CHAPTER IX.
FOOD AND DISEASE
"When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee:
"And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite."
Proverbs XXIII: 1-2.
CHAPTER IX.
FOOD AND DISEASE
In the life of man tradition, inheritance, and education often combine to foster and preserve doctrines that are misleading. And in no manner is this so well illustrated as in the orthodox methods employed for the relief of bodily ills. By the popular mind disease is contemplated with dread, and, when certain symptoms are in evidence, it is fled from in panic and in terror. This attitude is to be expected so long as present conditions prevail, but the prophecy is ventured that the day is at hand when human ailments will be regarded, as in truth they are, but rational, natural processes of cure. To the general awakening in respect to the preservation of public and individual health, apparent within the past two decades, is due this reasonable view of a most important question.
Disease is not a foe to life, but is the plan of nature instituted to restore a system temporarily unbalanced to equilibrium or health. That the general conception and treatment of disease are wrong, and that health lies within reach of all diseased bodies that are not organically imperfect are truths which, it is hoped, the text will fully demonstrate.
A healthy human organism is one in position to liberate energy and vitality as these forces are needed in the acts that constitute life. To preserve the body in health, man breathes, sleeps, and eats. These are natural laws, and, if any one of them is violated, functional disturbances occur that must result in disease.
Centuries of catering to the sensory organs lie behind modern carelessness in feeding the human body, and custom has caused false standards to be erected about the appetite of man. Food in its preparation has long been subordinated to the sense of taste, and, ingested in excess of the amount required to make good the losses incurred through physical and mental activity, has entailed much unnecessary labor upon the processes of digestion and disposal of waste. Because of almost universal violation of the natural law of nutrition in respect to overeating, this vice, apparent though it be, and weakening and distressing in its effects as it is, calls for correction as does no other in the long list of offenses against nature. From time to time many earnest seekers have advanced beliefs and theories tending to develop a panacea for disease, but so far without success. That relief is to be found is not only probable but certain, since nature deals but in cause and effect, and the tendency in all life is towards perfect bodily balance, without which health is not. One thing, however, is clearly shown in the results of the investigations thus far conducted: The human race possesses the possibility of reaching a point where nutrition and elimination shall become functions automatically performed.
The action of food within the body embodies a process more or less mechanical. Its function consists in replacing cell structure the usefulness of which is exhausted, a function that supplies and repairs the working parts of the human machine. In this process energy is liberated, utilized, and dissipated, and, in so far as the expenditure of what may be called nervous force is compensated, a balance is maintained. To accomplish its work, food must be prepared for conversion into living tissue, and the details of this change are sufficiently familiar to preclude description here. However, the act of digestion is an effort at once nervous and muscular, which will be followed by troubles innumerable if continued beyond the real need of the system; for, when the body is overloaded with sustenance, energy that might well be utilized for other important purposes is employed in the disposal of that in excess of what is needed for the repair of used tissue. Surplus is thus accumulated in circulation, in tissue, and in the organs of elimination; and of this the portion which the liver is able to separate and cast out, together with undigested matter in the intestinal tract, decomposes and is absorbed to be re-deposited with detrimental effect. The natural avenues of energic force are, as a consequence, clogged, imperfect functioning occurs, and disease results.
Normally only that portion of digested food that is assimilated can be used by the blood for the repair of cell structure; the remainder is refuse, and, in cases of overfeeding, it takes its place, as described, with undigested material to ferment and decompose in the intestinal tract. Absorption of toxins thus formed occurs rapidly and continuously, as is shown by the symptoms that follow.
An examination of human fecal discharges in the average case reveals conditions that are conclusive. Undigested food is found, digested food products and old f eces are present, and, dependent upon diet and mastication, the odor is more or less offensive. Normal refuse from properly masticated and chemically changed food is not disagreeable in odor. When daily examination is continued for a time, assurance is gained that food is not all digested; that the bowels are not completely cleared of waste by a regular daily movement; that fermenting, rotting matter defiles the human interior to an extent scarcely to be accepted as a fact ; and that, in consequence of over-supply, unnecessary tax is put upon the digestive tract and upon the organs of elimination. The results are apparent in a waste of energy that lowers vitality and diminishes the power of assimilation a double injury.
