very cold; food not much below blood heat is best, particularly in cold
weather; and the dining-room should be comfortably warm.
19. Never have too great a variety at a single meal; have few dishes
well prepared, and make the changes from one meal to another; this will
please better on the whole, and it will not too rapidly exhaust your
limited supplies.
20. If one meal happens to fall a little below the average in either
quality or variety, see that the next is fully up to the mark.
The evil results which follow bad food combinations may be summed up
in a very few words. We know that certain chemical elements, acting
upon one another, will form resultant gases. Various food substances
that do not properly combine, will form such gases in precisely the
same way; and these will be largely absorbed by the blood, and
carried to the cells throughout the body, which they poison, more or
less, in consequence. The harmful results of these poisonous gases,
absorbed in this manner, are particularly noticeable in their effect
upon the various nerve centres—producing an inhibitory effect upon
them, and inducing that general condition of weariness and debility
experienced and noticed under the host of symptoms known to us as
nervous exhaustion, fatigue, lassitude, etc., etc. The simple and
obvious method that should be followed in all such cases, in order
to eliminate these poisons from the system, is to abstain from food
until the system has had a chance to eliminate such toxic substances.
This once accomplished, the system being freed from the ashes of
previously mal-assimilated food material, and a fresh supply of oxygen
being furnished, by continued breathing, in the interval, the system
will soon return to its normal condition of health, and will enjoy a
higher standard of energy and vitality than has been the case for some
considerable time in the past.
XIV
HYGIENIC FOODS AND HYGIENIC COOKERY
In discussing this question of foods and food values and constituents,
we must be very careful to keep clear in the mind the distinction
between _proximate_ elements, or foods proper, and _chemical_ or
_ultimate_ elements. This is very important. All alimentary substances
are composed of certain constituent parts, which may be properly
called alimentary principles. These are formed by certain combinations
of elementary constituents, which are denominated chemical elements.
Thus wheat, beef, potato, apple, etc., are aliments, or foods
proper; and starch, sugar, rum, fibrin, albumen, gelatin, etc.—their
constituents—are proximate elements. Proximate elements of food are
compounds of the simple or chemical elements; and aliments or foods
proper are compounds of the proximate principles.
It is important to keep these distinctions in mind, because the human
body can be nourished and retain its health upon organic combinations
of proximate elements, while it would starve to death on the ultimate
elements administered in exactly the same proportions. Dogs have
been fed on sugar, gum, starch, butter, fat, fibrin, albumen, etc.,
exclusively, and with the uniform result that they sooner or later
starved to death! No animal can sustain prolonged nutrition on any
single alimentary principle, though all of them may on a single aliment.
Other things being equal, a food is nutritious, and capable of
sustaining life, in proportion to its complexity. The more simple the
food, the less it is capable of sustaining life and health. This does
not mean that a large _number of foods_ should be eaten at one meal—in
order to supply this lack—since nearly all foods, or a reasonable
admixture of them—contain all the essentials for sustaining life in a
state of health and vigour. Certain foods—nuts, _e.g._—seem to contain
about all the essentials and in exactly the right proportions. I have
discussed this aspect of the question in the chapter on the fruitarian
diet.
One very important fact may be mentioned here. Animals cannot
appropriate mineral or inorganic elements _directly_; they must obtain
all these substances through or by means of the vegetable world.
Vegetables have the power of utilising these inorganic materials, and
build them into their bodies; but animals have to obtain all such
substances in an organised form—_i.e._ organic materials—and cannot
possibly utilise the _in_organic elements. Thus, if an animal requires
iron, it cannot eat iron filings, to supply this need, but must take
it in the form of spinach, and cabbage, and fruits containing large
quantities of iron; he cannot possibly eat it in its mineral form.
The vegetable world, on the contrary, has the power of building these
mineral elements into its structure. Vegetables feed upon minerals, and
animals upon vegetables; and this order cannot be reversed. It will
thus be seen that the vegetable world is that designed for man’s food;
and from it he should derive all his nourishment. Certainly he can
derive no part of it from the _mineral_ world.
_Hints on Hygienic Cookery._—While I believe that the ideal diet is
that which is uncooked—or sun-cooked—nevertheless some foods are best
cooked, if the ordinary vegetarian diet is to be adhered to. Thus,
grains when uncooked are but slightly nutritious, a large portion of
their starch remaining unconverted; but when cooked this is converted
into dextrine, and thus rendered more appropriable by the system.
Cooking is therefore justified, if vegetable foods and grains are to
be eaten; and I propose, accordingly, to jot down a few notes and
instructions which will, I believe, be found useful to all those who
wish to reform their food habits, to a certain extent, and cook as
hygienically as possible. I shall not attempt any elaborate outline of
hygienic cookery in this place; several of the vegetarian cookbooks
on the market go into great detail on these questions, and I shall
therefore confine myself to a few brief notes.
Bread should be well cooked, and the crusts thoroughly baked brown. It
had best be baked in a _closed_ pan. Bread should, of course, always be
made from whole-wheat flour—never white flour. Salt is never necessary.
Trall has given numerous recipes for wholesome bread-making—in some of
them no other ingredients are used but flour, water, and air! And they
are sweet, excellent breads too.
All pastries should be made quickly, and with very little kneading.
Have the oven ready before this kneading is commenced. Roll the crust
thin, and see that the bottom crust of a pie is browned before adding
the fruit and the top crust.
Vegetables—nearly all of them—should be dropped into boiling, not
cold, water, and should be cooked rapidly. The purpose of this is to
coagulate and condense the outer rind or layer of the vegetable, and
thus prevent the juices and valuable food properties from boiling out,
into the water. The same is true of all meats, when these are fried or
grilled.
If fruits are cooked at all, green fruits should be selected in
preference to over-ripe fruits—which should be cooked but little.
Unripe fruits should be started in _cold_ water, and cooked slowly. All
grains are best steamed.
Sugar added to fruits renders them sweet-tasting, but liable to
fermentation. The ordinary sugar on the market is open to many
objections. Numerous hygienists will not use it at all, and if fruits
are found to be a trifle sour, or need sweetening, they use dates
instead.
See that all currants, raisins and dried fruits are thoroughly clean
before cooking them. In the summer months especially they are liable to
contain insects, and these should be washed off before the fruits are
placed on the fire to cook—otherwise they will be cooked with them!
If soda is put into bread, etc., use it sparingly. Salt need never be
used. One can soon get accustomed to food without a particle of salt or
other dressing; and, once the normal taste is acquired, salt, pepper,
etc., will never again be desired or craved.
_Meat as an Article of Diet._—I have advanced reasons, throughout
this book, for thinking that meat is by no means a suitable article
of food, but is, on the contrary, extremely pernicious in its effects
upon the system. The reasons for this are given in full elsewhere. At
the same time, I am disposed to think that a _limited_ amount of meat
is not so harmful, frequently, as a larger amount of other foods—fine
flour, cake, pickles, sauces, etc. A large quantity of any of these,
long continued, will tend to ruin the body more effectually than a
limited quantity of meat, and hence are to be more strictly avoided.
Nevertheless, I consider meat a highly stimulating and unwholesome
article of diet, for the reasons given above, and should strongly
advise other foods in its place, whenever possible.
