Exclusive fruit dietaries, comprising strawberries, currants, cherries and grapes, are effective in preventing eruptions on the skin and removing their effects.
From one to three-quarters of a pound of fruit should be eaten at a meal, either with a little bread or with sour milk, and at dinner as a desert.
In winter, from three to seven lemons a day serve the same purpose. The juice is used without sugar and with as little water as possible, never with the meal, but a little before, or in the morning on an empty stomach. Only fresh lemons should be used for this purpose, not the prepared lemon juice which is on the market. Tomatoes may be eaten in the raw state, likewise.
In mild cases of gout and rheumatism some crisp lean meat and fish may be eaten, but not every day. A diet without meat has a better curative effect upon the disease.
Alcohol is to be shunned as totally inadmissible. The wines which contain no alcohol must serve as substitutes.
Special Diet: For Diseases of the Heart and Inactive Kidneys.
Patients, who are afflicted with any kind of heart or kidney disease, must be very careful never to overload the stomach. They should eat small meals, at frequent intervals, and avoid irritating food; the amount of liquids and milk must be determined by the physician. A moderate amount of salt only is allowed, and if the physician so prescribes, a diet containing little salt, must be observed.
In case of acute inflammation of the kidneys, meat is absolutely prohibited; the best diet is an exclusive milk-diet, consisting of at least 1 to 1½ quarts fresh milk, and in certain cases warmed milk, taken by the spoonful; the quantity to be increased, if necessary, to 3 and 4 quarts per day. Instead of milk, buttermilk, sour milk, kefir, koumiss or yoghurt may be taken.
Beef broths are strictly prohibited. In their place glutenous soups, of oats, barley sago, tapioca, rice, groat, may be taken; furthermore leguminos soups, made from the preparations of the firms Knorr, Liebig, Maggi, and others. 1 to 2 spoonfuls of these preparations are put into a cupful of water, some salt is added and the mixture is then boiled.
A more varied diet is allowed in lighter forms of the disease, such as milk dishes, mashed potatoes, preserved apples or pears, rolls and butter, bread, cream, cream cheese, farinaceous dishes, eggs and green vegetables, meat according to the orders of the physician. Spices and alcohol must be strictly avoided.