Among the fruits, figs, prunes and apples seem to have the most clearly marked laxative effect, though all ripe fruits generally, and especially those that are taken uncooked, have a moderate laxative effect. Belonging to this class of foods is rhubarb which, though not a fruit, is usually served as a fruit either stewed or in puddings or pies. There is no doubt that it exerts its laxative effect better if taken stewed rather than with pastry.
If one then who is annoyed by a tendency to constipation wishes to correct it, a rational change of diet would be, to eat freely of cereals and coarse breads and of various fruits, particularly apples, figs and prunes.
The most effective way to use these laxative fruits is to eat freely of them just before retiring. The apples and figs may be eaten just as they are received from the market. Prunes may be soaked in cold water for twenty-four hours, then taken directly from the cold water and eaten.
If this is not effective a supplementary regime may be adopted that is only in part dietetic, i.e., to rise ONE HOUR BEFORE BREAKFAST, drink two glasses of cold water and take a brisk walk of fifteen to thirty minutes. The cold water has a tonic effect upon the stomach, preparing it for a rapid digestion of the breakfast. It also washes out the accumulation of mucus in the stomach, which may easily equal a pint in volume. This pint of mucous plus the pint of water, making a quart of liquid altogether, pours through the pylorus, and during the rapid walk, works its way rapidly down through the alimentary tract, washing the whole tract and preparing it to receive and rapidly to digest the next meal. This slimy water, having washed out the stomach and small intestine, then passes into the large intestine, moistening and lubricating its contents and causing it to move gradually towards the rectum, where it stimulates a normal free passage of the bowels after breakfast.
Any usual case of constipation will yield to this treatment. Such a treatment is incomparably more rational than the taking of medicines.
d. The Dietetic Control of Sleep.—Most students study evenings. If their heavy meal is a dinner at 5:30 or 6 p.m. they are likely to feel very drowsy by 7:30 or 8 o'clock. This is a perfectly natural experience, all animals manifesting a drowsiness after a heavy meal. If one could lie down and sleep for an hour while his dinner is digesting, he could probably rise at 9 o'clock and put in two or three hours of good hard work. He would find himself at 11 or 12 o'clock so thoroughly awake, however, that he might have difficulty in getting to sleep if he retired at that hour. If, on the other hand, one has his dinner in the middle of the day and a light supper at night, he is able to begin studying within an hour after supper and keep it up until he is ready to retire. In this case also, he is likely to be so wide awake at the time of retiring that he may have difficulty in getting to sleep. In either of these cases, it is altogether proper and advisable to take a light lunch before retiring. A double purpose can be served by this lunch. In the first place, the taking of anything into the stomach that requires digestion tends to deplete the circulation from other organs (brain in this case) to the stomach. In the second place, the food may be so chosen as to exert a definite somnolent effect. Such foods are, celery, lettuce, onions, warm milk. It may not be convenient to get warm milk at midnight, but it would hardly be inconvenient to provide one's self with two or three graham crackers and a stalk of celery. These with a drink of water and a little brisk exercise before an open window ought so far to divert the circulation from the brain as to enable one to fall asleep quickly.
e. The Dietetic Control of the Kidneys and Skin.—The stimulation of excretion through the kidneys and skin may be an exceedingly important thing, particularly if one has just caught a cold and wishes to establish free excretion. The food which has a most clearly marked effect upon both kidneys and skin is the juice of the citrus fruits. These fruits, as they appear in our markets, are lemons, oranges and grape fruit. All of these fruits are in a high degree wholesome as an addition to the dietary. Lemon juice is far more wholesome than vinegar in salads. The juices of lemons and oranges make most refreshing and deliciously cooling drinks in summer, and on occasions where one wishes to get a strong stimulation of the kidneys and skin, he has only to drink large quantities of hot lemonade.
f. The Dietetic Method of Curing a Cold.—A whole quart of hot lemonade may be taken on retiring after one has caught cold. The effect in such a case would be to cause a free sweating and copious urination. Both the action of the kidneys and the skin would tend to carry away from the system the effete materials that have been retained as a result of the cold.
It is hardly necessary to add in this connection that care should be taken that during the sweating or immediately following it, the body should not be exposed to catch more cold. In this method of treating a cold, one should take a strong cathartic such as two or three teaspoonfuls of castor oil, and should remain in bed twenty-four hours. During this twenty-four hours no other food than a little light broth should be taken. This treatment usually completely breaks up a cold and one is able, in two or three days, to make good the loss of the twenty-four hours, during which time he was confined to his room.
This dietetic method of caring for an acute catarrhal cold is incomparably wiser and more economical than to drag around, hoping to "wear out the cold," only to be worn out by it.