A Balanced Program

 “A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight.” Prov.11:1

 

“There ought to be a way of daily living which will keep its adherents in good health so that they may perform the ordinary duties of life with ease and without undue fatigue, that the daily rounds of life may be one continuous pleasure rather than a struggle to “keep going” from the sheer force of necessity. Such a happy way of living consists of a balanced program, which must include among other items:

(1) Perfect nutrition—natural foods, raw and cooked, proportioned to provide the right amount of protein to repair the body cells, starch, sugar and fat to supply heat and energy for the body and its activities, with water, minerals, and vitamins to sustain all of the life processes—a program of feeding which will nourish every organ, gland, and cell in the body.

(2) A proper amount of exercise to maintain good circulation of the blood that it may promptly bring fresh supplies of oxygen and food to the body cells and quickly transport their wastes to the skin, lungs, and kidneys for elimination so that toxins will not be allowed to accumulate in the body.”

“Perfect health requires a perfect circulation” MH p.293

The burden of this book is to provide an organized program of daily living so that every nutritional need of the body will be met every day and so make possible the enjoyment of optimum health every day, and to make the right way of living so plain, so consistent, and so manifestly true that no sincere reader will doubt its correctness, and so desirable that all who read will want to follow it. The plan of living herein described is a digest of the findings of some of the most eminent and successful investigators in the world—highly respected authors from various countries.

 

The Body’s Life

The body is built of cells. All body functions are associated with the function of cells. If the cells are normal, the organs and body are normal, and that is health. The life is in the cell. The continuances of the life and functions of cells is made possible by forces which reside in air, sunshine, water, and food.

Plants can attain perfect development only when all of the elements they need for life and growthare in the soil. ‘A plant, in order to obtain perfect growth, must find in soil a certain minimum of each of many elements.

Consider, for example, the element potassium. Suppose only half of the necessary amount of potassium be present, then no matter how abundant may be all the other soil and air constituents,their normal utilization is limited to one-half. The rate of growth and the ultimate development of the plant are consequently depressed. Applying this principle to food absorption, showing that the lack of any one mineral requirement in the body will, to the extent it is lacking, thereby deprive the system of the ability to utilize all of the minerals present.’

This is similar to the maxim the sages gave us long ago—‘a chain is no stronger than its weakest link.’ This seems to be so clear that it is useless to dispute it, and yet, when applied to a balanced ration it is almost revolutionary. Animals—cows, horses, pigs, chickens, etc.—are the most profitable when fed scientifically.

The average farmer knows more about fertilizing the soil that it may bring forth proper crops; thefeeding of a balanced ration to the hens that they will lay a goodly number of eggs, and to the cows that they may give a profitable supply of milk, than he does about feeding those for whom all these things exist—himself and family.

The average mother knows less about the foods needed to nourish the inside of the bodies of her children than about the style of the clothes for the outside. She does not discern that the body is more than the raiment.

Animals in the laboratory can be kept in good health or fall ill with common ailments and diseases similar to ours, according to the food given them.

The engine of the automobile is “fed” scientifically to secure the greatest efficiency and the longest service.

Man alone—he who is lord of all living creatures and of every mechanical device, and who holds their destiny in his hands, too often eats according to the caprice of appetite and does not use as good judgment concerning his own health as he does in the protection of the animate and inanimate things under his care.

The Life-Span Is Decreasing

Man is the only creature given to the practice of self-destroying habits. Because of such habits degenerative diseases of the vital organs are rapidly increasing with a consequent shortening of the span of life. The much-lauded reports that human life is lengthening are deceptive in that they give a false impression. Through better care of babies and their mothers, and by better control of contagious and infectious diseases, more children grow to adult life than formerly; but when they reach adult life—age forty—they have already indulged in so many life-destroying habits that, on the average, they will not live as long as their grandparents did. “The young live longer but the old die sooner.” People do not live longer, but more babies grow up to adult life and this increases the average length of all lives. The age limit is lowering at the same time the average length of life is increasing. We cannot continue indefinitely to add to the average length of life by conquering infectious diseases, because when they are wiped out there will be no more to conquer, but degenerative diseases are increasing with accelerating rapidity. One authority has said that if cancer continues to increase as its present rate it alone will depopulate the earth.

‘The span of human life has not been lengthened, and there is no prospect that it soon will be. The average duration of life is all that has been altered, and that has been accomplished chiefly by giving more babies a fairer start in life’s journey that they used to have. Because more of them get by the early and very difficult hurdles, absolutely more of them survive to later ages. But the terms of the bet that any individual man aged seventy today can safely say that he will be alive at ninety appear to be not quite as good as they were fifty years ago.’

This book is designed to lead the reader away from the degenerative diseases and to indicate how to attain the highest possible degree of immunity to infectious and contagious diseases and so add to the length, usefulness and joy of life. Inasmuch as the indulgence of the sense of taste is foremost among the causes of degeneracy, this book will faithfully indicate these practices and point the way to a higher order of living. It is hoped that the reader may discern the path to abundant health and happiness and walk therein.”

In our next study will enter into a new chapter, The Body and its Needs. Check back in next wednesday and discover the chemical composition of the body and the approximate amount of each kind of element found in it!

*This study is adapted from the book, Abundant Health by Julius G. White