Fasting has long been an exercise practiced by those seeking spiritual strength, but here, Wallace D. Wattles asserts the benefits of fasting on physical strength as well. Wattles uses personal experience and firsthand knowledge to drive his theories on how to increase one's health, happiness, and creativity through approaching eating in a different way. In addition to discussing the nutritional content, quantity, and timing of eating, he includes detailed arguments for the benefit of adequate sleep and the importance of deep breathing and fresh air. Wattles stands out from other writers on the subject of health and wellness (both those in 1907 and today) by focusing his conversational and compassionate prose on the simplest principles and common sense, making clear his affirmation that is it possible for anyone to improve his or her own health and happiness without the need for elaborate science. American author WALLACE DELOIS WATTLES (1860-1911) overcame poverty and failure in his life to become a pioneer of the early self-help movement. Among his books are The Science of Getting Rich, The Science of Being Great, and The Science of Being Well.
“Food is to the body what raw material is to the builder. The power which receives food, dissolves and changes it, and builds it into muscle and tissue, nerves, and brain, is the Lift Power which flows into us from the Infinite while we sleep.
“If we give this Life Power the right food materials, and the right amount of it, it builds beautifully, intelligently, ever improving and refining it work.
“If we give too little food material this Life Power builder within us is hampered in its work, just as any carpenter would be if the mill failed to deliver the necessary lumber for the work planned. The body stores enough material for a forty, or fifty, or sixty day famine, but not enough for eternal famine. Not yet, at least.
“If we give too much food material, or not the right kind, it is at if the lumber dealer kept delivering loads of all kinds of lumber until the premises were covered with it. Imagine carpenters trying to build a house in the center of a lumber yard, with all kinds of timber piled about and more coming in with every revolution of the saw, and you will get a faint idea of the difficulties under which labors the builder which is you, when you pour in more food material than he needs.
“And the danger of pouring in too much food is far greater than that of delivering too little. For the reason that too much food sets up a state of general inflammation throughout the body, which you interpret as a call for more food, when in reality it means there is already too much on hand. A baby suffering from indigestion acts ravenous. A grown-up stomach that is generating ferments calls for more, more, And soother meal piled in gives temporary relief, just as kneading more flour into a batch of bread dough gives temporary relief from ferment.
“What world happen to the dough if you kept on kneading it down with more flour, a dozen, a hundred, yes, thousands of times. The result would be unwieldiness and poison.. The same thing happens in the continuously overloaded stomach, and throughout the overloaded body.
“And no amount of mental or spiritual science will stop it, though it may retard the process, as cold retards the rising of your bread dough.. In this way you may put off the day of reckoning with an overloaded stomach and body, but that is all you can do. The death-poison will get you sooner or later.” -Elizabeth Towne
CONTENTS:
Commentary by Elizabeth Towne:
Chapter 1 - The Source of Work-Power
Chapter 2 - Sleep
Chapter 3 - To Use Sleep
Chapter 4 - Scientific Living & Healing
Chapter 5 - Mind Cures
Chapter 6 - Nature and Development of Will Power
Chapter 7 - The Living One
Chapter 8 - New Light on Immortality
Chapter 9 - Suffering in Sickness
