THERAPY.
Diet: I. For the Anaemic.
All that grows in the sunshine makes blood. Therefore, the food of an anaemic person should consist mainly of articles of diet which grow above the surface, such as green vegetables, fresh greens, fruit, berries. Since the blood has already grown very thin, as little fluid as possible should be taken, and for this reason the boasted milk cures are far from advisable. If all hot reasoning is avoided and little salt and sugar are used, no thirst will be felt. Coffee, tea, beer, wine and other alcoholic drinks are to be avoided because they consume oxygen, such as also do thin soups, lemonade, malt coffee, and other beverages of slight food value.
Breakfast: In summer, a glass of cold milk, sweet or sour, and with it strawberries, huckleberries, cherries, or other fruit in season; in winter milk or cocoa, oatmeal porridge with bread (whole wheat, whole rye), or something similar. When the bowels are sluggish, take a little fruit on rising in the morning and at bedtime.
Dinner: Cereals, rice, macaroni, dumplings and eggs, with fresh greens, spinach, fresh peas, fresh beans, cauliflower, all varieties of cabbage, cucumbers, pumpkins and squashes. Root vegetables are not excluded. Celery and parsnips alone interfere with the renewal of blood. They ought not to be eaten frequently.
Afternoon Lunch: Fruit, milk or one cup only of weak cocoa. If the appetite is good, omit this meal.
Supper: Every day, if possible, some fresh greens seasoned with lemon juice, particularly cresses, lettuce, endive, spinach and red cabbage, with puddings of meal or eggs. Sour milk with fruit and mild cheese, may be taken for a change. In winter, thick soup or porridge with fruit, preferably apples and huckleberries. Also an apple at bedtime.
Anaemic people commonly have no wish for meat. They force themselves to eat it in the belief that only on a meat diet is it possible for them to become strong. They would do better to follow their inclination and refrain from it altogether. They regain health faster on a purely vegetable diet, one special reason being that the digestion is less burdened.
Fattening, combined with rest and rational remedies, like Dech-Manna-Diet, are the best means of curing anaemia.
The deficient appetite must be stimulated through tastefully prepared dishes and much variety. The patient will thus unconsciously be induced to take more food. Delicacies and dainty dishes foster pleasure in eating, and a little food between the principal meals will help to make up the necessary amount. Spinach, also egg omelettes filled with spinach, puddings, groat, oatmeal, light dishes prepared with plenty of eggs, sugar, butter and milk, also roasted meat if desired are the best articles of food for anaemic patients. Drinks that are recommended are: strong malt extracts, buttermilk, sour milk, Dech-Manna chocolate, fruit coffees, fruits, berries, honey and Dech-Manna-Diet.
I. and II. A. For Scrofulous Patients.
Two affections, rachitis and scrofula, frequently co-exist, and the same dietary is appropriate for both. Scrofulous patients often have a great longing for sulphur and for irritating compounds. Frequently they consume salt greedily, eat charcoal, onions, and other piquant substances. This indicates their need of vegetables and fresh greens full of nutritious salts and of pungent taste and smell because of the amount of sulphur they contain.
Various kinds of cabbage are appropriate for the principal dinner dish, cooked or raw in the form of a salad, with horseradish to give them relish. For seasoning of vegetables and salads, onions and leeks may be used unsparingly; onion soups will be found palatable and will improve the lymph.
At supper water-cress, lettuce, radishes, and sandwiches made of chives are preferable to sausage and rich cheese. Fresh, mild cheese makes a good side-dish.
Meat should be eaten sparingly, because it rapidly changes into products of decomposition in the lymph, and so the harmful rather than the useful fluids of the body are increased.
In connection with rachitis and scrofula a ravenous appetite is often manifested. This is a morbid symptom. It arises from exhaustion of the stomach and intestines, for no increase of bodily weight accompanies it. The greater part of the nourishment taken passes out of the system without being digested. Such persons, whether adults or children, should have their meals at regular, short intervals, for they are unable to restrain their morbid eagerness for food. After a few days of strict diet they lose their appetite, a condition that must be accepted until a natural hunger takes its place and results in a normal increase in bodily weight.
