In discussing this question of foods and food values and constituents, we must be very careful to keep clear in the mind the distinction between proximate elements, or foods proper, and chemical or ultimate elements. This is very important. All alimentary substances are composed of certain constituent parts, which may be properly called alimentary principles. These are formed by certain combinations of elementary constituents, which are denominated chemical elements. Thus wheat, beef, potato, apple, etc., are aliments, or foods proper; and starch, sugar, rum, fibrin, albumen, gelatin, etc.—their constituents—are proximate elements. Proximate elements of food are compounds of the simple or chemical elements; and aliments or foods proper are compounds of the proximate principles.

It is important to keep these distinctions in mind, because the human body can be nourished and retain its health upon organic combinations of proximate elements, while it would starve to death on the ultimate elements administered in exactly the same proportions. Dogs have been fed on sugar, gum, starch, butter, fat, fibrin, albumen, etc., exclusively, and with the uniform result that they sooner or later starved to death! No animal can sustain prolonged nutrition on any single alimentary principle, though all of them may on a single aliment.

Other things being equal, a food is nutritious, and capable of sustaining life, in proportion to its complexity. The more simple the food, the less it is capable of sustaining life and health. This does not mean that a large number of foods should be eaten at one meal—in order to supply this lack—since nearly all foods, or a reasonable admixture of them—contain all the essentials for sustaining life in a state of health and vigour. Certain foods—nuts, e.g.—seem to contain about all the essentials and in exactly the right proportions. I have discussed this aspect of the question in the chapter on the fruitarian diet.

One very important fact may be mentioned here. Animals cannot appropriate mineral or inorganic elements directly; they must obtain all these substances through or by means of the vegetable world. Vegetables have the power of utilising these inorganic materials, and build them into their bodies; but animals have to obtain all such substances in an organised form—i.e. organic materials—and cannot possibly utilise the inorganic elements. Thus, if an animal requires iron, it cannot eat iron filings, to supply this need, but must take it in the form of spinach, and cabbage, and fruits containing large quantities of iron; he cannot possibly eat it in its mineral form. The vegetable world, on the contrary, has the power of building these mineral elements into its structure. Vegetables feed upon minerals, and animals upon vegetables; and this order cannot be reversed. It will thus be seen that the vegetable world is that designed for man’s food; and from it he should derive all his nourishment. Certainly he can derive no part of it from the mineral world.

Hints on Hygienic Cookery.—While I believe that the ideal diet is that which is uncooked—or sun-cooked—nevertheless some foods are best cooked, if the ordinary vegetarian diet is to be adhered to. Thus, grains when uncooked are but slightly nutritious, a large portion of their starch remaining unconverted; but when cooked this is converted into dextrine, and thus rendered more appropriable by the system. Cooking is therefore justified, if vegetable foods and grains are to be eaten; and I propose, accordingly, to jot down a few notes and instructions which will, I believe, be found useful to all those who wish to reform their food habits, to a certain extent, and cook as hygienically as possible. I shall not attempt any elaborate outline of hygienic cookery in this place; several of the vegetarian cookbooks on the market go into great detail on these questions, and I shall therefore confine myself to a few brief notes.

Bread should be well cooked, and the crusts thoroughly baked brown. It had best be baked in a closed pan. Bread should, of course, always be made from whole-wheat flour—never white flour. Salt is never necessary. Trall has given numerous recipes for wholesome bread-making—in some of them no other ingredients are used but flour, water, and air! And they are sweet, excellent breads too.

All pastries should be made quickly, and with very little kneading. Have the oven ready before this kneading is commenced. Roll the crust thin, and see that the bottom crust of a pie is browned before adding the fruit and the top crust.

Vegetables—nearly all of them—should be dropped into boiling, not cold, water, and should be cooked rapidly. The purpose of this is to coagulate and condense the outer rind or layer of the vegetable, and thus prevent the juices and valuable food properties from boiling out, into the water. The same is true of all meats, when these are fried or grilled.

