CHAPTER VII - Diet and Health

THE KEY TO HEALTH

“ If wholesome diet will re-cure a man
What need of physic or physician?”
- Herrick.

In commencing to lead a spiritual life, the greatest of the practical difficulties is found to lie in the attempt to improve and control the vehicles. Until to some extent this has been done it is not possible to make much progress on the Path.

The most easy to work on of the three vehicles, and therefore the first to be taken in hand, is the physical body.

The best foundation for a spiritual life lies in a wholesome and controlled body. The simplest way to obtain such a vehicle is by living on foods that do not contain devitalized organisms of lower forms of life, such as flesh. In his efforts to alter habits of the body as regards food and drink, the Ego gains control and asserts mastership over the vehicle, refining it at the same time.

By derivation the word Vegetarian means “ one who thrives,” but it is usually misunderstood to mean “ one who lives on cabbage” or similar uninteresting foods. The word Fruitarian is equally unsatisfactory. In using either of these terms, Vegetarian or Fruitarian, one refers to a person who will have nothing to do with food obtained by slaughter. He is one who lives on the thousand and one things provided by Nature, which maybe summed up as “ the kindly fruits of the earth.”

This is no ascetic plan of semi-starvation, but very much the reverse. All who have tried a vegetarian cuisine agree that the dishes are palatable and can be made suitable for all tastes.

The only reason why educated people are not vegetarians is that they have never studied or thought about the food question. In our schools practically nothing is taught on the subject of food values and the effect of various foods on the human body. It is most unfortunate for the health of the nation that until recently the medical profession has overlooked this most important factor of health. Dietetics and the chemistry of food do not receive anything like the attention they should, being practically omitted from the curriculum of our medical schools. Happily more and more medical men are now taking up the scientific study of food, and it is noticeable that these physicians, instead of advocating methods of surgical operation and drugs, cure their patients by treatment and diet, and teach them how to live so as to avoid disease altogether.

The reasons why a meatless diet is so superior are very numerous, and may be divided under the headings of the vehicles affected, the physical, astral, and mental, of which I will take the latter first, as it is the most important.

The mental objection to the use of flesh as food exists in consideration of the fact that the business of providing such food causes great degradation to a very large number of men, women, and young people, who by the pressure of the necessity of earning wages, are forced into the disgusting trade of slaughter and its attendant horrors. Statistics show that crime is more frequent and bloodshed more common amongst this class of the civilization of to-day than in any other, a result which is quite natural, for you cannot expect those whose lives are spent from morning to night in an atmosphere of bloodshed and cruelty, to become anything but debased and cruel, for by their environment their finer feelings must in time become deadened. The women who, though they do not actually assist the slaughterers in the slaughter-house, carry out much of the extremely revolting work in connexion with what may be called the by-products of the animals - these are sometimes called “ gut girls” - live a life that does not tend to refinement, and they and their children suffer accordingly. In some countries boys are actually employed in the slaughter-house to kill small animals, to carry about buckets of blood, and is it to be wondered at that children engaged in such work become indifferent to bloodshed and cruelty, and their moral nature is stunted? The whole of this army, which numbers hundreds of thousands in Europe and America, feel very strongly the temptation to drink. It is not surprising that many in this way seek to dull their senses and thus further debase themselves:

As regards the portion of the group soul that inhabits the physical form of an animal, it is extremely bad for it to be driven out in a state of terror and anger. It is man's privilege to give all the help he can to animal evolution, but when he takes advantage of his higher powers, ill­treats and cruelly slaughters (for killing can never be kind), he fails in his duty and reduces himself to the level of the carnivora, who have the excuse that they belong to a lower order of creation, in which the mental body is not as yet evolved. They therefore merely obey influences which impel them to seize, tear in pieces, and devour other creatures. One often hears it said that “ Nature is red in claw and fang,” a statement that is only partly true, for it applies only to the least developed of animals, the scavenger and carnivorous creatures. For with very few exceptions the higher animals, as the horse, camel, reindeer, elephant, etc., who possess advanced qualities such as usefulness, good temper and intelligence, are vegetarians.

The carnivorous and “ red in claw and fang” animals are not suitable as examples for Man, who belongs to a higher evolution, many aeons beyond their stage, and who should recoil from slaughter.

