These disorders are grouped under the same heading because they are of identical origin.

In the average body of five feet eight inches in height, there are about 2,000 miles of tubing, classified under the various names of arteries, veins, capillaries, and nerves. Altogether this is called the circulatory system. A vast amount of this system is infinitely small. Every atom of food taken into the circulation that is not used or converted into energy passes into some of these infinitely small tubes and nerve fibers. These tubes are susceptible of considerable expansion in the fleshy part of the body, but where they pass through the joints or cartilage, there is but little expansion. There these undissolved atoms are most likely to congest, therefore the first expression of rheumatism is usually in the joints. If it takes place at the terminals (fingers or toes), it is called gout; if in the muscles, it is called muscular or inflammatory rheumatism. This congestion accounts for the stiffness and lack of elasticity in the joints. These accumulated atoms become in time almost as hard as bone.

Rheumatism - The Cause

The cause of both rheumatism and gout are practically the same - that is, overeating, especially of flesh and starchy foods. Meat and bread are the two things that cause nearly all rheumatism, though rheumatic symptoms often appear among vegetarians, caused by the overconsumption of starchy food, especially when acid fruits are used. The ideal diet for producing rheumatism is cereals, white bread, meat, acid fruit and eggs.

Rheumatism - The Symptoms

The symptoms of rheumatism often manifest themselves a year or more before an attack comes on.

The earlier symptoms are -

Languor, stupidity and dulness in the morning Impaired circulation and a sense of body-heaviness

The later symptoms are pain in the joints or muscles, often followed by inflammation and severe soreness and stiffness.

The rheumatic usually has good digestion. In fact, it is the ability of the digestive organs to force more nutrition into the circulation than is needed, that produces this disease.

In nearly all cases of rheumatism and gout the patient will be found to have been a large consumer of starchy food, especially of the cereal family, which is the most difficult of all starches to dissolve.

An excess of starch causes an excess of acid