Chapter I: Front Matter

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF
DIET

_A Treatise on the Food Question_

IN FIVE VOLUMES

EXPLAINING, IN PLAIN LANGUAGE, THE
CHEMISTRY OF FOOD AND THE CHEMISTRY OF
THE HUMAN BODY, TOGETHER WITH THE ART OF
UNITING THESE TWO BRANCHES OF SCIENCE IN THE
PROCESS OF EATING SO AS TO ESTABLISH NORMAL
DIGESTION AND ASSIMILATION OF FOOD AND
NORMAL ELIMINATION OF WASTE, THEREBY
REMOVING THE CAUSES OF STOMACH,
INTESTINAL, AND ALL OTHER
DIGESTIVE DISORDERS

BY

EUGENE CHRISTIAN, F. S. D.

VOLUME V

NEW YORK CITY
CORRECTIVE EATING SOCIETY, INC.
1917
COPYRIGHT 1914
BY
EUGENE CHRISTIAN
ENTERED AT
STATIONERS HALL, LONDON
SEPTEMBER, 1914
BY
EUGENE CHRISTIAN, F. S. D.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

PUBLISHED AUGUST, 1914

CONTENTS

VOLUME V

_Lesson XVI_ _Page_

ADAPTING FOOD TO SPECIAL CONDITIONS 1145

Infant, Old Age, and Athletic Feeding;
Sedentary Occupations, Climatic Extremes 1147

Normal Diet 1152

Infant Feeding 1154

General Rules for the Prospective Mother 1157

Special Rules for the Prospective Mother 1159

The Nursing Mother 1162

Care of the Child 1164

Constipation 1169

Exercise 1171

Clothing 1171

Temperature of Baby's Food 1173

Bandage 1173

Emaciation 1173

General Instructions for Children after One Year 1174

General Diet from Ages One to Two 1174

Simplicity in Feeding 1175

Old Age 1178

Three Periods of Old Age 1181

Athletics 1188

Sedentary Occupations 1194

General Directions for Sedentary Worker 1198

Climatic Extremes 1199

_Lesson XVII_

NERVOUSNESS--ITS CAUSE AND CURE 1209

Causes 1213

The Remedy 1217

Suggestions for Spring 1220

Suggestions for Summer 1222

Suggestions for Fall 1223

Suggestions for Winter 1224

_Lesson XVIII_

POINTS ON PRACTISE 1231

Introduction to Points on Practise 1233

Suggestions for the Practitioner 1236

Value of Experience 1239

Value of Diagnosis 1241

Educate Your Patient 1242

Effect of Mental Conditions 1245

Publicity 1247

Be Courteous and Tolerant 1250

_Lesson XIX_

EVOLUTION OF MAN 1253

What is Evolution? 1255

The Three Great Proofs of the Evolution of
Animal Life 1261

Man's Animal Kinship 1265

_Lesson XX_

SEX AND HEREDITY 1277

The Origin of Sex 1279

A Rational View of Sexual Health 1285

Embryological Growth--Prenatal Culture 1289

Heredity 1293

What Heredity Is 1295

Summary of Facts regarding Sex and Heredity 1297

_Lesson XXI_

REST AND SLEEP 1299

Rest 1301

The Old Physiology 1305

Rest and Recreation 1306

Sleep 1308

Some Reasons 1310

Oxidation and Air 1312

_Lesson XXII_

A LESSON FOR BUSINESS MEN 1315

A Good Business Man 1320

The Routine Life of the Average Business Man 1322

Some Suggestions for a Good Business Man 1324

_Lesson XXIII_

EXERCISE AND RE-CREATION 1327

Exercise 1329

Constructive Exercises 1330

Exercise for Repair 1331

Physiology of Exercise 1333

Systems of Physical Culture 1338

Program for Daily Exercise 1343

Re-creation 1346

LESSON XVI

<sc>Adapting Food to Special Conditions</sc>

INFANT, OLD AGE, AND ATHLETIC FEEDING, SEDENTARY OCCUPATIONS, CLIMATIC EXTREMES

Diet may be divided into three distinct classes--normal, preventive, and curative. In order to understand the application of diet to these several conditions, it is necessary to observe the following rules:

1 Foods must be selected which contain all the desired nutritive
elements.

2 They must be so combined as to produce chemical harmony, or
should at least produce no undesirable chemical action.

3 They must be proportioned so as to level or balance their
nutritive elements; that is, to prevent overfeeding on some elements
of nourishment, and underfeeding on others.

