William L. Shirer was a Chicago-born journalist, who cut his teeth as a foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune (back when it was a serious journalistic entity) and became a pioneering radio reporter for CBS News.
He worked out of Berlin for most of the time frame 1934 to 1940, and as such had a bird's eye view of the rise of the National Socialists in Germany and their machinations that brought the world to war. He chronicled this expertly in his 1941 book, Berlin Diary and later in his award-winning classic, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.
On November 5, 1939, Shirer's bosses at CBS in New York asked him to chronicle a day in the life of Adolf Hitler.
Here is an excerpt from the Berlin Diary (p.242) on the Fuhrer's healthy lifestyle regimen:
"He rises early, eats his first breakfast at 7 am. This consists usually of either a glass of milk or fruit juice, and two or three rolls, on which he liberally spreads marmalade.
"Like most Germans, he eats a second breakfast, this one at 9am. It's like the first except that he also eats a little fruit...
"Hitler eats a simple lunch. Usually a vegetable stew or a vegetable omelet. He is, of course, a vegetarian, teetotaler and non-smoker. A one-percent beer, brewed especially for him, is served at this meal, or sometimes a drink made out of kraut called "Herve," flavored with a little Mosel wine."
So there you have it -- the perfect recipe for health and longevity. Sparse eating, vegetarianism, teetotalling and abstention from smoking (he was vehemently opposed to smoking and would not allow it in his presence.)
This from the man who was the 3rd greatest mass murderer in the history of the planet (surpassed only by Communists Mao-Tse-Tung and Josef Stalin.)
His healthy habits remind me a lot of those fanatics today who are trying to ban smoking everywhere and force restaurants to ban salt and snatch the nachos and pizza from the hands of Chicago schoolchildren so they will be forced to eat carrot sticks and other rabbit food.
No wonder they call them "health Nazis."
This reminds me of Michelle Obama and her elitist husband that shove shrimp, lobster, and ice cream down, and then tell us common folks to cut the salt.
ReplyDeleteBeware of those who are more concerned with what goes into a man, than the character that comes out of him.
ReplyDeleteMaybe these health nut control freaks would lighten up a little bit if they abandoned the Hitlerite health food obsession and adopted Winston Churchill's lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteOld Winnie was a bacon and egg man, for sure. He was seldom seen without a lit stogie in hand, and was said to have a special pocket in his suits made for his omnipresent bottle of brandy.
In the end, he prevailed over the meglomaniacal health nut Corporal from Vienna. Also, Churchill lived into his 90s. Hitler's health was already failing when he shot himself at age 56. So much for his health food obsession.
Yup, and yet the vegetarian fanatics try to deny up and down he was a
ReplyDeletevegetarian -- because someone who didn't eat meat couldn't possibly be so
blood-thirsty.
Best,
Tom Naughton