Are you tired when you wake up in the morning, exhausted by the time you get to work, wondering by noon how you’ll ever make it through the day? Is your fatigue of such duration that you’re beginning to wonder if you were literally born tired?
Yes, it’s you, all right. Those are your symptoms. The job is too much effort. Dead-end tasks accumulate until you can’t make any progress. You can’t even keep pace with today.
How did you get this way? What happened to your zest for living, your drive, your dreams of accomplishment?
What happened to you?
Where is that vital, dynamic person that you want to be? That you can be?
Where is he now?
Caught on the treadmill to oblivion! But why?
That work stacked on your deskif you could only get it all cleared up, with enough time and energy left over to put some new ideas into effect, what promotions and pay increases might be yours! Maybe you could even buy a home in the country where you could go to rest up.
“It’s no use,” you think wearily. “Not that I don’t have ideas for getting ahead. What good is it, though, when I’m bogged down in the daily routine, too tired to think, and with no way out?”
But there is a way out.
Obviously you can’t decrease the amount of work that your job calls for. Employers take a dim view of a cut in production. Why not try the alternative?
Step up your energy!
“You think I don’t try?” you protest. “Why do you suppose I go out on the coffee break and have a sweet roll and coffee, and bring back a candy bar for the afternoon? That’s to give me quick energy. The only trouble is that the energy doesn’t last long.”
No, of course it doesn’t. And you find yourself getting paunchy, less alert mentally, often unable to concentrate consistently, perhaps developing some of the real health hazards such as high blood pressure, diabetes, or another of the so-called degenerative diseases that often have their origin in a prolonged vitamin-and-mineral deficiency.
Listlessness, chronic fatigue, irritability, loss of ambitionmust these be the heritage of the average wage earner? The handicaps that spell mediocrity, instead of the success that could be achieved?
They needn’t be!
Chronic fatigue is not normal. Neither is disease. But your low N.Q., or nutrition quotient, can make them so.
Roland H. Berg, in discussing the socioeconomic factors affecting medical care in the United States, deplored the state of the nation’s health. “We have been winning the battle against acute diseases,” he said, “but losing the war against chronic killers.”
The mortality rate for the largely preventable chronic diseases continues to mount. We have the scientific knowledge to ward off many of the crippling chronic diseases and the sudden deaths from heart attacks, but we don’t use it.
The average businessman wants a return of at least 5 per cent on his investments. Why does he refuse to give 5 per cent of his time to keeping well or to saving his lifewhen the risk of disease or death is present 10o per cent of the time?
If something goes wrong with your car you take it to a garage, find out what’s wrong, and have it overhauled.
But if something goes wrong with that intricate machine, your body, if you realize that you’re not getting anything like the mileage you should, what do you do? You stoke it with soggy sweet rolls, candy bars, and coffee, trying desperately to get that last ounce of energy needed to get you through the day, hoping vaguely that tomorrow will be better.
Tomorrow will be betterif you start doing something about it today!
You’ve heard of hidden hunger.
“Sure,” you say, “but I eat three good meals a day, not to mention the coffee breaks. That couldn’t apply to me.”
Couldn’t it? How much do your meals contribute in the way of protein, vitamins, and minerals? Do you know what your body actually needs to withstand the stress and strain of everyday living, to build up tissues, and to avoid nutritional deficiencies?
Can food alone accomplish this?
It could help . . . if enough time and effort were spent in planning and preparing meals and if vegetables grown on mineral-rich soils were eaten before most of the vitamin and mineral content had been cooked away.
But this is a hurried, impatient age. You eat in a restaurant much of the time; you rush through your meals without taking time to enjoy them.
Even Bushman, who had nothing to do except relax and be the world’s greatest gorilla, had to supplement his diet with a daily ration of vitamins and minerals. As a result, he lived well beyond the age of the average gorilla in its normal habitat.
Some time ago an article was published in the magazine Prevention which said: “A correct, natural diet, including ample vitamins and minerals, will do more to prevent the ravages of old age and diseases of old age than anything else. .. . Provide now for a healthy, vigorous, enjoyable old age by making a habit of eating correctly. See that your diet consists as much as possible of natural foods rather than refined. Check constantly to make sure you are getting enough vitamins and minerals . . . supplement a good diet with concentrated vitamins and minerals.”
Bushman couldn’t have read that. Somebody must have told him!
The costs of high mortality have become too great for insurance companies. Consequently they are preaching health consciousness. You have a high economic value. It simply shows good business sense for you to be health-conscious.
In summing up America’s health, the official report of the National Health Assembly, held in Washington, D.C., in 1948, says that we need greater emphasis on preventive treatment. The art of living a healthy life, as well as a long, con-tented one, can be acquired through knowledge.
Dr. Tom Spies, of Northwestern University, tells us: “The use of nutrients to replenish the tissues and to prevent disease is the physician’s primary problem. He knows that the nutrients must be supplied for the body from the outside. No statistics can determine the loss and no words can describe the waste when physicians do not meet this challenge, head on.
A well-known leading man on the New York stagewho would prefer to remain anonymouswas not always able to go on with the show. Because of illness he disappointed his audience fifty-three times in one year. When he recently took his first absence after a year’s run, he was asked to account for his transformation.
“It was diet,” he answered. “Before this show opened I went to a doctor who took white bread away from me because he said it makes my system acid and dries my throat. He took away, also, other things for the same reason. I have lost fifteen pounds. I feel fine. I feel good. I feel confident.”
