In the human body something happens very similar to the deposit of scale in a steam boiler. But the human body is a furnace as well as an engine. It is so intricate and so delicate that if the temperature rises or falls one degree above or below normal, the condition is one of dis-ease. As food is its fuel, how can we expect the mechanism to remain in order if we utterly disregard the body's requirements, not only as to the character of the fuel supplied, but also as to the quantity, especially if we so choke it with fuel that Nature is unable to burn it up in the vital processes, and to dispose of the resulting ashes and cinders? Nature is resourceful—full of expedients and makeshifts! If she were not, the span of life would be much shorter than it is. As previously stated, she will seal up a foreign substance that cannot be expelled, and not only will she do this with solids that have penetrated the flesh, but she will actually build "catch basins" in the body, called cysts—bags, somewhat like a bladder, in which the excess or refuse that cannot be eliminated may be impounded, and the ruin of the body postponed for months or even for years.
The true office of diagnosis is not only to find the disorder, but to discover also the conditions that lead to it, or have a bearing upon it; hence that diagnosis is faulty which comes short of this, for the reason that even if the disorder be located and overcome, it will recur if its cause persists, just as the scale in the boiler will form again if the causes that produced it are not removed.
As the blood is the life, as it brings to every cell life (nourishment), and carries away death (poisonous by-products of vital activities in the form of dead matter to be eliminated from the body); as it does this by its marvelously rapid circulation through every cell, it is obvious that every part of the body will be in a state of health if the blood itself is pure, and its supply and circulation such that every cell is abundantly fed. The supreme law of health, therefore, may be expressed in two statements, one positive and one negative:
1 Feed the body correctly
2 Do not interfere with the circulation of the blood
If the blood is not a perfect building material it is because we have not put into the digestive mill the right materials; and if it is not properly circulated, it is because the circulation is impeded by positive constrictions, or, as is more frequently the case, because the composition of the blood is not perfectly suited to the demands of the vital activities. As a result, much of the material must be rejected as unusable, thus involving a great deal of extra work in disposing of it. If the excessive material is wholesome, though not at present usable, it may be packed away for future use as fat, this being the easiest, and perhaps the only possible way of disposing of it in the rush. The builders are not only overworked, but literally overwhelmed with excessive and unsuitable materials—and why?—that we may indulge perverted appetites.
Even the excessive material packed away in the wholesome form of fat may, merely by its bulk, become an impediment to the circulation. It not only reduces the efficiency of the bodily mechanism, but also is so potent a factor in shortening life that a corpulent person is likely to be rejected by an insurance company, even though his present state of health may be good.
A condition often found illustrates most forcibly the manner in which defective circulation reduces the efficiency of the human power-plant, even as the scaly deposit impairs the efficiency of the steam boiler. "That tired feeling" of which so many complain, is so called because the person thus afflicted has a sense of painful exhaustion upon slight exertion—is tired all the time. If our diagnosis shows a state of chronic exhaustion, and we endeavor to increase the body-efficiency by increasing the food, we shall make the same mistake as the fireman who shovels more coal under a scaly boiler.
Painful exhaustion in a perfectly healthy body results from violent, or too long-continued exercise of a muscle, and if there are no intervals of rest, excruciating pain results. The cells are broken down more rapidly than the resulting waste can be carried away by the circulation, hence the body-poisons and pain. The pain is a symptom, and where the condition of which it is the index is temporary, rest soon restores the normal condition of ease.
There would be no sense of exhaustion if the building and the eliminating processes could be carried on with sufficient rapidity concurrently to make good all the expenditures of mental and bodily activities. Not only should we not need rest, but we should not even need sleep. The only occasion to stop, then, would be to take in more fuel (food), and if this could be taken while the body is in action, as fuel is fed to the steam boiler, there would be no necessity to stop. But apparently both the upbuilding and the elimination of waste normally lay behind the demands of even ordinary activity, so that a given muscle must have very frequent intervals of rest (every few seconds), and the organism, as a whole, must reduce activity to the minimum by sleep about one-third of the time.