It is well known that many people suffer from hives and eczema after having eaten certain dishes, such as crawfish, strawberries, oysters, honey, tomatoes or cheese. For such people to refrain from partaking of this kind of food is no protection against eczema. Only regeneration of the blood will lead to a cure.
As a rule such patients should avoid sharp and spicy dishes; especially desirable is a diet of fresh, good meat, not in very large quantity, alternating with days on which no meat at all is taken. It is imperative to avoid sharp cheese, such as Roquefort, mustard, sardelles, mixed pickles and similar spicy dishes. Form VI is best for patients suffering from scrofulosis.
I. and II. B. For Tuberculosis Patients.
Patients who suffer from diseases of the lungs or other tubercular tissues do not require food of different composition than is generally recommended, provided their digestive organs are healthy. They must have albumen (medium fat beef, veal lean pork, haddie, pickled herring, eggs, brick cheese, peas) and fat in sufficient, even abundant quantity. Warmed milk is recommended especially. Variety in food should prevail. This will be the best means of overcoming the dangerous lack of appetite, which must be stimulated by delicacies and cleverly prepared dishes given between meals, sandwiches, cold fowl, jellies, piquant cold meats. The single portions should be small but frequent. Good beer rich in malt, sherry, malaga and other sweet wines, are all able to promote the appetite, unless the physician orders strict abstinence from alcohol.
In case of haemorrhage of the lungs, the physician will generally prescribe liquid food exclusively, and his orders must be observed strictly. In such cases it is very advisable to take gelatine, which can be prepared in a variety of ways, or meat jellies.
Care should be taken in all forms of tubercular patients, that the special tissue gets its special composition.
I. and II. C. For Syphilitic Patients.
The diet for people affected with syphilis does not vary from the one given under I and II. A. for scrofulous patients. Just as in the case of scrofulosis, a rich diet is recommended for syphilis. (Form VI).
In former times starvation-cures were applied in case of syphilis, based on the hypothesis that diseased humours in the body should be reduced. In view of the noxious effect which the disease exercises on the entire body, this method has been given up. In case of the hereditary syphilis of infants, the best possible diet for the mother must always be insisted upon. (Never less than Form VI and Dech-Manna Eubiogen, with each meal). If nursing by the mother is impossible, and since a wet-nurse cannot be subjected to the danger of contamination through the child, easily digestible substitutes for mother's milk should be selected; that is, not cow's milk, but other approved nutritive foods for infants. It will be most beneficial to add Dech-Manna Eubiogen Liquid to the child's food.
I. and II. D. For Cancer Patients.
Cachectic patients should not, as some authorities recommended in former times, be starved by poor diet in addition to the losses which they already suffer when afflicted with diseases, such as cancer. Except in case of cancer of the stomach and bowels, when I would recommend Form III and, with gradual improvement, an increase up to Form VI, the latter form of diet should always be prescribed in case of cancer. Special instructions, as given under the heading, I. and II. C. For Syphilitic Patients, should also be followed in these cases.
Dech-Manna-Compositions:
(Only main compositions, specialities to Doctor's order).
I. Anaemia: Plasmogen, Eubiogen.
I. and II. A. Scrofulosis: Plasmogen, Lymphogen, Dermogen, Eubiogen.
I. and II. B. Tuberculosis: Plasmogen, Lymphogen, Mucogen,
Gelatinogen, Eubiogen
I. and II. C. Syphilis: Plasmogen, Lymphogen, Dermogen,
Eubiogen
I. and II. D. Cancer: Plasmogen, Lymphogen, Eubiogen.
Physical:
I. Anaemia. Breathing Exercises.
I. and II. A. Scrofulosis: Partial Packs, Oxygenator baths, Radium and
Salt whole baths.
I. and II. B. Tuberculosis: Ablutions, Breathing Exercises.
I. and II. C. Syphilis Abdominal packs, Partial packs, Oxygenator, Radium
and Salt half baths.
I. and II. D. Cancer: Oxygenator, Radium and Salt whole baths.