The ripe olive contains just what an ordinary vegetarian—especially fruit—diet lacks. In being a wholesome source of fat they materially add to the value of other vegetarian dishes. Nuts also supply oils in a healthful form. Those oils are serviceable in nervous disorders, rheumatism, diabetes, and other diseases.
XII
THE FRUITARIAN DIET
Anyone who has followed me through the preceding chapters will probably have come to the conclusion that there is no article of diet left which he can live upon and eat without detriment! Apparently everything has been condemned in turn. Meat, game, fish, shellfish, soups of all kinds, vegetables, grains, flours, cereals, milk, cheese, butter, eggs and dairy products of all kinds, stimulants, spices, jellies—all have been examined in turn, and found unsuitable for human food. But man must live, and the question remains: Are there any foods which he can eat freely and live—not only without detriment to himself, but with positive benefit—feeling assured that they are upbuilding his body, his mind, and his energies, and sustaining his physiological integrity, throughout, in a wholesome and natural manner? It will be seen in going over the list that two important articles of diet have been omitted—viz. fruits and nuts. These, and these alone, supplemented, perhaps, by one or two other articles of diet, can, I contend, sustain man in a perfect state of health; can supply all the needs of his body, and preserve the highest standard of health and energy; while the diet is in accord with his physiological mechanism, and his anatomical structure. The one or two articles of diet that might be added (though I do not consider it necessary that they should be added) are honey, olive oil, and, occasionally, perhaps, whole-wheat bread. It is an interesting fact that there are only two articles of diet in the world, apparently, made exclusively for food—milk and honey. The milk is to nourish the young of the animal which secretes it, and normally the supply would be terminated when the animal was weaned—if nature were not perverted, and the process of milking instituted. But we have considered milk as an article of diet in the former pages. Honey is manufactured by the bees for the express purpose of supplying them with food during the winter months, and man only obtains his supply by robbing the bees of their hard-earned food, and substituting other food in its place. Honey contains a large amount of valuable saccharine material, and I have endeavoured to show on a previous page that a certain amount of saccharine matter, or sweet-stuff, is necessary for the maintenance of health—probably a larger quantity than we are in the habit of supposing. This, honey will supply. It may be noted, however, that certain sweet fruits, notably dates, also contain large amounts of sugar, and if a quantity of dates were eaten, they would doubtless supply all the demands of the system for sugar, without recourse to honey at all. Olive oil is a suitable and nutritive food, when pure. Its chief value, of course, consists in the large amount of oil or fatty matter it contains, but this is also contained in nuts of various kinds in a pure form, and hence is not a necessary article of diet. As found on the market, moreover, it is generally impure and adulterated. Whole-wheat bread has certain advantages, but is also open to numerous objections, as before pointed out; and, if made from the whole grain, including the husk, it acts as an irritant on the mucous membrane of the bowel, and hence exercises a slightly purgative action; the same action, however, may be induced by a plentiful supply of non-irritating fruit juices, and for that reason they are consequently to be preferred. We thus come to the conclusion that, although these few remaining articles of diet are not positively pernicious, as are the general run of foods, they are, nevertheless, of secondary importance, and can readily be dispensed with, and their place taken by simple fruits and nuts.
If any lingering doubt exists in the minds of those upholding a strict fruitarian dietary, as to its sufficiently nutritive value, these doubts have been cleared away by the investigations of Professor M. E. Jaffa, of the University of California. His researches, published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, make an epoch in the history of dietetics, and his researches are most conclusive. In his “Nutrition Investigations Among the Fruitarians and Chinese,” he says, in part:
“It would appear upon examining the recorded data and comparing the results with commonly accepted standards, that all the subjects were (i.e. should have been) decidedly under-nourished, even making allowances for their little weight. But when we consider that the two adults have lived upon this diet for 7 years, and think they are in better health and capable of more work than they ever were before, we hesitate to pronounce judgment. The three children, though below the average in height and weight, had the appearance of health and strength. They ran and jumped and played all day like ordinary healthy children, and were said to be unusually free from colds and other complaints incident to childhood.”[35]
Professor Jaffa then showed that N. was actually stored on this diet, although these fruitarians were eating but two meals a day, in place of the usual three of civilised people. He stated (what I have invariably found to be the case) that less food was required and was eaten, than is the case with ordinary cooked foods. Further, many of his subjects were found actually to gain weight—one patient seven pounds in less than three months! Professor Jaffa was forced to the conclusion that fruits must be considered as true foods, and not mere food accessories; and was bound to admit that they alone (with nuts) can sustain a healthy and vigorous life.
“While it is true that 10 cents will buy more animal protein than fruit protein, it will on the average purchase fully as much energy, when spent for fresh fruits, and more in the case of dried fruits than when expended for lean meats. When considering nuts, it is readily observed that 10 cents will buy about the same amount of nut protein as of animal protein, except in the case of cheese and skim milk. If spent on peanuts, it will furnish more than twice the protein and six times the energy that could be bought for the same expenditure for porterhouse steak.”[36]
I would also refer the reader to Professor C. F. Longworthy’s “Fruit and its Uses as Food” (Yearbook, U.S. Dept. of Agr.).