As some of the muscles are used with practical continuity during the waking life, Nature resorts to some very cunning devices to provide the necessary rest. The tension upon the muscle of the eye is relaxed for an instant in the unconscious act of winking, but by reason of the persistence of visual sensation, this does not interfere with vision. Thus Nature has always used the principle involved in the moving picture. The heart must perform its work every instant, from the time before we are born until the end, but each muscle rests about one-third of every second—when it relaxes, and the chamber of the heart expands with the inrush of blood.
Nature alone is the builder, and will do all that should be done if she only has the proper materials in proper proportions. We may well stand in awe and admiration of her mysterious atomic masonry, but let us lay no sacrilegious hand upon her work.
LESSON XI
Common Disorders—Their Cause and Cure
HEALTH AND DIS-EASE DEFINED
Health is that condition of the human body in which the functions or activities work together in perfect harmony. Any serious interference with this condition we call dis-ease. Dis-ease, therefore, in its final analysis, is merely the expression of violated natural law.
The harmonious working of the life-processes in the human body depends upon three things—(1) nutrition; (2) motion and (3) oxidation. Nutrition is the principal factor that controls the action of the living cells, for, if the body is kept up to its one hundred per cent of energy it will demand a certain amount of motion or exercise, and this will enforce the proper breathing (oxidation). We can see, therefore, that nutrition is the physical basis of all activities of life.
By nutrition as here used I mean to include all chemical substances that may be supplied for the use of the body-cells, also the sum total of all chemical substances in solution in the circulating fluid or blood-plasma which bathes the body-cells.
The stoppage of the heart beat causes the nutritive fluids of the body to cease circulating. The cells are then no longer supplied with nutritive material, and the poisons which they are constantly throwing off accumulate, cell activity ceases, and the phenomenon we call death ensues. Suffocation acts in a very similar manner—oxygen ceases to be supplied to the blood; carbon dioxid accumulates; the vital fluids cease to flow, and death is the result.
Dis-ease has been defined to be an absence of harmonious activity in the body. It may result from the inactivity of some particular function. A stomach which secretes no hydrochloric acid is abnormal or dis-eased. Again, a dis-ease may be due to an overdevelopment of some function, because the man whose stomach secretes more hydrochloric acid than digestion requires is as truly dis-eased as is the man whose stomach secretes too little.
Dis-ease may also be defined as partial death, for it is the disturbance or weakening of functions whose complete failure we call death. Starvation illustrates one side of this process. When nutritive material ceases to be supplied, the cells have nothing with which to work, causing disturbance of function (dis-ease), and then partial, or complete death. The man in a desert under a hot sun will starve for water in one-tenth the time that he would starve for solid food. Animals fed on a diet from which all salts have been chemically removed will die in a shorter time than will those from which all food is withheld. This rather interesting fact is due to the rapid utilization of the salts residual in the body during the digestion and the assimilation of the salt-free foods taken. The order in which the withdrawal of nutritive substances will produce starvation is about as follows:
1 Aerial oxygen
2 Water
3 Mineral salts
4 Organic nitrogen
5 Carbohydrates
Poisoning by drugs is an excellent illustration of dis-ease and death produced by specific starvation. When a man takes ether, this substance, passing to the brain, immediately interferes with the function of that organ. Insensibility to pain results. If ether is taken in larger quantities, the functions of the brain may be still further interfered with, and the nervous control of the heart beat will be lost, and death will ensue. When castor-oil is taken into the alimentary canal, the irritating substances therein contained inflame the cells of the mucous membrane, and excite them to abnormal secretion, thus disturbing the harmony of the body-activities, and producing dis-ease.
