First, you must realize the tremendous importance of the elimination of all waste matter from the intestines or bowels, the lungs, kidneys and skin.

We take food in order to gain energy and strength, yet frequently we use more energy to remove the waste matter formed than the same amount of food could possibly supply, and we wonder why our strength decreases instead of increases when we are able to eat so much - it is a mystery to us.

Almost all disease has its origin in an accumulation of decaying waste matter.

For example, it is impossible to "catch a cold" if the body is not first weakened more or less by waste matter accumulating throughout the tissues and clogging the pores.

When these waste products cannot be removed through the ordinary channels, nature, in her efforts to save life, utilizes the skin and mucous membranes as excretory organs for the time being. When the skin is used there is eczema, shingles, boils, scurvy, and all sorts of sores; when the mucous membranes are made excretory organs there is sore throat, diphtheria, fistula, piles, catarrh, consumption and even pneumonia.

Let us think for a moment of the various ways in which waste matter is formed in the system. First there is a large amount of waste - the remains of food - the parts which cannot be digested. Then there is the waste caused by the little cell fires which are burning in all the tissues of the body.

The energy we use in our work is the result of the burning of the body structure and the digested food which has entered the blood. Every move we make, every thought we think uses up a certain amount of electric energy. This energy is generated by the coming together of the acids and alkalies of the body and food, causing the chemical changes or fires which are going on through the whole system. Now each and every one of these little fires leave their waste matter or ashes just as there are remains left from the fire in the grate or stove. Each cell of the body eats (assimilates), breathes (takes oxygen from the blood) and forms waste matter which must be eliminated. Failure to recognize these facts are the cause of the misunderstanding of what disease truly is and keeps us from quickly regaining normal health once sickness and old age overtake us.

Elimination is the very foundation of normal health. after the body reaches maturity.
The same amount of solid matter taken daily into the system should be daily eliminated. When these waste matters are not regularly and thoroughly gotten out of the system they cause growths of bacteria in the intestines which are a constant menace to life and health; the gas formed by their fermentation penetrates the walls of the stomach and intestines until it reaches and paralyzes the nerve centers of these organs. Again, this decaying mass enters the circulation causing sluggishness of the blood stream and inactivity of the vital organs. If this continues for any length of time the circulation is greatly impeded, the life fires are put out, uric and various other acids are formed, and serious diseases like dropsy, diabetes, Bright's disease, etc., follow. There can be no assimilation unless there is elimination.

I cannot impress upon you too strongly that the body must daily eliminate from its various excretory organs the intestines, kidneys, lungs and skin, the same amount of substance that is taken into the stomach. When this is the case there can be no lowering of the vital force or electric power of the body.

Elimination to be perfect and fundamental must begin in the cell. We know that each cell eats, breathes and forms waste matter. Now, how are these waste matter eliminated from the body? Carbonic acid is removed by the lungs mainly, but also by the skin; urea, which is the real ash and normal waste of the body, is eliminated by the 'kidneys and to a great extent by the skin. The skin is in reality both a third lung and a third kidney, as it always aids in freeing the body from urea and carbonic acid, and if there is disease or congestion of the lungs or kidneys, life is saved by the power of the skin to eliminate these deadly poisons, which if allowed to remain in the body would cause death.

While we can control elimination from the bowels and kidneys by being regular in our habits and by increasing our electric production and directing plenty of power to these organs; from the lungs by plenty of fresh air and breathing deeply, so that they can easily empty out the carbonic acid brought by the blood; from the skin by frequent bathing, keeping it clean and giving it free access to air and light as much as possible - how are we to regulate cell elimination?

Cell elimination, which is of the most vital importance to health, is accomplished through the alkalinity of the blood.

Now, what do we mean by the alkalinity of the blood? The word sounds formidable, but it simply means that the blood is rich in positive alkaline salts, and in this state it has the strongest attraction for the waste acids, drawing them from the tissues in which they are formed, and dissolving some, and combining with others, carries them off to their separate excretory organs from which they are eliminated.

Acids and alkalies have the strongest attraction for each other, while two acids repel; thus we see why the blood must continually be kept in a highly alkaline state, always well supplied with the positive alkaline salts, sodium, potassium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, etc., in order that the poisonous acids, carbonic, uric and various others are not allowed to accumulate.