Many fine specimens of men and women have been produced without knowledge of these laws, but in nearly every case it may have been observed that the person was normal as to habits, and temperate in eating, therefore led aright by instinct.

If one lives an active life, spending from three to five hours a day in the open air, the body will cast off and burn with oxygen much excess nutrition, and will also convert or appropriate certain nutritive elements to one purpose, which, according to all known chemical laws, Nature intended for another. Much better results, however, will be obtained by giving Nature the right material with which to work, thus pursuing lines of least resistance.

What foods to select, how they should be combined and proportioned, is determined mainly by laws dependent upon the following conditions:

1 Age.

2 Temperature of environment--time of year or climate.

3 Work or activity.

(1) As to age:

If we wish the best results we must select and proportion our food according to age, because the growing child or youth needs much structural material--calcium phosphates--with which to build bone, teeth, and cartilage. This is found in cereals and in all grain foods. The middle-aged person needs but little of these--just enough for repair, and the aged person needs practically none.

While the growing child needs calcium phosphate, he also needs milk and natural sweets, which named in the order of their preference are honey, maple-sugar, dates, figs, and raisins. This does not mean that a generous quantity of vegetables and fruit cannot be taken, but that the articles first mentioned (cereals and starchy foods) should form a conspicuous part of the child's diet.

The adult needs a much less quantity of the heavier starchy foods, because the structural part of the body has been built up. The diet of the adult should consist of vegetables, nuts, and a normal quantity of sweets, a normal quantity of fruits, milk and eggs, with rather a limited amount of cereal or bread products, while the aged, or those having passed sixty, could subsist wholly upon a non-starch diet (non-cereal starch), such as vegetables, milk, nuts, eggs, salads, and fruits, including bananas, which is not a fruit, but a vegetable, and which contains a splendid form of readily soluble starch.

(2) As to time of year:

In selecting and proportioning our food we should observe the laws of temperature or time of the year. We should not eat foods of a high caloric or heating value at a time when the sun is giving us this heat direct, thus building a fire inside, while the sun is giving us the same heat outside. The violation of this simple law is the cause of all sunstroke and heat prostrations. On the contrary, if we are going to be exposed to zero weather, we should build a fire inside by eating foods of a high caloric value.

(3) As to work or activity:

We should select and proportion our food according to the work we do, because eating is a process of making energy, while work is a process of expending energy, and we should make these two accounts balance.

THE NORMAL DIET

[Sidenote: Effects of overfeeding on starchy foods and sweets]

While in some respects each body is a law unto itself, there are a few fundamental rules and laws that apply to all alike. For instance, overeating of starchy foods, in every case, will produce too much uric acid, and finally rheumatism. Also the overeating of sweets and starches will cause the stomach to secrete an over-supply of fermentative acids, the effects of which have been discussed in a previous lesson.

[Sidenote: Temporary disturbances caused by radical changes in diet]

In laying out the diet, under all conditions, the practitioner must be governed by the above-named rules. He should exercise his judgment, however, in each case according to the prevailing conditions. In prescribing diet it is well to remember that Nature will not tolerate, without protest, any radical change. It often occurs, therefore, that the most correct and thoroughly balanced menu will cause violent physical disturbances which the inexperienced may consider as unfavorable symptoms, but in a majority of cases this is merely the adjusting process, similar to that which occurs when the body is suddenly deprived of narcotics and stimulants after their habitual use.

The practitioner should exercise much care in diagnosis. He should study all symptoms and lay out the diet so as to counteract prevailing conditions, and to produce normality.

[Sidenote: The stomach should agree with natural food]

The tendency of the body, that has been incorrectly fed for many years, to protest against the right kind and the right combinations of food, is often very deceptive. It is not always correct to say that the food did not agree with the stomach, but more correct to say that the different foods did not agree with themselves. The patient should be thoroughly acquainted with these facts, and mentally prepared for some temporary discomforts or physical protest against the new system.

INFANT FEEDING

[Sidenote: Large percentage of infant mortality due to incorrect feeding]

The tremendous mortality among infants and children is due to incorrect feeding more than to all other causes. In the process of reproducing animal life, nearly all abnormal conditions are eliminated. The best that is in the mother is given to the child. The trend of Nature is upward toward higher intelligence and more perfect physical development. For this reason infants are usually healthier than their parents, though millions of babies are rapidly broken in health by improper feeding.