If fruits are cooked at all, green fruits should be selected in preference to over-ripe fruits—which should be cooked but little. Unripe fruits should be started in cold water, and cooked slowly. All grains are best steamed.

Sugar added to fruits renders them sweet-tasting, but liable to fermentation. The ordinary sugar on the market is open to many objections. Numerous hygienists will not use it at all, and if fruits are found to be a trifle sour, or need sweetening, they use dates instead.

See that all currants, raisins and dried fruits are thoroughly clean before cooking them. In the summer months especially they are liable to contain insects, and these should be washed off before the fruits are placed on the fire to cook—otherwise they will be cooked with them!

If soda is put into bread, etc., use it sparingly. Salt need never be used. One can soon get accustomed to food without a particle of salt or other dressing; and, once the normal taste is acquired, salt, pepper, etc., will never again be desired or craved.

Meat as an Article of Diet.—I have advanced reasons, throughout this book, for thinking that meat is by no means a suitable article of food, but is, on the contrary, extremely pernicious in its effects upon the system. The reasons for this are given in full elsewhere. At the same time, I am disposed to think that a limited amount of meat is not so harmful, frequently, as a larger amount of other foods—fine flour, cake, pickles, sauces, etc. A large quantity of any of these, long continued, will tend to ruin the body more effectually than a limited quantity of meat, and hence are to be more strictly avoided. Nevertheless, I consider meat a highly stimulating and unwholesome article of diet, for the reasons given above, and should strongly advise other foods in its place, whenever possible.

If the reader feels that he must eat meat, however, let him be sure (or as sure as he can be) that the meat is fresh, and is not diseased. Two great dangers are avoided in this way. The animals which are to be eaten should be fed on the cleanest of food, and should have plenty of pure water to drink; they should never be kept in confined places, in a vitiated atmosphere, or in filthy surroundings. They need plenty of exercise. The animal should be killed in a sanitary manner, and kept clean and free from contamination after it is killed. The meat should be put on ice at once, and, needless to say, no chemicals or other drugs injected into the tissues.

Beef and mutton are doubtless two of the best meats which can be eaten. The diet of these animals is the cleanest; and their tissues should be the “cleanest,” in consequence. Beef is, of course, the most widely eaten of all meats; and, more than that, we feed upon or utilise almost every conceivable part of the animal. As Dr Brush so well said[45]:

Is it any wonder that we manage to contract some of the diseases from which this animal suffers? The only wonder is that we escape at all! The same thing may be said in a lesser degree of mutton, veal, pork, and, in fact, all the animal substances. They all contain, along with a small amount of nutritive material, a large amount of poisons and excreta.

When we come to pork, bacon, ham, etc., there is no longer any excuse for the practice at all. If it is felt that meat must be eaten, let it be clean meat, such as beef or mutton, without turning to the pig for our supply! Nothing so lacks excuse as this. Writing upon the practice of pork-eating, in her “Diet Question,” Dr Dodds says:

Birds and game of all kinds are to be avoided. The flesh of the goose, duck, etc., is very oily, greasy and unwholesome. Chicken, turkey, etc., are somewhat better, but their flesh is not nearly so nutritious as beef and mutton, while the amount of poisons they contain is certainly equal to the latter. It must be remembered that these animals are frequently confined and artificially fed, in order to “fatten” them for the market; and even when this has not been done, the birds have very rarely sufficient room to exercise as they ought to, and their food and water supply is by no means what it should be. Of course, when artificial feeding has been employed, their flesh is little short of poisonous. The “fat” noticed and so highly praised is merely retained filth and excreta, and should be outside the animal’s body, and not in it. Needless to say, the flesh of all such birds should be eschewed.

