Of nuts there are twelve varieties, sold either shelled, ground, or in shell. Many of these nuts are also mechanically prepared, and in some cases combined, and made into butters, nut-meats, lard, suet, oil, etc. The varieties of nut-butters are many, and the various combinations of nuts and vegetables making potted savouries, add to a long list of highly nutritious and palatable nut-foods. There are the pulses dried and entire, or ground into flour, such as pea-, bean-, and lentil-flour. There are the cereals, barley, corn, oats, rice, rye, wheat, etc., from which the number of preparations made such as breakfast foods, bread, biscuits, cakes, pastries, etc., is legion. (One firm advertises twenty-three varieties of prepared breakfast foods made from cereals.) Then there are the fruits, fresh, canned, and preserved, about twenty-five varieties; green vegetables, fresh and canned, about twenty-one varieties; and roots, about eleven varieties.
The difficulty is not that there is insufficient variety, but that the variety is so large that there is danger of being tempted beyond the limits dictated by the needs of the body. When, having had sufficient to eat, there yet remain many highly palatable dishes untasted, one is sometimes apt to gratify sense at the expense of health and good-breeding, to say nothing of economy. Simplicity and purity in food are essential to physical health as simplicity and purity in art are essential to moral and intellectual progress. 'I may say,' says Dr. Haig, 'that simple food of not more than two or three kinds at one meal is another secret of health; and if this seems harsh to those whose day is at present divided between anticipating their food and eating, I must ask them to consider whether such a life is not the acme of selfish shortsightedness. In case they should ever be at a loss what to do with the time and money thus saved from feasting, I would point on the one hand to the mass of unrelieved ignorance, sorrow, and suffering, and on the other to the doors of literature and art, which stand open to those fortunate enough to have time to enter them; and from none of these need any turn aside for want of new Kingdoms to conquer.'
This question of feeding may, by superficial thinkers, be looked upon as unimportant; yet it should not be forgotten that diet has much more to do with health than is commonly realized, and health is intimately connected with mental attitude, and oftentimes is at the foundation of religious and moral development. 'Hypochondriacal crotchets' are often the product of dyspepsia, and valetudinarianism and pessimism are not unrarely found together. 'Alas,' says Carlyle, 'what is the loftiest flight of genius, the finest frenzy that ever for moments united Heaven with Earth, to the perennial never-failing joys of a digestive apparatus thoroughly eupeptic?'
Our first duty is to learn to keep our body healthy. Naturally, we sooner expect to see a noble character possess a beautiful form than one disfigured by abuse and polluted by disease. We do not say that every sick man is a villain, but we do say that men and women of high character regard the body as an instrument for some high purpose, and believe that it should be cared for and nourished according to its natural requirements. In vegetarianism, scientifically practised, is a cure, and better, a preventative, for many physical, mental, and moral obliquities that trouble mankind, and if only a knowledge of this fact were to grow and distil itself into the public mind and conscience, there would be halcyon days in store for future generations, and much that now envelops man in darkness and in sorrow, would be regarded as a nightmare of the past.
FOOD TABLE
The following table exhibits the percentage chemical composition of the principal vegetable food materials; also of dairy produce and common flesh-foods for comparison.
| Food Material | Protein | Fat | Carbo hydrates | Salts | Water | Fuel Value cals. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vegetable Foods | p. ct. | p. ct. | p. ct. | p. ct. | p. ct. | p. lb. |
| Wheat Flour (entire) | 18.8 | 1.9 | 71.9 | 1.0 | 11.4 | 1,675 |
| Oatmeal | 16.1 | 7.2 | 67.5 | 1.9 | 7.3 | 1,860 |
| Rice | 8.0 | .3 | 79.0 | .4 | 12.3 | 1,630 |
| Barley | 8.5 | 1.1 | 77.8 | 1.1 | 11.5 | 1,650 |
| Corn Meal | 9.2 | 1.9 | 75.4 | 1.0 | 12.5 | 1,655 |
| Rye | 0.8 | .9 | 78.7 | .7 | 12.9 | 1,630 |
| Lentils (dried) | 25.7 | 1.0 | 59.2 | 5.7 | 8.4 | 1,620 |
| Beans (dried) | 22.5 | 1.8 | 59.6 | 3.5 | 12.6 | 1,605 |
| Peas (dried) | 24.6 | 1.0 | 62.0 | 2.9 | 9.5 | 1,655 |
| Nuts, various (aver.) | 16.0 | 52.0 | 20.0 | 2.0 | 10.0 | 2,640 |
| Dates | 2.1 | 2.8 | 78.4 | 1.3 | 15.4 | 1,615 |
| Figs | 4.3 | .3 | 74.2 | 2.4 | 18.8 | 1,475 |
| Potatoes | 2.2 | .1 | 18.4 | 1.0 | 78.3 | 385 |
| Apples | .4 | .5 | 14.2 | .3 | 84.6 | 290 |
| Bananas | 1.3 | .6 | 22.0 | .8 | 75.3 | 460 |
| Dairy Foods | ||||||
| Milk, whole (not skim) | 3.3 | 4.0 | 5.0 | .7 | 87.0 | 325 |
| Cheese, various (aver.) | 24.5 | 28.4 | 2.1 | 4.0 | 41.0 | 1,779 |
| Hens' Eggs (boiled) | 14.0 | 12.0 | 0.0 | .8 | 73.2 | 765 |
| Flesh Foods | ||||||
| Beef | 18.6 | 19.1 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 61.3 | 1,155 |
| Mutton (medium fat) | 18.2 | 18.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 62.8 | 1,105 |
| Ham (fresh) | 15.6 | 33.4 | 0.0 | .9 | 50.1 | 1,700 |
| Fowl | 19.0 | 16.3 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 63.7 | 1,045 |
| White Fish (as purchased) | 22.1 | 6.5 | 0.0 | 1.6 | 69.8 | 700 |
[The amount of heat that will raise one kilogram of water 1 deg. C. is termed a calorie. Fuel value, or food units, means the number of calories of heat equivalent to the energy it is assumed the body obtains from food when the nutrients thereof are completely digested.]