The 20th Century, Or 100 Year Health Code

1. Breathing should be deep and full.

2. Mastication and lnsalivation should be slow and thorough. Proteid foods must be sparingly partaken of at all times.

3. Drink freely of pure water between meals, and of an amount always consistent with comfort.

4. Bathe sufficiently to keep the skin clean and active.

5. Exercise freely, regularly and vigorously in the open air.

6. Sleep early and moderately long.

7. Stimulants avoid, whether alcohol, tobacco, narcotic drugs, or drugs generally.

8. Excesses of all kinds avoid : exciting pleasures or generally overdoing things.

9. Practise moderation in all things - Temperance and Regularity.

10. Cultivate the power of cheerfulness.

11. Rest - Mental Rest. Make haste slowly. Don't worry. Practise Deliberation, Concentration, then Rapid Action.

The following is an Enlargement of the 20th Century Code of Health:

Breathing

Take special breathing exercises for from five to ten minutes out of doors, or before an open window upon rising, before retiring and during exercise. Ventilate your office or rooms, day and night. Cover well and sleep with windows open, or partly open, even in winter.

Eating

Eat regularly, lightly, slowly of plain foods, using plenty of cereals and fruits. Flesh meats are best replaced with nuts, peas, beans or lentils. Proteid foods must be sparingly partaken of: this includes flesh meats, eggs, nuts, the legumes - peas, beans, lentils - and cheese. Raw diet - the natural uncooked, foods - should form at least one-half to three-fourths of the diet. Use variety in different meals, avoid unwholesome mixtures at the same meal. Stimulants are unnatural and unnecessary. Never force yourself to eat, but wait for an appetite, skipping a meal if necessary. No set diet will fit all cases; food must be adapted to the individual. Age, occupation, season of the year and many other agencies calling for flexibility in diet. The raw foods are magazines of energy in its purest and most potent form, hence most commendable. Eat two moderate meals per day, seven or eight hours apart. If there be anything further desired let it be a little raw fruit before going to bed, as an apple, pear, peach, a bunch of grapes, or whatever else agrees with the individual. With the exception of salt, all condiments, such as pepper, mustard, vinegar and hot sauces, are directly injurious. Pastries and sweets are not only devoid of nutritive value, but by putrefying within the alimentary tube, they become causes of many disorders. Tea, coffee, chocolate, cocoa, alcohol, all are stimulants making powerful reaction against the health and life of an individual. If tea or coffee be used they should be weak and in moderation.

Drinking

Take one-half pint or more of cool or hot water, as you like, upon rising and retiring.

Bathing

The best time to bathe is immediately after moderate exercise, before cooling off. The more frequent the bath, the shorter it should be. Rub vigorously after a cool bath, producing a bright glow of the skin, becoming thoroughly alive and active. Use a graded bath, beginning with tepid water, and finishing with a cool dash or spray. See that the feet and legs are thoroughly warm after the bath. Never take a bath within two hours of a full meal or just before such a meal. Remain indoors one quarter of an hour after a bath before going out of doors.

There may be said to be decades as applied to the food of man during his lifetime. There is a food for babyhood, for childhood, for adult life, middle age and old age. These points have been discussed in various chapters of this book, but may further be supplemented by stating that the quantity of proteid food required is probably rather more for the growing individual than for one who has attained full growth; that after fifty years of age the character and the quantity of the food are likely to undergo modifications as to simplicity and lessening of the quantity; that the diet of old age becomes essentially one of simplicity and digestibility.

The last word has been said upon worry, when attention is once more directed to it, in asking the strict observance of No. 11 of the 20th Century Health Code. All else may be scrupulously adhered to, yet if the worrying habit be continued, the benefit to be derived from the practises of such a code will be more or less nullified. As has been explained under Mental Habits, worry manufactures worry poison, this, when absorbed into the blood, kills. This is the precise principle involved in the saying: "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."

There can be no doubt but that human life can be very considerably prolonged by careful attention to certain laws and regulations which are expressed under the accompanying code of health.

The entire eleven articles of the 20th Century Code of Health can be condensed into a B C D or "vest pocket" code, which is worth memorizing as well as putting into practise. It is

Breathe deep Chew long Drink much Eat little

The healthy, reasonable man has good habits. He eats at regular hours all the foods on an ordinary table without theories as to their digestibility. One must not have his attention fixed too firmly upon his food, otherwise he will suffer mentally and physically, it being a law of life that the physiologic acts, digestion, circulation, etc., must not be the object of thought. The one who thinks much about his digestion will soon suffer from indigestion; one must not think too much about the body otherwise it will fail him. He goes to bed more or less early; he looks after the cleanliness of his skin without undue anxiety on the subject of cold water; he does not become intoxicated, nor does he do anything that might be hurtful to him. He lives naturally and with unshaken confidence in his powers of resistance.

His mental attitude is just as natural and simple. He must be interested in everything, develop his aptitude, and learn how to enjoy life fully. "A, sound mind in a sound body."

He cultivates the power of cheerfulness, so that if he lives to be the age of Methuselah he is perpetually young and happy.