If the reader feels that he _must_ eat meat, however, let him be sure
(or as sure as he can be) that the meat is fresh, and is not diseased.
Two great dangers are avoided in this way. The animals which are to be
eaten should be fed on the cleanest of food, and should have plenty of
pure water to drink; they should never be kept in confined places, in
a vitiated atmosphere, or in filthy surroundings. They need plenty of
exercise. The animal should be killed in a sanitary manner, and kept
clean and free from contamination after it is killed. The meat should
be put on ice at once, and, needless to say, no chemicals or other
drugs injected into the tissues.
Beef and mutton are doubtless two of the best meats which can be eaten.
The diet of these animals is the cleanest; and their tissues should be
the “cleanest,” in consequence. Beef is, of course, the most widely
eaten of all meats; and, more than that, we feed upon or utilise almost
every conceivable part of the animal. As Dr Brush so well said[45]:
[45] “Human and Bovine Tuberculosis,” pp. 6-7.
“We are veritable parasites on this animal. We milk her as long as she
will give milk, and we drink it; then we kill her, and eat her flesh,
blood, and most of the viscera; we skin her, and clothe ourselves with
her skin; we comb our hair with her horns, and fertilise our fields
with her dung, while her calf furnishes us with vaccine virus for the
prevention of smallpox!”
Is it any wonder that we manage to contract some of the diseases from
which this animal suffers? The only wonder is that we escape at all!
The same thing may be said in a lesser degree of mutton, veal, pork,
and, in fact, all the animal substances. They all contain, along with
a small amount of nutritive material, a large amount of poisons and
excreta.
When we come to pork, bacon, ham, etc., there is no longer any excuse
for the practice at all. If it is felt that meat _must_ be eaten, let
it be clean meat, such as beef or mutton, without turning to the pig
for our supply! Nothing so lacks excuse as this. Writing upon the
practice of pork-eating, in her “Diet Question,” Dr Dodds says:
“The hog is a scavenger by nature, and by practice; it is his proper
mission on this earth, not to be eaten, but to eat up that which
the nobler animals disdain to touch. Indeed, he adapts himself to
circumstances, devouring whatever comes in his way. He is equally well
pleased with the clean ears of corn, or with the seething contents
of the swill pail; he will dine on live chickens or devour carrion.
Nothing is too fine or too foul to suit his undiscriminating palate;
he has been called ‘the scavenger-in-chief of all the back-boned
animals.’ Truly he is omnivorous....
“Will anyone give an intelligent reason why people should eat him, and
from choice? If we must dine on our fellow-creatures below us, are
there not decent, clean-feeding animals, as the ox, and the sheep,
that we could take in preference?
“From a sanitary point of view, the condition of the hog, in his
best estate, is not flattering. His scurvy hide (which is perhaps
the cleanest part of him), his foul breath, and his filthy feeding
habits—are not these enough to bar him from our tables? Or must we
wait for such logical sequence as is sure to follow the violation of
physiological law? Wait till diseases are multiplied in kind, and
intensified in character, till we are fairly driven from the no-longer
questionable provender? Wait till our nearest friend is stricken with
supposed typhoid fever, and dead of veritable trichinosis? There can
be no doubt that a number of persons have sickened and a number died,
of what was thought to be typhoid fever, when really the disease was
due to the presence of these parasites (the trichinæ) in the system;
for the symptoms in the two diseases are quite similar.
“As stated in the last chapter, one of the principal objections to the
use of animal flesh as food, is the fact that it is filled with the
debris of the vital organism, working its way through the capillaries
into the various excretions, and out of the domain of life. Now, if
this effete matter is objectionable, even in clean-feeding animals,
what must be its condition as it is thrown off from the tissues of
scavengers? And what the nature of the tissues themselves, when they
are not only made out of, and nourished by a diet of garbage, but are
thoroughly saturated with the almost putrescent matters with which
the venous blood is laden? It is a fact that we seem rather slow to
recognise, that the quality of all animal tissues partakes of the
character of the materials out of which they are made. In other words,
if we expect sound bodies, with good firm tissues, we must look to the
nature of the food we eat....
“Nor is it enough that we devour the several parts of the animal,
even to his liver and kidneys; we strip the intestines of their fat,
melt it down, and use it in the form of lard! This latter is the very
quintessence of the swine; it is the diseased product of all his
filthy feeding; and it is the article that forms a staple in almost
every American family. It shortens the biscuits, the plain cakes, and
the pastries; and it even finds its way into the loaf bread. It oils
the bake-pans, it fries the drop-cakes, the doughnuts, the Saratoga
potatoes, and all the other ‘fried things,’ or nearly all. In short,
there is neither breakfast, dinner, nor supper without it, in some
form or other.
“Do the people wonder that they are afflicted with scrofula; and that
it crops out, full-fledged, in a single generation? Oh, for a Moses
among the Gentiles, to forbid them, by legal enactment, the use of
this vile thing, swine’s flesh!”
Birds and game of all kinds are to be avoided. The flesh of the goose,
duck, etc., is very oily, greasy and unwholesome. Chicken, turkey,
etc., are somewhat better, but their flesh is not nearly so nutritious
as beef and mutton, while the amount of poisons they contain is
certainly equal to the latter. It must be remembered that these animals
are frequently confined and artificially fed, in order to “fatten” them
for the market; and even when this has not been done, the birds have
very rarely sufficient room to exercise as they ought to, and their
food and water supply is by no means what it should be. Of course, when
artificial feeding has been employed, their flesh is little short of
poisonous. The “fat” noticed and so highly praised is merely retained
filth and excreta, and should be outside the animal’s body, and not in
it. Needless to say, the flesh of all such birds should be eschewed.
Fish is considered by some to be a very fine article of diet—being
nutritious and easily digested. For that reason, it is often given
to invalids! Where such a curious hallucination could have arisen it
is hard to see. Its flesh is exceedingly gross, tough, fibrous, and
contains but little nutriment. The flesh of all animals partakes more
or less of the nature of their diet; and fish and fowl are certainly
not the cleanest of feeders! Their flesh is in no sense superior
to that of the cow or sheep; but is, on the contrary, distinctly
_inferior_. All shellfish are unclean articles of diet—they being
merely the scavengers of the sea; and should be avoided most carefully.
They are exceedingly indigestible, and frequently the cause of skin
disease, on the one hand, and of ptomaine poisoning, on the other.
It seems hardly necessary to say that all internal organs of animals
are to be avoided! Not only for the reason that a large number of the
animals found on the market are diseased; but also because all these
organs are merely _depurating_ organs, should they be eschewed. If any
person were to consider for one minute the _function_ of the liver or
the kidneys, it is more than probable that he would not touch them!
During the whole of the animal’s life, they have been merely _filters_
for the filth and excreta which passed through its body; they were the
great reservoirs of poisons and toxins of all sorts! The idea of eating
such offal should be repellant to any sensitive, even sensible, mind.
_Soups._—But little need be said of soups. As a whole, they may be
said to be lacking in every essential which is necessary in order to
recommend them as suitable articles for human diet. Meat soups, broths,
beef teas, etc., we have already discussed. They are practically
stimulants, and consist of water, and poisonous excreta in solution!