Bear constantly in mind that it is the continual union of acids and alkalies which produce the electrical power of the body. In normal health the blood and tissue fluids are highly alkaline, all the wastes of the body are acid, and when the right balance is maintained, the waste, products formed in the system as the result of our work, study, thought, etc., are easily taken care of, and instead of being detrimental to life and health are continually producing electricity on their way out of the body. Nature is the great and wise economist; we have much to learn from her laws and methods. It is only when the blood and tissue fluids which should be alkaline are rendered acid that disease is possible.
In health and old age are the result of a lowering of the body's electric energy and the chief cause for this is poor elimination. There can be no evil results from work and the formation of natural waste products in the system, provided the blood is abundantly supplied with the alkaline salts to dissolve and neutralize them.

Even in asphyxiation, two men can take into their systems the same amount of carbonic acid, but only the one whose blood is acid, or at least poor in the alkaline properties, will die; the other will be gradually exhausted as the alkaline salts become used up, but he is usually easily restored.

Keep the blood in a highly alkaline state and you need not fear sickness. You may go where you please with alkaline blood in your veins; no germs of typhoid or any other disease can harm you or withstand the germicidal power of your alkaline blood, forming as it does rushing streams of voltaic batteries, producing the power to quickly electrocute or burn them up.

Thus you see the normal alkaline blood has a four-fold function: the nourishment of the tissues; the circulation of oxygen; the elimination of waste matter from the cells of the body, and the electrocution of all micro-organisms or bacteria, which may enter or be generated within the system.

Now, what must we do in order to maintain the blood's normal alkalinity, and thus enable it to function with power?

It is very simple; all that is necessary is to supply the body with an abundance of the right kind of fresh foods in their natural condition - those which are rich in the positive, alkaline salts, sodium, magnesium, potassium, iron, phosphorus, etc.

For example, take carbonic acid, which is being continually formed in the system every moment we live. What is the essential for its elimination? Living in well ventilated rooms and breathing fresh air, you will say. Very good. That is of vital importance, but do you think that carbonic acid travels in the blood as a gas? No, it cannot move from the organ or part in which it is formed unless the blood upon reaching that part contains the alkaline salt, sodium, which combines with carbonic acid. This salt, sodium, acts as a sort of policeman or guard over the various acids formed in the system and carbonic acid in particular, its office being to "lay hold" as it were on all the carbonic acid and see to it that it quickly leaves the body. In order to do this it forms a sort of loose combination with this gas and together they travel away to the lungs where they part company, the carbonic acid being expelled in the outgoing breath, the sodium remaining in the blood to repeat the process with the first carbonic acid it encounters.

From these facts you must see clearly the great importance of supplying the blood bountifully with this positive alkaline salt, and as carbonic acid is eliminated by sodium so are the other acids, which have formed in the body, neutralized and dissolved by other essential salts of the blood.

Then take iron. Do you realize that the blood is unable to absorb oxygen from the atmosphere without this element is present? Oxygen is a negative acid gas and cannot travel through the body or be absorbed by the blood except as it combines with iron and thus transports itself. Here again we realize the importance of the alkalinity of the blood and understand why it is useless for the various systems of breathing to claim that the body can be healed by oxygen alone. When the blood is acid it contains little or no iron, and consequently repels the negative oxygen instead of attracting it. Iron is the medium of the transportation of oxygen between the lungs and tissues of the body.

We get these essential alkaline salts in great abundance from the green leafy vegetables and growths such as spinach, lettuce, watercress, asparagus, cabbage, dandelions, the green tops of beets, etc. Also in roots like the radish, beet, turnip, the potato to a certain extent, and especially the onion and carrot. Indeed, any of the vegetables growing in or on the soil are rich in these elements; young peas, and string beans, squash and cucumbers; and very important relaxing agents are the melon and cantaloupe - first they are rich in these organic salts and again they contain an abundance of natural distilled water which is marvelous in dissolving the earthy deposits which accumulate in the arteries and tissues. In the hot weather and during fever they aid in regulating the heat of the body and their gentle purging of the cells, as well as of the bowels, reduces fever and prevents congestion.

Most important of all, however, are the cereals in their NATURAL state - that is, where the dark outer layers of wheat, barley, rye and rice are retained they make perfect foods.

