Nature Cure: Philosophy & Practice Based On The Unity Of Disease & Cure Part 33

Builders;

Antiseptics:

Blood Purifiers;

Laxitives;

Cholagogues;

Producers of

Electro-magnetic Energies

THE RED BLOOD OF ANIMALS. CEREALS: The hulls and outer, dark layers of grains and rice. VEGETABLES: Lettuce, spinach, cabbage, green peppers, watercress, celery, onions, asparagus, cauliflower, tomatoes, string-beans, fresh peas, parsley, cuc.u.mbers, radishes, savoy, horseradish, dandelion, beets, carrots, turnips, eggplant, kohlrabi, oysterplant, artichokes, leek, rosekale (Brussels sprouts), parsnips, pumpkins, squashes, sorghum. FRUITS: Apples, pears, peaches, oranges, lemons, grapefruit, plums, prunes, apricots, cherries, olives. BERRIES: Strawberries, huckleberries, cranb erries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, gooseberries, currants. DAIRY PRODUCTS: Milk, b.u.t.termilk, skimmed milk. NUTS: Cocoanuts.

In the accompanying table ent.i.tled "Dietics In A Nutsh.e.l.l" we have divided all food materials into five groups:

GROUP:

(Carbohydrates): Starches. (Carbohydrates): Dextrins and sugars.

(Hydrocarbons): Fats and oils. (Proteids): white of egg, lean meat, the gluten of grains and pulses, the proteins of nuts and milk.

(Organic Minerals): Iron, sodium calcium, pota.s.sium, magnesium, silicon. These are contained in largest amounts in the juicy fruits and the leafy, juicy vegetables.

As a general rule, let one-half of your food consist of Group V and the other half of a mixture of the first four groups.

If you wish to follow a pure food diet, exclude meat, fish, fowl, meat soups and sauces and all other foods prepared from the dead animal carca.s.s.

This is brief and comprehensive. When in doubt, consult this rule.

Also do not use coffee, tea, alcoholic beverages, tobacco or stimulants of any kind.

Good foods are:

Dairy Products: milk, b.u.t.termilk, skimmed milk, cream, b.u.t.ter, fresh cottage cheese. fermented cheeses, as American, Swiss, Holland and DeBrie, should be used sparingly. The stronger cheeses like Camembert and Roquefort should not be used at all

Eggs: Raw, soft-boiled or poached, not fried or hard-boiled. Eggs should be used sparingly. Two eggs three times a week or on an average one egg a day, is sufficient.

White of egg is much easier to digest than the yolk, therefore the whites only should be used in cases of very weak digestion. Beaten up with orange juice, they are both palatable and wholesome; or they may be beaten very stiff and served cold with a sauce of prune juice or other cooked fruit juices. This makes a delicious and very nutritive dish.

Honey is a very valuable food and a natural laxative. It is not generally known that honey is not a purely vegetable product, but that in pa.s.sing through the organism of the bee it partakes of its life element (animal magnetism).

Honey is one of the best forms of sugar available. The white sugar is detrimental to health, because it has become inorganic through the refining process. The brown, unrefined granulated sugar or maple sugar should be used instead.

Figs, dates, raisins, bananas and all the other sweet fruits are excellent to satisfy the craving of the organism for sweets.

Cereal Foods: Rice, wheat, oats, barley, are good when properly combined with fruits and vegetables and with dairy products. Use preferably the whole-grain preparations such as shredded wheat or corn flakes. Oatmeal is not easily digestible; it is all right for robust people working in the open air, but not so good for invalids and people of sedentary habits.

Thin mushes are not to be recommended, because they do not require mastication and therefore escape the action of the saliva, which is indispensable to the digestion of starchy foods.

Avoid the use of white bread or any other white-flour products, especially pastry. White flour contains little more than the starchy elements of the grain. Most of the valuable proteins which are equal to meat in food value and the all-important organic salts which lodge in the hulls and the outer layers of the grain have been refined out of it together with the bran. The latter is in itself very valuable as a mechanical stimulant to the peristaltic action of the bowels.

In preference to white bread eat Graham bread or whole rye bread.

Our health bread forms the solid foundation of a well-balanced vegetarian diet. It is prepared as follows:

Take one-third each of white flour, Graham flour and rye meal (not the ordinary Bohemian rye flour, but the coa.r.s.e pumpernickel meal which contains the whole of the rye, including the hull).

Make a sponge of the white flour in the usual manner, either with good yeast or with leavened dough from the last baking, which has been kept cold and sweet. When the sponge has risen sufficiently, work the graham flour and rye meal into it. Thorough kneading is of importance. Let rise slowly a second time, place in pans, and bake slowly until thoroughly done.

