The transition from one age cycle to the next is so slow and easy that we are seldom aware when we step out of youth into maturity.
This is as it should be. Being mature, in the true sense of the word, should mean being periencedmellowed and beautified men-tally, spiritually and physically by the wisdom and truth we acquired through living.
There should be a value on agein its right interpretation. Just as we consider a piece of furniture or a priceless bit of tapestry, which has been handed down through generations, rare and beautiful because of fine workmanship and the exquisite care that has lent it grace and finish, so we should be able to regard human beings.
We are prevented from doing this because in most instances the human body has not received the right care and the proper amount of respect. The years, instead of imparting a fine finish and a charming poise, only in-crease the enfeeblement of bodily functions. Disease, vast accumulations of poisons and wastes in the human system, will rob us of our rightful inheritance. We were never meant to grow old in the sense that one after another, our faculties fail us. Neglect does that. A natural state of self-preservation plus the pro-found and beautiful experience life gave us, would make our age the envy of youth.
No one of us can be sure that distress and sorrow will not be occasional visitors. We must expect it if we are going to gain experience and strength of character. But what we do not have to expect, and what we have formed the habit of taking for granted, is disease and bodily discomforts which in time make us old and feeble. Come what may, if we have a strong physical structure and vital health we can meet all problems of life.
There is a correspondence between the functions of cell lifedigestion, assimilation, and eliminationand the three general cycles of man’s lifeyouth, maturity and age.
In infancy and youth, digestion is upper-most. In maturity, assimilation is strongest; and in age or advanced maturity, the process of elimination of waste overbalances digestion and assimilation. To understand this is to grasp one of the vital principles of body building
Take the period of childhood first. At this first stage of development, building capacity is high. The growth of a healthy child the first seven years is rapid. Here we see body building at its best, upon a clean, alkaline foundation. If a new-born baby has Mother’s milk that is 100% life-giving, his start in life is perfect. Nature is supplying him with the ideal building material. But too often mothers are not co-operating with nature. When mothers will learn to chemicalize their bodies before conception, applying food science in scientific eating during pregnancy, they can nurse their babies who will be one hundred per cent healthy and strong.
There is a growing tendency today to feed infants a little orange juice and natural vegetable juices in very small quantities to increase the intake of valuable mineral salt. The good results from this prove that the child can digest more nourishment than is supplied by mother’s milk which is too often below par. Where cow’s or goat’s milk is substituted for mother’s milk, the problem is sometimes a serious one. Baby specialists are too apt to prescribe artificial baby foods that cause a serious adjustment in the tiny body. We can-not go against nature’s laws. Natural foods are best.
Building capacity is still very high when the child goes from infancy into youth. We see digestion at its highest, for the young body demands much food to build the five tissue masses which are growing rapidly. Bones, muscles, glands, brain, nervous system and skin all vie with one another for nourishment. This is the time, above all others, to eat live foods, for youth is building a health foundation for life.
BUILDING FOODS FOR GROWING CHILDREN
GROUP I Muscle Builders Nutsone handful daily with an orange Beans Lentils Peas Chicken Cheese Fish Lamboccasionally
These acid-forming foods to be combined at same meal with fruit and vegetables to keep alkaline balance. Nuts are rich in calcium, which builds bone and teeth. Also 100% wheat bread and wild rice contain many chemicals to be found in the body.
GROUP II Alkaline Regulators Vitalizers Raw salads Fresh green vegetables eaten daily All juicy fruits, especially Oranges Apples Lemons Peaches, pears Grapefruit Berries Grape These foods keep the body clean and alkaline.
GROUP III Energy and Heat Foods Baked potato with skin 100% whole wheat bread Whole rye bread 100% cereals, as : Shredded wheat biscuit Cracked wheat Steel cut oats Wheatena Buttercream Natural sweets as: Datesfigspruneshoneymaple syrup brown sugarmolasses These build for energy and heat.
GROUP IV Nerve, Brain and Glandular Foods Olive oil combined with lemon or grapefruit juice used on salads plentifully. Wesson oil Mazola oil Avocado pears Creambutter Dried olives
Olive oil feeds glands, nerves and brain. Fats lubricate and increase heat of body. Sleep is one of the best brain and nerve restorers. Youth needs from 8 to 10 hours.
Too often not enough thought is put into school lunches. See that there is plenty of raw food, such as hearts of celery, a young raw carrot, fresh tomato, nuts, an orange, apple or pear. Whole wheat sandwiches may be made of Philadelphia cream cheese mixed with crushed canned pineapple and lettuce, ground dates and nuts with lettuce, chopped parsley with cream cheese, a thin slice of Swiss cheese and lettuce with whole rye bread and ripe olives. These will be live, vitalizing foods instead of the fluffy, denatured foods often snatched hurriedly because they look attractive.
