It's time to Fletcherize

I've been meaning to explain since I put up the new motto:

"Nature will castigate those who don't masticate."

It comes from a Victorian Era dude named Horace Fletcher, and boy was he an interesting dude. One of the first health "experts," Fletcher came up with a novel approach to nutrition:

Chewing your food.

Wait, there's more.

Fletcher believed food should be chewed 32 times (or about 1oo times/minute) before being swallowed. Even liquids were supposed to be chewed so they could mix with saliva. This method, which came to be known as "Fletcherizing,"would increase one's strength while actually decreasing the amount of food consumed. (I can see some of you ladies already thinking, "A new diet?")

Fletcher believed one should not eat until starving, and to never eat when emotional (he might have been one to something with this last one). Fletcher had all sorts of tests and "data" (historians argue whether any of it was real), including supposed tests of Fletcher at 58 whomping Yale students in feats of strength. He used to go around all over lecturing and promoting his wellness plans, and became a millionaire with his theory.

Fletcher was a big proponent of checking excretions, or "digestive ash," as he called it, and advocated teach children to examine their own leavings to keep tabs on their health. Fletcher maintained that a truly healthy person would create "digestive ash" that was inoffensive, i.e., contained no odors. (Finally! A man whose shit truly didn't stink!)

By the time he died Fletcher was just another tarnished guru, as the new wave (calorie counters) were gaining sway, but I was fascinated by the dude, and felt he deserved salute.


The Monkeys bless you, Horace, or as he came to be known in his lifetime (and I am NOT making this up):

THE GREAT MASTICATOR