They contain no fats, carbohydrates or salts of value, and but very
little proteid. Vegetable soups have somewhat more to recommend
them, but _all_ soups are open to the prime objection that they are
invariably eaten without mastication, and hence are taken into the
stomach in a condition totally unsuited for the initial stages of
digestion—which the stomach is called upon to perform. It must be
remembered, in this connection, that mastication is not only for the
purpose of dividing the food into small particles, so that the gastric
and intestinal juices may act upon them, but also, that important
_chemical changes_ take place in the mouth—starch being converted into
dextrine, etc. Soups are always swallowed without this initial process.
Further, the large amount of water they contain renders them unsuitable
food for the adult—whose food should be less in quantity and more
solid in quality; and any liquid which is supplied during the process
of digestion by way of solvent and dilutant should be the digestive
juices only. _Jellies_ are of very low nutritive value, and should
never be administered to invalids. Animals fed on jelly die as soon as
if they were not fed at all. In her “Notes on Nursing,” Miss Florence
Nightingale contends very strongly against the use of jellies of any
kind, and finds it difficult to select words strong enough to suit her
antipathy to jellies.
_Puddings, Pies, etc._—It is now all but universally admitted that
these articles of diet are indigestible—rich, greasy, and objectionable
in many ways. The usual crust which is bought is made of white flour,
in the first place, while the grease contained is a poor quality of
lard. As animal food, this is certainly objectionable; lard being a
filthy article of diet in any case. The sugar, flour, grease, and all
the other ingredients used are generally harmful, and exceedingly
indigestible. All the constituents can be supplied in a pure form in
other foods. The fruit is the best thing contained in such pies, etc.;
and this is spoiled by being cooked, and is also covered with spices
and nutmeg, etc., which offset all its original value, and spoil its
flavour to all educated palates. As usually presented, such foods have
nothing to recommend them.
Still, as Dr Trall said[46]: “the crust for pies and tarts may be
made comparatively wholesome in a variety of ways. Any kind of flour
or meal, or various admixtures of them, may be wet with water and
shortened with sweet cream, or the flour or meal may be wet with milk
and shortened with olive oil.” In this book, and in various others,
may be found a number of recipes for making bread, pies, puddings,
etc., in the hygienic style. I shall not discuss this aspect of the
question in the present work, which is devoted more to the philosophy
of diet than the details of cooking—especially since I am recommending
no cooking at all! However, there is doubtless a right and a wrong way
to do everything; and if people continue to feel that they _must_ have
breads and pies, they might as well have them made as hygienically as
possible. There is no reason why such foods should be indigestible or
innutritious, if properly made. It need hardly be said that all hot
breads, buckwheat cakes, etc., should be sedulously avoided.
[46] “Hydropathic Cook Book,” p. 177.
_Sugar._—Hygienists have no objection to the use of saccharine matter,
provided it is taken in the natural way—that is, in organic combination
with other food principles—not separated as a proximate element.
Sugar contained in fruits, grains, vegetables, etc., are thoroughly
wholesome; but an excess of sugar of the ordinary sort, as bought upon
the market, is very detrimental. Particularly is this the case when
the sugar is not rightly combined with other articles of food. We have
discussed this at greater length, however, when considering “food
combinations.” Miss Mary H. Abel, in her pamphlet, “Sugar as Food,”
published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, says:
“Within certain limits we can look upon sugar as the equivalent of
starch that has been digested and made ready for absorption, A mealy,
boiled potato, or a lump of laundry starch, is, in fact, very akin to
a lump of sugar; and the potato, like all forms of starchy food, must
be turned into a kind of sugar by the digestive juices before it can
be absorbed as food by the system.... The main function of sugar, as
found in the blood, whether resulting from the digestion of sugar or
of starch, is believed to be the production of heat and energy. The
proof has been amply furnished by experiment. By ingenious devices,
the blood going to and from the muscle of a living animal, may be
analysed, and it is thus shown that more blood traverses an active or
working muscle, and more sugar disappears from it than is the case
with the muscle at rest.”
While the system needs sugar, this should not be supplied in the form
of the common beet sugar upon the market—since this is adulterated in
various ways, and contains, in addition to the saccharine elements,
much inert, mineral matter. Sugar in its pure form, however, is a
very important article of diet—far more important, probably, than has
hitherto been acknowledged. Not only are starches, etc., converted into
sugar in the process of digestion, but it has frequently been noted
that when a lesser amount of proteid is consumed, a proportionately
larger amount of sugar is craved. Mr Horace Fletcher noticed this
in his diet experiments, and stated that, as the appetite for meat
decreased, that for sugar increased—which is a very significant remark.
If the saccharine elements in the food-supply were increased, there can
be little doubt that there would be a decreased consumption of meat and
all proteid matters. The craving of children for sweets is to be looked
upon, _not_ as a morbid appetite, but as a physiological craving of the
organism. In saying that this appetite should be gratified, however,
I do not mean that unlimited quantities of sweets and sweet-stuffs,
as found upon the market, are to be allowed the child, but a greater
proportion of sweet-stuffs should be allowed in the form of sweet
fruits—such as dates, figs, etc. Administered in this way, sugar will
be found a highly valuable article of diet.
_Tea, Coffee and Other Stimulants._—Most persons know, I should
imagine, that none of these drinks are suitable for the human stomach.
In the first place, no drink at all should be taken at meals, but only
between meals; the reason for this being that the digestive juices are
unduly diluted and the food is washed through the stomach, and into the
bowels, before it is properly digested, when water or any liquid is
drunk at mealtimes. All drinks should, therefore, be between meals, and
not for at least an hour after a meal, if we wish to ensure the best
digestion of the foods eaten.
If this is true of water, the best of all drinks, it is certainly far
more true of tea, coffee, and all other stimulants taken at meals.
Not only are the effects detrimental (in that they are liquids),
but they are of themselves more or less direct poisons also. Tea
contains a poison known as _theine_, which corresponds to a similar
poison contained in coffee, and known as _caffeine_. Both are strong
poisons. Half a gram causes a quick pulse, nervous excitement,
slight delusions, and lastly a desire for sleep. Small doses cause
sleeplessness, irritability of the bladder and bowels, trembling of
the extremities, and other signs of cerebral and nervous distress.
Both these poisons work havoc with the system, ruining the nervous and
mental life, and creating a dependence on stimulants, which may lead to
alcoholic and other excesses. These poisons ruin the taste buds, retard
proper digestion, cause constipation, and in many ways tend to ruin
the constitution. They cannot be too strongly deprecated. Even _cocoa_
contains injurious alkaloids, analogous to those contained in tea and
coffee, and for that reason is to be avoided. Like all hot drinks, it
tends to ruin the taste buds and induce a desire for more food than is
needed, physiologically, and more than the system really requires. For
that reason, also, all such drinks are to be avoided.
The injurious effects of _alcohol_, and all other similar stimulants
are now so widely known that it is unnecessary to do more than refer
to the fact here. Alcohol is _never_ necessitated, and is detrimental
at all times—more so at some times than at others. The widespread
delusion that alcohol is a food; and, on the other hand, the idea that
it actually furnishes “force” to the body, is responsible for much
of the abuse which exists. Alcohol imparts no force and no energy to
the system, but on the contrary wastes and expends both. Were this
once thoroughly realised there would be no excuse whatever for the
administration of alcohol, or its use in any form. But the injurious
effects of alcohol have been discussed so frequently that I shall not
do more than refer to it. (See the discussion of “Stimulants,” in my
“Vitality, Fasting and Nutrition,” pp. 34-44.)