It will also be remembered that Man's higher vehicles grow by the thoughts encouraged and permitted; if then, in order to allow the physical vehicle the fancied pleasures of a diet of flesh, the most im­portant considerations concerning the degradation of the slaughterer and his assistants, and the great cruelty to animals are thrust aside, the food of the body becomes a stumbling-block and cause of injury to the higher vehicles.

It is also necessary to consider honestly the whole question of sport and vivisection; for if it is wrong to kill sub-human creatures for food, it is doubly wrong to hunt and slay for amusement, money-making, or gain of any sort, advancement in spirituality being well nigh impossible whilst these habits of selfishness and wanton cruelty persist.

By continuing to eat meat one assists in the perpetration of the terrible cruelties carried out in the slaughter of animals for food. This lack of mercy and want of sympathy for the lower creation causes great harm to the individual's emotional vehicle.

The weapon most commonly used in England for slaughter is the pole­axe, which kills at one blow if the animal is held motionless, if the slaughterer is strong, if he is skilful, and if he is sober; four conditions, one or all of which are frequently absent. For killing calves, sheep and pigs the knife is used, a sickening operation.

But of the cruelties and horrors of the slaughterhouse I will not write, because each reader, if a meat eater, should personally visit these iniquitous places, and should not be ashamed or shrink from investigating and seeing the whole process before the flesh disguised under the names of beef, mutton, pork, bacon, veal, etc., appears on the dinner-table, and then may eat if he or she finds appetite to make it possible.

Some people say they are so sensitive that they cannot bear to think of these horrors, yet these delicate and refined people (according to their own account) eat without compunction dishes obtained by these very horrors. Could anything be more illogical?

In the transport of animals on shore there is undreamt-of cruelty, especially in countries where distances are great, as in the United States, where from official statistics it is estimated that every year about 110,000 cattle are taken from the cattle trucks dead or mutilated on arrival at their destination. At sea the motion of a ship must be as disquieting to an animal as an earthquake is to us; then add sea­sickness, and broken limbs from being thrown about, terror and thirst, for it is impossible to go amongst the cargo of cattle in rough weather; the insanitary conditions, the dead or injured. Words fail to describe the infernal conditions, the fortunate ones being those who die soonest and pass out of their misery; the matter being passed over in the newspapers with the remark that S.S. Cattleboat arrived after a stormy passage with the loss of so many hundred head of cattle.

English official returns give the following numbers for one year:­14,000 thrown overboard, 1,240 landed dead, 455 had to be slaughtered on landing.

Drovers, especially in out of the way places, are accustomed to employ very cruel methods in driving cattle. And again on the approach to the slaughterhouse many cattle (being sentient creatures) sense what is coming and the one-sided struggle for life begins.

The kindly meat-eater who eats meat because he was brought up from childhood to do so, and has never considered these points for himself, deplores the cruelty but shuts his eyes to it, or stifles his conscience by saying that everything is as well arranged as is possible in this far from perfect world, and, anyway, he did not make the arrangement. Both of which statements are untrue, for flesh food is neither natural nor necessary. And if he partakes of flesh he associates himself with, becomes responsible, and thus creates Karma connected with it. The damping of kindly feelings by false reasoning is extremely bad for the emotional body, since callousness, selfishness and condonation of cruelty are about as bad qualities as are possible to build into it, producing a dulling of all good qualities.

We now come to the physical vehicle, and it is very easy to show that the flesh-eating habit is unnatural, unnecessary, harmful, less nourishing and more expensive than other foods.

First, to show that it is unnatural, we have in England large numbers of people whose bodies are not working well, since they are full of diseases and ill-health. The cause of this must either be that the Almighty made a mistake in designing the human body, and few will have the colossal impudence to make that suggestion, or the reason of the failure must lie with the users of the instrument - the body. Let us examine the machinery and see what foods Nature intended man to eat. It is well known that animals living in a wild state will only eat the food suitable for them, and if that is not available they starve. If, then, we can find some wild animal similar in construction to man, we shall, by noticing the food it eats, obtain the information we require.

Compare the human teeth with the teeth of carnivorous animals (lions, tigers, jackals, vultures, dogs, etc.) it is found that they are totally unlike. Next take herbivorous animals (cows, sheep, deer, etc.), again it is found that the teeth are totally unlike. But when we compare with frugivorous animals (the ape species), it is found that in number, shape and position the teeth are virtually similar.