Fish is considered by some to be a very fine article of diet—being nutritious and easily digested. For that reason, it is often given to invalids! Where such a curious hallucination could have arisen it is hard to see. Its flesh is exceedingly gross, tough, fibrous, and contains but little nutriment. The flesh of all animals partakes more or less of the nature of their diet; and fish and fowl are certainly not the cleanest of feeders! Their flesh is in no sense superior to that of the cow or sheep; but is, on the contrary, distinctly inferior. All shellfish are unclean articles of diet—they being merely the scavengers of the sea; and should be avoided most carefully. They are exceedingly indigestible, and frequently the cause of skin disease, on the one hand, and of ptomaine poisoning, on the other.

It seems hardly necessary to say that all internal organs of animals are to be avoided! Not only for the reason that a large number of the animals found on the market are diseased; but also because all these organs are merely depurating organs, should they be eschewed. If any person were to consider for one minute the function of the liver or the kidneys, it is more than probable that he would not touch them! During the whole of the animal’s life, they have been merely filters for the filth and excreta which passed through its body; they were the great reservoirs of poisons and toxins of all sorts! The idea of eating such offal should be repellant to any sensitive, even sensible, mind.

Soups.—But little need be said of soups. As a whole, they may be said to be lacking in every essential which is necessary in order to recommend them as suitable articles for human diet. Meat soups, broths, beef teas, etc., we have already discussed. They are practically stimulants, and consist of water, and poisonous excreta in solution! They contain no fats, carbohydrates or salts of value, and but very little proteid. Vegetable soups have somewhat more to recommend them, but all soups are open to the prime objection that they are invariably eaten without mastication, and hence are taken into the stomach in a condition totally unsuited for the initial stages of digestion—which the stomach is called upon to perform. It must be remembered, in this connection, that mastication is not only for the purpose of dividing the food into small particles, so that the gastric and intestinal juices may act upon them, but also, that important chemical changes take place in the mouth—starch being converted into dextrine, etc. Soups are always swallowed without this initial process. Further, the large amount of water they contain renders them unsuitable food for the adult—whose food should be less in quantity and more solid in quality; and any liquid which is supplied during the process of digestion by way of solvent and dilutant should be the digestive juices only. Jellies are of very low nutritive value, and should never be administered to invalids. Animals fed on jelly die as soon as if they were not fed at all. In her “Notes on Nursing,” Miss Florence Nightingale contends very strongly against the use of jellies of any kind, and finds it difficult to select words strong enough to suit her antipathy to jellies.

Puddings, Pies, etc.—It is now all but universally admitted that these articles of diet are indigestible—rich, greasy, and objectionable in many ways. The usual crust which is bought is made of white flour, in the first place, while the grease contained is a poor quality of lard. As animal food, this is certainly objectionable; lard being a filthy article of diet in any case. The sugar, flour, grease, and all the other ingredients used are generally harmful, and exceedingly indigestible. All the constituents can be supplied in a pure form in other foods. The fruit is the best thing contained in such pies, etc.; and this is spoiled by being cooked, and is also covered with spices and nutmeg, etc., which offset all its original value, and spoil its flavour to all educated palates. As usually presented, such foods have nothing to recommend them.

Still, as Dr Trall said[46]: “the crust for pies and tarts may be made comparatively wholesome in a variety of ways. Any kind of flour or meal, or various admixtures of them, may be wet with water and shortened with sweet cream, or the flour or meal may be wet with milk and shortened with olive oil.” In this book, and in various others, may be found a number of recipes for making bread, pies, puddings, etc., in the hygienic style. I shall not discuss this aspect of the question in the present work, which is devoted more to the philosophy of diet than the details of cooking—especially since I am recommending no cooking at all! However, there is doubtless a right and a wrong way to do everything; and if people continue to feel that they must have breads and pies, they might as well have them made as hygienically as possible. There is no reason why such foods should be indigestible or innutritious, if properly made. It need hardly be said that all hot breads, buckwheat cakes, etc., should be sedulously avoided.

