FOOD.
The human body is so wonderfully made that as yet we have only a poor
understanding of it, but we are learning a little each decade, and
perhaps in time we shall have a fair knowledge both of the body and of
the mind. Body and mind can not be considered as two separate entities,
for neither one is of any use without the other.
The body is not a machine. Those who look upon it as such make the
mistake of feeding it as they would an engine, thinking that it takes so
much fuel to keep going. The human organism is perhaps never quite alike
on any two consecutive days, for the body changes with our thoughts,
actions and environment, and the conditions never quite repeat
themselves and therefore we have to readjust ourselves.
The most important single item for gaining and retaining physical health
is proper feeding, yet the medical men of this country pay so little
attention to this subject that in some of our best equipped medical
colleges dietetics are not taught. A total of from sixteen to thirty
hours is considered sufficient to fit the future physicians to guide
their patients in the selection, combination and preparation of food.
Dietetics should be the principal subject of study. It should be
approached both from the scientific and from the empirical side. It is
not a rigid subject, but one which can be treated in a very elastic way.
The scientific part is important, but the practical part, which is the
art, is vastly more important. A part of the art of feeding and fasting
is scientific, for we get the same results every time, under given
conditions.
When we consider the fact that the body is made up of various tissues,
such as connective tissue, blood, nerves and muscles; that these in turn
are made up of billions of cells, as are the various glandular organs
and membranes; that these cells are constantly bathed in blood and
lymph, from which they select the food they need and throw the refuse
away, we must marvel that an organism so complex is so resistant, stable
and strong.
All articles of good quality are made by first-class workmen from fine
materials. However, many people fail to realize that in order to have
quality bodies they must take quality food, properly cooked or prepared,
in the right proportions and combinations. If we feed the body properly,
nature is kind enough to do good constructive work without any thought
on our part.
You will find no rigid rules in these talks on diet, but you will find
information that will enable you to select foods that will agree with
you. People may well disagree on what to eat, for there are so many
foods that a person could do without nine-tenths of them and still be
well nourished. In fact, we consume too great a variety of food for our
physical well-being. Great variety leads to overeating.
A healthy human body is composed of the following compounds, in about
the proportions given:
Water, 60 to 65 per cent.
Mineral matter, 5 to 6 per cent.
Protein, 18 to 20 per cent.
Carbohydrates, 1 per cent.
Fat, 10 per cent. This is perhaps excessive.
These substances are very complex and well distributed throughout the
body. They are composed of about sixteen or seventeen elements, but a
pure element is very rarely found in the body, unless it be a foreign
substance, such as mercury or lead. About 70 per cent of the body is
oxygen, which is also the most abundant element of the earth. Then in
order of their weight come carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium,
phosphorus, sulphur, sodium, chlorine, fluorine, potassium, iron,
magnesium and silicon.
Because it will be helpful in giving a better idea of the necessity for
proper feeding, I shall devote a few words to each of these elements.
_Oxygen_ is a colorless, tasteless, odorless gas, forming a large part
of the atmospheric air, of water, of the earth's crust and of our foods.
It is absolutely essential to life, for without oxygen there can be no
combustion in the animal tissues, and without combustion there can be no
life. The union of oxygen with fats, carbohydrates and proteins in the
body results in slow combustion, which produces heat and energy. Our
chief supply of oxygen comes directly from the air, but this is
supplemented by the intake in food and water.
_Carbon_ is the chief producer of energy within the body, being the
principal constituent of starches, sugars and fats. It is what we rely
on for internal heat, as well as for heating our dwellings, for the
essential part of coal is carbon. The carbonaceous substances are needed
in greater quantity than any other, but if they are taken pure, they
cause starvation more quickly than if no food were eaten. This has been
proved through experiments in feeding nothing but refined sugar, which
is practically pure carbon. Salts and nitrogenous foods are essential to
life.
_Hydrogen_ is a very light gas, without odor, taste or color. It is a
necessary constituent of all growing, living things. It is plentifully
supplied in water. All acids contain hydrogen and so does the protoplasm
of the body.
_Nitrogen_ is also a colorless, tasteless, odorless gas. It is an
essential constituent of the body, being present in all compounds of
protein. It is abundant in the atmospheric air, from which it is taken
by plants. We get our supply either directly from vegetable foods or
from animal products, such as milk, eggs and meat.
