Skip to main content

Folklife Fridays: Rules for Good Health


I found the following in an old book about home remedies, Tommy Scotts Medicine Show.

The author is not listed.

They are amusing, and who knows, maybe they even work!

A Few Little Rules to Keep the Body in Good Shape

Fix deeply in mind the grand truth that life power rules the body, and that it alone can cure disease.

Life power lives upon air, water and food only; all else is hurtful.

Make cleanliness your motto, and watch against filth in both house and grounds.

Few starve for food, but many for air. Breathe deeply a hundred times daily. Wear no tight clothing. Above all, ventilate your sleeping room.

Beware of gluttony. If the appetite is dull, eat fruit only or eat nothing. Use no fiery condiments, but live chiefly on natural grains, vegetables and fruits. Never ask your stomach to chew your food--employ your teeth. Adorn your table not only with viands (food?), but with flowers and smiles and kindly words.

Deformity is not awkwardness only, but danger. A high chest will give freedom to breathing and digestion and help to cure many diseases.

Shun stimulants and drugs as you do pestilence. For tea and coffee, drink hot water, and in illness let the same magic fluid be your physic.

Thick blood causes colds and countless other diseases. Keep the lungs active by deep breathing, the skin by baths and friction, the kidneys by free drafts of warm water, the bowels by correct eating, and the blood will be pure.

Spend part of each day in muscular work, part in study and part in good deeds to men and in the worship of God.


How many of you think I am going to drink hot water instead of coffee?

Joyfully you'll pull up buckets of water from the wells of salvation. And as you do it, you'll say, "Give thanks to God. Call out his name. Ask him anything! Shout to the nations, tell them what he's done, spread the news of his great reputation!
Isaiah 12:3-4 Message

Comments

  1. TipperMay 29, 2010 at 6:42 PM

    I don't want to give up my coffee either-but most of them make sense : )

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

100 miles or less: Rattlesnake Saloon

The Rattlesnake Saloon was opened on Labor Day, 2009.  Dining there is an unique experience. It is way out in the boonies in Colbert County, Alabama.  It is hard to get to, even for locals, but they have had visitors from all over the United States and many countries throughout the world. Sitting comfortably under the huge rock overhang, I couldn't help but think about the people who have sought shelter there from storms or heat.  I can imagine the Native Americans using this place for a meeting area or a dry place to camp for a while.  Not so many years ago, it was used as a pig pen. They have good food and live music and a hitching post if you want to ride your horse there.  Most of us were picked up in a pickup, called the "Saloon Taxi", that runs from the parking lot to the restaurant continuously while they are open. The Rattlesnake Saloon is aptly named.  During construction, workers unearthed a mother rattler with twelve babie...
1 comment
Read more

Amish in Stantonville, Tennessee

Last week, my sis and her hub went with us to the Amish community near Stantonville, Tennessee.  It was a beautiful day, and we love driving to new places and finding new treasures.  We enjoy these mini-trips we take together, where we giggle a lot and get caught up on everything.  Also, the squirrels ate all our tomatoes, so we needed to find some to buy. You know the food you are buying is fresh when they bring it from the field while you are standing there waiting for it. Here is part of what we brought home, and it was all delicious. Stantonville is located in McNairy County, Tennessee, northwest of Shiloh National Military Park.
Post a Comment
Read more

Old Water Tower in Florence, Alabama

So, we have lived in Florence since 1986 and I didn't see this old water tower until last week.  Shame on me.   It is located on Seymore Street, in a residential neighborhood in Florence. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, this tower of native stone was completed in 1890 as the foundation for a wrought- iron tank with a capacity of 280,000 gallons of water. It is 70 feet high and is located on the highest elevation in the city. Water was pumped here from Cypress Creek. It was constructed during the Industrial Boom at which time the population of Florence increased from approximately 2,000 in 1887 to over 6,000 in 1889. It was replaced by the adjoining standpipe in 1935.   (from historical marker on site.)   I'm sure there was lots of planning, lots of discussion about funding, and lots of joy when this water tower was completed.  Not one person who was there to celebrate its completion is alive today, but the water...
1 comment
Read more