The economy of Nature is perfect, therefore all natural forces conspire to preserve the life of the young. This is the natural law governing the preservation and the development of human life, and that this condition does not obtain is the most striking evidence of our lack of knowledge in feeding the young.

[Sidenote: Point of view to be considered in infant feeding]

Infant feeding must be considered from two points of view: (1) Dealing with the child or infant as we find it, where the mother has so violated Nature's laws of nutrition and hygiene as to afford no breast-milk for her child; (2) where this condition does not prevail, and the child receives ample nourishment from the breast of the mother.

We will first consider the diet and the conduct of the mother during pregnancy and prior to it.

Preparation for motherhood is one of woman's most sacred duties, because it involves not only the happiness and health of herself, but it shapes, in a large degree, the mental and the physical conditions of another being which will wield an influence over its whole life.

[Sidenote: The unwelcome child]

The common error of most women is that they do not desire children when they are first married, and in the pursuit of other pleasures they violate and disregard the laws of Nature; the baby is a mere accident--probably unwelcome. During the entire embryonic period the same old habits and diet are indulged in; the mental and the physical condition of the being-to-be has received no consideration, and, unwelcome in a strange world, the little eyes are opened. Then the instinctive love of the mother is kindled and lavished; the child's every want is law; it needs maternal nourishment and the mother desires to give it, but the natural fountain is insufficient, and probably dry. The mother's thoughts and inspirations can no longer become a part of the child, except through education in later years--they are two separate beings; the opportunity to endow it with a part of her life is forever gone.

[Sidenote: Resistance to infant life should be removed as much as possible]

Under the most favorable conditions we meet a constant resistance to life, and the higher we ascend in the scale of civilization the greater is the resistance encountered. It is therefore the duty of the mother, as also of the father, to remove every obstacle that would offer resistance to the physical and mental growth of the child. In order to do this it is necessary to carry out certain well-established laws concerning diet, exercise, fresh air, sunshine, and mental training.

GENERAL RULES FOR THE PROSPECTIVE MOTHER

From the time conception is recognized the following general rules should be observed:

1 The corset or all tight-fitting garments that would in any way
interfere with freedom of exercise and thorough development of the
abdominal muscles should be discarded.

2 As much time as possible--at least two hours each day--should be
spent in the open air, and a system of moderate trunk exercises
followed, together with deep breathing, calculated to expand the
lungs to their fullest cell capacity, which is Nature's method of
burning or oxidizing waste matter, and thereby keeping the blood
pure.

3 The mental occupation should be an important factor in the daily
regimen. Some congenial study should be chosen with the view of
making it useful, while some remunerative employment should be
sought and indulged in for a portion of each day. Avoid idleness
by all means, or an idle roaming of the mind and spirit. Learn to
think, to concentrate, to work, and to do something for others, as
it is from these things that all happiness is gained.

4 The diet of the future mother should be governed somewhat by the
laws laid out in the first part of this lesson; that is, age,
temperature of environment, and occupation should be considered in
its selection.

SPECIAL RULES FOR THE PROSPECTIVE MOTHER

[Sidenote: Suggestions for the diet]

There are some specific rules in regard to diet, however, which every mother should observe. The diet should be balanced so as to contain all the needed elements of nourishment in approximately the right proportions. The proportions, however, should differ in many cases from that which she would take if she were in a normal state, especially in regard to starchy foods or calcareous matter. An abundance of green salads, sweet ripe fruits, fresh vegetables in season, eggs, milk, nuts, and not more than two ounces of bread, potatoes, or dried beans should be taken daily. If flesh food or something salty is craved, tender chicken, or fish, may be allowed in small quantities.

[Sidenote: Abnormal appetite during pregnancy]

It should be borne in mind that I do not advocate the use of flesh foods, but during pregnancy the appetite is varying and sometimes tyrannical, and it has been found better to compromise with this condition than to combat it. The use of a limited quantity of tender meat, or any other article of good food for which there should arise a craving, is therefore advisable.

[Sidenote: Flesh of young animals preferred]

In the selection of meats, the flesh of young animals is best, for the reason that young animals are more healthy and less liable to contamination by dis-ease. The meat of either fowl or fish is rather appetizing, and often satisfies the craving that many pregnant women have for the heavier meats such as pork or veal, which are, of course, very much more difficult to digest.

There is, notwithstanding the opinion foolishly held by many doctors, no difference in the nutritive qualities of white or dark meat, as either variety is nourished by identically the same blood supply, and contains the same sort of protoplasm.