_Calcium_ is needed principally for the bones and for the teeth, but it
is also necessary in the blood, where it assists in coagulation. We get
sufficient calcium salts in fruits, grains and vegetables, provided they
are properly prepared. The conventional preparation of the food often
results in the loss of the various salts, which causes tissue
degeneration. If the supply of calcium in the food is too small, the
bones and the teeth suffer, for the blood removes the calcium from these
structures. Growing children need more calcium proportionately than do
adults. This is without doubt the reason pregnant women suffer so much
from softening of the teeth. They are fed on foods robbed of their
calcium, such as white bread and vegetables that have been drained.
_Phosphorus_ in some forms is a poison whether taken in solid compounds
or inhaled in fumes, producing phossy jaw. In other forms it is
indispensable for bodily development. The compounds of phosphorus are
present in fats, bones and protein. In natural foods they are abundantly
present, but when these foods are unduly refined, or are soaked in water
which is thrown away, much of the phosphorus is lost. We get phosphorus
from milk, eggs, cereals, legumes and other foods. Of course, there is
phosphorus in fish, but those who eat sea food to make themselves brainy
will probably be disappointed. Phosphates are necessary for brain
development, but those who eat natural foods never need to go to the
trouble of taking special foods for the brain. If the rest of the body
is well nourished, the brain will have sufficient food, and if the body
is poorly nourished the brain will suffer.
_Sulphur_ is present in protein and we get a sufficient supply from
milk, meat and legumes. The element sulphur is quite inert and harmless,
but some of its acids and salts are very poisonous. Sulphur dioxide is
freely used in the process of drying fruits, as a bleacher. In this form
it is poisonous, and for that reason it would be well to avoid bleached
dried fruits. We need some sulphur, but not in the form of sulphur
dioxide or concentrated sulphurous acid, both of which are used in the
manufacture of food.
_Sodium_, in its elementary state, which is not found in nature, is a
white, silvery metal. It is found in great abundance in the succulent
vegetables, and is present in practically all foods. As sodium chloride,
or common table salt, it is taken in great quantities by most people.
Those who have no salt get along well without it, which shows that it is
not needed in large amounts. If but a little is added to the food, it
does no perceptible harm, but when sprinkled on everything that is
eaten, from watermelons to meat, it is without doubt harmful. By soaking
foods, they are deprived of much of their soda: The two sodium salts
that are very abundant are sodium chloride, or common salt, and sodium
carbonate, generally called soda.
_Chlorine_ is ordinarily combined in our foods with sodium or potash,
forming the chlorides. It is essential to life. He who gets enough
sodium also gets enough chlorine. In its elementary form it is an
irritating gas, used for bleaching purposes.
_Fluorine_ is present in small quantities in the body, appearing as
fluorides in the bones and teeth. It is supplied by the various foods.
In its elementary form it is a poisonous gas.
_Potassium_ is found in the body in very small quantities, but it is
very important. It is mostly in the form of potassium phosphate in the
muscles and in the blood. It is necessary for muscular activity. It is
found in most foods in greater abundance than is sodium, which indicates
that it plays an important part in development. Like sodium, it is
easily dissolved out of foods which are soaked in water, and this is one
of the reasons that vegetables should not be soaked and the water thrown
away. It is very peculiar in its metallic state, being a silvery metal,
very light in weight, which burns when thrown upon water. That is, it
decomposes both itself and the water with the liberation of so much heat
that it fires the escaping hydrogen, which burns with a violet flame.
Pure potassium is not found in nature.
_Iron_ is found in very small quantities in the human body, but it is
absolutely essential to life. Animals deprived of iron die in a few
weeks, and people will do the same under similar circumstances. Iron is
obtained principally from fruits and vegetables, but it is also present
in other foods. Man can not make use of inorganic iron. He has to get
his supply from the vegetable and animal kingdoms. The giving of
inorganic iron is folly and helps to ruin the teeth and the stomach of
the one who takes it. In the form of hemoglobin this element is the
chief agent in carrying oxygen from the lungs to the tissues of the
body. In the manufacture of foods, much of the iron is lost. For
instance, whole wheat flour contains about ten times as much iron as
does the white flour. Too little iron causes, among other ills, anemia,
and if the iron is very low, chlorosis or the green sickness may ensue.
_Magnesium_ is found principally as phosphate in the bones. It is
present both in animal and vegetable foods. Its function in the body is
not well understood, but it appears to assist the phosphorus.