Now compare the digestive apparatus of mankind with that of the carnivorous and herbivorous animals, it is seen to be totally dissimilar; but on comparing it with the frugivorous it is found to be identical in all its details.

Science therefore classifies Man as belonging to the highest family of living creatures - the Primates - frugivorous animals, whose food consists of the fruits of the earth. I do not see how Nature could have answered our question more plainly, that Man, by the structure of his body, is neither carnivorous nor herbivorous; but having mental power he can, without violating the principles of frugivorous feeding, cultivate and prepare an infinite variety of foods; each habitable country having its own particular sorts which science is now discovering contain the nutriment most suitable for Man in that particular climate. Nature thus co-operating to provide Man with a plentiful supply of food she has constructed him to assimilate, and on which he thrives.

The physical body is extremely adaptable and can in time be made to accommodate itself to almost any conditions; this is what has been done in flesh eating countries, children being forced to eat meat until the natural repugnance is overcome, the natural taste vitiated, and the habit established. Example: If you put meat and an apple before a young child, it will always choose the apple. The body frequently rebels against the unnatural conditions forced on it, our medical men being hardly able to find names to attach to the diseases which multiply from day to day.

I will now ask the reader to take a common-sense view. Is it likely that eating dead, and not only dead but decomposing, bodies will conduce to health. Decomposition commences the moment life leaves an animal, and the rapidity with which it proceeds depends chiefly on temperature. The interior of the human body is always at tropical heat (98.4° F.) therefore if food be not digested it will decompose. In carnivorous animals this difficulty is allowed for, their digestive apparatus being so constructed that food remains but a short time in their bodies; in human beings it is otherwise, hence the danger.

Why do we keep meat hanging for several days after the animal is killed before it can be eaten? The answer, in plain English, is that meat is too tough until it commences to decompose! Is it likely that eating such stuff will promote health? How very common it is to hear that so and so is unwell because the fish was a little unfresh - decomposition again. What numbers die of ptomaine poisoning - the same thing - decomposition. Cooking is not a complete protection, for though the outer parts may be heated sufficiently to destroy harmful germs, the interior portions of the meat seldom become hot enough to ensure safety.

It is a most unpalatable fact that England is full of disease. We have sanitation, science and upwards of 30,000 doctors, yet the population is unhealthy.

In 1912 the Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education reported that 6,000,000 children attending elementary schools in England and Wales had been examined, and it was found that 3,600,000 were diseased, suffering from defective vision, defective hearing, decayed teeth, tuberculosis, etc.

The standard of physical fitness in recruiting for the Navy is high, so naturally only those who think they are fit present themselves, yet about 50% have to be rejected as medically unfit. In recruiting for the Army, where the standard is lower, matters are even worse.

In England and Wales it is estimated that 30,000 people die every year of consumption. Doctors tell us that one man in every twelve, and one woman in every eight, is doomed to die of cancer. Operations for appendicitis, etc., seem to become more and more frequent. This state of affairs cannot be wondered at when it is known that it is almost impossible to find a domestic animal, that is one of the species used as food, that is in perfect health. Examinations show that swine, cattle, sheep, etc., bred and kept under the unnatural conditions of captivity, suffer from most loathsome diseases in addition to cancer, consumption, and a host of minor ailments. Cancer is known to be very common in cattle, and many a butcher, finding a cancerous part, cuts it out, and sells the remainder of the carcass, being under the impression that he has removed the danger. But science tells us that if one part of an animal is cancerous, the whole body is dangerous, and any one who eats such food is liable to the disease.

Statistics show that consumption is so common in cattle that over half of them are tuberculous, which means that if eaten they may produce consumption in the eater; this gives force to the statement that if all tuberculous cattle were destroyed it would practically mean the extinction of the herds of Great Britain.

It is noticeable that in this country disease and epidemics of all sorts are most frequent during the winter months, when the animals bred for food are under more than usually insanitary conditions, crowded in sheds and getting less fresh air, fresh food, or exercise than during the summer.