So it is a mistaken idea to think that there is any appreciable difference in the digestibility of white meat as compared with dark, except as the effect of mental suggestion may be operative. Of course, we know that if you tell a person often enough that a certain thing is true, eventually he will act upon it automatically. And so it is with the white and dark meat fetich.

THE NURSING MOTHER

[Sidenote: Breast milk vs. artificial foods]

If the mother supplies enough milk, this is infinitely superior to any artificial combination of so-called infant foods. Unfortunately a large majority of children are not breast-fed, and must depend upon the various commercial infant-foods, or upon the judgment of the untrained nurse, or the mother.

[Sidenote: The lives of babies often depend upon the mother's diet]

The majority of mothers, if so disposed, could, by studying their own diet, supply the most robust child with ample breast-nourishment until it is ten or twelve months old, after which period the infantile crisis would be passed, and millions of little lives would thereby be saved. However, the confinement and the trouble to which the mother is subjected by the nursing baby causes the majority of infants to be weaned within a few weeks after birth, and turned over to the hazard of prepared food, soporific drugs, and nurses.

[Sidenote: Child-love stimulated by nursing]

If mothers could realize the love that is daily kindled and strengthened; if they could be made to know how much more their children would love them, and they would love their children; if they could look into the years and see how the link of love between them and their children had been shaped, molded, and fashioned by the simple act of nurturing them from the breast (to say nothing of the lives that would be saved), the artificially-fed baby would be a rarity, and the mother would be queen in the hearts of the nation's children.

The most beautiful thing that ever graced the canvas of art, or shed its love into the cold realism of nature, is a nursing baby pushing from its satisfied lips the mother's breast, and smiling its sweet content into her face.

It is almost criminal to withdraw the breast from an infant, and to turn it over to the treachery of prepared foods, when, by devoting a little time each day to the study of the science of eating, it is possible for the mother to supply the child with her own milk.

CARE OF THE CHILD

The following are general rules for feeding the infant from birth to about one year of age.

These rules cannot be made inflexible because all children differ in temperament, vitality, and as to prenatal influences, but if the mother will observe these instructions with reasonable care, her child can be brought healthfully through the most critical period of its life, and will enter the solid food age with good digestion, a strong body, and an excellent chance to withstand all children's dis-eases.

Where artificial feeding becomes necessary, then the preparation of the baby-food is of primary importance. Cow's milk is, of course, the logical food, but taken whole, that is, the entire milk, it is too high in proteids, and deficient in sugar; therefore, in order to make a healthful infant-food, it must be modified according to the requirements of the infant body.

The nurse or the mother should prepare a quantity sufficient for only one day's supply at a time, after the following formula:

Cream 2 ounces
Milk 2 ounces
Water 15 ounces
Milk-sugar 4 level teaspoonfuls
Lime-water 2 teaspoonfuls or 1/2 ounce

This should be thoroughly mixed, placed in the bottle, and set in warm water until it is brought to the temperature of breast-milk. The above formula may be used during the first month of the baby's life.

The quantity and the frequency of feedings should be according to the following table:

AGE FEEDINGS OUNCES INTERVALS OF

1st day 5 to 6 1 3 or 4 hours
2d day 7 to 8 1 2-1/2 to 3 hours
3d to 7th day 9 to 10 1-1/4 2 to 2-1/2 hours
2d, 3d, and 4th weeks 10 2 to 3 2 hours

Formula for the second and the third months:

Cream 3-1/2 ounces
Milk 1-1/2 ounces
Water 14 ounces
Milk-sugar 5 teaspoonfuls
Lime-water 2-1/2 teaspoonfuls

Quantity and frequency of feeding should be about as follows:

MONTHS FEEDINGS OUNCES INTERVALS

2d and 3d 7 to 8 3 to 4 2 or 3 hours

Formula for period from the fourth to the twelfth month:

Cream 6 to 8 ounces
Milk 2 to 3 ounces
Water 10 ounces
Milk-sugar 5 to 6 teaspoonfuls
Lime-water 2 to 3 teaspoonfuls

Quantity and frequency of feedings should be about as follows:

MONTHS FEEDINGS OUNCES INTERVALS

4th, 5th, and 6th 5 to 6 4 to 6 3 to 3-1/2 hours
7th, 8th, and 9th 5 6 to 7 4 to 4-1/2 hours
10th, 11th, and 12th 5 6 to 8 4 to 4-1/2 hours

The above formulas for infant-food are the best that can be made from ordinary cow's milk.