The examples here referred to are not commonly considered dis-ease, because we know the particular or immediate cause of the physical disturbance. Modern knowledge now shows us that the most prolific cause of what is commonly known as dis-ease is but the interference with cell activities, either by the deficiency or by the excess of nutritive substances, or by the presence of irritating and disturbing poisons. This condition may be caused by an unbalanced diet containing too much of certain nutritive elements, or too little of others, causing surfeiting on the one hand and starvation on the other.
Health is the normal condition, and in spite of Ingersoll's witticism, it is more "catching than dis-ease." Were it not so, the race would long since have become extinct. With reference to body-health, however, we are still in the childhood stage of development, and the science, therefore, of building man to his highest estate—of lifting his mental, moral, and physical faculties to their highest possible attainment, is worthy the labor of the greatest minds. That person, then, who enjoys the best health, the keenest mentality and power of perception, the highest physical and emotional organism, is he who can select such articles of food as will supply all the constituent parts of the body most nearly in the right or natural proportions. The science of feeding, upon which this mainly depends, becomes possible only when food is taken in accordance with certain fixed, natural laws. These laws are not complicated—they are simple and easy to comprehend. Nature is constantly endeavoring to aid us in their solution. Hunger, thirst, taste—all the instincts and natural desires of the body are merely Nature's language. To interpret this language, and to obey the laws it lays down is man's highest duty to himself and to his race.
There are very few true dis-eases. Nearly all of the abnormal physical expressions given off by the body can be traced to a few primary causes, and most of these causes can be removed by ascertaining and removing other causes that precede them.
The classification of dis-eases is merely a matter of convenience, and is of no practical importance between the food scientist and the patient. It merely enables the one who has studied these classifications to convey his knowledge or information to the lay mind.
The dis-eases which will most interest the student will be those caused by a lack of nutrition, or by a surfeit of nutrition; that is to say, a form of starvation caused by a lack of certain nutritive elements, and overingestion caused by an excess of certain other nutritive elements.
The only practical method of describing dis-ease is by indicating the organs afflicted and the impairment of their functions. Beginning with the stomach, in which, as previously stated, originates probably ninety-one per cent of all human disorders, I will first take up the question of the abnormal action of food caused by overeating.
OVEREATING
Fortunately Nature does not demand exactness. She has made wonderful provision for our errors or our lack of precision. If we eat too much now and then she will cast out the excess. If, however, we habitually overeat, she will store away the surplus in the form of useless fat, or she will decompose it; that is, make an effort to volatilize it and cast it out through the pores of the skin. If our diet is unbalanced, Nature has the power to convert one chemical into another—a secret yet unknown to modern science.
While the tendency of Nature is to maintain normality by casting the debris out of the body, she demands that we obey the laws of motion and oxidation. If we do not observe these laws, the debris or matter she cannot use will accumulate, and congestion and constipation will take place. The excess of food thus actually clogs the system and generates in the intestines the poisons which cause autointoxication.
THE EFFECTS OF OVEREATING
The effects of overeating are so far-reaching, and so common among civilized people that a volume might be devoted to this habit and the subject not exhausted. Here, however, I will review only that which is of most importance to the student of dietetics, namely, the causes and a few of the effects of overeating.
Overeating is due to three specific causes:
1 Eating several articles of food at the same meal which are incompatible
2 Taking stimulants at meals
3 Eating too many things at the same meal
(1) Incompatible foods:
When foods are eaten together that are incompatible they usually result in superacidity and sometimes cause a gnawing sensation in the stomach.
(2) Stimulants with meals:
When one takes stimulants such as beer, liquor or wine with meals, the stomach-cells secrete a deficient amount of hydrochloric acid, causing food to leave the stomach too slowly, thereby allowing fermentation to take place and acid conditions to develop.
(3) Too many things at same meal:
Too many things eaten at the same meal may exhaust the digestive juices and cause a condition of subacidity (lack of acid), which is true indigestion, or it may cause just the reverse, too much acid, and therefore produce the same result as in taking stimulants with meals. (See "Causes of Superacidity," item 2, p. 420).
