this: "The average American _man
or woman_ dies at the age of 43 because he eats what he wants to eat
rather than what he should eat." That means, of course, that
practically all Americans overeat. They are all like the child who says,
"I'm not hungry for bread and butter. I'm hungry for cake." And I find
that most of these poor deluded nervous sufferers eat what they want
under the supposition that it is good for them because they crave it. I
myself used to do so. I would eat candy by the pound. And it is odd but
quite true that nervous people crave the very things that hurt them
most. But there is no more sense in eating what you crave because you
crave it than there is in the man who is addicted to alcohol, drinking
alcohol because he craves it. I once used tobacco; I craved it, but I
did not need it just because I craved it. It is true the body naturally
needs some fats, some carbohydrates; in fact, a balanced ration, as we
shall see later. But I want to make it mighty plain here that never was
there a greater error than that of supposing you need chocolates or
sweets just because you crave them. And you don't need to overeat, and
keep on doing it, just because you must eat.

II. HOW TO OVERCOME THE TROUBLE

"He who pursues a regular course of life need not be apprehensive
of illness, as he who has guarded against the cause need not be
afraid of the effect."

--CORNARO

We have now come to the second step in the cure of "nerves"--eating the
right food in the right way. You must chew all food until it is of the
consistency of cream, and you must also sip all liquids slowly. And now,
as you read these things that I have set down, I want you to remember
this: doing any one thing--and doing that alone--will not cure this
malady. No, it is doing a number of things at the right time. I know
this is true because I have tried it. For a time I chewed my food to a
cream, but that was the only thing I did in an endeavor to get well. I
was doing none of the other things that are absolutely necessary for a
cure. This is one great trouble with all such people. They will
Fletcherize for a time and then say there is nothing to that because it
does not cure them. Well, as I've said, that alone will not, and I want
to dwell at length on this because nobody knows as well as I do, what
harm such a belief does the nervous sufferer.

Trying out Fletcherizing alone, which I say must be done together with
other things