The grain of wheat contains every element of which the body is composed; the rebuilding material, the force producers and also the eliminators of waste acids. Man, not realizing that elimination is one of the prime necessities of life and health, not understanding that a food is a perfect food ONLY as it contains the eliminating elements as well as the rebuilding and force producing materials, polishes and grinds off the dark outer layers of the wheat and leaves it consequently only a partial or "proximate" food - the valuable alkaline eliminators are thrown away or fed to the cattle.

If you intend to regain health and maintain the alkalinity of the blood, avoid these partial, proximate foods which have been ruined through refining. White flour and white sugar are both proximate foods. Replace white bread with whole wheat and use this grain also as a cereal instead of the highly refined and "partially digested" breakfast foods you may be taking at the moment. The value of all food is seriously lessened in these refining processes. Bran also makes a splendid bread and can be purchased in an ordinary feed store for a few pennies; use two parts bran and one of white flour, adding some freshly chopped nuts to give flavor if you desire. These breads must never be eaten on the day they are baked, but should be allowed to become stale, then toasted and taken with sweet butter or in milk.

Honey contains large amounts of organic salts and it is well to use pure honey on bread and cereals instead of white sugar. Children should be given this and also pure New Orleans molasses as it is a powerful cell laxative. Figs have these organic salts in abundance, and the fresh, whole olive is a more normal food than is olive oil. It may seem strange to you, but olive oil contains none of these salts and its effect upon the body is purely mechanical - that of a lubricator of the joints, intestines, etc. Olive oil, while essentially necessary for lubricating purposes and as a force producer, is injurious if taken in excess, while the whole olive is a perfect food and a powerful cell eliminator.

Fruits are also very rich in organic salts, but you will notice that I am not advising them, as I prefer my students to get these elements from VEGETABLES and CEREALS, rather than from fruits, for the simple reason that the latter contains so much free acid, it is the exceptional stomach which is not injured and irritated by its presence.

Many hold that fruit stimulates the appetite, that they cannot eat breakfast unless they first take grape fruit, lemon juice or an orange. Well, all irritants are stimulants, and it is better to await a natural appetite than to force a false one.

Free acid retards digestion at every step. You will remember that this process begins in the mouth where the food should be ground up, moistened and mixed with the alkaline saliva. The saliva has a chemical effect upon the food, converting its starch into a form of sugar called maltose. Free acid interferes with this process as it immediately stops the flow of saliva, puckering up the glands and mouth. The simple thought of acid stimulates the flow of saliva, while its actual presence stops it. This is because the saliva is so delicately alkaline, and free acid is such a crude irritant. The food of many an old person, is ruined in the mouth on account of the teeth, the decay of teeth being the result of a germ causing a great amount of lactic acid.

When the food enters the normal stomach the process of converting the starch into sugar continues for fully fifteen or twenty minutes. During this process the glands rapidly secrete the necessary acid and manufacture the gastric fluids; finally the electrical attraction between this acid fluid and the highly alkaline contents of the stomach is so great that the little glands are forced open, and in flows the gastric juice.

If the food was in an acid condition upon entering the stomach, owing to the ingestion of free acid, or had it fermented on account of the inactivity of that organ, this electrical attraction could not exist. You will remember that acids repel acids and attract alkalies. The secretion of the normal gastric fluids depends upon the alkaline condition of the stomach's contents.

All proceeding well, the stomach is now ready to take up its own specific function in the digestive process, that of converting the albuminoids or proteids of the food into a soluble and assimilable form known as peptone, and it is for this part of the digestion that the glands have secreted the gastric fluids.

The normal acid of normal gastric juice is hydrochloric acid, and is secreted by the stomach itself, in the proportion of one to four per thousand. All experiments prove that organic acids like lactic, acetic, free acid, etc., interfere with the action of hydrochloric acid. You thus see how wrong it is to take acid fruits with the thought of aiding digestion by supplying a fuller amount. The hydrochloric acid of the gastric fluid and the free acid of fruits and that resulting from fermentation in the stomach are entirely different elements. There is but one fruit among the many we take which contains any element that could aid digestion, and that is the pineapple which is rich in bromeline.

