How to Live, Eugene Lyman Fisk [best thriller books to read .TXT] 📗
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The second line shows the average improvement in tests in which there is no doubt that the figure is at least not too high, though it may be too low. The average of these is 89 per cent., and is therefore certainly too low an estimate of the average improvement for the eight men who improved at all.
The third line shows the increase of pure endurance (that is, endurance considered apart from strength) for the five men for whom the figures were available. The average of these is 116 per cent.
We are quite safe in saying, therefore, that the average improvement of the eight men who improved was 90 per cent.
The phenomena observed during the experiment may be summarized as a slight reduction of total food consumed, a large reduction of the protein element, especially of flesh foods, a lessened excretion of nitrogen, a reduction in the odor, putrefaction, fermentation and quantity of the feces, a slight loss of weight, a slight loss of strength, an enormous increase of physical endurance, a slight increase in mental quickness. These phenomena varied somewhat with different individuals, the variations corresponding in general to the varying degree in which the men adhered to the rules of the experiment.
That we are correct in ascribing the results, especially in endurance, to dietetic causes alone, cannot reasonably be doubted when it is considered that no other factors of known significance were allowed to aid in this result.
While the results of the present experiment lean toward “vegetarianism,” they are only incidentally related to its propaganda. Meat was by no means excluded; on the contrary, the subjects were urged to eat it if their appetite distinctly preferred it to other foods.
The sudden and complete exclusion of meat is not always desirable, unless more skill and knowledge in food matters are employed than most persons possess. On the contrary, disaster has repeatedly overtaken many who have made this attempt. Pavlov has shown that meat is one of the most and perhaps the most “peptogenic” of foods. Whether the stimulus it gives to the stomach is natural, or in the nature of an improper goad or whip, certain it is that some stomachs which are accustomed to this daily whip have failed, for a time at least, to act when it was withdrawn.
Nor is it necessary that meat should be permanently abjured, even when it ceases to become a daily necessity. The safer course, at least, is to indulge the craving whenever one is “meat hungry,” even if, as in many cases, this be not oftener than once in several months. The rule of selection employed in the experiment was merely to give the benefit of the doubt to the non-flesh food; but even a slight preference for flesh foods was to be followed.
REFERENCESAdami, J. G.: Autointoxication and Sub-Infection, British Medical Journal, January 24, 1914, p. 177; Jour. A. M. A., XII, No. 9, p. 701.
Benedict, F. G., and Carpenter, Thorne M.: The Metabolism and Energy Transformation of Healthy Man During Rest, Carnegie Institution of Washington, D. C., 1910.
Benedict, F. G.: The Nutritive Requirements of the Body, Amer. Jour. of Physiology, 1906, XVI, pp. 409–437.
Benedict, F. G.: The Factors Affecting Normal Basal Metabolism, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sc., 1915, I, p. 105.
Benedict, F. G., and Smith, H. M.: The Influences of Athletic Training upon Basal Metabolism, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sc., 1915, I, p. 102.
Benedict, F. G., and Emmes, L. E.: A Comparison of the Basal Metabolism of Normal Men and Women, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sc., 1915, I, p. 104.
Benedict, F. G., and Cathcart, Edward P.: Muscular Work, Carnegie Institution of Washington, D. C., 1913.
Bryce, Alexander: Modern Theories of Diet, New York, Longmans, Green & Company, 1912; London, Edward Arnold, 1912.
Cannon, Walter B.: Bodily Changes in Pain, Hunger, Fear and Rage, D. Appleton & Company, New York and London, 1915.
Chittenden, Russell H.: Physiological Economy in Nutrition, Frederick A. Stokes & Company, New York, 1904.
Chittenden, Russell H.: The Nutrition of Man, Frederick A. Stokes & Company, New York, 1907.
Editorial: Newer Aspects of Metabolism, Jour. A. M. A., 1915, LXIV, p. 1327.
Fisher, Irving: A Graphic Method in Practical Dietetics, Jour. A. M. A., 1907, XLVIII, pp. 1316–1324.
Fisher, Irving: The Effect of Diet on Endurance, Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1907, XIII, pp. 1–46.
Fisk, Eugene Lyman: A Sensible Diet for the Average Man and Woman, New York Medical Journal, July 4, 1914.
Gephart, F. C., and Lusk, Graham: Analysis and Cost of Ready-to-Serve Foods, Press of the American Medical Association, Chicago, 1915.
Gouraud, F. X.: What Shall I Eat? Rebman Company, New York, 1911.
Hall, Winfield S.: Nutrition and Dietetics, D. Appleton & Company, New York and London, 1910.
Higgins, Robert: Is Man Poltophagic or Psomophagic? The Lancet, London, 1905, I, pp. 1334–1337.
Hindhede, M.: What to Eat and Why, Ewart, Seymour & Company, Ltd., London, 1914.
Hutchison, Robert: Food and the Principles of Dietetics, William Wood & Company, New York, 1911, third edition.
Kinne, Helen, and Cooley, Anna M.: Foods and Household Management, The Macmillan Company, New York, 1914.
Lusk, Graham: The Elements of the Science of Nutrition, W. B. Saunders & Company, Philadelphia and London, 1909, second edition.
Mendel, Lafayette B.: The Relation of Foodstuffs to Alimentary Functions, Amer. Jour. of Med. Sciences, 1909, CXXXVIII, pp. 522–526.
Pavlov, I. P.: The Work of the Digestive Glands, Charles Griffin & Company, Ltd., London, 1910, second English edition, translated by W. H. Thompson.
