FOOD IN RELATION TO MORALS.

White Ribbon, Volume 25, Issue 291, 18 September 1919, Page 3

FOOD IN RELATION TO MORALS.

(by Nurse Ada K. Chappell.)

Many people will find it difficult t<> believe that there is any connection between food and morals even in a re mote decree, hut the more 1 srientifi rally stud\ the vtibject of sex the clear er do 1 sec lx>w food acts and reacts on sex in more was than one. In all living creatures there arc two sys terns at work the assimilation and ac emulation of nourishment until maturity is reached, and then the power to reproduce. In the lowest forms of lift- the creatures reproduce themselves and then die. Apparently the end and aim of their existence ha> been fulfilled. As one go« s higher in the scale of life, the two fundamen tal systems still remain, though in the human lx eng to n produce is not the end and aim of life, lx cause of the dual nature, that of the divine as well as the animal. The animals arc limited to their animal bodies, ..nd cannot iisr higher nor sink lower than the < ast iron enclosure formed by their instincts. Ilut the anim d »>o:!y of the human being is merely tlx* casket for th< priceless jewel it contains, and however beautiful a casket it is, k -obscrvic t to the jewel jt contains.

So that while icproduction in the animal kingdom is the crown of its existence, the body and «I 1 its functions in the* human lx inn should be übservient to this fact: *‘\our bodies

aie the temples of the Holy Ghost,” as St. Paul said. As a temple they are meant solely as instruments through which the Divine natme < an operate. Often the animal king'! ■ is held lip for human beings to copy. How absurd. when we remember ' uman beings were made in Gods in.age, and possess the two natures. It is sad, but true, in too many cars that animals, in pite of’their bmititions, are superior in conduct to some human beings, and be copied with advantage by those with benefit to themselves and the race. Tlx* reason must be the greater the height the deeper t e fall. Must v.e come to the conciusi >n tb it large numbers of the human race have none of the lofty desires and ideals which would keep them above the animal level? One c mes into contact with those who -.rein to despair because they come so far short in purity of their idr ils and desires. Does this make us believe

that God is so far from what we call 4 humane” that he gives people physi<al cravings, as one said to me: “I’ve no time for (iod. He gives people physical passions, and then damns them tor yielding to them.” Fen thousand times, No! With the spread of scientific knowledge, combined "ith high ideals above all, Christian ideals -these problems which have cursed men through the ages can be brought within the control of most individuals now, if they retain their full intelligence, and in a few generations the problems which are to day fierce and strong to the majority, to their children would be almost nil.

What we eat, and how much and what we drink arc the fundamental questions every person should ask themselves who want to purify their own natures to make the path of right smooth and straighter for their children. Too long have we created physical difficulties for ourselves in this way, and blamed God for the consequences. The body should be looked upon as an engine, ard man as the stoker Kvery stoker of an engine knows how many calories of heat he needs to accomplish a certain quantity of work, and feeds his fire with the quantity of fuel which will produce this, and no more. Were he to p:le on fuel without thought or care of the capacity of his engine to use or to store the energy, disaster would follow. The same is true of the body. Food is fuel, and creates calories for the use of the human engine. The man who expends much physical strength uquircs more calories than the one who is doing light work, and when that man does lighter work the fuel should be lighter also. Many middle-aged people would have better health if they ate less when their ac tivilies have become less.

Some writers speak of the surplus of nourishment . fter the ordinary cell-, of the body have been supplied as being transmitted into the superfine secretions and pooled foi the us< of those part-, specially nourished. Whatever part makes the greatest de mand on this pooled energy by using up its cells there the greatest supply will follow, and channels will be thus made which will make it still easier to flow in that direction. This is particularly so during the adolescent period when habits of life are being formed, which will make it easier or difficult to live purely in mature life.

In human life maturity is not reached until twenty-three in the woman, and twenty-five in the man, and it is to their life-long loss if this pooled en ergy is attracted to the reproductive organs by impure thoughts, pictures,

filthy or suggestive stories, impure companions, or handling of tlx parts. This pooled energy or nourishment should be looked upon as the water which irrigates the fruit orchards. If the water is directed to plum trees the results arc plums, or if to pear tree, the outcome are pears. That water used thus is good and produces good results. If we direct it against a house it will undermine it, and be its downfall. So with this pooled energy if directed to the brain there are mental creations and an increased capacity of brain. If directed to the muscles, there is increased strength and capacity there. Any stimulation of this pooled energy to the reproductive centres is a loss, and detracts fioni maturity. Even when maturity is reached it is a draft drawn upon the capital stored in the bank, and the purpose* for which it is drawn should he such as to justify the expenditure.

