How to Eat | Page 5

a nervous breakdown almost
before they are out of their teens? No, decidedly not; and what is more,
they never should and never would break down, if they had proper
food.
I look back with horror on the many nights of my childhood when I
suffered with "night terrors." And right here let me say: no child will
ever have night terrors if he is given just what he should eat, and is
kept from overeating. And now a few words about the first great point
concerning the prevention as well as the cure of "nerves."
Nervous people, and many others as well, eat too much. That, you say,
is nothing new. But that is just where the dreadful wrong begins; and
why there has been tragedy after tragedy, and why even while this is
being written there will be many more tragedies. You will hear
lecturers say--I myself have said it, and to large audiences: "You people
eat too much." But if that's all that is said, people straightway go away
and say: "Oh, yes, he's right, of course. We all eat too much." And there
it ends. Until recently people did not know--most of them don't know
yet--that each day they are actually bringing the grave nearer by
overeating.
Not long ago the great life insurance companies of this country held a
notable convention in the city of New York. Now after everything had
been said and done, after every phase of life insurance had been
discussed, what do you suppose was the great outstanding statement
from that remarkable body of men who know more about why people
die than any other body of people on earth? It was this: "The average
American man or woman dies at the age of 43 because he eats what he

wants to eat rather than what he should eat." That means, of course, that
practically all Americans overeat. They are all like the child who says,
"I'm not hungry for bread and butter. I'm hungry for cake." And I find
that most of these poor deluded nervous sufferers eat what they want
under the supposition that it is good for them because they crave it. I
myself used to do so. I would eat candy by the pound. And it is odd but
quite true that nervous people crave the very things that hurt them most.
But there is no more sense in eating what you crave because you crave
it than there is in the man who is addicted to alcohol, drinking alcohol
because he craves it. I once used tobacco; I craved it, but I did not need
it just because I craved it. It is true the body naturally needs some fats,
some carbohydrates; in fact, a balanced ration, as we shall see later. But
I want to make it mighty plain here that never was there a greater error
than that of supposing you need chocolates or sweets just because you
crave them. And you don't need to overeat, and keep on doing it, just
because you must eat.

II. HOW TO OVERCOME THE TROUBLE
"He who pursues a regular course of life need not be apprehensive of
illness, as he who has guarded against the cause need not be afraid of
the effect."
--CORNARO
We have now come to the second step in the cure of "nerves"--eating
the right food in the right way. You must chew all food until it is of the
consistency of cream, and you must also sip all liquids slowly. And
now, as you read these things that I have set down, I want you to
remember this: doing any one thing--and doing that alone--will not cure
this malady. No, it is doing a number of things at the right time. I know
this is true because I have tried it. For a time I chewed my food to a
cream, but that was the only thing I did in an endeavor to get well. I
was doing none of the other things that are absolutely necessary for a
cure. This is one great trouble with all such people. They will
Fletcherize for a time and then say there is nothing to that because it

does not cure them. Well, as I've said, that alone will not, and I want to
dwell at length on this because nobody knows as well as I do, what
harm such a belief does the nervous sufferer.
Trying out Fletcherizing alone, which I say must be done together with
other things if you want to get well and stay well, is like taking the
handle of an axe and going out into the woods to cut down a tree. Now
with Fletcherizing you have a perfectly good handle, but you know
very well that you can't