Your normal weight depends on three factors: height, age, and skeletal structure. Naturally, the weight of the individual should change throughout the different stages of life. And naturally, the amount and type of food needed to maintain proper weight will also vary, depending on a person’s occupation and general activity.

Saying that being overweight is the result of overeating is like saying that a fire is the result of a match. Who lit the match? What caused the excess food? Overeating is not a cause but rather a result. Have you noticed how your eating habits vary when you are busy and when you are not busy: when you are alone and when you are not; when you are tense and when you are relaxed? The busy, satisfied and relaxed people of the world are rarely overweight. Idle, lonely and nervous people often are.

When you are not busy and feel like you should be, you eat to excuse your idleness. (“I’ll do it after dinner, after eating a sandwich, as soon as I finish eating, one must eat, you know”).

When you are alone, you eat to replace the satisfaction of friendship. When you are nervous, you eat to forget the cause of that tension or despair. Here again is proof of the inseparability of mind and body.

The unfortunate result of unhappiness is not only overeating, but also consuming useless food that makes you fat. The act of replacing some need of the mind or soul with nourishment for the body is a form of blackmail. You are “buying” the mind through the ransom paid by the body. Naturally, this rescue must be luxurious. That is why the unhappy people of the world love chocolates, ice creams, rich cakes and the like. And here a ridiculous contradiction often occurs. The unhappy soul gorges itself on appetite killers and frequently neglects essential foods for health. Thus, as contradictory as it may seem, many people weigh a stone and a half and two stone, and yet they are anemic, malnourished, suffering the ravages of malnutrition!

I long ago realized the truth in the words “Happiness is medicine.” You must come to realize this too, because it is an undeniable law of nature.

The underweight people of the world are also “often the products of a mental rather than a physical condition. You have seen the ‘drivers’ of our world, those who throw themselves into their work without thought of their well-being. They are often the victims of the “success philosophy,” who believe that only wealth and power bring happiness. They propel themselves and their co-workers to the pinnacle of production and creativity, but usually have to be led to the table to eat.What they eat does little good to them, coursing through their bodies like mercury as they return to their dedicated work.

I won’t be foolish enough to claim that being underweight and being overweight are purely the result of an unsettled mind; but I will maintain that anxiety, nervousness, despair, and contempt for one’s fellow man, one or all of these, are the cause of, or a major contributing factor to, underweight and overweight conditions, as well as much physical ills. of the world. .

In diets to gain or lose weight, two dangers must be avoided. The underweight person should avoid increasing their calorie intake while ignoring basic food requirements and the overweight person should be careful to randomly decrease their food intake, thus depriving the body of the minimal nutrients of energy, bone, blood and nerves. The staple diet for everyone should contain some organically grown foods and a full share of all the vitamins and minerals needed to maintain a healthy body and mind. Above all, beware of fad diets that are guaranteed to make or break you in twenty-four hours. These “Seven Days to Health” and “Ten Days to Beauty” programs are frauds at best and life-threatening at worst.

There is no overnight diet for total health. More precisely, there is no diet for total health. The food you eat is just one element in the pattern of your life. The path to health doesn’t start with just your stomach, skin, feet, or mind, but with all of these and more. The path to health is one that we pave with a life lived in complete harmony with nature.

“A Complete Guide to Healthy Eating,” an article in my online wellness journal describes several food programs that, when added to living in total harmony with nature, will help give you the brilliant health that should be yours . There you will find food programs designed for people with low weight, overweight, among others. These were carefully elaborated with the aim of providing the healthiest, tastiest and most natural food program for the needs of each person. As you read these wisely chosen diets, remember the words of Socrates: “Some men live to eat. I eat to live.”