Page:Macfadden's Fasting, Hydropathy and Exercise.djvu/88

82 over head with one arm, but at this time I occasionally handled these heavy weights. As I have taken no heavy exercise for a number of years, more than a slight effort would be required to raise this heavy dumb bell, even when my weight was at its usual standard.

A lesson is taught with unquestionable clearness by this experiment. The American people are actually eating themselves into their graves. Ninety-nine out of every hundred take from five to fifty years from the length of their lives by stuffing their stomachs. They eat, not to nourish the body, but merely for the pleasure of gourmandizing. The result is that from two to five times as much food passes through the alimentary canal than is necessary to maintain weight and strength, and mind and body are actually weakened by the strenuous efforts made by the system in endeavoring to rid itself of this excessive amount of food.

Any one can be benefited by a fast such as I describe here. Of course I would not advise one who has been eating three meals each day all during life to immediately attempt total abstinence from food for seven days, though such a fast under such conditions would be