Remember that youth is in the making, and education along the lines of Food Science and Body Building is far more important than lessons in Greek, Latin or geometry. Teach your children that a conglomeration of dead foodsmashed potatoes, heavy meats with gravies, white bread, cake, cookies, candy, rich ice-cream sodas and pasteurized milk, all of which growing boys and girls eat today more plentifully than they eat live foodsare the cause of many of the illnesses which appear later in maturity. The future will see radical changes in education along these practical health lines, the importance of which educators are beginning to realize today.
When we reach maturity, assimilation is high, and building capacity has been diminished. Maturity is a balance between youth and advanced age. A fullness of life and experience should make of this period one of rich possibilities. Instead, it is said that on the average, not a thirteenth part of the powers within us ever materialize in knowledge and works.
Why should there be this waste of accomplishment? Because the body has attained its growth, yet the same building foods given to growing youth are eaten in abundance. The problem of maturity is to keep the balance between youth and age. This is not done by overeating of heavy meats, denatured starches and rich pastries. The mature body needs comparatively little building foods of Group 1. One a day is sufficient. It needs however, an abundance of the Group 2 foodsfresh fruits and leafy vegetables to flush, dissolve, alkalinize and regulate bodily function s. There should be a very small portion of Group 3, and some of Group 4. If this is not carried out, the usual maladies of middle life appearobesity, rheumatism, neuritis, ardening of the arteries, arthritis, growths, asthma, catarrh, etc. There is no need of these if the cause is removed. The principle of eating for this life cycle is simple: 70% of eliminative foods (Group 2) and 30% of building and energy foods (Groups 1 and 3). Combine with these the glandular foods given in the previous chapter. In eating, let judgment dictate, and not desire. Two or three Eliminative Feeding periods yearly will do much to establish a clean foundation.
Now is the time to come to the subject of milk. The milk habit is a widespread one. Most of us have been taught to feel virtuous if we have remembered to take our pint or quart of milk a day. But among modern physicians, it is a widely demonstrated fact that milk uniformly causes two definite conditions within the human body; lowering of mentality and general clogging of the entire system. Nature meant cow’s milk for the nourishment of calves, and a calf’s intelligence is never very high at best. Even a calf, however, turns away from milk to grass and clover when it begins to grow. For babies, certified milk is the next best thing to mother’s milk, but the fact that all mature beings are provided with teeth is sufficient proof that milk was not designed for their use. When all young animals and babies get their teeth, they no longer take mother’s milk. Why should you, grown-up, take the nourishment designed for calves when even the calves grown-up know better.
Charles E. Hecht, honorary secretary of the Food Education Society, says:
“Milk, as a food, is the enemy of the brain worker. While cheese, butter and cream are valuable foods, milk is good for babies but not for men.”
Infants should have orange juice after every feeding of certified milk. One to two teaspoonfuls is sufficient.
And now we come to advanced maturity. The foods best suited to those past middle life are those which are eliminative and cleansing in action; such as fresh fruits, salads and fresh green vegetables combined with easily digested builders. Very little starchy food should be taken as these clog and tax the digestion. Most elderly people do not take much exercise, so they need less food, and food which is palatable and easily assimilated.
The problem of advanced age is elimination, because the process of waste in cell life is high. Digestion and assimilation are less vital, and have to be regulated. The increase of waste in cell tissue must be retarded. Eliminative Feeding periods of seven days are imperative, followed by four or five weeks of building if the person is thin. If over-weight, two or three weeks of building are sufficient. This should be continued three or four times the first year until the body is thoroughly cleansed of all waste and hard de-posits. Aged people are finding Swiss Kriss of much help to insure internal cleanliness.
Strawberry tea is made from wild straw-berry leaves and is rich in Potassium. It comes from Switzerland, and is used to counteract acid conditions.* It is a pleasant drink, and should become popular as a substitute for strong tea and coffee.
Milk is especially harmful in advanced maturity, as it is rich in bone-making material, of which there is many times too much. Be-cause it is easily taken and a body builder, it is generally considered a good food for advanced maturity. Modern food Scientists do not consider it so.
You remember that in chemicanalysing your particular type, we stressed the point that you should eat to perfect your type. This is another consideration we will take up in Master Body Building. In our next chapter
May be purchased at your Health Food Store or direct from the importers, Modern Health Products Co., 1428 N. 24th St., Milwaukee, Wis. we will show you how you may build for the benefit of your individual type.
We are learning how to eat for life, health and youth. Old age is a disease which this scientific body building helps to combat. In-stead of dreading the years, let us look for-ward to their approach because we know they cannot take from us any mental or physical power. Rather, they will give us ripe maturity whose wisdom and council adds much to younger lives.