_Water._—This is the beverage supplied by nature to furnish all
the liquid the body requires; and water in a pure distilled state
is contained in all vegetables, etc., and particularly in fruits.
Fruitarians have often found that they can live in good health for
weeks and months at a time without a drop of water—while keeping
closely to their fruitarian diet. Nevertheless, water is very essential
for the majority, and especially so upon an ordinary “mixed” diet. It
will be found as a general rule that the more stimulating the food, the
more water is required; and the same is true of all greasy foods. It is
well known that all foods containing a large amount of _salt_ call for
water—this being due to the demand of the system for extra fluids, to
wash out the offending and irritating substance. This fact alone should
show us how harmful common salt is. The system clearly tries to wash it
out of the tissues as soon as possible. Water containing any mineral
substance in solution should be avoided. It is never beneficial, but
always detrimental to the system. The mineral salts contained are just
as injurious as if they were procured from the drug-shop, and taken in
the usual way. Pure water is the best at all times—there is but one
simple rule to follow in this connection: the purer, the better! Water
should never be drunk at meals, but always between meals. It should
be cool, but not ice cold. Hot water may occasionally be of benefit.
A plentiful supply of water should be indulged in at all times. The
secretions will thereby be increased in volume, the kidneys and liver
stimulated into action, the blood rendered less thick, and the general
system invigorated. I cannot speak too strongly in favour of large
quantities of water each day—say from one to two quarts—if health is to
be maintained. (This is of course on the ordinary “mixed” diet.) In all
diseased conditions, the necessity for water is greatly increased, and
the body is frequently rendered sick because of the very lack of it.
It is an interesting fact that water is the only article which is
taken into the system that is not digested—in one sense of the term.
All foods are digested, of course; and even air goes through a process
which might well be called digestion. But water is not digested. It
passes through the stomach, and into the bowels unchanged; it enters
the system _as water_, and it leaves it _as water_, and any changes
which are noted are simply due to the added salts and excreta which
the water has washed through the body along with it. Of itself, it has
undergone no change. This is a remarkable fact, and would serve to
indicate the tremendous cleansing and flushing properties of water.
Next to air, it is doubtless the most necessary article which the body
can appropriate. A man can live sixty or more days on water (and air)
without solid food; but he can live only ten or twelve days on solid
food (and air) without water. It will thus be seen that water is far
_more_ essential to life than is solid food! It is of interest to note,
also, that, in all hard manual labour, water is invariably craved long
before solid food is called for by the tissues—_i.e._ thirst invariably
returns before hunger.
_Air and Breathing._—It is not generally known that all air taken into
the lungs is _digested_—in one sense of the word—and that next to the
last stage of all digestive processes is carried on in the lungs. For
that reason a plentiful supply of fresh, pure air is so necessary.
Every book we pick up upon the question of health and hygiene is most
emphatic upon the value of fresh air; but few tell us _why_ it is
so necessary. The majority of persons know that a certain amount of
oxygen is needed by the system, and that the blood is purified as it
passes through the lungs, but they do not know that these processes
are only the first crude outlines of what takes place, and that the
processes carried on are both detailed and complicated. Further, as I
have said, one of the stages of digestion is carried on in the lungs.
The blood stream carries the food material to the lungs, and there
it meets the oxygen of the atmospheric air, and becomes oxidised,
and rendered appropriable by the system. It is important to bear
in mind this important fact, that, no matter how much food we may
eat, if it is not oxidised in this manner in the lungs, it cannot be
appropriated by the system, and for that reason remains little better
than refuse matter—floating at large in the system. That is, suppose
we eat two pounds of food during the day, and breathe only enough
(correspondingly) to oxidise one pound, only one pound will be utilised
by the system, which will derive no benefit whatever from the other
pound—no matter how good and nutritious the food may be! In fact, it
will harm it, by floating about, as mal-assimilated food material. That
is why deep breathing, and breathing fresh air is so essential. Without
this supply of air, food would never nourish us, or be of any use
whatever to the system.
XV
THE QUESTION OF QUANTITY
I have discussed this question of the quantity of food necessary
for the human body so exhaustively in my former book, “Vitality,
Fasting and Nutrition,” that I need say but little in this place,
beyond re-emphasising what I there said. I may, however, add one
or two further reflections that have arisen in my mind since the
publication of that book, and which may be of interest to those who
think about their food at all. This book is devoted to the _quality_
of the various foods, as my last was devoted to the _quantity_; and
the disproportionate size of the two volumes rightly indicates what
I conceive to be the relative value or place of the two—viz. errors
in quality and errors in quantity. I believe that, although errors in
quality are tremendously important, errors in quantity are vastly more
so, and that, as Dr Graham so well said, many years ago: “It is as a
general rule strictly true that a correct quantity of a less wholesome
aliment is better for man than an excessively small or an excessively
large quantity of a more wholesome aliment.” So far as health and
longevity are concerned, therefore, it is incomparably better for man
to subsist on a correct quantity of vegetable and animal food, properly
prepared, than habitually to indulge in an excessive quantity of pure
vegetable food of the best kind, and prepared in the best manner;
and the difference is still greater if the vegetable food be badly
prepared. And it is solely from the want of a proper regard for this
important truth, that many have been unsuccessful in their attempts to
live exclusively upon a vegetarian diet.
I have previously pointed out the harm that may result to the body
from an excess of food—showing how food in excess chokes and blocks
the system throughout—impeding its proper functions, and rendering
the perfect manifestation of life impossible. During the healthy
growth of the body, the great process of upbuilding and the functions
of nutrition are necessarily somewhat in excess of the processes of
destruction; but even here a great excess of food is invariably eaten;
and, while the growing child may be adding (say) half-an-ounce a day
to its weight, it is urged and even forced to eat a pound of food a
day, and even more! And the natural result is that the child becomes
sick, and has colds and fever and other troubles, and no one can
account for it! The same false notions are carried into adult life.
Nearly everyone eats far too much—I mean by this very much too much. I
believe that most persons could reduce their three daily meals to one,
and curtail the amount eaten at that one meal, and still be ingesting
too much food for the bodily needs. This will at all events show us
how enormously we do overeat, and the only reason that we do not get
ill immediately is, that the body is constantly getting rid of the
excess of food material and poisons that are formed, as the result
of this constant over-ingestion of food. It is generally believed
that, as long as an individual is in health, or apparently so, he is
not injured by habitually eating more than is really necessary for
the healthy nourishment of his body, but this opinion is utterly and
dangerously false. It is, indeed, one of the most mischievous errors
entertained by the human mind. For there is nothing in nature more
true, more certain, than these propositions: that all vital action is
necessarily attended with some expenditure of vital power, and draws
something from the ultimate fund of life; and therefore all excessive
vital action, all intensity of vital action, increases the expenditure
of vital power, and necessarily abbreviates the duration of human life;
and consequently, however long the vital economy of any human body
may be able to preserve the general balance of action, between the
composing and decomposing elements, and maintain a general health of
the system under excessive alimentation, yet nothing is more certain
than that, just in proportion as the alimentation has exceeded the real
healthy wants of the vital economy, and thus caused an unnecessary
expenditure of vital power, life has been abbreviated—even though the
individual die from what is called old age, without a single violent
symptom of disease. The error of opinion on this subject is common and
mischievous; and the truth should be presented in its strongest light.
