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HEALTH NOTES

By

R. J. Terry.

b een asked to say something about colds, or, rather, to say why some people are subject to frequent colds. Still another inquirer wishes to know what is the common cause of di. ease. It may be said that practically all ordinary diseases are attempts by Nature to free the body of waste matter. If a person has gout—in, say, the big toe—the surrounding portions are hot and feverish, in most cases swollen. The temperature in that portion of the body is above normal. A mighty war is being waged with the accumulated waste material, and the waste material is being burned. M hen the excess is burned the symptoms of gout gradually disappear till such time as the patient has accumulated another excess of waste, which, again has to be burned, and we say that the person has an attack of gout. A ’cold is due to wrong living, and this in most eases means faulty feeding, laulty feeding gives one impure blood Every second of your life from birth till the death of the physi al body poisons e formed in the body as a result of the normal, operations of the organhm. Many other poisons find their way into the body from the outside. Perhaps the most common source of toxins or poisons is the digestive or intestinal tract. Now, in perfect health this tract is not a lource of poisons, but owing to wrong living and imprudent eating and combination of foods it becomes so. The system is thoroughly equipned with organs, the functions of which are to neutralise and eliminate these toxins. To mention one organ—the thyroid gland. In addition to regulating growth, the gland to some extent also forms a secretion which counteracts or destroys the pobon or toxin formed by many persons in the digestion of meat and cooked white of egg. If, however, from any cause these functions are impaired or weakened so that they are not capable of performing the work they are hourly called upon to do, there begins a gradual day-by-day accumulation in the blood and tissues of those same toxins that are thrown off by the healthy body every moment of life, both day and night, asleep or awake. Even while you are sleeping your body is being cleansed and renewed. During sleep the breaking down of the cell tissues is much slower than when the brain or body is active, but you continue to breathe oxygen, purifying the blood, and give off carbonic gas which is composed of waste matter. Further, hundreds of thousands of minute channels or ducts, which we term pores, are hard at work gathering the waste from the blood and expelling it through the pores by perspiration. To use simple language, you must remember that in health perspiration is constant, although .it is imperceptible; it is only when it is excessive that .it is perceptible. When these poisons accumulate they become a danger to life,- and the body seeks to get rid of them through other than the usual channels of elimination.

It may be asked. “Why do not the functions of the body ■ always work pi'operly? How are the functions of the body weakened? ” By abuse of the body or some part of it. Every function of the body is under nervous control. Its functions are efficient or not, according to ite stock of nervous' energy. When nerve force is low, function lags, and the condition of poisoned blood begins to develop. Baek of all disease is. enervation or fatigue., When you have a full measure of nervous energy, elimination is adequate and digestion is good; when nervous energy' is low, elimination is checked and indigestion (which may be described as fermentation and putrefaction!, with toxin formation, takes the place of digestion. All extremes produce enervation or excessive fatigue. All dissipation and excesses produce enervation.

Over-eating, overwork, over-clothing, over-stimulation of any kind—that is. for extended periods—sexual excesses, worry, fear, anxiety, grief, and other emotions produce enervation. Enervation checks function, checked function permits toxin accumulation, and toxin accumulation produces disease, including colds. Among the above causes, over-eating and wrong combination of foods are probably the most prolific causes of colds and other diseases. Over-eating clogs the body with excess nutriment, and, due to gastric intestinal decomposition, fills the body with toxins or poisons Most colds are preceded by digestive disturbances, as. are practically all cases of rheumatism, pneumonia, meningitis, typhoid, heart troubles, high blood pressure, and many other acute diseases.

I can imagine someone saying that colds frequently follow exposure. It is quite true that some people do develop colds after exposure, but I say that if your system does not contain wastes —in other words, acute poisons—exposure to cold may make you uncomfortable, but it will not be followed by disease. What really happens is this: Exposure puts a temporary added check upon elimination, particularly- through the skin and increases the amount of poisons in the system. If the system is already full of toxins and the kidneys have already all the work to do that they are capable of doing, the amount of toxins held up in the system, due to this temporary check upon elimination, is very often sufficient to bring on a cold or other acute disease. The weaker the re-active powers of the skin the greater is the check placed upon elimination by exposure to cold. This is the reason the overfed, over-clothed baby has a cold every time it is exposed to fresh cold air.