A movement of the bowels each day is no proof of a clean and healthy alimentary canal. Sufferers from digestive troubles often assume that, because the bowels are regular in action, the evacuations are complete and sufficient, forgetful of the fact that, in most instances, but the rectum alone is relieved of its contents. Additional evidence of a filthy internal condition is furnished upon the administration of the enema, when quantities of old, hardened fecal matter appear. And post mortem dissection of the colon gives further proof of foulness, for masses of waste are discovered clinging to its walls, material beyond the power of the organ to eliminate, the direct result of overfeeding. A movement of the bowels in these circumstances takes place only through the center of the clogged tube. These facts are developed in the majority of cases, and but one inference can be made food waste rotting in human intestines forms soil analogous to that of filth decomposing in outer air, with the result that the destroying agents of nature, bacilli, are at once introduced fully equipped as scavengers.
The germ evolves and propagates, not to create disease, but to remove its cause ; not on account of the ill-health of the body, but for the sole reason that ignorant and improper handling of the resources of nature furnishes conditions that stimulate and conserve germ life. The remedy lies, not in making the body a battle-ground for myriad antagonistic hordes of minute organisms, but in expeditiously removing the putrid field in which alone these really invaluable servants of nature can exist.
Despite prevalent belief, disease never strikes suddenly, but is the consequence of long-continued violations of natural law. It is the result of a gradual clogging of the avenues of vitality with dead material, a longdrawn process of stifling the forces of life. "Every disease," says Dr. E. H. Dewey, "is an inherited possibility, which every violation of the laws of life tends to develop. It is never simply an attack on a well person, but rather a summing-up of the more or less lifelong violations of health laws." As a result of these transgressions, loss of digestive power occurs; disease symptoms become apparent on lines of least resistance; and the physical scales no longer balance. The decomposition of every morsel of food that enters a human stomach in excess of the need for repair of broken-down tissue and growth is always the direct cause of morbid conditions. Defining disease as here outlined, it may be succinctly stated that it is the result of the products of the decomposition of surplus food held within the body food beyond the need of the system for the repair of broken-down tissue.
Symptoms of disease, the outward and inward evidences of its presence, vary with temperament, hereditary tendencies, surroundings, and the physical condition of the individual. No two human beings ever express identical morbid signs, even in like environment ; and the reason underlying the development of disease symptoms, perhaps diametrically opposed, in persons similarly situated, is to be sought in the domain of the phenomena of heredity.
Food prepared in the successive stages of digestion for conversion into tissue nourishment is eventually transformed into chyle, a milky fluid that is absorbed from the intestines and carried through liver, heart, and lungs to the arterial system. Elements other than food products enter into the cell structure, but the great supply of material for rebuilding is secured from food ingested and digested, and blood quality depends in large degree upon food properly converted and perfectly assimilated. Any disturbance of any part of the processes of digestion and assimilation causes an imperfect supply of blood and hence of tissue nourishment. When such disorder occurs, abnormal functioning of vital organs results, the blood becomes encumbered with impurities, and nature at once makes effort to restore normal balance by manifesting disease.
A review of the physiology of the passage of the blood through the body evidences that health is synonymous with perfect blood quality and circulation. What is deposited in one state is removed in another; and, given a pure blood supply properly delivered, broken-down tissue is at once eliminated and replaced. The products of converted food are furnished to the tissue by the blood, and this fluid gathers and carries away the refuse. Upon the normal performance of this process depends the maintenance of the animal body.
With these premises it should not now require an exhaustive argument to establish the fact that disease has its origin in digestion abused and impaired. The treatment herein described rests in its entirety upon the exposition of this fundamental truth, and long experience at various cases places an axiomatic value upon the statement that, whatever the symptom, the sole cause of disease is found in impaired digestion, manifested in impure blood. The law of compensation in nature is here amply and completely shown, for each and every violation of the rule of obedience is visited with condign correction, individual or cumulative. On the other hand, relief and restoration are offered when the road of indulgence is forsaken and natural paths resumed.
Granting that impaired digestion is the source of impure blood or disease, it is the purpose of the following pages to establish that abused digestive functions, relieved from their labors for a time, will recover and return with renewed vigor to their appointed tasks. Rest and rest alone is the one means of recuperation in the realm of nature, and the sole purpose of physical life is so to maintain the structure of the human body that disease may be prevented and eradicated.