Within Changi's Walls by George L. Peet

Author:George L. Peet
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789814677240
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish International

[ 13 ]

Our Health

Most of us experienced a marked and early improvement in health on the new diet. One had a feeling of internal soundness, well-being and positive health that one had never had while living a sedentary life outside. In my own case I had arrived at middle age from sedentary life, I rarely ate hotel foods, drank very little, ate very little meat but did eat a good deal of fruit. In those days one had been uneasily conscious of a number of clear symptoms in the abdominal region. In my own case I was beginning to get pains across the small of the back which indicated that all was not well with the kidneys. I managed to keep out of hospital, and rarely saw a doctor, but I always felt below par, as though serious disease may not be very far away. I was also beginning to get headaches rather often. I never had that feeling of confidence, unconscious, untroubled health which one sees in really healthy people. But after I went on a rice diet, with only a little protein, I felt as if the system was being cleansed of accumulated poisons. I had a feeling of internal cleanliness and soundness. For the first time since I was a boy, I found myself taking health for granted, never giving a thought to my body, and this was the general experience. Most people confessed that they had better health in Changi than they had ever had outside. Bad colds were common as were very troublesome skin infections and beriberi at first. Dysentery and malaria were also common but on the whole, internees felt better than they had done for years. We took regular, plain meals and there was no temptation to overeat. We were soon waking up with clear eyes, a clear head, a clean tongue and without a bad taste in the mouth.

Most of us felt that we had been eating far too much protein food and poisoning our systems. We were forced to this conclusion when we looked back at our former diet, eggs and bacon for breakfast, fish or meat again for tiffin (sometimes both), fish and meat again for dinner and perhaps cheese as well, and butter at every meal. And now here we were, getting no animal protein except in meat soup at midday and in the later months half an ounce of fish paste every day or so. Sigh as people might for the joys of a mixed grill, they learned how little protein they could live on and still keep fit and feel fit. Indeed, many men who had had office jobs in peacetime were actually expending more energy in Changi than they had ever done in normal life. The younger men looked in splendid condition, and men doing such strenuous work as woodcutting worked morning and afternoon without difficulty. It was a revelation of what could be done on a cereal and vegetarian diet and of how little animal protein was really necessary.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.