulant. (Quoted from Dr. Axel Emil Gibson’s Work.) The ruling stimulant of the world today is not the coffee, tea, beer nor even whisky—but the innocent-looking, pleasant-tasting, alluring white powder known as sugar. Its stimulating power is greater than that of the alcohol, because it is the parent and generator of the alcohol.
CHAPTER III.
CONSTIPATION.
This is one of the most common disorders of civilized people. The disease may be primary or secondary. The movement of the bowels normally depends on the amount eaten. Some people eat such great quantities that two or three movements are necessary every day in order to carry off the excess of waste. People of moderate habits who eat dry food properly combined need not of necessity have a movement every day in order to maintain health, but such are few. The fecal discharge, if allowed to remain in the colon longer than is natural, accumulates in the folds of the colon, and its fluids are re-absorbed into the circulation while the remainder becomes hard; part of it continues to adhere to the mucus membrane and attracts more accumulation until finally the entire walls of the colon become encrusted with fecal matter. A physic will not always remove the encrusted matter or even loosen it; it may give temporary relief by establishing a small passage way through the accumulation of the colon and some benefit is felt. Thousands of people suffer from such conditions for years without being aware of it. Is it any wonder that men who are thought to be in apparently good health die of apoplexy, paralysis, consumption, appendicitis or Bright’s disease? Besides this nearly all diseases of a contagious nature have their origin in the colon.
The question is often asked why do these conditions exist? Take a lesson from the animals who live on natural sun cooked foods. They masticate their food and obey the call of nature whenever evacuation is necessary.
Constipation may be the result of purely mechanical conditions, such as want of exercise, tight corsets, drug taking, paralytic state of the bowels, strictures or adhesions to neighboring organs from previous inflammations. Under all conditions it is possible to be greatly benefited by a diet suitable in quantity and quality to the individual needs and by correct habits.
Raw foods are more nutritious than cooked foods, if they are pure and fresh and can be digested without difficulty. A change from cooked to raw foods might produce diarrhoea or constipation. The latter condition is generally not dangerous. Constipation from cooked foods is more dangerous.