Alcohol has no power to form tissue or to repair waste and cannot be regarded as a true food. Tea and coffee are almost entirely stimulant, not nutritious, and should be taken sparingly or not at all.
The common mistakes in diet are over-feeding or taking too much of one kind of food, and of the latter class perhaps an excess of starchy food is the most mischievous. If taken in excess, especially by the young, the starchy foods are not digested and what does not digest must putrefy: the result is a bowel distended with harmful gases. Many people eat too much nitrogenous food, with resulting plethora or gout. A great deal of vigorous exercise in the open air is required to use up such a diet.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
SELECTION AND PREPARATION OF FOOD.
The requirements for normal digestion, assimilation and elimination are: (1) An intestinal canal clean and sound from mouth to anus; (2) nutritious food properly prepared; (3) regularity and moderation in eating; (4) free use of pure water, sufficient to forward the emulsification and assimilation of the food and the elimination of waste—whether that waste be of the residual portion of the food or of detritus of tissue; (5) a seasonably clad body, free from fatigue or loss of sleep; (6) a cheerful mind.
Every sensible person will grant that a good digestion of vegetable or animal food furnishes sufficient steam and stimulus for the physical man; that a good digestion of intellectual food (ideas) furnishes the corresponding requisites for the mental man; and that exalted sentiments are the pabulum of the spiritual.
Why over-stimulate the physical, and reflexively degrade the mental and spiritual, by indulgence in tea, coffee, beer, wine, liquors, opium, tobacco, etc.? Over-stimulation will bring on indigestion; and prostration will follow that. Remember that Nature does not carry long credit accounts.
A suggestion for the selection and preparation of physical foods is here given; this book being hardly the place for a corresponding list of mental and spiritual foods.
| FOODS EASY OF DIGESTION. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ARTICLES OF FOOD | HOW PREPARED | TIME OF DIGESTION | |
| Venison steak | Broiled | 1 hour | 30 minutes |
| Pig's feet soused | Boiled | 1 " | 00 " |
| Brains | Boiled | 1 " | 45 " |
| Salmon, tripe or trout (fresh) | Boiled or fried | 1 " | 00 " |
| Eggs, fresh | Whipped | 1 " | 30 " |
| Rice | Boiled | 1 " | 00 " |
| Sago or barley | Boiled | 1 " | 45 " |
| Apples, sweet and mellow | Raw | 1 " | 30 " |
| Tomatoes or lettuce | Raw | 1 " | 30 " |
| Melons or watercress | Raw | 1 " | 20 " |
| Peaches, plums or pears | Raw or stewed | 1 " | 30 " |
| Oranges or bananas | Raw | 1 " | 30 " |
| Asparagus or dandelion | Boiled | 1 " | 30 " |
| Onions or apricots | Stewed | 1 " | 30 " |
| Mushrooms | Boiled | 1 " | 30 " |
| Cereal coffee | Boiled | 1 " | 30 " |
| Blackberries | 1 " | 30 " | |
| Grape-nuts | 1 " | 00 " | |
| Lemons | 1 " | 00 " | |
| Watermelons | 1 " | 00 " | |
| Doxsee's clam juice and little neck clams | 1 " | 00 " | |
| Milkine, Horlick's and Mellin's food | 1 " | 30 " | |
| Cereal milk | 1 " | 00 " | |
| Armour & Co.'s Vigoral. | 1 " | 00 " | |
| Valentine's or Wyeth's beef juice or Wiel's beef jelly | 1 " | 00 " | |
| FOODS NOT SO EASY OF DIGESTION. | |||
| ARTICLES OF FOOD | HOW PREPARED | TIME OF DIGESTION | |
| Beef | Boiled | 2 hours | 00 minutes |
| Pig, sucking | Roasted | 2 " | 30 " |
| Liver, beef (fresh) | Broiled | 2 " | 00 " |
| Lamb, fresh | Broiled | 2 " | 30 " |
| Turkey, domestic | Roasted or boiled | 2 " | 30 " |
| Turkey, wild | Roasted | 2 " | 18 " |
| Goose, wild | Roasted | 2 " | 30 " |
| Chicken | Fricasseed | 2 " | 45 " |
| Codfish, cured and dry | Boiled | 2 " | 00 " |
| Oysters, fresh | Raw | 2 " | 35 " |
| Hash (chopped meat and vegetables) | Warmed | 2 " | 30 " |
| Eggs, fresh | Roasted | 2 " | 15 " |
| Eggs, fresh | Raw | 2 " | 00 " |
| Milk | Boiled | 2 " | 00 " |
| Milk | Uncooked | 2 " | 15 " |
| Gelatine | Boiled | 2 " | 30 " |