But we have as yet only presented the subject and contemplated it
in its most favourable aspect. The case I have presented is a very
extraordinary one. As a matter of fact, very few indeed who have
constantly over-nourished their bodies _do_ die from old age, but as
a rule they die from painful and exhausting diseases long before that
period is reached. Millions of human beings perish by disease, in all
periods of life, from excessive alimentation or overeating. Generally,
they are cut off by disease long before they have lived out their
lives, and often prematurely. And the chief cause of all such death
is, I must insist, overeating. This can readily be proved; and I have
endeavoured to show why it should be the case in my previous work.
Overeating is the chief cause of all diseases; and disease shortens
and destroys life. Of that there can be no question. But even if no
adventitious cause comes in to induce sudden and violent death, either
local or general, the continued overworking of the system will almost
inevitably exhaust, debilitate and relax some particular organ, and so
destroy the balance of action in the vital economy, and thus gradually
lead to chronic disease. Adipose tissue is deposited in various parts
of the body—causing ruptures of the heart and the blood-vessels, and
hence premature death.
It is therefore true, beyond all question, that in all countries
where human aliment is abundant and easily procured, gluttony or
excessive alimentation is decidedly the greatest source of disease and
suffering and premature death known to man. “Excess in drinking,” said
Hippocrates, more than two thousand years ago, “is almost as bad as
excess in eating!” And the statement has remained true from that day to
the present.
How much food should be eaten, then, in order to remain in the best
of health, and to preserve that “just balance we term health”? I have
no hesitation whatever in laying down one general rule, which it is
always safe to follow. Every individual should restrict himself to
the _smallest_ quantity that he finds, from careful investigation and
experiment, will meet the wants of his system—knowing that whatever is
more than this is harmful.
Physiologists have got into a vicious circle when discussing the
question of the amount of food that the system really requires.
They have measured the income and the outgo of the food values and
co-efficients, and have calculated the supposedly necessary quantities
of food that the body needs from these figures—a practice open to many
objections, and proved erroneous, in certain directions already—as
_e.g._, by the Chittenden experiments on low proteid intake. It never
seems to have struck these men that the more food that is ingested
into the system, the more must necessarily be eliminated—for otherwise
the body would choke up and die. The fact that more N. is excreted
because more is ingested does not prove that the body has utilised
all this N., because it needs it, but shows merely that it was enabled
to convert it, by the expenditure of a great amount of nervous energy,
in the processes of digestion. The experiment of mankind should be,
_not_ to see how much food they can eat and live, but how little they
can eat, and yet live: for the _minimum_ quantity of food is doubtless
the best for the system, and that indicated by nature. But many
physiologists do not see the matter in this light. For them the amount
of waste determines everything![47]
[47] “The Diet Cure,” p. 19.
“But,” as Dr Nichols pointed out, “what determines the amount of
waste? A man must get rid of all he eats and drinks, or he must retain
it in his system. If he keep at the same average weight, the daily
waste will depend upon the daily consumption. He who eats and drinks
two pounds will lose two pounds; he who eats and drinks six or eight
pounds must get rid of that quantity. How, then, are we to get at the
normal waste, and therefore at the requisite quantity of food?”
Dr Nichols says further:
“It is my experience—and I believe of many others who work as I
do—that the less I eat the better I feel. I do not vary much in weight
through months and years from 160 pounds. In solid, dry weight, my
food, day by day, would not exceed ten or twelve ounces, and often,
for days together, it would not exceed six ounces. I am satisfied by
my experience and what I have seen of the effects of diet upon others,
that most persons can be perfectly well nourished in full health and
activity on from four to eight ounces of food, excluding liquids, and
that the amount of water may safely be left to the demands of thirst.”
This is even a more conservative estimate than mine and Dr
Rabagliati’s—since we both agree that twelve ounces is the amount that
is needed by the average man, for an average day’s work. But then our
calculated allowance was not strictly “dry” diet; and the difference
may not be so great after all, when this is allowed for.
The quantity of food eaten has so little relation to strength and
weight that we see men eating ravenously and at the same time wasting
to skeletons, and growing weaker and weaker; and we have strong men
living on a spare and simple diet and increasing in weight. Indeed, we
see many patients increase in health and strength during a _fast_ of
many days, when no food at all is eaten! The truth is, that the amount
of food said to be eaten by navvies and other strong men is not the
cause of their strength, but it is their strength which enables them
to digest and dispose of such quantities of food. Weak men would break
down under the strain. And indeed both weak and strong men do, when the
resistance of the body is lowered by disease.
To economise life, which is the great secret of health, we must
find just the quantity of food we require—that which will supply
(indirectly) the force we need, and will not uselessly take from what
we have. Of course, we must keep within the limits of our digestive
power; but we must do better than that. A man may be able to digest and
dispose of three times as much food as he really requires. One ounce
more than he requires is a waste of force, a waste of life. We waste
life in eating more food than we need, in digesting it, and then in
getting rid of it. Here is a triple waste. “We have other work to do in
this world than eating unnecessary food, and spending our strength for
nought.”
In an excellent little book entitled “The Stomach and its
Difficulties,” by Sir James Eyre, M.D., there is to be found some very
good advice on this question of diet, and particularly the quantity of
food that man requires. Speaking of this, Sir James says:
“John Hunter, it is recorded, fed an eagle entirely on vegetable,
and a sheep on animal food; and yet life and apparent health were
sustained. Rabbits, if kept fasting a long time, will eat meat
greedily. The teeth, however, were no doubt intended by our Creator
to be our main guide on this point.... Eating in excess is the vice
of the present day, and so well managed is it that even religious
persons will not see its sinfulness—_sinful_, as absorbing and
wasting so much more life and food than the body requires, and which
so many absolutely need. Is drunkenness a sin and gluttony not?...
Gout, rheumatism and various other disorders are often produced by
the injudicious supplies given to the stomach, both in quantity and
quality.... We too often charge cold and wet with being the cause
of attacks of disease, but these attacks would not have occurred
unless the blood had been infected with particles of depraved matter
resulting from over-indulgence, or other irregularity of the organs
of digestion—first and foremost, from our injudicious supplies to the
stomach.... Perhaps we might lay it down as a rule that the majority
of men eat twice as much as is really required for the support of
health and strength.... No doubt as life advances we really require
less food.... According to our mental and bodily employment, so should
we eat.... Nature herself often gives notice of over-indulgence,
by destroying appetite. Children take the warning and refuse food
altogether; but it is so common a notion that we cannot go on
without regular meals, that many adults aggravate stomach and liver
derangements by persisting in taking food of some sort, but which
affords no nourishment at all, because it cannot be digested, and thus
acts as any other extraneous substance, by increasing the already
deranged powers of the organ. We may rest assured that mischief rarely
happens in disease from want of food, although much mischief is often
caused by the ignorant in pressing it, against the warnings of nature
in depriving us of any desire for it. In the incipient stage of many
diseases, abstinence at first, and then a very strict attention to
judicious nourishment, will alone cure them.”