_Silicon_ is found in traces in the human body. It is supplied in small
quantities in nearly all of our foods, and therefore we must take it for
granted that it is necessary, although we are in the dark as to its
uses. It is very abundant in various rocks. The cereals are especially
rich in silicon. In wheat it is found in the bran and is removed from
the white flour.
The elements mentioned are the most important in the body, though others
are found in traces. We do not find the elements present as elements,
but in the form of very complex compounds. Under our present conditions
of living, we generally partake of too much carbonaceous and nitrogenous
food, and get too little of the salts, except sodium chloride, which is
taken in too great quantity. Salt, to most people, means but one thing,
sodium chloride or table salt. However, there are thousands of salts,
and when salts are mentioned in this book, all those necessary for the
processes of life are meant, whether they be compounds of fluorine,
sulphur, phosphorus, calcium, iron or magnesium or other metals and
minerals.
Salts are not usually classified as foods, but they are essential to
life. Supply the body with all the protein, sugar, starch and fat that
it requires, but withhold the salts, and it is but a question of a few
weeks before life ceases. This is why it is so important to improve our
methods of cooking. A potato that is peeled, soaked in cold water and
boiled, may lose as much as one-half of its salts, according to one of
the bulletins sent out by the U. S. Department of Agriculture. Other
vegetables not only lose their salts by such treatment, but as high as
30 per cent of their nutritive value.
The lesson we should learn from this is that ordinarily if it is
necessary to soak foods, such as beans, they should be cooked in the
water in which they have been soaked. Furthermore, where possible, as it
is with nearly all succulent vegetables, we should take the fluid in
which the vegetables have been cooked as a part of the meal. If the
vegetables are properly cooked, there will not be much fluid to take. To
pour away the water in which vegetables have been cooked means that
perhaps one-third of the food value and one-third to one-half of the
valuable salts are lost. Why continue impoverishing foods in this way?
Dr. Charles Page deserves much credit for calling our attention to this
fact when most healers neither thought nor talked about it. Now all
up-to-date healers with a knowledge of dietetics realize how important
it is to give good food. For those who wish more detailed information on
the composition of the salts, I insert a table which was compiled by
Otto Carque and published in "Brain and Brawn," February, 1913. Those
who wish still more detailed knowledge can find it in volumes on food
analysis and in some government reports.
MINERAL MATTER IN 1000 PARTS OF WATER-FREE FOOD PRODUCTS.
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P
P M h
o a o C
t C g s S S h
a S a n p u i l
s o l e h l l o
s d c s I o p i r
i i i i r r h c i
u u u u o u u o n
m m m m n s r n e
Total| | | | | | | | |
Salts| K2O |Na2O | CaO | MgO |Fe2O3|P2O5 | SO2 |SiO2 | Cl
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Human milk 34.70|11.73| 3.16| 5.80| 0.75| 0.07| 7.84| 0.33| 0.07| 6.38
Cow's milk 55.30|13.70| 5.34|12.24| 1.69| 0.30|15.79| 0.17| 0.02| 8.04
Meat (avge) 40.00|16.52| 1.44| 1.12| 1.28| 0.28|17.00| 0.64| 0.44| 1.56
Eggs 41.80| 6.27| 9.56| 4.56| 0.46| 0.17|15.72| 0.13| 0.13| 3.72
Seafish 84.20|18.35|12.55|12.80| 3.28| ....|32.13| ....| ....| 9.60
Cottage Cheese 64.30| 8.50| 0.90|22.50| 1.50| 0.50|24.35| 0.10| ....|11.20
| | | | | | | | |
Apples 33.00|11.78| 8.61| 1.35| 2.89| 0.46| 4.52| 2.01| 1.42| ....
Strawberries 65.00|13.72|18.53| 9.23| ....| 3.73| 7.97| 2.05| 7.82| 1.10
Gooseberries 29.00|11.22| 2.87| 3.54| 1.70| 1.32| 5.71| 1.71| 0.75| 0.22
Prunes 37.75|18.28| 3.41| 4.34| 1.36| 0.94| 6.03| 1.21| 1.19| 0.15
Peaches 17.60| 9.63| 1.50| 1.41| 0.92| 0.18| 2.67| 1.00| 0.26| ....
