Page:Strength from Eating.djvu/80

74 this might show that instinct influences this choice, and it is therefore the natural diet, but this is hardly the case. We might just as well say that instinct teaches one to like whiskey and tobacco. Human beings in their habits are not far different from sheep. They always follow some leader, and each leader in turn follows some other leader. It is really remarkable how little we question the wisdom of those who came before us.

In my own athletic experience, when I was compelled to carefully note the influence of all kinds of food on health and strength, I found that meat would increase my actual strength, but would lessen my endurance. I could lift a heavier weight under the influence of a diet in which meat was liberally supplied, but could not lift a lighter weight so many times. I found, also, that eggs were not open to the same objection as meats, though they seemed nearly, if not quite equal as a means of supplying strength. In eating the flesh of animals you, of course, consume not only the perfect muscle cells, but also a certain amount of waste matter