Referring back to the pooled energy, one must remember the storage capacity is limited, therefore the* fuel must be supplied with this in view, or an excess will cause sex temptation, even if the brain and muscles are ac - tively employed. It is well to know that a complete fast will take all sex desire from a man, while he is still able* to do his daily work, and it will also cause the normal functioning in a woman to cease, both returning when sufficient nourishment has been accumulated. This proves that reproduction is, as it were, an extra, an».| that the individual functioning can be performed perfectly without the 1 reproductive functioning. This is also proof that in a normal person the cells of the body take their toll of nourishment first because when nourishment is cut off it is the functioning of the reproductive system whose supply is cut off first, and the ordinary processes of the body of the individual continue normally. Nature has provided for the lesser need to be supplied last. In the case of a new life fanning in its mother’s body, the same principle is carried out. The new life makes the first call upon the nourishment of the mother. Mothers who have been short of food, and al most skin and bone them rives, have

yet given birth to well nourished babies, as a rule. Hut for this provi sion of nature, ihe rate might long 'incc have become extinct. These thing* being incontestable facts, ac-

cording to scientists of note, we are compelled to acknowledge if we are at all logical, that to a large extent the sex temptations to which so man\ human beings are subjected are caused by things which are within our own control if they had the necessary knowledge, and are not the lesiilt of blind fate, from which there is no «*scape.

Dr. Cowan, who wrote “The Science of a New Life,” advises abstinence from all passion stimulating foods, such as meat, eggs, oysters, crabs,

condiments, tea, coffee, etc., saying: “These have a direct stimulating in lluence on the sexual system, and therefore should be carefully avoided by the continent man.” Ihe foundei of ilit correspondence school of Gos pel and Sc ientific Eugenic* in Chi cage* says: “In Jconwi *ati«*n with several young men in an educational institution, 1 asked three young men separately the question, ‘Will you kindly tell me the effect that the plain diet you have in this institution has upon the* morals of the young man? One answered, ‘I can tell you my own experience, which is similar to that of many others with whom I have talked upon the subject. before I came to this school I was to some degree a victim of personal immoral habits. 1 bad not lived on this non stimulating food thiee months before I was master of myself and a normal man. Three times 1 have had occasion to be awa\ from this school for two or three da\s at a time, and feeling compelled to eat the foods my friends ate. In every instance the old habits and difti (ulties returned, and each tune on my return to the school and to nonstimulating diet I again became master of myself in this respect. This convinced me tuat a non-stimulating diet is absolutely necessary to pe sonal purity.’ ”

The founder says: “There are two books, “Cncooked Foods' and ‘Practical Hygienic Preparation of Foods,” winch 1 consider most helpful on this line. W hile the authors do not make the application of diet to purity, still I do know the results of such a diet will make possible a clean moral life*. Rev. De Witt Talmage wrote: “Many are trying to do by prayer what can only be done b\ correct diet.” G. H. Urinker, food expert, says in sub

.-.lance that sexual desires can be con uoiled b> proper, non stimulating diet, tor Ixith single and married. Felix L Oswald, A.M.M.D., says: “Me should recognise that oui eaith abounds with wholesome and nutn tiou- products of the vegetable king dom, from the tropics to the polar limit* ui , rborcul vegetation, and that total abstinence from flesh foods would promote the cause of moral as well as physiol health. ’ “It is claimed by experts on the diet ques lion that the aveiage individual eats tar too much, causing ,i congested condition of the excretory organs. This seriously affects the sex org ms, resulting in some form of sexual in diligence.” Mothers have found ’hat much of the quartclsomcncss of their children has been due to the meat diet, and b\ cutting that out and supplying in its place such things as lentils, peas, and beans, nm or nut meats, etc., not forgetting the almost perfect food found in oatmeal, the i hildren have become quite different. We are what our blood is, and om bhn.d is the produc t of our food.