Sugar.—Hygienists have no objection to the use of saccharine matter, provided it is taken in the natural way—that is, in organic combination with other food principles—not separated as a proximate element. Sugar contained in fruits, grains, vegetables, etc., are thoroughly wholesome; but an excess of sugar of the ordinary sort, as bought upon the market, is very detrimental. Particularly is this the case when the sugar is not rightly combined with other articles of food. We have discussed this at greater length, however, when considering “food combinations.” Miss Mary H. Abel, in her pamphlet, “Sugar as Food,” published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, says:

While the system needs sugar, this should not be supplied in the form of the common beet sugar upon the market—since this is adulterated in various ways, and contains, in addition to the saccharine elements, much inert, mineral matter. Sugar in its pure form, however, is a very important article of diet—far more important, probably, than has hitherto been acknowledged. Not only are starches, etc., converted into sugar in the process of digestion, but it has frequently been noted that when a lesser amount of proteid is consumed, a proportionately larger amount of sugar is craved. Mr Horace Fletcher noticed this in his diet experiments, and stated that, as the appetite for meat decreased, that for sugar increased—which is a very significant remark. If the saccharine elements in the food-supply were increased, there can be little doubt that there would be a decreased consumption of meat and all proteid matters. The craving of children for sweets is to be looked upon, not as a morbid appetite, but as a physiological craving of the organism. In saying that this appetite should be gratified, however, I do not mean that unlimited quantities of sweets and sweet-stuffs, as found upon the market, are to be allowed the child, but a greater proportion of sweet-stuffs should be allowed in the form of sweet fruits—such as dates, figs, etc. Administered in this way, sugar will be found a highly valuable article of diet.

Tea, Coffee and Other Stimulants.—Most persons know, I should imagine, that none of these drinks are suitable for the human stomach. In the first place, no drink at all should be taken at meals, but only between meals; the reason for this being that the digestive juices are unduly diluted and the food is washed through the stomach, and into the bowels, before it is properly digested, when water or any liquid is drunk at mealtimes. All drinks should, therefore, be between meals, and not for at least an hour after a meal, if we wish to ensure the best digestion of the foods eaten.

If this is true of water, the best of all drinks, it is certainly far more true of tea, coffee, and all other stimulants taken at meals. Not only are the effects detrimental (in that they are liquids), but they are of themselves more or less direct poisons also. Tea contains a poison known as theine, which corresponds to a similar poison contained in coffee, and known as caffeine. Both are strong poisons. Half a gram causes a quick pulse, nervous excitement, slight delusions, and lastly a desire for sleep. Small doses cause sleeplessness, irritability of the bladder and bowels, trembling of the extremities, and other signs of cerebral and nervous distress. Both these poisons work havoc with the system, ruining the nervous and mental life, and creating a dependence on stimulants, which may lead to alcoholic and other excesses. These poisons ruin the taste buds, retard proper digestion, cause constipation, and in many ways tend to ruin the constitution. They cannot be too strongly deprecated. Even cocoa contains injurious alkaloids, analogous to those contained in tea and coffee, and for that reason is to be avoided. Like all hot drinks, it tends to ruin the taste buds and induce a desire for more food than is needed, physiologically, and more than the system really requires. For that reason, also, all such drinks are to be avoided.

The injurious effects of alcohol, and all other similar stimulants are now so widely known that it is unnecessary to do more than refer to the fact here. Alcohol is never necessitated, and is detrimental at all times—more so at some times than at others. The widespread delusion that alcohol is a food; and, on the other hand, the idea that it actually furnishes “force” to the body, is responsible for much of the abuse which exists. Alcohol imparts no force and no energy to the system, but on the contrary wastes and expends both. Were this once thoroughly realised there would be no excuse whatever for the administration of alcohol, or its use in any form. But the injurious effects of alcohol have been discussed so frequently that I shall not do more than refer to it. (See the discussion of “Stimulants,” in my “Vitality, Fasting and Nutrition,” pp. 34-44.)