Why should you settle for a second-rate self? Why be only half-alive, low in energy and spirits, losing confidence in your-self and your future? Trade neglect for know-how, and come over to the nutritionally safe side of life.
A famous doctor of the Hollywood stars said recently: “Motion picture stars are the healthiest people in the world. Even the old ones are vigorous, firm and pink-cheeked. They eat the best foodand less of it!than anyone else.”
They also take vitamin-and-mineral supplements.
“The amount of food eaten has nothing to do with good nutrition,” according to one of America’s leading weekly magazines, which presented a symposium of qualified professional views on health. The symposium put significant emphasis on nutrition. “”It is the kinds of food that matter. Nutritional deficiencies . . . are apt to increase with aging and are a primary source of the afflictions of old age. For in-stance, the bones of elderly people are easily broken. This is due mostly to gradual demineralization of the bones, especially loss of calcium. . . . Once the demineralization has started, there is little or no help for it. But it can be prevented by deliberately increasing the intake of foods rich in calcium and minerals during middle age, when the process begins.”
Robert Cummings, the motion picture and television star, shares with us his formula for youth, energy, and vitality. Mr. Cummings, at forty-six, is young, handsome, and vigorous. He says: “Usually, by the time an actor learns his trade, he’s so old and beaten-up that he doesn’t look well. So I take good care of myself.”
Among other things, including exercise, concentrated vitamin-and-mineral supplements, and a high-protein diet”We’re all creatures of protein,” he saysMr. Cummings takes soybean lecithin three times a day.
Robert Cummings enjoys his life, his work, and his accomplishments, which are many and varied. His excellent care of himself has paid off in the good health which makes all this possible.
Now, what about you? Will you live to enjoy your success?
Wouldn’t you like to stick around for a few more years so that you can enjoy it? You’ve worked hard to make money; you’ll make more of it, and get some fun out of it, if you plan how to live longer.
You like to play, don’t you? If you think you don’t you’d better learn something about play. It’s an important part of life, your life, which could be prolonged through relaxation and play . . . instead of ending with a sudden heart attack.
You want to travel and see the world? A noble aspiration. But you’ll need to live out your full allotment of years. It’s all right to take short cuts in saving travel miles. Just don’t take a short cut through life to an untimely end.
Maybe you fancy yourself a lady’s manyou single boys, of course! Don’t forget that warm tears shed on the shoulders of a living man are far more desirable than warm tears shed over the corpse of a lover who dies an early and avoidable death.
You have children and you want to see them grow up?
You’d like to see them through college and help them to attain a place in the world? Fine! But you’ll have to be around to do this. You can’t accomplish it by remote control. Even Houdini hasn’t been able to send a message from another world.
All of which means you’ve got to take care of yourself. Either for selfish reasons or for those who depend on you. No one can live your life for you. As you must die your own death, so must you live your own life.
Much of my life has been spent trying to make it as easy as possible for you to add years to your own. Or at least to live out your full life span, instead of cutting it short through self-destructive habits.
All habits must be established. After that the going is easy. The only trouble is, a good many men take to bad habits a lot faster than they do to good ones.
If you will spend the next ninety days establishing the habits that will prolong your life, from then on it’ll be a simple matter to adhere to them. They’ll become second nature to you. But you must co-operate with yourselfa hard-to-getto job for a good many men.
I’ve told you the facts in this book. The rest is up to you.
Will you trade neglect for know-how, and lengthen your life instead of shortening it? Is it so hard to do the following simple thingswhen the only life you have is in the balance?
1. High-protein foods. Eat with a purpose. Don’t junk up your machinery with starches, sugars, and fats. A good rule to follow: First eat all the foods you need.’Then, if you still have the capacity for something else, have it. Chances are you won’t want it.
2. Vitamins and minerals. We’ve emphasized the importance of these throughout this book. You’ve read enough about them elsewhere. It’s all very well and good to say “Get them in your foods.” The realistic fact is that our foods just do not supply all the vitamins and minerals that we should have. For that reason, in addition to good eating, use a concentrated source of all the vitamins and minerals. There are many good ones available, but be sure the formula is really complete. The more complete the formula, the more you get for your moneyand the better vitamin-mineral insurance you have. I have found that for my own use the splendid formula called Nutri-Time is an ideal vitamin-mineral food supplement. It is available in most health-food stores. As it’s a natural food supplement, it is not sold in drugstores.
3. Lecithin, the miracle food. We’ve talked a lot about this amazing substance. But talk is meaningless if it doesn’t beget action. For your health’s sake-and for your sake as a manplease include at least three teaspoonfuls of lecithin granules in your program daily. It may sound trite to say that it will amaze youbut it actually will! I recommend lecithin in granule form, not only because it’s a better value for the money, but because you are assured of better potencieshence, surer results. You can get it in capsule form, which is all right while traveling; but you have to take three or four capsules to equal one teaspoonful of the granules.
Don’t wait until your body is completely deprived of its reserve. Fatigue, obesity, anxietyall are danger signals along the way. It’s the subclinical problems that are the worst, because they are difficult to recognize. Start today to be the person you want to be . . . the person you can be. You’ve learned the secrets of better nutrition, both in your diet and in a supplement of vitamins, minerals, and lecithin.
Take advantage of them to unleash the drive that’s in you.
Realize your latent potencies. Utilize the talents that have been buried beneath inertia. Race through life instead of limping . . . stride toward success instead of stumbling along half-alive. Stay at your mental and physical best, al-ways, charged with enthusiasm and the capacity for living joyously and abundantly!