Cherries 34.60|17.94| 0.76| 2.60| 1.90| 0.69| 5.54| 1.76| 3.11| 0.46
Grapes 25.20|14.16| 0.35| 2.72| 1.06| 0.45| 3.93| 1.41| 0.70| 0.38
Figs 41.00|11.63|10.77| 7.75| 3.78| 0.60| 0.53| 2.77| 2.43| 1.10
Olives 33.40|27.02| 2.52| 2.49| 0.06| 0.31| 0.46| 0.36| 0.22| 0.06
Apricots 33.60|19.68| 3.76| 1.08| 2.89| 0.46| 4.52| 2.01| 1.42| ....
Pears 25.60|14.00| 2.17| 2.05| 1.52| 0.25| 3.90| 1.45| 0.38| ....
Watermelons 40.00|18.00| 3.75| 4.00| 2.10| 1.75| 5.60| 2.10| 7.60| 1.10
Bananas 32.40|16.20| 0.80| 0.25| 0.32| 0.10| 2.03| 0.21| ....| 2.47
Oranges 38.15|18.62| 0.95| 8.65| 2.03| 0.38| 4.70| 2.00| 0.25| 0.29
| | | | | | | | |
Spinach 191.00|21.71|57.42|22.73|12.22| 6.40|19.58|13.18| 8.60|12.03
Onions 48.40|12.10| 1.55|10.65| 2.55| 2.20| 7.25| 2.65| 8.10| 1.35
Carrots 69.00|25.46|14.63| 7.80| 3.04| 0.70| 8.83| 4.45| 1.66| 3.18
Asparagus 86.40|20.74|14.77| 9.33| 3.72| 2.94|16.07| 5.36| 9.50| 5.10
Radishes 110.40|35.33|23.37|15.45| 3.42| 3.09|12.03| 7.18| 1.00|10.10
Cauliflower 91.20|40.46| 5.38| 5.10| 3.37| 0.91|18.42|11.86| 3.37| 3.10
Cucumbers 100.00|41.20|10.00| 7.30| 4.15| 1.40|20.20| 6.90| 8.00| 6.60
Lettuce 180.70|67.94|13.55|26.56|11.20| 9.40|16.62| 6.87|14.64|13.82
Potatoes 44.20|26.56| 1.33| 1.15| 2.18| 0.48| 7.47| 2.89| 0.88| 1.55
Cabbage 123.00|45.33|11.68|21.65| 4.90| 0.86|11.07|17.10| 1.10|10.45
Tomatoes 176.00|82.50|32.90|11.35|13.55| 1.00|10.75| 5.00| 7.75|18.00
Red Beets 41.65| 8.45|21.60| 2.50| 0.10| 1.00| 2.55| 0.50| 2.00| 2.95
Celery 180.00|48.60|65.25|14.70| 6.75| 1.60|14.50| 6.50| 4.30|17.80
| | | | | | | | |
Walnuts 17.40| 2.20| 0.17| 0.97| 2.88| 0.61|10.10| 0.22| 0.12| 0.12
Almonds 21.00| 2.31| 0.38| 3.04| 3.95| 0.23|10.10| 0.96| 0.04| 0.06
Cocoanuts 18.70| 8.21| 1.57| 8.60| 1.76| ....| 2.18| 0.95| 0.09| 2.50
| | | | | | | | |
Lentils 34.70|12.08| 4.62| 2.18| 0.87| 0.69|12.60| ....| ....| 1.61
Peas 30.03|13.06| 0.30| 1.45| 2.42| 0.24|10.87| 1.03| 0.27| 0.53
Beans 38.20|15.85| 0.42| 1.91| 2.73| 0.19|14.86| 1.30| 0.25| 0.69
Peanuts 24.30| 9.27| 0.21| 0.95| 2.29| 0.27|10.60| 0.45| 0.05| 0.23
| | | | | | | | |
Whole Wheat 23.10| 7.20| 0.50| 0.75| 2.80| 0.30|10.90| 0.09| 0.46| 0.07
White flour 5.70| 1.82| 0.08| 0.43| 0.44| 0.03| 2.80| ....| ....| ....
Rye 21.30| 6.84| 0.31| 0.61| 2.39| 0.25|10.16| 0.28| 0.30| 0.01
Barley 31.30| 5.10| 1.28| 0.02| 3.92| 0.53|10.27| 0.93| 8.98| ....