After such a simple and clear statement of facts, it seems to me little
remains to be said. I cannot emphasise too strongly the importance
of limiting the amount of the food supply; and particularly is this
warning applicable to vegetarians who are apt to overeat, under the
erroneous impression that they must eat more, in order to offset the
greater nutritive value of the meat (supposedly)! The fact of the
matter is that they should eat _less_; and the more nourishing and
concentrated the food is, the less of it should they eat. Most of the
vegetarian dishes are highly concentrated, and exceedingly rich in
nutritive values. For that reason they should be eaten sparingly. Nuts
are especially rich, and contain a large amount of proteid in a small
compass. In his pamphlet “Nuts and their Uses as Food” (Yearbook, U.S.
Dept, of Agr.), Professor Jaffa says of such foods:
“The digestibility of protein in 28 experiments with mixed diets,
to which were added fruits and nuts, averaged 90 per cent. [see pp.
86-88].... The digestibility of the carbohydrates in nuts, so far
as the available _data_ show, is about equal to that of the same
ingredients in other foods.... It would appear that, while it is
not possible to state the exact digestion co-efficients for all
nuts, enough has been done to indicate their high nutritive value
and digestibility.... The distress sometimes experienced when nuts
are eaten is undoubtedly often due to improper mastication or to
over-indulgence. The investigations made at the California station
indicate clearly that considerable quantities of nuts properly eaten
do not cause distress.... A fruit and nut diet may be arranged
to furnish sufficient protein, mainly from nuts, to satisfy the
requirements of the body.... When considering nuts, it is readily
observed that 10 cents will buy about the same amount of nut protein
as of animal protein, except in the case of cheese and skim milk
(which furnishes less). If spent for peanuts, it will purchase more
than twice the protein and six times the energy that could be bought
for the same expenditure for porterhouse steak.... It is of more
than passing interest to note that 10 cents’ worth of peanuts will
contain about 4 ounces of protein and 2767 calories of energy, which
is more protein and energy than is furnished by many rations regarded
as adequate for a day.... As a whole, nuts may be classed among the
_staple foods_, and not simply as food accessories.”
I desire only to show in this place that nuts are a very concentrated
article of diet, and should be eaten sparingly. The idea that more
food should be eaten, when going on to a vegetarian diet, is grossly
erroneous, and is the reason why many vegetarians fail. Less, not more,
food, should be eaten; and as soon as the stomach has shrunk to its
right proportions, and the customary reaction from the stimulation of
the meat has worn off, a general feeling of invigoration and well-being
will be experienced—and retained, if the diet be properly managed
thenceforth. Too great care cannot be taken not to overeat; everyone
would be better for a few days’ fast—particularly if they have been in
the habit of eating meat!
XVI
GENERAL CONCLUSIONS
I think I have shown, in the preceding pages, that fruits and nuts are
man’s best, natural, and original food—the food best suited to his
organism—capable of sustaining it in the highest state of health. If I
have merely induced a number of persons to experiment upon themselves I
shall at all events feel that this book has performed its mission, as
there can be no question that wherever the fruitarian diet is tried, it
is adopted and finds its adherents. I have frequently known persons go
back to a mixed diet, after having tried vegetarianism for a time, but
I have never known of _one_, who after once having tried the fruitarian
diet, gave it up permanently. Of course everyone may relapse once in
a while; and go on to another diet for a few days, but invariably the
fruitarian diet is again resumed at the end of that time, with added
appreciation of its worth. The fruitarian diet is as far superior to
the ordinary vegetarian diet as that diet is superior to the “mixed
diet”—including meat. There is no comparison between the two. Far more
energy is experienced, while living upon fruits and nuts; the necessity
for so much sleep is done away with—persons living upon this diet
manage very nicely on about six hours of sleep, generally speaking; a
feeling of cleanness and lightness is experienced throughout the body;
and in many other ways the effects of the diet are noticeable. The fact
that man is intended by Nature to live upon such a diet is very clearly
indicated by his structure; and it is safe to say that the nearer we
live to Nature, the healthier and the happier we are.
I shall conclude with a few practical health hints, in relation to
diet, which I have omitted to mention in the preceding pages.
Let us consider first of all mastication.
The importance of thorough _mastication_ is now becoming generally
recognised. The experiments and researches of Horace Fletcher,
Professor Chittenden, etc., have done much towards calling the
attention of the public to the importance of this subject, and its
great advantages—not only in ensuring health, but in rendering the
life longer and happier—are now generally recognised. This subject
has been so ably handled by the two authors whose books I have
mentioned, however, that it would be unnecessary for me to go into
this question in greater detail here. To anyone who has not made a
study of this subject, I can but recommend Fletcher’s “New Glutton or
Epicure” and “The A.B-Z. of our Nutrition”; also Professor Chittenden’s
“Physiological Economy in Nutrition,” and “The Nutrition of Man.” Now
for a few practical hints.
Never eat when mentally excited or very tired. It is best to lie down
a few minutes before each meal, if possible, and take a short rest
after it. Never take exercise soon after a meal, or take a bath, or
a swim. All these have a tendency to draw the blood away from the
stomach—to the surface, or the parts exercised. This is to be avoided,
if possible. It is best to make the meals somewhat regular, but never
eat if you are not hungry—go without any solid food until the next
meal. Drink water plentifully, meanwhile. In this way, an appetite will
be gained, and sickness prevented.
Take a few deep-breathing exercises each day. In this way the requisite
oxygen is supplied, and the food ingested is utilised, instead of
remaining more or less mal-assimilated and unused by the system. Do not
take very hot or very cold foods or drinks. The best temperature is
that of the surrounding atmosphere, in a comfortably warm room. Great
care should be taken of the teeth, as, when these are once gone, no
false teeth can ever take their place, and the standard of health is
almost invariably lowered, on account of the fact that insufficient
mastication is practised.
Finally—and this is a factor of great importance—the _mental condition_
should be one free from worry or care. I have been contending very
strongly throughout this book for the superiority of certain foods over
others; and the value of a hygienic diet; and I still think that this
question is one of the most important before the world to-day—alike
for the individual and the race. Nevertheless, I am persuaded that
much, if not all, of the value of a reformed diet may be offset by
constant fretting and worrying about the food eaten. I believe that it
would be better to eat a moderate amount of any food upon the market
and think nothing about it, than to eat the best of foods—the most
wholesome and the most nutritious—and keep worrying about them all the
time. The hygienist should supply his body with good food, and then
forget it. He should not think or worry about his food or himself in
the least. Some individuals spend almost the whole of their lives in
thinking about their food; and the consequence is that they constantly
have dyspepsia, and get no benefit from any of it. One can dwell upon
this food question far too much—to the point of becoming morbid about
it. I went through that transition stage myself—one which I am glad to
say I have experienced, because it enables me to appreciate the mental
condition of others in a like state. I am also glad I have passed
through that stage, and have emerged into what I consider a more sane
and normal view of these matters. At one time in my life, the foods I
ate formed a large part of my mental occupation and interest: I thought
between meals what I should have for the next. I balanced up my every
article of diet, and even went so far as to discriminate between the
various kinds of nuts, because of the different percentages of proteid
they contained! In those days I should as soon have thought of killing
my dearest friend as eating a piece of meat!—so monstrous did the idea
seem to me. I sided with all those individuals who stated with glee
that “they had not touched a piece of meat for twenty-two years”—and
so on. When I went out to dinner, I informed my hostess that I was a
vegetarian, and asked to be excused from being helped to meat. But now
I have emerged from that state of narrowness. Now, while I live upon
the fruitarian diet, and that pretty strictly, when alone, I do not
think I am being poisoned if I taste a piece of meat, when dining out,
knowing that my system can well take care of the poisons generated, so
long as I live all the rest of the time upon a normal diet; and I do
not at all worry about my food, but eat a little of most of the things
that are upon the table, and make up for it by slightly added care in
my diet during the next day or two. Thus, though I consider the diet
question one of the most important—if not _the_ most important—before
the civilised world to-day, I must warn all diet reformers against
this tendency to get into a rut, on account of their food habits, and
would advise them to be careful to preserve a sane balance of mind on
these questions, and a just proportion in their viewpoint. Most diet
reformers are too deadly in earnest. They should cultivate a sense of
humour!