ABNORMAL APPETITE
In nearly all cases of overeating Nature's only weapon with which to defend herself is hydrochloric acid, thus the stomach-cells become over-trained in the secretion of acid, and the constant irritation caused by acid fermentation produces abnormal appetite. The desire to satisfy this abnormal craving produces more acid, therefore the cycle of overeating and superacidity is complete.
Standard medical works give about sixty different disorders arising from what is termed dis-eases of nutrition. These include diabetes, gout, arthritis, rheumatism, rickets, scurvy, obesity, emaciation, adiposis dolorosa, and various disorders of the liver, heart, and the circulatory system; also constipation and dozens of disorders under the broad term of autointoxication.
The first step in the practise of scientific eating should be to limit the quantity of food, or, in many cases, to take a complete fast for a brief time.
In the slow stages of human development, Nature seems to have accommodated herself to man's omnivorous habits of eating. She will accept many things that are wholly unfit for food without apparent harm if the quantity is not too great. On the contrary, the results of the most scientific dieting will be injurious if a quantity be taken in excess of that which the body can use.
SUPERACIDITY
We will first consider superacidity because it is usually the first disorder that appears in consequence of wrong eating. It is commonly known as "sour stomach."
The chief cause of superacidity is a wrong combination of foods; and particularly an excess of starchy foods and sugars. The starch and sugar breaks down under the action of fermentation, and develops lactic acid. This further inhibits—or prevents—the normal secretion of hydrochloric acid, and, as a consequence, the albumen molecule is insufficiently converted—the transformation of the protein into peptones and proteoses is incomplete.
As with all acid fermentation, gases are produced in the stomach, which give rise to belching and eructations. This fermentation sometimes occasions a feeling as though there were a solid lump in the stomach. This may come on immediately after eating. And then again, it may not come on for two or three hours after the meal—depending entirely upon the activity of the enzymes that are responsible for the fermentation.
HYPERCHLORHYDRIA
Occasionally the hyperacidity is caused by the presence of a superabundance of hydrochloric acid in the stomach. This condition is called hyperchlorhydria, and gives rise to a boring, gnawing sensation in the pit of the stomach, together with an abnormal desire for food.
SUPERACIDITY—THE CAUSE
The chief causes of superacidity are—
1 Too great a quantity of food
2 Wrong combinations and wrong proportions of food
For instance, a diet consisting of an excess of acid fruits, or sweets and starches, and at the same time an insufficient quantity of other nutrients
3 By poisoning from the use of tea or coffee, liquor, tobacco, and the various stimulating and narcotic drugs used by civilized man
4 An excess of hydrochloric acid
SUPERACIDITY—THE SYMPTOMS
So far as the symptoms are concerned, all the above causes may be considered together, since the ultimate result is the same. The symptoms are named in the order of their various stages or the time acidity has endured:
1 [1]Irritation of the mucous lining of the stomach, expressed by a burning sometimes called "heartburn"
2 Abnormal appetite caused by the irritation of too much hydrochloric acid in the irritated cells of the stomach
Many people mistake these symptoms for evidence of good health, until overeating produces nervous indigestion, and sometimes a complete breakdown.
3 Fevered mouth, and so-called fever-sores on the lips and tongue, both of which are a true mirror of the condition of the stomach
4 [1]A sour fluid rising in the throat from one to two hours after meals
5 White coating on the tongue
6 Faintness, emptiness; in the language of the layman a "hollowness and an all-gone caved-in" feeling
[1] (See "Fermentation—The Symptoms," p. 426)
SUPERACIDITY—THE REMEDY
In all cases of superacidity all fruit, especially that of an acid character, except citrus fruits, should be omitted, and also all sweets except a very limited quantity of maple-sugar and sweet fruits—and these never in conjunction with the meal. Foods containing proteids (nitrogen, albumin and casein), together with fresh green vegetables, should form the principal part of the diet.