| Custard | Baked | 2 " | 45 " |
| Tapioca or barley | Boiled | 2 " | 00 " |
| Beans, green | Boiled | 2 " | 30 " |
| Sponge cake | Baked | 2 " | 30 " |
| Apples, sour and mellow | Raw | 2 " | 00 " |
| Apples, hard | Raw | 2 " | 50 " |
| Parsnips or green corn | Boiled | 2 " | 30 " |
| Potatoes and yams | Roasted or baked | 2 " | 30 " |
| Cabbage, head | Raw | 2 " | 30 " |
| Cabbage, head with vinegar | Raw | 2 " | 00 " |
| Cauliflower | Boiled | 2 " | 00 " |
| Peas (green) or squash | Boiled | 2 " | 00 " |
| Cranberries or cherries | Stewed | 2 " | 00 " |
| Rhubarb or figs | Stewed | 2 " | 30 " |
| Turnips | Boiled | 2 " | 30 " |
| Sprouts | Boiled | 2 " | 00 " |
| Raspberries | Raw | 2 " | 00 " |
| Dates | Raw | 2 " | 00 " |
| Buttermilk | Raw | 2 " | 00 " |
| Pumpkin | Cooked | 2 " | 00 " |
| FOODS SOMEWHAT DIFFICULT OF DIGESTION. | |||
| ARTICLES OF FOOD | HOW PREPARED | TIME OF DIGESTION | |
| Beef, fresh, lean | Broiled | 3 hours | 00 minutes |
| Beef, fresh, lean | Roasted | 3 " | 00 " |
| Beef, dry | Roasted | 3 " | 30 " |
| Beef, dry with salt only | Boiled | 3 " | 45 " |
| Beef, dry with mustard, etc. | Boiled | 3 " | 30 " |
| Pork, steak | Broiled | 3 " | 15 " |
| Pork, recently salted | Broiled | 3 " | 15 " |
| Pork, recently salted | Raw | 3 " | 00 " |
| Pork, recently salted | Stewed | 3 " | 00 " |
| Mutton, fresh | Broiled | 3 " | 00 " |
| Mutton, fresh | Roasted | 3 " | 15 " |
| Mutton, fresh | Boiled | 3 " | 00 " |
| Flounder, fresh | Boiled | 3 " | 30 " |
| Oysters, fresh | Roasted | 3 " | 15 " |
| Oysters, fresh | Stewed | 3 " | 30 " |
| Codfish (salted) or whitefish | Boiled | 3 " | 00 " |
| Sausages, fresh | Broiled | 3 " | 20 " |
| Rabbits | Broiled | 3 " | 00 " |
| Butter or cream | 3 " | 00 " | |
| Eggs, fresh | Hard-boiled or fried | 3 " | 30 " |
| Eggs, fresh | Soft-boiled | 3 " | 00 " |
| Potatoes, turnips or carrots | Boiled | 3 " | 30 " |
| Radishes or lentils | Boiled | 3 " | 30 " |
| Bread (white) fresh | Baked | 3 " | 15 " |
| Bread, whole wheat | Baked | 3 " | 30 " |
| Bread, rye | Baked | 3 " | 30 " |
| Bread, graham | Baked | 3 " | 30 " |
| Bread, corn | Baked | 3 " | 15 " |
| Corn cake | Baked | 3 " | 00 " |
| Apple dumpling | Boiled | 3 " | 00 " |
| Soup, mutton or oyster | Boiled | 3 " | 30 " |
| Soup, bean | Boiled | 3 " | 00 " |
| Soup, chicken | Boiled | 3 " | 00 " |
| Chocolate or cocoa | Boiled | 3 " | 00 " |
| Currants or filberts | 3 " | 00 " | |
| Raisins | 3 " | 00 " | |
| Hazelnuts | 3 " | 30 " | |
| Peanuts | Roasted | 3 " | 00 " |
| Potatoes (sweet) | Roasted | 3 " | 00 " |
| Walnuts | 3 " | 30 " | |
| Chestnuts | Roasted | 3 " | 15 " |
| Beans, lima | Boiled | 3 " | 00 " |
| Zwieback | 3 " | 00 " | |
| Turkey | Boiled or roasted | 3 to 4 | hours |
| Eels | Fried | 3 to 4 | " |
| Oleomargarine | 3 to 4 | " | |
| Cabbage | Boiled | 3 to 4 | " |
| Buckwheat cakes | 3 to 4 | " | |
| Mutton, lean | Roasted | 3 to 4 | " |
| Herring | Broiled | 3½ to 4½ | " |
| Cheese | 3½ to 6 | " | |
| FOODS VERY DIFFICULT OF DIGESTION. | |||
| ARTICLES OF FOOD | HOW PREPARED | TIME OF DIGESTION | |
| Beef, fresh, lean | Fried | 4 hours | 00 minutes |
| Beef, old, hard, salted | Boiled | 4 " | 15 " |
| Beef, recently salted | Boiled | 4 " | 30 " |
| Beef, recently salted | Fried | 4 " | 15 " |
| Beef,fat or lean | Roasted | 5 " | 15 " |
| Beef, suet (fresh) | Boiled | 5 " | 30 " |
| Beef, soup with vegetables and bread | Boiled | 4 " | 00 " |
| Beef, soup from marrow bones | Boiled | 4 " | 15 " |
| Pork, fat and lean | Roasted | 5 " | 15 " |
| Pork, recently salted | Boiled | 4 " | 00 " |
| Pork recently salted | Fried | 4 " | 15 " |
| Pork, ham | Cured | 4 " | 30 " |
| Veal | Broiled | 4 " | 00 " |
| Veal | Fried | 4 " | 30 " |
| Mutton, suet | Boiled | 4 " | 30 " |
| Fowls | Boiled or roasted | 4 " | 00 " |
| Heart, animal | Fried | 4 " | 00 " |
| Salmon, salted, or mackerel | Boiled | 4 " | 00 " |
| Cabbage, with vinegar | Boiled | 4 " | 30 " |
| Cheese, old, strong | Raw | 3½ to 6½ | hours |
| Duck | Roasted | 4 hours | 30 minutes |