Rose, Mary Swartz: A Laboratory Hand-Book for Dietetics, Macmillan & Company, New York and London, 1914.
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Von Noorden, Carl: Metabolism and Practical Medicine, William Heinemann, London, 1907.
SECTION IINOTES ON OVERWEIGHT AND UNDERWEIGHT
How many people after age 35 have a conformation of body that is in accord with proper ideals of health and symmetry? The average individual, as age progresses, gains weight until he reaches old age, when the weight usually decreases.
This movement of weight is so universal that it has been accepted as normal, or physiological, whereas it is not normal, and is the result of disease-producing and life-shortening influences.
The standards for weight at the various ages and heights have been established by life insurance experience, but these standards, which show an increase in weight as age advances, by no means reflect the standards of health and efficiency. They merely indicate the average condition of people accepted for life insurance, whose death rate—while covered by life insurance premiums—is yet far above that obtaining among people of the best physical type, who live a thoroughly hygienic life.
MEN—OVER AVERAGE WEIGHTS Experience of 43 American Companies—1885–1908.[K]Number of Policyholders 186,579 Ages at Entry Overweight,
5 to 10 lbs. Overweight,
15 to 20 lbs. Overweight,
25 to 45 lbs. Overweight,
50 to 80 lbs. Death Rate Below Stand-
ard.[L] Death Rate Above Stand-
ard. Death Rate Below Stand-
ard. Death Rate Above Stand-
ard. Death Rate Below Stand-
ard. Death Rate Above Stand-
ard. Death Rate Below Stand-
ard. Death Rate Above Stand-
ard. 20–24 4% ... 4% ... ... 1% ... 3% 25–29 7% ... 10% ... ... 12% ... 17% 30–34 1% ... 14% ... ... 19% ... 34% 35–39 0% ... ... 1% ... 31% ... 55% 40–44 6% ... ... 10% ... 40% ... 75% 45–49 ... 3% ... 9% ... 31% ... 51% 50–56 ... 2% ... 21% ... 24% ... 49% 57–62 ... 2% ... 25% ... 12% ... 38%
The heaviest mortality (75 per cent. above the standard), is found among those aged 40 to 44 who are 50 to 80 pounds overweight.
[K] Medico-Actuarial Mortality Investigation, Volume II, page 13, compiled and published by The Association of Life Insurance Medical Directors and The Actuarial Society of America.
[L] The standard death rate is that experienced by average insurance risks of the same age, according to the Medico-Actuarial Committee.
It seems reasonable to deduce from these figures that the usual gain in weight with advancing years is not an advantage but a handicap. We should endeavor to keep our weight at approximately the average weight for age 30, the period of full maturity, as experience shows that those so proportioned exhibit the most favorable mortality. This weight, for the various heights, is shown in the following table:
Age 30—Men Height. Pounds. Height. Pounds. Height. Pounds. Ft. In. Ft. In. Ft. In. 5 126 5 7 148 6 1 178 5 1 128 5 8 152 6 2 184 5 2 130 5 9 156 6 3 190 5 3 133 5 10 161 6 4 196 5 4 136 5 11 166 6 5 201 5 5 140 6 172 .......... ......... 5 6 144 ....... ...... .......... ......... Age 30—Women Height. Pounds. Height. Pounds. Height. Pounds. Ft. In. Ft. In. Ft. In. 4 8 112 5 2 124 5 8 146 4 9 114 5 4 127 5 9 150 4 10 116 5 4 131 5 10 154 4 11 118 5 5 134 5 11 157 5 120 5 6 138 6 161 5 1 122 5 7 142 .......... .........In fat people, the number of working cells is relatively less in proportion to the weight than in thin people, as fat cells do not work. Also, there is less body surface exposed in proportion to the body weight, and consequently less heat loss. Likewise, fat people are less active, and their little cell-engines do not call for so much fuel; but in most cases the fuel is furnished right along in the ordinary diet, and what is not burned up is stored up.
For extreme overweight, diet should be prescribed accurately by the physician to suit the needs of each individual case. Certain general principles may be stated, however, as applicable to the average case.
Meals should be light and frequent, rather than hearty and infrequent. A little fruit may be taken on rising and a glass of hot water.
A light breakfast is advisable; one or two poached eggs, no sugar, bread and butter in small quantity.
For dinner, choice may be made of chicken, game, lean meat, fish not cooked in fat, in moderate portions, and of such vegetables as celery, spinach, sea-kale, lettuce, string beans, cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, turnips, bulky vegetables of low food value. Tapioca or similar pudding may be used for desserts, and melon, and other cooked unsweetened fruits.
A glass of hot water on retiring is advisable.
It is surprising what an enormous fuel value certain foods have which are eaten very carelessly, and what a very low fuel value others have which are quite satisfying to hunger. For example: One would have to eat $9.00 worth of lettuce and tomato salad to furnish 2,500 calories, the amount of fuel for the day’s requirements (Lusk), while about 30 cents’ worth of butter, or 10 cents’ worth of sugar would furnish the same amount of energy. No one would think of feeding exclusively on any one of these foods, but it is easy to see how the elimination of butter and sugar and the introduction of such foods as lettuce, tomatoes, celery, carrots, spinach and fruits, all of which have a low fuel value, would enormously reduce the available energy and therefore the fat-forming elements in the diet, yet fill the stomach and satisfy the hunger-craving. Hunger is largely dependent
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