One would like a straightforward answer to the question “ What becomes of sick animals?” We have in England millions of animals bred for food. Obviously very large numbers of these must occasionally be unwell. How is it that one never comes across the funeral of an animal? How are diseased animals disposed of? To bury the carcass of a cow, sheep, or pig is no easy matter, and cannot easily be hidden, yet one never meets a party of men so engaged. It is disgusting to think that many diseased animal corpses are buried in the bodies of living people. Man indeed makes of his stomach a cemetery.

This, of course, is a money matter. When it is noticed that an animal is sick, instead of separating the creature for treatment, and at death burning or burying the carcass, it is most common to fatten the beast on oil cakes and hasten the still sick animal to the butcher - before it is too late - so that money may not be lost. The meat eater, therefore, who may often be heard congratulating himself that he eats good English meat - “ None of your foreign rubbish,” he would say - very frequently feeds on diseased flesh (for most disease cannot be discovered without a miscroscopic examination of each piece of meat), with the result that the standard of health in England falls lower and lower until ill-health has become so prevalent as to be looked on as something quite natural, unavoidable and almost fashionable.

On the other hand there are an increasing number of English men, women and children, who avoiding the dangers of flesh foods, find they are remarkably immune from cancer, consumption, and appendicitis, and the host of uric acid diseases, such as rheumatism, gout, dyspepsia, indigestion, headache, epilepsy, skin diseases, etc., etc., and many who formerly were ill have been cured by giving up flesh foods and adopting a scientific diet.

In looking back on the history of the world, we find innumerable millions who, though celebrated for strength, vigour and athletic prowess, were non-flesh-eaters. We have the ancient Britons, who lived on berries, acorns and water, whom Plutarch tells us began to grow old at 120 years. The athletes of ancient Greece, the Spartans, and the gladiators, who made physical perfection a speciality, were vegetarians. In the present day old people in the country tell us that in their young days (before steam had made cattle-ships and the trade in frozen meat possible), there were no butchers' shops and meat was very scarce, and under these conditions the agricultural labourer was stronger and less diseased. The vast majority of the “ toilers,” the so-called working classes of the world, whose capital in life is health and muscle, are non­flesh-eaters. In Ireland, Scotland, France, Spain, Italy, Turkey, the Balkan States, Russia, and other parts of Europe multitudes thrive on such simple foods as potatoes, porridge, wholemeal or black bread, mealies, macaroni, cheese, porridge of chestnut flour, olives, oil, vegetables and fruits. One sees whole countries in which the national food is a non-flesh one, for example; Arabia, dates and milk; Egypt, coarse bread of wheat, millet or maize, dates, beans, lentils, melons and other fruits; India and China, rice and fruits; Manchuria, rice and beans. A good example of the physical fitness of vegetarians was seen at the time of the relief of the Peking Legations during the Boxer troubles, when the Japanese out-marched the soldiers of all other nations. Again in their war with Russia, these people showed the world the extraordinary physical fitness of their meatless navy and army; the general health of the Japanese nation being a standing reproach to the flesh-eaters of Europe.

I do not say that you cannot be strong on flesh food. What I maintain is that without it you can be just as strong and in much better health. My point is that flesh food is unnecessary.

At the present moment it is estimated roughly that from half to three­quarters of the total population of the world are non-flesh-eaters. As regards brain power, amongst those who have lived in the past are found some of the noblest and most intellectual of humanity, as may be seen from the following short list:- Zoroaster, Pythagoras, Buddha, Isaiah, Daniel, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, John Wesley, Franklin, Goldsmith, Ray, Paley, Byron, Hypatia, Diogenes, Ovid, Plutarch, Seneca, Appolonius, Asoka, the Apostles Matthew, James, James the Less, Peter, the Christian fathers Clement, Basil, Tertullian, Marcion, Origen, Chrysostom, Jerome, etc., etc.

That vegetarian food is three or four times more nourishing than flesh food is shown by chemical analysis, which gives the total nutriment contained in grains and cereals as 8o to 86 per cent.; in various nuts, from 8o to 94 per cent.; in lentils, peas, beans, etc., 82 to 84 per cent.

Compare these numbers with the percentage of nutriment contained in flesh foods. The numbers are mutton, 28 per cent.; beef, 28 per cent.; veal, 37 per cent.; poultry, 26 per cent.; fish, 22 per cent.

