What to eat and when

by Susanna Cocroft

The greatest progress and development, both as nations and as individuals, have been made by inhabitants of temperate climates, who have lived on a mixed diet of meat, eggs, milk, grains, vegetables, fruits, and nuts. They have shown more creative force, which means reserve strength.

The Eskimo has demonstrated, however, that a diet of meat alone supplies all physical needs; the meat tissue providing growth and repair and the fat supplying all of the carbonaceous elements. The fat, as previously stated, yields more heat than starches and sugars, and Nature provides this heat for climates in which most warmth is required. This may be the reason why natives of warm climates have formed the habit of using vegetables and grains for their heat and energy rather than meat. It is also the natural reason why man in temperate climates eats more meat in winter than in summer.

An unperverted, natural instinct will always be found to have a sound physiological basis. For example, if, by reason of some digestive disturbance, one has become emaciated, all of the fat having been consumed, and the cause of the disturbance is removed by an operation or otherwise, one is seized with an almost insatiable desire for fat, often eating large chunks of the fat of meat or large quantities of butter or cream at a meal. When obstructions are removed, Nature makes immediate effort to readjust her forces.

Those who object to eating meat should study carefully to learn if the proper proportion of protein is supplied with each day’s rations. The legumes—peas, beans, nuts, and grains—must be supplied. While the wheat kernel contains twelve per cent. of protein, the white flour does not contain as large a percentage and it will be noted by reference to Tables II and III, that the majority of fruits and vegetables contain little nitrogenous substance.

Unless the whole of the grain and the legumes form a goodly proportion of the diet the danger is in consuming too large a bulk of waste and too much starch in a purely vegetable diet.

In a vegetarian diet, one is liable to eat too freely of cereals; as a result, the liver becomes clogged and torpid and the stomach and intestines are deranged and rendered incapable of full digestion and absorption. The clogged system refuses to assimilate more food.

It follows, therefore, that, unless one is a thorough student of dietetics, the mixed diet is by far the safest to follow.

One can better run short of starch or fat in one day’s rations than to be short of protein, because if the two or four ounces daily requirement is not provided the tissues are consumed and the blood is impoverished. It is a rare condition in which a reserve of glycogen and fat is not stored in the system. On the other hand, an excess of nitrogenous foods calls for a very active circulation and plenty of oxygen in the system.

It has been held that the vegetarian has a clearer brain, and, if this be true, it may be due to the fact that he is not eating too much and thus his system is not overloaded.

Experience, however, does not prove that he has greater mental, physical, and moral power and efficiency.