It has been the theory with dietitians that those afflicted with hyperchlorhydria (supersecretion of hydrochloric acid) should not take sweets, but should take acids liberally. This is one of the few instances in which medical guesswork seems to have a foundation of fact. For there is no doubt but that the giving of hydrochloric acid, the normal stomach acid, before a meal, tends to retard and restrict the development of hydrochloric acid during the meal.
It remains true, on the other hand, that the giving of hydrochloric acid after the meal tends always to increase the supply of free and combined hydrochloric acid in the stomach during the process of stomach digestion.
For list of foods to be eaten and omitted in cases of overeating, superacidity, fermentation and gas dilatation, see p. 433. For the importance of water-drinking, see p. 434.
FERMENTATION
Fermentation is the effort of Nature to dispose of or to dissolve things it cannot use; it is the first step in the process of decay.
FERMENTATION—THE CAUSE
The common causes of fermentation are the same as those of superacidity (see p. 420), the difference being that superacidity originates in the stomach, and is confined chiefly to it, while fermentation may take place throughout the entire intestinal tract. The causes are—
1 Overeating
2 Too much acid fruit
3 An excess of sweets
4 Stimulants of the alkaloid group
5 Overeating of cereal products
FERMENTATION—THE SYMPTOMS
The first evidence of fermentation is a burning sensation in the stomach, almost exactly as in superacidity, the difference being that in cases of fermentation the symptoms appear later after eating. Superacidity may appear immediately after eating, and the symptoms such as a lump in the stomach, or a sour fluid rising in the throat may also appear within an hour after meals, but fermentation, which produces the same symptoms, does not manifest itself until the acid has acted upon the food, which requires from two to four hours, governed by the time required to digest the different articles of which the meal is composed.
The patient may also experience a fullness; an unpleasant and sometimes painful distention of the bowels.
The gas generated by fermentation sometimes passes along down the intestinal tract into the ascending colon, accumulating at the highest point, which is in the transverse colon. This causes the transverse colon to become very much distended and seriously interferes with the blood flow, both into and out of the heart and the lungs.
(See "Gastritis," p. 447; also "Heart Trouble," p. 569).
In considering the symptoms of fermentation, it might be well to return to the question of causes. The primary cause of nearly all conditions of fermentation, either in the stomach or in the intestinal tract, is overeating, or an unbalanced dietary.
This practise indulged in from day to day causes two specific conditions:
If the stomach and other digestive organs are capable of assimilating this superabundance of food, they force into the tissues an excess which Nature stores up in the form of fat, and if work or activity is not increased, or the food diminished, excessive fat or chronic obesity is the result.
If the first warnings are not observed, and the remedy applied, Nature gives to the disobedient one more impressive signals in the form of nervousness, irritability, abnormal appetite, and sometimes mental depression, which indicates one of the most advanced stages of superacidity.
FERMENTATION—THE REMEDY
The remedy for fermentation is first to eat only such foods as are in chemical harmony, and second to limit the quantity to the actual needs of the body. If the patient is under normal weight, all acid fruits should be eliminated, and the diet should be about as follows:
BREAKFAST
Three or four egg whites and one yolk, whipped five or six minutes; add a large spoonful of sugar and one of cream while whipping
A baked white potato or boiled wheat
A tablespoonful of wheat bran
LUNCHEON
One whole egg whipped five minutes; add sugar and cream to taste while whipping, mix with a glass of milk
A large boiled onion
A baked potato, with butter
Two tablespoonfuls of bran
DINNER
Two fresh vegetables—choice of carrots, corn, turnips, peas, beans, or squash
Spinach, or a salad of lettuce and celery
The whites of two or three eggs, whipped; add sugar and cream while whipping
A baked potato
Wheat bran, cooked as a cereal
From two to three glasses of cool water should be drunk at each meal.
It will be noticed that this bill of fare is composed largely of vegetables, which is right in cases of fermentation.