It is recognized that fat is an absolute necessity to well-being, and one would naturally ask, “ Is it not better to take this element into our system in a pure form rather than the animal substance plus its con­tained poisons?” The percentage of fat, weight for weight, is three times exceeded in nuts as compared to meat.

It will be seen that in purchasing vegetarian foods, not only are the materials cheaper, but you get a greater quantity of nutriment.

Fruits contain a small amount of nutriment, but owing to their acids and salts have very great medicinal value. Another great advantage which is most important for health is that on non-flesh foods you are able to vary your diet according to climate and occupation. If cooking is inconvenient it may be dispensed with altogether, for it is easy and very wholesome to live on bread, cheese, salads, nuts and fruits.

Meat is, in reality, vegetable second-hand. For the size, strength and fatness of domestic creatures is derived from the nutritive properties of the food eaten, which for cattle and sheep are taken from the vegetable kingdom.

Sometimes it is said: If animals were not eaten they would overcrowd and eat us up! But exactly the opposite is the case; as soon as meat­eating ceases, breeding animals for food will stop, and the land now used for grazing will be available for more useful purposes.

In food reform is wrapped up many important social reforms which will automatically come into effect as soon as sufficient numbers of people break away from the flesh-eating habit.

First. A great amount of cruelty will be abolished, and the teaching of children that cruelty is permissible will cease. The nation, becoming humane about food, will become more humane in other directions. Flesh-eating England has the disgrace of requiring societies for the prevention of cruelty not only to animals but also to children. On the other hand vegetarian Japan, to take one instance of a non-flesh-eating people, is often described by English writers as “ the children's paradise.”

Second. The national temper will improve. It is well known that the greatest cause of ill temper is indigestion, the result of eating unnatural food. Therefore, to the great advantage of every one, when the change of diet is made, temper improves!

Third. There will be much less disease. Many doctors and surgeons agree that on the scientific non-flesh diet being generally adopted their occupations will disappear, surgery except for injury become rare, and hospitals be almost unnecessary.

Fourth. The national curse of drink will diminish, and it follows crime will be reduced, because those who live on natural foods do not have the craving for alcoholic drink, as happens with the meat eater. A vegetarian drunkard is practically unknown. The Salvation Army takes advantage of this fact, and has permanently cured numbers of the many cases of habitual inebriety it has dealt with, by the methods of putting the patient on a fruitarian diet.

The craving for drink is the outcome of a congested system caused by over-stimulation by a meat diet; the drunkard craves for a stronger stimulant to expel the congested matter.

Fifth. Unemployment would be lessened, because instead of a few men now required to attend cattle, sheep and pigs, very large numbers of workers would be wanted to grow fruits, cereals and vegetables. Experts tell us this could be done in our own country, which is one of the most fertile in the world. Instead of our rural population crowding to the cities as at present, those born in cities would move out to the country, they being required for the wholesome occupation of agriculture. It is calculated that about £ 150,000,000 is annually spent on flesh foods by English people. Most of this money goes out of the country, as it is spent on imported animals (dead or alive). It will clearly be an advantage when this vast sum is expended on the products of our own land.

Sixth. There will be a great improvement in our towns and villages from the gradual disappearance of shops in which animal bodies are exposed for sale, a disgrace to our boasted civilization. Instead of the disgusting stench from such shops, we shall have others full of fruits and vegetables, which, with the reduction of drink palaces due to the falling­off of the demand for alcohol, will be one of the greatest improvements it is possible to imagine.

In making the change of diet determined effort is required, some people taking a few weeks before the habitual craving for flesh foods is overcome, but once this is done there is no further trouble, and practical advantages begin to be felt, nearly every one finding some or all of the following benefits.

The brain becomes clearer, and one feels that work can be continued after meals.

No headache and a great improvement in general health.

No indigestion and therefore better temper.

The craving for drink ceases, and it is easy to give up alcohol altogether.

Much greater endurance and the capacity of going for a long time without meals without inconvenience. No ravenous hunger as meal­time approaches.

The house becomes fresher and cleaner, there is no smell of burning flesh; less flies, there being no offensive matter to attract them.

No doctor's visits required.

No use for medicines. If not quite well, consideration of the mixture of the foods eaten at the same meal will usually indicate what is wrong, and a slight change put things right.