Sometimes the stomach makes a mistake itself, and secretes too much of the natural hydrochloric acid, thus destroying the digestive power of the gastric fluids. For example, when the proportions are one to three per thousand, instead of one to four, digestion is only slowly carried out. Thus you see how fatal it is to use much free acid, especially with other foods,

Through the mixing and mingling of the food with the acid gastric fluid, digestion has now progressed quite far, much electricity has been produced and the stomach has an acid reaction; the result being that an electrical attraction is again set up, this time between the stomach and the upper intestine with its highly alkaline juices, the bile and pancreatic fluids; and just as the glands of the stomach were opened for the admittance of the gastric juice, so does the pyloric orifice now open up, and the food in a liquid form passes through into the upper intestine.

If when entering this organ the food is excessively acid instead of being just slightly so, the bile and pancreatic fluids are rendered ineffective as they are neutralized by the acid of the stomach's contents. In order to complete digestion in a thorough way, both these fluids must be kept highly alkaline; they should not be neutralized or in any way have their alkaline power decreased. They can, of course, stand more acid without being affected than can the feebly alkaline saliva, but nevertheless acid is detrimental to their full, quick action.

When there is indigestion in the upper intestine, large amounts of poisonous gases are formed, causing pressure upward against the stomach, liver and heart. This is the form of indigestion which results in heart disease and causes intense suffering to the patient, often resulting fatally.

There is very little free acid in sweet fruits, but they are so apt to ferment in the upper intestine, on account of the saccharine and other organic matters which they contain that it is wisest to leave them alone. Fermentation is self-sustaining. Like fire which when once started leads to a big conflagration, so does a little fermentation result in the formation of a large amount of acid, and we thus never get any benefit from the organic salts which fruits contain.

Free acid has no place in true food. It exhausts the alkaline salts of the blood in order to neutralize itself. It stops the action of digestive fluids, or at least retards them; lessens nutrition, prevents elimination and lowers the electric energy of the whole system.
Nature is able to take care of such acids as may be liberated in what are called natural foods, but the constant tendency to use "proximate" foods, those which have been put through various stages of refining, and also to take fruits containing free acid and food in which there are acid making microbes is very serious. Once digestion is interfered with, the vitality is lowered.

The diet has become a very complicated subject in recent years. We are warned against this, that and the other food until the majority of us are afraid to eat anything. However, there is no necessity for this fear or confusion. By simply bearing a few fundamental laws and rues in mind there can be no trouble.

The primary essential is to supply the stomach with sufficient electricity to function properly, as no matter how fressh the food, or fine the combination may be, some power is required to digest and prevent its fermenting into an acid condition. If you will take a bountiful supply of vegetables, whole wheat and bran advised in these pages, cutting down (out in many cases) on meat, giving up white bread, tea, coffee, alcohol and such stimulants, taking most SPARINGLY of ordinary table salt, ruling out ENTIRELY fruits which contain free acid and following the simple laws of this science, you cannot fail to heal disease and develop splendid vitality.

In regard to the diet there are certain simple rules which are necessary to consider. You must not fail to supply the body with the right kinds of food to repair the tissue wastes and also to produce its force and heat.

The TISSUE BUILDERS of bone, muscle, brain and nerve are whole wheat, lean meat and fish, cheese, eggs, milk, peas, beans, lentils, animal fat and certain nuts.

The FORCE PRODUCERS are the starches and cereals, sugar, certain vegetables and sweet fruits, potato, rice, beans, lentils, vegetable oils, butter and nuts.

I have already dwelt at length upon the ELIMINATORS. They are spinach, lettuce, cabbage, green peppers, watercress, celery, onions, asparagus, cauliflower, tomatoes, young peas in shell, young string beans, radishes, cucumbers, dandelions, carrots, egg plant, beets and their green tops, squash, melons, olives, pineapple, the berries, such as cranberries, blackberries, raspberries, etc., the hulls and dark outer layers of grain and rice, and also milk, and the FORBIDDEN fruits.

Every one must study his own case and thus regulate the diet.

ALL NEED the ELIMINATORS - that point is settled. Then according to your life and occupation regulate the rest of your diet.

The man who is not getting much exercise, and who is working at a desk along mental lines, requires the tissue and nerve building elements, while the man performing manual labor out in the cold air, and exercising a great deal has more need of the force and heat producers.