Water.—This is the beverage supplied by nature to furnish all the liquid the body requires; and water in a pure distilled state is contained in all vegetables, etc., and particularly in fruits. Fruitarians have often found that they can live in good health for weeks and months at a time without a drop of water—while keeping closely to their fruitarian diet. Nevertheless, water is very essential for the majority, and especially so upon an ordinary “mixed” diet. It will be found as a general rule that the more stimulating the food, the more water is required; and the same is true of all greasy foods. It is well known that all foods containing a large amount of salt call for water—this being due to the demand of the system for extra fluids, to wash out the offending and irritating substance. This fact alone should show us how harmful common salt is. The system clearly tries to wash it out of the tissues as soon as possible. Water containing any mineral substance in solution should be avoided. It is never beneficial, but always detrimental to the system. The mineral salts contained are just as injurious as if they were procured from the drug-shop, and taken in the usual way. Pure water is the best at all times—there is but one simple rule to follow in this connection: the purer, the better! Water should never be drunk at meals, but always between meals. It should be cool, but not ice cold. Hot water may occasionally be of benefit. A plentiful supply of water should be indulged in at all times. The secretions will thereby be increased in volume, the kidneys and liver stimulated into action, the blood rendered less thick, and the general system invigorated. I cannot speak too strongly in favour of large quantities of water each day—say from one to two quarts—if health is to be maintained. (This is of course on the ordinary “mixed” diet.) In all diseased conditions, the necessity for water is greatly increased, and the body is frequently rendered sick because of the very lack of it.

It is an interesting fact that water is the only article which is taken into the system that is not digested—in one sense of the term. All foods are digested, of course; and even air goes through a process which might well be called digestion. But water is not digested. It passes through the stomach, and into the bowels unchanged; it enters the system as water, and it leaves it as water, and any changes which are noted are simply due to the added salts and excreta which the water has washed through the body along with it. Of itself, it has undergone no change. This is a remarkable fact, and would serve to indicate the tremendous cleansing and flushing properties of water. Next to air, it is doubtless the most necessary article which the body can appropriate. A man can live sixty or more days on water (and air) without solid food; but he can live only ten or twelve days on solid food (and air) without water. It will thus be seen that water is far more essential to life than is solid food! It is of interest to note, also, that, in all hard manual labour, water is invariably craved long before solid food is called for by the tissues—i.e. thirst invariably returns before hunger.

Air and Breathing.—It is not generally known that all air taken into the lungs is digested—in one sense of the word—and that next to the last stage of all digestive processes is carried on in the lungs. For that reason a plentiful supply of fresh, pure air is so necessary. Every book we pick up upon the question of health and hygiene is most emphatic upon the value of fresh air; but few tell us why it is so necessary. The majority of persons know that a certain amount of oxygen is needed by the system, and that the blood is purified as it passes through the lungs, but they do not know that these processes are only the first crude outlines of what takes place, and that the processes carried on are both detailed and complicated. Further, as I have said, one of the stages of digestion is carried on in the lungs. The blood stream carries the food material to the lungs, and there it meets the oxygen of the atmospheric air, and becomes oxidised, and rendered appropriable by the system. It is important to bear in mind this important fact, that, no matter how much food we may eat, if it is not oxidised in this manner in the lungs, it cannot be appropriated by the system, and for that reason remains little better than refuse matter—floating at large in the system. That is, suppose we eat two pounds of food during the day, and breathe only enough (correspondingly) to oxidise one pound, only one pound will be utilised by the system, which will derive no benefit whatever from the other pound—no matter how good and nutritious the food may be! In fact, it will harm it, by floating about, as mal-assimilated food material. That is why deep breathing, and breathing fresh air is so essential. Without this supply of air, food would never nourish us, or be of any use whatever to the system.