The teeth become better, since vegetarian food does not cause them to decay.

Many find they are no longer liable to coughs and colds, or if these are caught, the system is strong enough to throw them off very quickly, and there is almost entire freedom from inflammation with consequent rise of temperature.

The cooking is cleanly, economical and pleasant.

There is the assurance of freedom from the responsibility resultant of slaughter.

The more these matters are studied the more clearly is it seen that the flesh-eating habit is cruel, unnecessary, unnatural, harmful, and the cause of many social evils; the question arises, why not break with so unsatisfactory a habit, substitute a purer diet, and take the first step towards health on all planes?

The practical man in making this change will first have his cook taught the new cookery, and find out for himself what foods should be taken in lieu of meat, for it would be extremely foolish to leave off flesh-eating without considering what to eat instead of it.

The human body is far more complicated than is popularly imagined, for it really consists of three separate vehicles which powerfully affect each other, a fact which science has already grasped in recognizing that many diseases are due to causes other than physical, and that an unhealthy mental or emotional body may affect the physical so as to disarrange it and cause discomfort and ill-health. The physician therefore frequently orders change of mental occupation as part of his prescription; but it is necessary to go much further.

Health and immunity from disease are natural and our birthright, but in our present civilization we have drifted into an unnatural way of living and have temporarily lost sight of the art of living healthily. The blessings of perfect health depend on very much more than merely living in accordance with hygienic physical plane laws, or the food reformers would by practical demonstrations have long ago proved their case and converted the whole civilized world, whereas many food reformers are not at all good specimens of health and strength, the fact being that though food reform with its non-flesh diet is essential, it deals only with one-third of the whole body. For a completely healthy body we must also deal with the one-third composing the emotional vehicle, and the remaining very important third part, the mental vehicle. All of these must be taught to live in accord with the spiritual laws, and in harmony with each other, for the complete body to be healthy.

In considering the physical body, we know the factors and laws on which its health depends. You would not expect it to be healthy if exercise were given only to a few muscles of a hand or arm, and the remainder of the body and its members were unexercised and entirely neglected. So it is not reasonable to expect (as many do) that the emotional or mental bodies will be healthy if only a small portion of them is used. Some exercise only the devotional part of their emotional vehicle, others one section only of the mental body and allow the remainder to stagnate, and so they become unevenly developed, which may cause ill-health of a particular vehicle, and therefore of the whole.

Examples of over-development of the emotional body may be read in history of people who took a one-sided and narrow view of religion, but, neglecting mercifulness and tolerance, went to the extreme of torturing and killing those who did not share the religious views they happened to hold; in a smaller and less harmful degree this one-sided development may be seen in people who in these days will not associate or do business with others whose religious beliefs differ from their own, nor engage servants or extend their charity to those who are not of exactly the same faith. Then there are emotional people who, though having a sympathetic and well-developed astral vehicle, have neglected the mental qualities that give balance as well as control. They overflow with emotion out of all proportion to the cause, and are easily taken in by an appeal to the emotional aspect of the case, and, though good and kindly, are often by indiscriminate charity a cause of much harm to others.

The political fanatic is another instance of one-sided development of the vehicles perverting his sense of proportion. Then there is the cold religionist, with quite sound and logical views about things spiritual as far as the mental body is concerned, but who neglects the emotional body, and therefore appears to others to be hard and without human feelings, and to hold a cold-blooded religion that appeals to very few, and obviously has something incomplete about it, such people being cheerless, depressing, and unconvincing to listen to.

True religion has the effect of vivifying and developing the good qualities of all the vehicles, so that any one who has really grasped spiritual truths literally exudes happiness, cheerfulness, contentment, kindly feeling, and good-humour to all around.

For health, every department of the physical, astral and mental vehicles must receive attention, and be given suitable food and exercise for growth and improvement. Also, between these three there must be perfect harmony as well as perfect control by the indwelling spirit, the three bodies being first brought up to a corresponding state of development. For instance, if physical health has been neglected, an extra amount of time must be spent in bringing it up to its right tone or vibration, so that all three vehicles, being at the same level of development, may have no difficulty in keeping step, as it were, with each other on the march of progress. To obtain the best results one vehicle must not be allowed to rush ahead and outstrip the others.