APPENDIX
It is with pleasure that I present a photograph of my friend Max Unger
(“Lionel Strongfort”), doubtless the strongest man in the world to-day,
and one of the most beautifully and perfectly proportioned. He is a
strict vegetarian—at times a fruitarian—and a strong advocate of this
diet. His statue in marble is in the National Art Gallery at Berlin.
It was made at the request of the German Government, by Prof. Louis
Tuaillon, of Rome. The famous artist, Max Klinger, also considers
him the ideal of symmetrical athletic beauty, and found in him the
inspiration of several of his masterpieces.
Mr Unger has doubtless performed feats of strength never equalled
in the history of the world. With one hand he has lifted a bar-bell
above his head weighing 312 pounds. Even the far-famed Eugene Sandow
never lifted more than 250 pounds in this way. He is the only man who
has ever torn five packs of playing cards in halves, at one time—a
thickness of 260 cards. He has lifted a weight (using his entire body)
of more than 8000 pounds—a sixty horse-power automobile, containing
several men, together with a heavy bridge, over which the machine
passed. In view of this, how absurd the contention that strong men
“must eat meat”; that “they are strong because of the meat they eat,”
etc.! And how doubly absurd the contention that the average man, who
takes but little exercise, cannot perform his daily duties without the
use of this article of diet!
INDEX
A
Abdominal Development, abnormal, 142
Abel, Miss Mary, 259
Æsthetic aspects of diet, 160-162
Agricultural argument, 162-163, 332-333
Air, value of, 263-264
Alcohol and diet, 123-124, 261
Alimentary canal, 34-35
Anatomical changes, and diet, 35
Animals, excess of, 159-160
Anthropoid apes, teeth of, 29-31
Apollonius of Tyana, 137
Apples, food value of, 207
Apricots, food value of, 208
Arabia, food of, 144
Arnold, Prof. L. B., 170
Artichokes, food value of, 179
Ash, mineral, defined, 62
Ash, percentage of, 79-83, 84-85, 86
Asparagus, food value of, 178
Athletics, and diet, 153-155
Atwater, Prof. A. W., 59-63
B
Baelz, Prof., 139
Bananas, food value of, 207-208
Banting cure, 118
Beans, food value of, 176
Beaumont, Dr, 197
Beef-tea, 100-102, 109
Beetroots, food value of, 179
Benjafield, Dr H., 230
Best food, question of, 96
Biblical instructions on diet, 159
Bilberries, food value of, 210
Blood-poisoning, 111
Blood, similarity of, 45
Bodily position, question of, 44
Bodily symmetry, and diet, 117-118
Bones, question of, 45
Bouchard, Dr, 103, 104
Bowels, differing action of, 48-49
Bread, food value of, 185-186
Breathing, value of, 263-264
Bright’s disease, 111
Broccoli, food value of, 178
Brush, Dr E. F., 109-110, 169-170, 253
Brussels sprouts, food value of, 178
Bryant, A. P., 59-63
Bush, Dr, 117
Butcher, degradation of, 162
Butter, value of, 171-173
Buttner, Dr J. L., 206
C
Cabbage, food value of, 178
Cancer, question of, 112-113
Cannibalism, question of, 164
Capers, food value of, 179
Carbohydrates, defined, 62
—— percentage of, 77-79
Carqué, Otto, 80, 81, 168-169
Carnivora, teeth of, 24-25
Carrots, food value of, 179
Cauliflower, food value of, 178
Chalmers, 136
Cheese, food value of, 174, 175
Cherries, food value of, 208
Cheyne, Dr, 137
Chittenden, Prof. R. H., 11, 57-58, 87-88, 89, 92, 93, 94, 137, 275
Christian, Eugene, 242-243
Chyle, characteristics of, 89-90
Cinnamon, food value of, 196-197
Citrons, food value of, 210
Climate and diet, 149-151
Cocoa, food value of, 261
Coffee, food value of, 260-261
Cold and diet, 114-115
Colon, question of the, 44
Complexion, and diet, 228-229
Complexity of food, 9, 249
Constituents of food, 249-250
Cooking, animal, 220-221
Cooking vegetables, 178
Copeland, Dr, 117
Corn, food value of, 179
Cranberries, food value of, 210
Cream, food value of, 171
Cresses, food value of, 179
Cucumber, food value of, 179
Currants, food value of, 210
Custom, force of, 164-166
D
Dandelions, food value of, 179
Dates, food value of, 210
Damsons, food value of, 208
Daniel, Florence, 230
Definitions of foods, 59-63
Densmore, Dr Emmet, 182
Diet, and exercise, 140
Diet, how to change, 237-238
Diogenes, 137
Diseased meat, 126-135
Dodds, Dr Susanna, 176-177, 244-245, 254-255
Drews, George J., 243
Drinking at meals, 240
Drinking, different modes of, 34, 51
Drink, and diet, 123-124
E
Economy, and diet, 220-221
Edentata, teeth of, 23
Eggs, food value of, 173-174
Emancipation of woman, 226-227
Empedocles, 137
Endives, food value of, 179
Energy, bodily, 18-19
Epidemics, and diet, 116-117
Epilepsy, and meat-eating, 112
Equivalence of food, 268-269
Esquimaux, and diet, 143, 151
Ethics of diet, 160, 162
Evans, Dr De Lacy, 91-92
Evolution, and mentality, 10-11
Excreta, animal, 106-107
Excretions, question of, 50-56
Exercise, and diet, 140
Extremities, 33-34
Eyes, position of, 44
Eyre, Sir James, 270-272
F
Fairbairn, Sir William, 145
Farrington, Dr A. M., 132-133
Fats, defined, 61-62
Fats, percentages of, 75-77
Figs, food value of, 210
Fish, food value of, 256
Fletcher, Horace, 105, 137, 260, 275
Flour, superfine, 184
Food, functions of, 18-19
Forward, Charles, 153-154
Fowler, H. P., 124
Frugivora, teeth of, 31
Fruits, advantages of, 206, 211-220, _et seq._
Fruitarian diet, 177-178, 274
Fuel value, question of, 62-63
G
Galen, 137
Game, food value of, 255-256
Garlics, food value of, 178-179
Gastric juice, differing, 47-48
Ginger, food value of, 196-197
Glucose and starch, 182
Goodfellow, Dr John, 182, 225
Gooseberries, food value of, 210
Gout, 110