The foods named in the above menus will remove the primary causes of fermentation, which in turn is the most prolific cause of that abnormal mental condition called despondency. Under the most favorable social and financial conditions, when every environment is pleasant and seemingly conducive to the highest degree of pleasure and interest in life, the one afflicted with superacidity and fermentation has been known to destroy himself; all life seems gloomy, all effort useless, and the thought "Why should I desire to live?" enters the mind unbidden, until it often takes tangible shape in some rash act. Possibly within the memory of every individual one of these rash acts can be recalled.
The practitioner should make it a special point to ascertain any adverse or depressed mental conditions of his patient and remove them, if possible, by encouragement, sympathetic counsel and optimistic views, all of which have a splendid psychological effect, and which, in nearly all cases of mental depression, are very important.
As the supersecretion of hydrochloric acid becomes less and less, fermentation will gradually disappear; the patient will at once begin to gain weight; the mental conditions will show an immediate improvement, and every part of the anatomy will share in the general upbuilding.
GAS DILATATION
So closely related are gas dilatation, fermentation and superacidity that it might be said they all come from common causes, such as excessive eating, over-consumption of sweets, acid fruits, starches, and the use of tobacco, stimulating beverages and drugs.
GAS DILATATION—THE SYMPTOMS
The symptoms of gas dilatation are practically the same as those given for fermentation, page 426. In addition thereto, however, there is often belching, loss of appetite, a weighty or draggy feeling, and vomiting sometimes an hour or two after meals, or late at night.
Scanty urine and constipation are frequently the results of gas dilatation. In severe cases the stomach drops down below its normal level, causing permanent stomach prolapsus.
To the trained eye, in severe cases, the stomach may be outlined, especially when it is much distended.
For remedy, see "Fermentation," page 428.
See also menus for Gastritis.
IN CASES OF OVEREATING, SUPERACIDITY, FERMENTATION AND GAS DILATATION
| OMIT | EAT |
| All acid fruits | Bananas, very ripe |
| All sweets except sweet fruits | Green salads |
| in limited quantities | Liberal quantity of fresh |
| Cane-sugar | green vegetables |
| Condiments | Limited quantity of blood-less |
| Coffee and tea | meat, such as fish and white meat |
| Cream | of tender fowl |
| Fatty foods | Limited quantity of coarse cereals |
| Gravies | Limited quantity of eggs and |
| Pastries | milk—sweet and sour |
| Stimulating and intoxicating | Melons |
| beverages | Nuts |
| Subacid fruits in extreme cases | Potatoes |
| Tobacco | Sweet fruits—limited quantity |
| White bread | Wheat bran |
| Whole wheat, thoroughly cooked | |
| Whole wheat bread—sparingly |
IMPORTANCE OF WATER-DRINKING
The lack of body-moisture is one of the causes of supersecretion of acid, therefore water is of primary importance in removing the causes of the above disorders. It should be drunk freely immediately on rising, and just before retiring. From two to three glasses should also be drunk at each meal, especially in treating severe cases. Copious water-drinking also relieves irritation of the stomach, thus reducing abnormal appetite.
Patients afflicted with superacidity never have natural thirst.
CONSTIPATION
THE CAUSE
This disorder might be called "civilizatis," so universal has it become among civilized people.
Several conditions may conspire to cause constipation—
1 Premature stomach digestion
2 Neutralization of the bile by excessive acid
3 Eating too much starchy food
4 Flesh-eating
5 Sedentary habits or lack of proper exercise
6 A diet too refined—lacking in roughness, cellulose or "fodder"
7 The use of sedatives, stimulants, and narcotics, such as tea, coffee, liquor, tobacco, and drugs, especially of the alkaloid group
While most of these are direct causes, the primary cause, however, goes back to superacidity—premature stomach-digestion.
In cases of superacidity the liver is nearly always more or less inactive. Just why this is so is not definitely known, but in the opinion of the writer it is caused by the neutralization of bile by the excess of acid. Be this as it may, nearly all cases of superacidity are accompanied by intestinal congestion, commonly called constipation, or by intermittent diarrhea and constipation.