By chemical a.n.a.lysis this bread has been found to contain more nourishment than meat. It is very easily digested and a.s.similated and is a natural laxative. Eaten with sweet b.u.t.ter and in combination with fruits and vegetables, it makes a complete and well balanced meal.

A good subst.i.tute for bread is the following excellent whole wheat preparation: Soak clean, soft wheat in cold water for about seven hours and steam in a double boiler for from eight to twelve hours, or cook in a fireless cooker over night. Eat with honey and milk or cream, or with prune juice, fig juice, etc., or add b.u.t.ter and dates or raisins. This dish is more nutritious than meat, and one of the finest laxative foods in existence.

Nuts are exceedingly rich in fats (60 percent) and proteins (15 percent), but rank low in mineral salts. Therefore they should be used sparingly, and always in combination with fruits, berries or vegetables. The coconut differs from the other nuts in that it contains less fats and proteins and more organic salts. The meat of the coconut together with its milk comes nearer to the chemical composition of human milk than any other food in existence.

Vegetables

Leguminous Vegetables, such as peas, beans and lentils in the ripened state are richer in protein than meat (25 percent), and besides they contain a large percentage of starchy food elements (60 percent); therefore they produce in the process of digestion large quant.i.ties of poisonous acids, alkaloids of putrefaction and noxious gases.

They should not be taken in large quant.i.ties and only in combination cooked or raw vegetables. As a dressing use lemon juice and olive oil.

Peas and beans in the green state differ very much from their chemical composition in the ripened state. As long as these vegetables are green and in the pulp, they contain large quant.i.ties of sugars and organic minerals, with but little starch and protein.

As the ripening process advances, the percentages of starches and proteins increase, while those of the sugars and of the organic minerals decrease. The latter retire into the leaves and stems (polarization).

In the green, pulpy state these foods may, therefore, be cla.s.sed with Group II (Sugars) and with Group V (Organic Minerals), while in the ripened state they must be cla.s.sed with Groups I (Starches) and Groups IV (Proteids).

Dried peas, beans and lentils are more palatable and wholesome when cooked in combination with tomatoes or prunes.

The Leafy and Juicy Vegetables growing in or near the ground are very rich in the positive organic salts and therefore of great nutritive and medicinal value. For this reason they are best suited to balance the negative, acid-producing starches, sugars, fats and proteins.

Lettuce, spinach, cabbage, watercress, celery, parsley, savoy cabbage, brussels sprouts, Scotch kale, leek and endive rank highest in organic mineral salts. Next to these come tomatoes, cuc.u.mbers, green peppers, radishes, onions, asparagus, cauliflower and horseradish.(See also Group V in "Dietetics in a Nutsh.e.l.l.")

Splendid, cooling summer foods, rich in the blood-purifying organic salts, are watermelons, muskmelons. cantaloupes, pumpkins, squashes and other members of the melon family.

The green vegetables are most beneficial when eaten raw, with a dressing of lemon juice and olive oil. Avoid the use of vinegar as much as possible. It is a product of fermentation and a powerful preservative which r.e.t.a.r.ds digestion as well as fermentation, both processes being very much of the same character.

Use neither pepper nor salt at the table. They may be used sparingly in cooking. Strong spices and condiments are more or less irritating to the mucous linings of the intestinal tract. They paralyze gradually the nerves of taste. At first they stimulate the digestive organs; but, like all other stimulants, in time they produce weakness and atrophy.

Cooking of Vegetables

While most vegetables are not improved by cooking, we do not mean that they should never be cooked. Many diet reformers go to extremes when they claim that all the organic salts in fruits and vegetables are rendered inorganic by cooking. This is an exaggera-tion. Cooking is merely a mechanical process of subdivision, not a chemical process of transformation. Mechanical processes of division do not dissolve or destroy organic molecules to any great extent.

Nevertheless, it remains true that the green leafy vegetables are not improved by cooking. It is different with the starchy tubers and roots like potatoes, turnips, etc., and with other starchy foods such as rice and grains. Here the cooking serves to break up and separate the hard starch granules and to make them more pervious to penetration by the digestive juices.

How to Cook Vegetables

After the vegetables are thoroughly washed and cut into pieces as desired, place them in the cooking vessel, adding only enough water to keep them from burning, cover the vessel closely with a lid and let them steam slowly in their own juices.

The leafy vegetables (cabbage, spinach, kale, etc.), usually contain enough water for their own steaming.