Graham, Dr Sylvester, 89-90, 115, 120, 141, 197, 212, 214, 265
Grapes, food value of, 208
Greece, food of, 144-145
H
Habits of Cats and Dogs, 24-25, 33, 51
Habits and diet, 235-236
Haeckel, 45
Haig, Dr Alex., 112, 119, 138-139, 176, 200
Haller, Dr, 137
Hancock, H. Irving, 145-146
Hartmann, Dr, 29, 30
Heart beat and diet, 120
Heat, bodily, 114-115
Herbivora, teeth of, 21, 22
Heroditus, 137, 185
Hesiod, 137
Hindus, and diet, 146-148
Hippocrates, 137, 268
Honey, food value of, 203
Hufeland, Dr, 137
Humanitarian arguments, 156-159
Hutchinson, Dr Woods, 44
Huxley, 33, 39, 40, 41, 42, 45
Hygienic cookery, hints on, 250-252
I
India, food of, 144
Insectivora, teeth of, 22-23
Instinct and diet, 235
Intestinal putrefaction, 104-106
Italy, food of, 144
J
Jackson, Dr J. C., 124, 224
Jaffa, Prof. M. E., 204, 205, 272-273
Japan, food of, 145-146, 148
Jaws, movement of, 32-33
Jellies, food value of, 257
K
Kellogg, Dr J. H., 34-35, 43-45, 47-48, 107-108
Kidneys, action of, 50
Kingsford, Dr Anna, 141
Kuttner, Dr, 35
L
Lactic Acid, 105
Lahmann, Dr H., 52-56, 81, 82
Lambe, Dr, 113, 137, 230
Latson, Dr W. R. C., 120, 240-241, 243
Leeks, food value of, 178-179
Leffingwell, Dr A., 129
Lemons, food value of, 209-210
Lentils, food value of, 176
Leppel, Miss, 86
Lettuce, food value of, 179
Limes, food value of, 210
Liver, 37-38, 49-50
Loeb, Prof. J., 219
Longevity and diet, 119-120
Longworthy, Prof. C. F., 205
M
Magendie’s Dogs, 184-186
Mammary glands, 43
Man, teeth of, 25-28, 31-32
Mann, Karl, 138
Mastication, value of, 275
Meat, as an article of diet, 252-256
Melons, food value of, 210
Mental conditions, 276-277
Mental life and diet, 119, 121-123
Mentality and evolution, 10-11
Metchnikoff, 45, 104, 105, 233-234
Miles, Eustace, 139-140
Milk, food value of, 167-171
Mineral matter, defined, 62
Missionaries, and diet, 229
Morals and diet, 121-123
Mulberries, food value of, 210
Mushrooms, food value of, 179
Mustard, food value of, 198-199
N
Natural Foods, 202-203
Nervousness and diet, 231-232
Newton, Mr, 137
Nichols, Dr, 269
Nicholson, Prof., 29
Nightingale, Miss F., 257
Nitrogen, source of, 91-92
Nutmeg, food value of, 196-197
Nuts, food value of, 210-211, 272-273
O
Oils, 200-201
Olive oil, 200-201
Omnivora, teeth of, 23-24
Onions, food value of, 178-179
Oranges, food value of, 209
Overeating, 11-12, 243-244, 266-273
Ovid, 137
P
Page, Dr C. E., 222
Paget, Dr, 112
Pauchet, Dr Victor, 206
Parsnips, food value of, 179
Peaches, food value of, 208
Peas, food value of, 176, 208
Pepper, food value of, 196
Pereira, Dr, 172
Phillips, Dr Richard, 137
Pickles, food value of, 197-198
Pies, 257-258
Pigmies, 142-143
Pineapple, food value of, 209
Placenta, differing forms of, 38-42
Plato, 137
Plautus, 137
Pliny, 137
Plums, food value of, 208
Plutarch, 137
Poisons, in animal flesh, 97-104
—— in bad combinations, 247-248
Pork as food, 253-255
Porphyry, 137
Potatoes, food value of, 178
Practical hints, 275
Proclus, 137
Priority of the herbivora, 55
Proteid, excess of, 93-94
—— importance of, 58, 60-61
—— percentages of, 71-75
—— relative digestibility of, 86-88
Proteid, source of, 94-95
Puddings, 257-258
Pythagoras, 136-137
Q
Quantity _v._ Quality of Food, 265
Quantity, question of, 121
Quatrefages, Prof. A. de, 142
Quinces, food value of, 208
Quintus Sextus, 137
R
Rabagliati, Dr A., 19, 269
Radishes, food value of, 179
Raisins, food value of, 210
Rapidity of digestion, 88-89
Raspberries, food value of, 209
Read, C. S., 90-91
Red blood superstition, 163-164
Rheumatism and diet; 110-111
Rhubarb, food value of, 210
Ritson, Dr, 137
Rodentia, teeth of, 23
Rowbatham, Dr S., 184-185
Rush, Dr B., 117
Russell, Hon. Rollo, 112-113, 141, 144
Russia, food of, 145
S
Sadler, Dr W. S., 241-242
Sager, Dr D. S., 96
Saliva, 46-47
Salivary glands, 45
Salt, Henry, 121, 149-151, 236
Salt, arguments against, 187-196
Schlickeysen, Prof., 38-40, 47, 172-173, 215-219
Secretions, differing, 46-50
Senses and diet, 118-119
Shaw, Bernard, 160
Shelley, 117, 137
Sinclair, Upton, 127-128
Skin and diet, 44
Slaughter-houses, 133-135
Smith, Dr John, 37-38, 141
Socrates, 137
Soups, food value of, 257
Spices, food value of, 196-197
Spinach, food value of, 178
Starch, digestibility of, 182
Strawberries, food value of, 209
Stimulants, 198-199, 100-103, 114
Stomach, 36-37
Sugar, food value of, 258-260
Sweating, significance of, 55
Switzerland, food of, 145
T
Tables of Food Values, 64-71
—— of Mineral Matter, 84-85
Tail, question of, 44
Tapeworm, 109
Tea, value of, 260-261
Teeth, and acids, 231
—— argument drawn from, 21-23, 42-43
Teeth, causes of decay of, 110
Temperature, bodily, 92
Tibbles, Dr W., 108, 179, 180, 183, 198, 199, 205-206
Toast, food value of, 183
Tomatoes, food value of, 210
Tongue, question of, 44
Trall, Dr R. T., 26-28, 36-37, 102-103, 125-126, 148, 152, 258
Trichina, 109
Trichinosis, 109
Tuberculosis, 109
Turnips, food value of, 179
Typhoid, 110
U
Uncooked Food, 16-17
Unification of diet, 222-226
Uric acid, 52-56
Urine, differing, 52-56
—— poisonous nature of, 103-104
V
Vinegar, food value of, 199-200
Virchow, 35
W
Walking Match, 138, 154-155
Wallace, Dr Mackenzie, 145
Warner, Dr, 112
Water, value of, 261-263
Weight, loss of, 204
Wheat, food value of, 181
Whortleberries, food value of, 210
Wiley, Dr H. W., 82
Williams, Mattieu, 220
Woman, emancipation of, 226-227
Woodruff, Judge, 122
Work and diet, 152
Z
Zeno, 137
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End of Project Gutenberg's The Natural Food of Man, by Hereward Carrington