How to Live Part 17

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it is that some stomachs which are accustomed to this daily whip have failed, for a time at least, to act when it was withdrawn.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.

_REFERENCES_

Adami, 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 Inst.i.tution of Was.h.i.+ngton, 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 Inst.i.tution of Was.h.i.+ngton, 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: _a.n.a.lysis and Cost of Ready-to-Serve Foods_, Press of the American Medical a.s.sociation, 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, Cx.x.xVIII, 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.

Sherman, H. C.: _Chemistry of Food and Nutrition_, The Macmillan Company, New York, 1913.

Sherman, H. C.: _Food Products_, The Macmillan Company, New York, 1914.

Stiles, Percy Goldthwaite: _Nutritional Physiology_, N. B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia and London, 1912.

Tigerstedt, Robert: _A Text-Book of Human Physiology_, D. Appleton & Company, New York and London, 1906, third German edition, translated by John N. Murlin.

Taylor, Alonzo Englebert: _Digestion and Metabolism_, Lea & Febiger, Philadelphia and New York, 1912.

Von Noorden, Carl: _Metabolism and Practical Medicine_, William Heinemann, London, 1907.

SECTION II

NOTES 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.[G]

Number of Policyholders 186,579 -------+---------------+---------------+---------------+--------------- Ages Overweight Overweight Overweight Overweight at 5 to 10 lbs. 15 to 20 lbs. 25 to 45 lbs. 50 to 80 lbs.

Entry -------+---------------+---------------+---------------+--------------- Death Death Death Death Death Death Death Death Rate Rate Rate Rate Rate Rate Rate Rate Below Above Below Above Below Above Below Above Std.[H] Std. Std. Std. Std. Std. Std. Std.

-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+------- 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.

[G] _Medico-Actuarial Mortality Investigation_, Volume II, page 13, compiled and published by The a.s.sociation of Life Insurance Medical Directors and The Actuarial Society of America.

[H] The standard death rate is that experienced by average insurance risks of the same age, according to the Medico-Actuarial Committee.