Some people will begin to understand why in many cases it is a mistake to cur* a cold quickly. The cold often is the cure of a diseased body. If you eliminate the wastes the cold will go. No cold will ever persist for one minute beyond the time it is necessary for it to exist. But seek to give your body the best possible conditions for its work of self cure. These conditions are indicated by Nature herself._ There is a lack of appetite, thus signifying that you should cease gorging. To eat heavily under such conditions is to poison the body and make the trouble worse. A cold that should end in from one to three days may be prolonged tor weeks.

There is chilliness. This indicates that you should keep warm. This does not mean that you should suppress the cold by means of sweat baths, but merely that

you should keep comfortably warm It you continue to feel chilly this cheeks elimination through the skin and retards recovery. . There Is a feeling of lassitude a "d a ,desire to lie down. This indicates that the body needs rest, that its energies should be conserved that they may be used m the work of cure. The immediate cause of the cold (impure blood) is removed for the time being by the disease. Some time back 1 was sent for hurriedly. A doctor or doctors had stated that they could not do any lnor e f° r an elderly man whose chief trouble was asthma. Some 18 months previously he was a likely subject for what is termed a stroke, but, as the result of a short fast and paying attention to diet, the stroke did not eventuate, but I am afraid that, as he recovered •n , alth, his appetite improved again till theie was an accumulation of waste material in his system. The usual course of keeping up the patient’s strength with so-called nutritious foods had bee n followed. The kidneys had no doubt for some time been endeavouring to take on some of the work that might be easily described as overtime, work which should have been performed by some of the other organs. But they had broken down at last, and in that state could not eliminate sufficient waste material. Nature endeavoured. therefore, to help the kidneys by an attack of asthma to rid the blood stream oi some waste mucous and by forced breathing to help purify the blood stream. In this case all food was discontinued—that is, all solid foods - and two quarts of barley water a daj. with a slight addition to it for a day or two, to help the kidneys, was the chief factor in the recovery. In a very short time after, the relieved kidneys were again performing their functions, the asthma was relieved, and eventually disappeared. There were one or two other small items to prevent collapse, as this was a critical case, but the elimination of food and the washing of the blood stream were the chief factors in the recovery.

SHORT FASTS

I do not advocate lengthy fasts as they are dangerous unless taken under strict supervision, but the fast of three or four days is another matter and would improve the mental capabilities of many business men who have been overeating for a number of years and may be having a “ spot ” Or two in addition.

The gross feeder will always get benefit from a short fast. A fast in every instance will have a similarly rejuvenating effect upon those who will take and break it with a reasonable amount of intelligence. The food that is digested after fasting seems to give more life and energy to the body. The function processes are then more thorough. The body is in need of nourishment. It is ready for it. The task of making good, rich blood is materially accelerated.

The no breakfast plan is a good beginning for those who have never tested the fasting habit or idea. As a result of going without breakfast you may have a headache. In fact, this is a frequent experience for those who have never tried fasting. This can usually be avoided if one will drink a cup of hot water flavoured preferably with honey, or a little milk or cream if especially desired. When the stomach is in the habit of being fed at meal times it often protests in some form when one fails to supply a certain amount of nourishment at such periods. The appetite you have at meal times is very often little more than habithunger. It really is not an intense longing for food; it can often be termed a false appetite.: But when you go without breakfast, if you are really hungry you will have a keen appetite for the next meal. You will enjoy your food thoroughly. As showing the influence of habit- 1 hunger, you often hear people say that if they go beyond a meal time they lose their appetite. Appetites of this sort ought to be lost. They are not needed. If one misses a meal and loses his appetite within another hour or so thereafter, he did not need food.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW19310630.2.15

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Otago Witness, Issue 4033, 30 June 1931, Page 5

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,796

HEALTH NOTES Otago Witness, Issue 4033, 30 June 1931, Page 5

HEALTH NOTES Otago Witness, Issue 4033, 30 June 1931, Page 5

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