Again, if man were naturally carnivorous, he should eat his meat as do the carnivora—and he should be provided by nature with the bodily structure, teeth, claws, etc., for doing so. Were man naturally carnivorous, he should prey upon his food by night; he should lurk in the dark places, and pounce upon his rightful prey, rending it with his teeth, tearing it with his claws, lapping the warm blood as it oozes from the lifeless body before him! He should catch and eat his prey as do all the other (naturally) carnivorous animals. If Nature pointed us to such a diet, we should feel the same instinctive appetite for raw flesh as we now feel for ripe fruit; and a slaughter-house would be more delightful to us than an orchard. Yet we know that such is not the case, and that even the mere thought of such a thing is sickening to any sensitive person. Why is this? Does it not clearly indicate that man is not naturally carnivorous by nature, but that he can only tolerate the idea of flesh-eating because of long deadening of the higher moral centres, in this direction; and because the food is so pickled, and spiced, and peppered, and salted, and roasted, and fried, and smothered in onions, and in other ways covered up and concealed, and its taste and nature so disguised, that we can eat it at all?
As Mr Salt so well remarked[40]:
“Our innate horror of bloodshed—a horror which only long custom can deaden, and which, in spite of past centuries of violence, is so powerful at the present time—is proof that we are not naturally adapted for a sanguinary diet; and, as has often been pointed out, it is only by delegating to others the detested work of slaughter, and by employing cookery to conceal the uncongenial truth, that thoughtful persons can tolerate the practice of meat-eating.”
If all persons who enjoy “a good, juicy beef-steak,” or a rasher of bacon, first had to go out and kill the cow or the hog, how do you think they would like it? And how many of us would or could do such a thing? Aside from the fact, before pointed out, that, were we naturally carnivorous by nature, we should eat our flesh warm and bleeding and quivering—as do the other carnivora—there is this additional objection, that, even if this were not the case, we must ever entail the duty to others of killing the animal for us—so disgusting is the very idea of dipping our hands and mouths in blood before and during each meal!
Granting, then, that fruits and nuts can supply us with all the essentials for the upbuilding of a healthy body, and that this is man’s natural diet—the question arises: How would it be best to break away from the old foods, and adopt this simpler dietary? Certainly this should not be done at once, in the majority of cases. Many persons can pass from one diet to another instantaneously, with no harm, but with decided benefit. My own case is an example of this. Once I was thoroughly persuaded that this was the ideal diet, I dropped meat at one meal, and lived upon fruits and nuts the next, and thenceforward from that day. I never experienced any ill effects from such an abrupt change, but only benefit. Though, at the present time, I pay no attention, practically, to exercise, to breathing, or to any of the other thought-to-be-essentials of the physical culture life (I claim that all of these measures can be practically dispensed with, if only the diet be regulated carefully) I am always more or less in condition, and I may fairly say that I never knew anyone who could work more continuously and steadily for so many hours at a stretch, and for so many days together, as can I. Of course this is only one person’s testimony, and hence my own method might not be suited to all equally well. But I have introduced this personal item to show that the old dogma that one cannot make abrupt changes in the diet without detriment to oneself is all pure nonsense. I never experienced any ill effects whatever—and no more have numerous other persons of my acquaintance, who have adopted the fruitarian diet as abruptly as I did.
But, granting that this abrupt change is not desired, what then? In that case, I should advise the patient to leave off meat at one of his meals (if he has been in the habit of eating it more than once a day) and substitute eggs for it—in the morning or evening—or beans, peas, cheese, etc., at noon. Let him get accustomed to this change before another step is taken. Then, abolish meat altogether from the bill of fare, and live on the ordinary vegetarian foods for a few days. Next, decrease the amount of cooked vegetables, and increase the quantity of the fruits. Remember the advice previously given regarding food combinations here. It will soon be found that an egg or two, and a couple of slices of bread, or a simple vegetarian dish, will supply all the wants, for the first half of the meal; and this should be followed by an abundant allowance of fruits. Keep this up until the patient has grown thoroughly accustomed to the change, and then (preferably in hot weather) let him try his first meal of fruits, nuts and whole-wheat bread and nut-butter. Later on, these last articles may be abolished, if desired; but most persons find it almost harder to give up their bread and butter than they do their meat! The patient is now fairly on the diet, and additional alterations and restrictions are merely a matter of time. Doubtless by this time he is sufficiently interested in the question himself, and sufficiently delighted in his altered physical condition, to need but little persuasion, and will gladly adopt and follow the diet himself.
XIII
FOOD COMBINATIONS
There are very few foods which, if eaten singly, would be found to disagree. Most of the trouble arises when we combine the various foods which do not suit or harmonise; and the result is, distress and a complication of disorders, due to the bad combination of such foods. Such foods disagree with one another, so to speak, rather than with us. This question of food combinations is one which has been very largely overlooked, but it is a highly important one, nevertheless. Most people have never paid any attention to the relative proportion of their foods, or thought how each would combine with the other; and it is largely due to this lack of foresight that so much dyspepsia is present, and that so many digestive troubles are active throughout the world. The motto of the average individual would seem to be, “Out of sight, out of mind”; but it must be remembered that, while the stomach receives the food, the body has to retain it; and long digestive processes, involving an enormous outlay of energy, and many and complicated chemical changes, have to be gone through, before food is appropriable by the system. Of course, the tendency among civilised peoples is in the direction of increasing the number of articles of food at each meal, instead of decreasing it. They like to see the table spread with a litter of dishes, while a fifteen-course dinner is supposed to be the height of luxury! Were the processes of living considered a little more from the physiological, and a little less from the gormandising point of view, such would not be the case. The tendency would then be (at least among all intelligent people), to reduce the number of dishes, as much as possible—limiting them at each meal to three or two, or even one.