Oats 34.50| 6.18| 0.59| 1.24| 2.45| 0.41| 8.83| 0.62|13.52| 0.03
Corn 18.50| 5.50| 0.02| 0.04| 2.87| 0.15| 8.44| 0.15| 0.39| 0.35
Whole Rice 16.00| 3.60| 0.67| 0.59| 1.78| 0.22| 8.60| 0.08| 0.42| 0.02
Rice, polished 4.00| 0.87| 0.22| 0.13| 0.45| 0.05| 2.15| 0.03| 0.11| 0.01
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please remember that most of the salts must be worked into organic form
for us by vegetation, and that we are able to take but few elements that
have not been thus elaborated.
We need a moderate amount of food to maintain the body in health, but we
should be careful not to overindulge.
Perhaps the most injurious errors are made by people who eat because
they wish to gain in weight. They consider themselves below weight and
they try to force a gain by overeating. This is a serious mistake and
leads to much suffering.
There is no weight that can be called ideal for all people. To get a
basis, I copy a table from the literature of an insurance company. This
is for people twenty years old:
Height Weight
5--0........114
1........117
2........121
3........124
4........128
5........132
6........136
7........140
8........144
9........149
10........153
11........158
6--0........162
1........167
2........172
3........177
If the weight is much above this, it is a sure sign that the individual
is building disease. It may be Bright's disease, fatty heart,
arteriosclerosis, cancer or any other ill. The muscles can not be
increased in size very much by eating and there is a limit to the amount
of fluid that can be stored away. Stout people generally carry about a
great amount of fat.
Excess of fat is a burden. It replaces other tissues and weakens the
muscles. It overcrowds the abdominal and thoracic cavities, thus making
the breath short and the working of the heart more difficult, also
producing a tendency to prolapsus of the various abdominal organs.
People make the mistake of thinking that stoutness indicates health. It
indicates disease. Going into weight is going into degeneration. Women
like to be plump for various reasons, some of which are not the most
creditable to either men or women. Fat people are not good looking.
There is not a statue in the world sculptured on corpulent lines that is
considered beautiful.
It is natural for some people to be slender and for others to be rather
plump, but fatness is abnormal. Rolling double chins and protruding
abdomens are signs of self-abuse in eating and drinking. As a rule women
are at their right weight at twenty and men at twenty-two or
twenty-three. This weight they should retain. If twenty or thirty pounds
are added to it life will be materially shortened.
Perfect health is impossible for obese people, but it is within the
reach of lean ones. In getting well, it is often necessary to become
quite slender, but after the system has cleansed itself, it gains in
weight again. It may take from several months to several years to obtain
a normal weight after the ravages of disease. A healthy body is
self-regulating and will be as heavy as it ought to be.
Those who eat too much in order to gain weight sometimes wreck their
digestive and assimilative powers to such an extent that they lose a
great deal of weight, and the more they eat the more they lose. Then it
is necessary to reduce the food intake until digestion and assimilation
catch up with supply. Then if the eating is right the individual goes to
the proper weight and retains it.
The slender people are in the safest physical condition. The vast amount
of statistics gathered by the life insurance companies bears this out.
Remember that fat is a low grade tissue, which sometimes crowds out high
grade tissue, that an excess indicates degeneration and that obesity is
a disease. All fat people eat too much, even though they consider
themselves small eaters. They should regulate their eating and drinking
so that they will return to a normal weight. This is the only safe way
to reduce.
Pay no attention to underweight. Eat what the body requires and is able
to digest and assimilate, without causing any inconvenience. The
organism will take care of the rest. To attempt to force weight onto a
body at the expense of discomfort, disease, reduced efficiency and
premature death shows poor judgment.
Losing weight does not matter at all if there is no discomfort or
disease. It is all right to be a little lighter during summer than in
winter.
In discussing food and its use, two words are frequently employed,
digestion and fermentation. Strictly speaking, digestion is largely a
process of fermentation, consisting of the breaking down of complex
substances into simple ones, by means of ferments. However, in the
popular mind digestion and fermentation are not synonymous, and will not
be so considered in this book. To make my meaning clear, in this book
the words will have the following meaning:
Digestion--the normal breaking down of food and formation into
substances that can be used by the blood for building, repairing and
producing heat and energy.
Fermentation--the abnormal breaking down of food in the digestive tract,
producing discomfort and health impaired. This process manifests in
various ways, such as the production of much gas in the digestive tract
or hyperacidity of the body.
We will consider digestion as a process conducive to health, but
fermentation, as one that leads to disease, being an early stage of
digestive derangement.