Discord produces disease and death. Harmony leads to health and long life.
The adjustment must be both physical and mental.
The physical part means to live or adjust ourselves so that all the functions of the body are carried on normally. The body is self-regulating and if we do nothing harmful health will be our portion. However, life under our present civilization is so complex that the demands upon our nervous systems are excessive. It is easy to live so that we can have health, but to do so is not conventional, and hence not very popular.
In order to have good physical health under present conditions, it is necessary to make some effort. The effort is not great enough to be onerous and does not require much time. It is important to get health knowledge, which the majority lacks today. This knowledge is most excellent, but it does not benefit the individual unless it is applied. We all wish to have health, but this is not enough. We must will to have it. When we say that we cannot, it should generally be interpreted to mean that we will not.
Some important subjects regarding which special knowledge should be secured are: Food, drink, exercise, care of the skin, sleep, work and play, breathing, clothing, and mental attitude.
These subjects, as well as others, have been quite extensively discussed. It is impossible to give full information in tabloid form. It is also impossible to read a book of this character once and get all the information it contains. Those who are in earnest will study the subject, instead of merely reading it.
Allow me to remind you that nearly all of our diseases are due to faulty dietary habits. So it was in the time of Hippocrates, according to that sage, and so it is today. It is a common statement that about 90 per cent. of our physical ills come from improper diet, and this is the truth. It follows from this that it is most important to know about correct feeding habits, and put them in practice. Improper diet results in faulty nutrition, after which physical and mental ills make their appearance.
There are many systems of feeding, and nearly all of them will bring good results if the most important prescription is followed, namely, moderation. Simplicity leads to moderation.
Those who are reasonable about their food intake often serve as targets for the shafts of ridicule launched at them by those who are ignorant of the subject or too self-indulgent to exercise a little self-control. Ridicule is one of the most deadly of weapons, but it never harms those who have the hardihood of getting down to basic facts and classifying things and ideas according to their true value. Why should we be guided by the wit and sarcasm of indolent voluptuaries who daily desecrate their bodies through ruinous indulgences?
There is no need of becoming harsh and austere, nor is it necessary to fall into deadly habits of self-indulgence. Sometimes we can go with the current with benefit, but at times it is also necessary to paddle up-stream. Life demands a certain amount of hardihood from those who would live in health, and this comes not from self-indulgence, but from self-denial. It is necessary to do almost daily something that we are not inclined to do.