CONSTIPATION—THE REMEDY
It is believed by the medical profession, and generally accepted by the public, that certain drugs act upon the alimentary tract with beneficial effect in cases of intestinal congestion. This is untrue. The facts are the intestines act upon the drug. The drug is an offense to Nature, and when it is taken into the stomach and passed on to the intestines, the body-fluids are severely drawn upon to neutralize the poison, and to cast it out. The result, therefore, of taking poisons, miscalled "laxatives," is that each time the act is repeated, the liver and the peristaltic muscles are weakened, and rendered more and more abnormal, and less and less able to perform their natural functions.
That system of treatment which has been prescribed for fermentation will, in most cases, relieve constipation. The treatment should be varied, however, according to the age and the occupation of the patient, governed by the season of the year, or the foods available at the time of treatment. If diagnosis of the patient reveals the fact that constipation has been caused primarily by overeating, the quantity of food should be reduced, and the articles changed so as to include a generous quantity of cellulose (coarse foods).
The following bill of fare may be given under ordinary conditions:
Immediately on rising, take two or three cups of water, the juice of one or two oranges, or half a pound of grapes, swallowing the seeds and pulp whole, masticating only the skins. Devote from eight to ten minutes to vigorous exercise, especially movements Nos. 3 and 5, as shown in "Exercise and Re-creation," Vol. V, pp. 1344 and 1345.
BREAKFAST
Half a cup of coarse wheat bran, cooked ten minutes; serve with thin cream
Whole wheat, boiled five or six hours
One or two very ripe bananas, with either nuts or thin cream
LUNCHEON
One or two fresh vegetables
A "two-minute" egg or a very small portion of fish
A heaping tablespoonful of bran
DINNER
Two of the following vegetables: Corn, carrots, peas, beans, parsnips, turnips, onions
A baked potato
Celery, lettuce, or anything green, with nuts
One egg
A tablespoonful of wheat bran
From one to two glasses of water should be drunk at each of these meals.
These menus are merely suggestive. They may be varied according to judgment, depending upon the habits and the environments of the patient. Curative feeding for constipation is one of the most important departments of this work, and will receive special consideration in the volume of Menus.
FOODS THAT MAY BE SUBSTITUTED FOR ONE ANOTHER
The menus may also be varied by substituting the articles herein given for other things of the same general class.
| Examples: | |
| {Evaporated peaches | |
| Dried fruits | {Evaporated apricots |
| {Prunes |
The above are all in the same general class, and may be substituted for one another.
| {Dates | ||
| Sweet fruits | {Figs | —All form another class |
| {Raisins | ||
| {Eggs | ||
| Dairy products | {Milk | |
| and Meats | {Fish | |
| {Fowl |
These compose the nitrogenous group, and may be substituted for one another.
| {Carrots | ||
| Vegetables | {Parsnips | —Are in the same group |
| {Turnips | ||
| {Beans | ||
| Legumes | {Peas | —Are in the same general class |
| {Lentils | ||
| {Barley Rice | ||
| Cereals | {Corn Rye | |
| {Oats Wheat |
Barley, corn, oats, rice, rye and wheat are the six great staples, which grouped are called cereals. They form the carbohydrate class of grains, and may be substituted for one another. In cases of constipation, however, whole wheat and rye are preferable, owing to the large amount of bran they contain.
| {Dandelion | ||
| {Kale | ||
| Edible succulent | {Lettuce | —Belong to same class |
| Plants | {Parsley | |
| {Romaine | ||
| {Spinach | ||
| Citrus fruits | {Grapefruit | |
| {Lemons | ||
| {Limes | ||
| {Oranges |
All citrus-fruits (fruits containing citric acid), so far as their action upon the liver is concerned, have practically the same effects, and substantially the same nutritive value.