In discussing the medical needs of the public at large, Lord Horder, eminent British physician, stressed the importance of health education and the role of the physician in supplying such information. We quote interesting and pertinent statements from him:
"Inevitably the doctor's work of the future will be more and more educational and less and less curative. More and more he will deal with physiology and psychology, and less and less with pathology. He will spend his time keeping the fit fit rather than trying to make the unfit fit."
"The ingredients of optimum fitness are really very simple. Enough of the right food ; shelter, which includes clothes and warmth ; a job of work ; access to fresh air and such sun as our climate yields ; leisure for play of body and mind—these are the essentials."—British Medical Journal, Vol. II, pp. 858, 859, 1937.
It is now generally recognized that the chief factor in physical fitness is adequate nutrition; therefore this fact should serve as a point for emphasis in our health education. Instruction relating to diet and foods should be very practical, of a "homely" nature, and should explain how to select proper food, what to do with it, and how to prepare food for the table in order to preserve all its nutritive virtues to the best advantage.
An adequate diet pivots upon an adequate and suitable protein supply, amounting to 45 to 70 grams a day for adults. There is still need for pointing out the fact that green vegetables and fruits are not luxuries but necessities. The average mixed diet in many Seventh-day Adventist homes is lacking in protein, inadequate in such "protective foods" as green vegetables, fruits, and milk, and is unbalanced by a preponderance of starches and sugars.
That adequate nourishment is fundamental and essential in keeping fit must be kept prominently in the foreground by every educator. Fitness can never be obtained by all other measures put together if adequate nourishment is neglected.
Proteins differ considerably in their value to the body. Some are incomplete; that is, they do not contain all the units (amino acids) essential to complete nutrition. Proteins derived from nuts, soybeans, peanuts, eggs, and milk are of outstanding value, as are also the proteins found in the green leafy vegetables, although from this latter source only relatively small amounts are obtained. The individual relying too largely upon cereals and beans for his source of protein will not be adequately supplied with all the essential elements.
Current advertising often to the contrary notwithstanding, fruits and green vegetables continue to be the most suitable source of vitamins and mineral salts, including those of alkaline reaction. In certain deficiencies, however, vitamins and mineral salts may be required in concentrated form as prescribed by the attending physician.
As one reads the current scientific literature relative to principles of nutrition and the most satisfactory dietary, he cannot but be impressed anew by the accuracy and profound wisdom displayed in the counsels on diet given this people in the Spirit of prophecy.
H. M. W.
