As it is important that those who adopt a reformed diet should know something about the dietetic and medicinal value of the articles they consume, the following information may prove helpful:—

Apples purify the blood, feed the brain with phosphorus, and help to eliminate urates and earthy salts from the system. As they contain a small amount of starch, and a good proportion of grape sugar combined with certain valuable acids, they constitute a most desirable and hygienic food for all seasons. They should be ripe and sweet when eaten. People who cannot digest apples in the ordinary way should scrape them, and thus eat them in pulp rather than in pieces.

Bananas also contain phosphorus, and are consequently suitable for mental workers. They are easily digestible, and nutritious, being almost a food in themselves.

French Plums are judicious food for persons of nervous temperament and for those whose habits are sedentary; they prevent constipation, and are nutritious. They should be well stewed, and eaten with cream, Plasmon snow-cream, or Coconut cream (see recipe 224).

Strawberries contain phosphorus and iron, and are therefore especially desirable for mental workers and anÆmic invalids.

Tomatoes are good for those who suffer from sluggish liver. The popular fallacy that they are liable to cause cancer, which was circulated by thoughtless persons some few years since, has been pronounced, by the highest medical authorities, to be unsupported by any evidence whatever, and to be most improbable and absurd. In the Island of Mauritius this fruit is eaten at almost every meal, and Bishop Royston stated that during his episcopate of eighteen years he only heard of one case of the disease.

Lettuce is soothing to the system and purifying to the blood. It should be well dressed with pure olive oil and wine vinegar (2 spoonfuls of oil to 1 of vinegar, well mixed together, with a pinch of sugar). A lettuce salad eaten with bread and cheese makes a nutritious and ample meal. The thin and tender-leaved variety (grown under glass if possible) should always be chosen.

Figs contain much fruit sugar which can be rapidly assimilated, and are very nourishing and easily digestible; when they can be obtained in their green state they are specially desirable. They may be considered one of the most valuable of all fruits, and are most helpful in many cases of sickness on account of their laxative medicinal properties.

Dates are very similar to figs, and are both sustaining and warming; they are easily digested if the skins are thin.

Gooseberries, Raspberries, Currants and Grapes are cooling and purifying food for hot weather; but, if unripe, they will often upset the liver. This type of fruit should not be eaten unless ripe and sweet.

Walnuts, Hazel and Brazil Nuts contain a considerable amount of oil, and are consequently useful for warming the body and feeding and strengthening the nerves. Vegetable fat in this form is emulsified and more easily assimilated than free animal fats, as in butter, etc. Nuts are also rich in proteid matter. Where people find that they cannot masticate nuts, owing to impairment of teeth, the difficulty may be removed by passing the nuts through a 'Dana' nut-mill. When thus flaked and spread between thin slices of bread and butter, with honey, they make delicious sandwiches for lunch. A pinch of curry powder (instead of the honey) makes them taste savoury.

Chestnuts contain a larger proportion of starch, but are digested without difficulty when boiled in their jackets until fairly soft. If eaten with a pinch of salt they make a nice dish.

Pineapples are valuable for cases of diphtheria and sore-throat, as the juice makes an excellent gargle. This fruit is considered to aid digestion in certain cases.

Cheese is very rich in protein—far more so than lean beef. If well chosen, and new, it is a most valuable article of diet, and feeds brain, nerves, and muscles; but as it is a concentrated food it should not be taken in excessive quantity. Half a pound of cheese is almost equal to a pound of average flesh meat. The best varieties are Wenslet, GruyÈre (very rich in phosphorus), Port Salut, Milk (155), Wensleydale, Cheshire and Cheddar.

Protose, Nuttose, and similar malted nut-meats, are more than equivalent to lean beef—minus water, waste products, and disease germs. The International Health Association first invented these valuable substitutes for animal food, and has an able advisory medical staff, therefore they may be regarded as results of modern dietetic research. Protose contains 25% protein and 14% fat.

White Haricots are rich in protein (far more so than lean meat), and should be eaten in moderation. Brown haricots contain iron in addition to their large percentage of protein.

Lentils are almost identical in composition, but are more suitable for those who do not have much physical toil.

Peas are slightly less nitrogenous than lentils and haricots, but otherwise very similar; they are best when eaten in a green form, and when young and tender. When they are old the peas should always be passed through a potato masher, as the skins are very indigestible.

Macaroni contains starch and a certain amount of the gluten of wheat. Some of the best varieties are made with eggs as well as flour. Tomato sauce is the best accompaniment to it, with Parmesan or grated and melted cheese (see recipes 66 to 71).

Rice as usually sold consists chiefly of starch, but if unglazed and once milled, it is much more nourishing, as the cuticle of the cereal (which is rich in gluten and protein) is then left on it. The addition of cheese or eggs, makes it a more complete food (see recipes 72 to 80).

Potatoes consist principally of starch and water, with a certain amount of potash. Their dietetic value is not high.

Wholewheat Bread contains, in addition to its starch, much vegetable albumen, and a large supply of mineral salts, such as phosphates, etc. It is, therefore, when light and well cooked, of high dietetic value both for flesh-forming and nerve feeding. Physical workers should use it as a staple article of food, and mental workers will also find it most helpful. The coarser the brown flour, the more laxative is the influence of the bread. This is point worth noting.

Eggs are nutritive chiefly on account of the albumen which they contain in the white portion, but they are liable to cause digestive trouble, and they must not be taken too freely by those who are subject to biliousness and constipation. Such persons often find it advantageous to have them boiled quite hard.

Emprote (Eustace Miles proteid Food) contains the proteids of wheat and milk (35%), with digestible Carbohydrates (45.2%), fat (6.6%), and assimilable salts (7.9%). It makes a good addition to soups, beverages, and dishes lacking in protein.

Nuto-Cream Meat is a modern substitute for white meat and poultry, containing 19.7% protein, 48% fat, and 23% Carbohydrates. It is made from nuts and corn, and is useful for invalids and young children.

Milk contains nearly all the elements necessary for repairing bodily waste. It should be scalded for half-an-hour in a double saucepan—to destroy tubercular and other germs. If then allowed to stand for 12 hours, clotted cream can be skimmed off (as in Devonshire) and the milk can be used next day. It keeps much longer after being thus scalded. Dried milk is now procurable in such forms as 'Lacvitum' and 'Plasmon.'

Celery is a useful blood purifier, and is valuable in all cases of rheumatism, gout, &c. Celery salt is a valuable addition to soups and savoury dishes, and is preferable to common salt.

Spinach contains a considerable quantity of iron in a readily assimilable form, and is, therefore, good for anÆmic persons.

Onions have a wonderfully improving effect upon the skin and complexion if eaten raw, and they act powerfully as diuretics.