Health Notes.

The history of civilisation, both ancient and modern, bears testimony to the simple truth that great empires stand or fall by the health of their peoples. Swamped by its weaklings, a country may crumble and become powerless to shape its own destiny—nor help in the shaping of the destiny of the world.

There are difficult times ahead for an nations, and to win through people cannot afford to be other than thoroughly fit and sound in both mind and body.

We thrust upon the doctors the onus of curing our diseases and neglect to secure their co-operation in the maintenance of health. We are apt to take for granted our Public Health Service, and even with all the benefits obtainable—especially for the children and mothers—we are not yet fully alive to the unassailable fact that disease is the penalty of faulty hygiene, and that it is preventable.

Those of us who are guilty of unhealthy living are not only inflicting an injury to ourselves, but are doing-grievous harm to the community as a whole. Sound nutrition is the basis of sound health and ultimately the basis of national prosperity and well-being. Inadequate nutrition, lack of fresh air and sunlight, will eventually be a big factor in reducing a nation to a C3 race.

With our present knowledge of food values this is where we may help in the building of a nation. We must mobilise our energies and realise that there is a foe—national ill-health—to be fought, and that the first line of attack is for each individual to create his own personal environment of health—and the health of the household. Think of the colossal waste of mental and physical energy when our country should be straining every nerve and muscle to be classed as Al!

We are all beginning to learn that vegetables, for instance, if wrongly prepared and cooked, lose their mineral value. The vitamines are destroyed, thus rendering our vegetables almost valueless as food. In the planning of the day's meals, we need, roughly, one-quarter of the food from the bone-building class, i.e., from fruits, vegetables, milk and whole cereals, one-quarter from the chief flesh forming foods—meat, fish, eggs, cheese, etc., and the balance from those foods that supply a large amount of heat and energy—the starchy foods, as bread, potatoes, rice, etc., together with those foods that contain a large amount of fat or sugar. Children who have the good fortune to belong to the household that is “health conscious” have a decided advantage over those who belong to parents who merely “eat to live.”