Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 194, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 August 1915 — Some Common Sense Hygiene [ARTICLE]

Some Common Sense Hygiene

Are sickness and suffering “the mysterious manifestation of an all-wise Providence? We do not suffer unless we disobey nature's laws. We may violate the laws of man and yet not suffer, but when we violate the laws of nature she will grant, no pardon. Ignorance does not exempt us from paying the penalty. Improper food, lack of fresh air and of exercises are three prime factors of poor health. Often the chief cause of disease is laziness, for Idleness and good health are incompatible. The muscles of our body become strong and well developed by use. The muscles of the blacksmith or the prizefighter are powerful, strongly in contrast with the professional man who spends his days in an office without exercise. In his natural state the Indian had no diseases as we know them. He lives in the a open air, hunts and fishes and thus his blood circulates fast and is pure; disease germs cannot take hold of the tissue eells and destroy them. How often we hear people say “I feel so enervated in the morning." And is it any wonder when we shut our bed-room windows and stuff the cracks with old rags to keep out the pure air when it gets a little cold? On a winter night over and over again we breathe the same air which is robbed of its lifegiving property (oxygen) and laden with poison, Ajtohyslcian says no one living in and day will ever have pneumonia. Pure air is one of our greatest blessings and it is free, yet how often do we see little children kept indoors during cold weather for fear of taking cold. And aren’t these children always the ones that suffer with colds? Fresh air and exercise are just what they need. Many of us live to eat instead of eating to live. How often does a mother ruin her child’s digestive organs? The little child of only a few months is brought to the table and given a taste of this, that and the other, but having no teeth this food cannot be digested. The child should never be given anything but milk before he is ten months old, as doctors claim milk is the only food that can supply the material for the pearly hard white teeth. Hence we should never give a child food to che,w until it has well-formed teeth to chew with. All know that American people do not chew their food but bolt it down. But the stomach cannot do the work of the teeth. Animals that have no teeth have a gizzard to prepare the food before entering the stomach. On many farms more attention Is given to feeing the young animals scientifically than to feeding the children. Every, farmer knows that there is no other grain that supplies so large a proportion of muscle-forming principles as 4>ats. Therefore his horse experiences less fatigue when performing a large amount of muscular labor if fed oats. Ask him why he doesn’t feed corn and he will tell you corn is too heating, that com will make him fat but will not make him strong and give him endurance as oats will. Another food, milk, which is pure nourishment, is usually made into butter which contains the heat-giving principles, and the milk Is fed to the calves and pigs, making them strong and hearty while the children grow pale and sickly when fed on the butter spread on white bread, because they don’t get enough muscle forming food. Many a child is well fed on the fuel or energy-pro-ducing food, fats, starch and sugar, but is starving for the repair food (food that contains nitrogen.) Never allow a chold to form the habit of nibbling at candy, cake or something else, as the stomach must have proper time to rest.