Fortunately, there are still some people left who resist being infected by discontent but know how to remain cheerful in spite of difficulties. I remember a very sick farmer’s wife who suffered from multiple sclerosis and had been paralysed for fourteen years. When she achieved a slight improvement with great effort and was able again to use her arms and eat without help from other people, she was so happy and grateful for the fact that she could cope so well with her still deplorable condition. Whenever I had to face some unpleasant jolt such as cannot be avoided on our bumpy earth my mind always returned to this lady and her quiet contentment.

Especially when we are tired we tend to look at the present, future and past with a negative spirit, but this does not contribute to a contented attitude by any means, nor will it provide the basis for restful relaxation and refreshing sleep. Therefore, we would do better to think of all the positive things that have happened to us and are still going on every day; in other words, we should count our blessings. This attitude will allow a pleasant sense of gratitude to enter our heart and will help to restore the mind and body to a state of well-being. We must admit that every person has sufficient grounds to feel upset, to worry and feel unhappy. However, if you place these negative factors on one side of the scales, then the same quantity of active, positive factors should be placed on the other side in order to balance them. So when you feel depressed and beset by problems, think about all the valuable things you have, the good you have been able to do in your life, your successes, the many gifts nature offers you day by day. All these encouraging memories and experiences are able to fill your heart with gratitude so that life’s burdens, all your complaints, appear small indeed.

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So, if one values life, the heart muscle ought to be well cared for. This brings to mind some words of ancient wisdom: ‘More than all else that is to be guarded, safeguard your heart, for out of it come the sources of life.’ Even though these words have a deep symbolic meaning, they indicate nevertheless that our heart is an organ that demands our whole attention, for if the heart fails what else remains but death? When the liver or the kidneys fail the patient is able to stay alive for a little while, but when the heart suddenly stops beating the person will drop as if struck by lightening and death follows instantly. Anyone who has witnessed a case of heart failure is extraordinarily affected by the tragedy -the sudden transformation from life to death. The pathologist will probably say that the heart muscles had been starved of blood for many years and were therefore terribly changed. The information that nicotine had been responsible for the fatal damage is then, unfortunately, no longer of any use. It is too late. Fortunately, it need not come to this, because the mere fact that the effects of nicotine poisoning become apparent long before the possible fatal consequences should make the addict decide to give up the habit before it is too late. Or would it not be better to give up smoking long before disturbances arise?

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It is appropriate to consider this question, since many people hold mistaken views about salt. We were taught in school that a person requires 7 kg (about 14 lb) of salt a year in order to stay alive. It is true that man and beast cannot do without it, although it is also acknowledged that certain diseases demand a low-salt or even a salt-free diet. This apparent contradiction resolves itself when we realise that our salt requirement need not necessarily be obtained from the crystalline kind of salt known as common or table salt, but can equally well come from our food. Cases in point are the inhabitants of the Asiatic steppes and the Indians living at the headwaters of the Amazon River. They have never heard of salt, nor do they have a word for it, but as they could not survive without it, it is obvious that they must cover their requirement by means of their food.

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Bread has always played an important part in our nutrition. It is still on our table today and every day as a staple food. The age-old request ‘Give us this day our daily bread’ illustrates to what extent we depend upon it. We may have an abundance of other foods, but bread remains the foundation of our diet. How much we disliked having it rationed during the war years. Things have changed since then, although the need for good and wholesome bread is as great as ever.    

We know from the history of ancient Rome that their legionaries were issued a certain quantity of wheat every day. Wheat grain can be stored almost indefinitely without losing any of its value, but this is not the case with flour. As soon as the external sheath has been broken and the grain has been milled, the oxygen in the air begins to take effect, and the longer the flour is kept, the more it will lose of its value. The enzymes are probably the first to suffer from such exposure. These are active elements in the grain, for example diastase, which comes to life during the process of germination and changes the starch of the grain into maltose, then dextrose.

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Every year, come autumn and winter in my garden in the Engadine, the little clusters of scarlet barberries between the leafless thorny branches of the berberis shrubs just beg to be harvested. A little earlier it would have been the ripe redcurrants, shining in the autumn sun. So when I am there, I pick some of these berries most days and enjoy their acidic flavour which is due to ascorbic acid, or vitamin C. These berries are, in fact, a natural food for the nerves. Before long, even the slopes facing south become covered in thick snow, and the birds will be daily guests on the shrubs, feasting on the beautiful red, oblong berries in order to obtain their requirements of sugar, minerals and vitamins. The red fruits of the Rosa canina (wild rose), the rose hips, will still be peeping through the snow. When these hips are ripe they are deliciously sweet. Because of their vitamin Ñ content they, too, are a wonderful food for the nerves. No wonder that rose hip puree and barberry puree are a perfect source of vitamins during the bleak winter months. They should be on every table because they fill an important gap in our nutrition, since practically all other foods lose some of their vitamin content during their months of storage. Wild fruits, in the form of fruit puree or conserve, prevent vitamin Ñ deficiency while being tasty and pleasant food. But not only barberries and rose hips are rich in vitamin C, even richer are the berries of sea buckthorn, which grows abundantly in the lower Inn valley, the Tessin and the Maggia valley in my native Switzerland. Their orangy-red colour, bright amongst the olive-green leaves, can be spotted on slopes and along brooks and rivers — a delight to the eyes of every nature lover.

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