The milk-sugar and the lime-water herein named can be purchased at any first-class drug store.

[Sidenote: Avoid too frequent feeding]

These tables are not given as exact. The mother should exercise careful vigilance and judgment, especially in reference to the quantity of each feeding, and the frequency. The moment the child shows symptoms of overfeeding, which symptoms are usually evidenced by vomiting or discomfort, the quantity of cream and the amount at each feeding should be reduced. In fact, it is healthful, and often necessary for the child to allow it the opportunity to get hungry. The digestion of many a baby is totally ruined by continuous feeding, which is done out of motherly sympathy, or merely to keep it quiet.

[Sidenote: Importance of cleanliness in preparing child's food]

The mother or the nurse should exercise great care in the cleanliness and the hygienic preparation of children's foods. Milk should be fresh, and of the very best. It should not be left uncovered or exposed. It should be kept continually on ice until ready for use. The cream should be taken from the top of the bottle, or from fresh milk. This insures better quality of butter-fat than is generally supplied in ordinary commercial daily cream.

As the child advances in age, whole milk, cereal gruel, and egg mixture (two whites to one yolk) may be administered according to the child's normal appetite and digestion. The egg may be prepared by whipping the whites and the yolks separately, adding to the yolk a teaspoonful of cream and one of sugar, then whipping the beaten whites into this, and serving.

CONSTIPATION

The stools of natural, healthy children should be bright yellow and perfectly smooth. If grainy and soft, food should be made richer. If in curds, it evidences too rapid coagulation; therefore an alkali should be added. If the stools are white and oily, it indicates an excess of cream. If hard and dry, it indicates an insufficient amount of cream. If green, reduce the quantity of milk, or omit it altogether, and increase the quantity of barley-water.

The majority of bottle-fed children suffer greatly from constipation, caused largely by the milk, or the failure to modify the milk properly, or to make it contain the constituent elements of breast-milk. This condition can be relieved by giving the child sweet orange juice every night and morning, or the juice from soaked prunes, if preferred. This should be administered in quantities ranging from a dozen drops to two or three teaspoonfuls, according to the age of the child and the severity of the condition. Intestinal congestion can often be relieved, however, by giving the abdomen gentle massage, preferably with a rotary or kneading motion.

In cases of diarrhea, infants from three to eight months old should be given first an enema, and then a diet entirely of boiled milk mixed with rice or barley-water.

EXERCISE

All infants need some exercise. They should be gently rubbed and rolled about after the morning bath, before they are dressed. There is nothing more healthful than exposure of the baby-skin to fresh air in a normal temperature.

CLOTHING

Next in importance to the food of the infant is its clothing. The usual style of dressing babies the first three months of their lives is positively barbaric; not that it imitates uncivilized people, but because it evidences the grossest ignorance and cruelest vanity. The mother seems to have no way of expressing her pride in her child except by bedecking it with elaborate garments. These usually consist of three long skirts, two of them attached to bands which are fastened around the body. The weight of this clothing prevents the free use of the baby's feet and legs, putting it into a kind of civilized strait-jacket, thus preventing it from exercising the only part of its anatomy that it can freely move.

It is nothing uncommon to see a beautiful baby sore, irritated, and broken out with heat all over its little body by being heavily enveloped in barbaric rags. The child, therefore, is made to suffer merely that it may please a proud mother, and conform to an ignorant custom a thousand years old.

The only purpose clothing should serve is that of bodily warmth. When it is made the instrument of painful adornment it is serving the same purpose as "rings in the ears and bells on the toes," and the mind of the mother who thus afflicts her child is in the same class as that of the ignorant barbarian whom she imitates.

TEMPERATURE OF BABY'S FOOD

It should be remembered that all liquid food for a child up to twelve or fifteen months old should be administered at a temperature no lower than blood-heat. The liquid mixtures named herein may be made in advance of the needs, and placed upon ice merely to preserve them, but should be warmed to a temperature of at least ninety-nine degrees Fahrenheit before administering to the child.

Pure water should be given to all children from the time they are two weeks old.

BANDAGE

The bandage should be removed about the close of the third month.

EMACIATION

In case of slight emaciation or lack of fat, the child should be given an olive-oil rub once or twice a week, rubbing gently into the skin about one teaspoonful of oil.

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR CHILDREN AFTER ONE YEAR

All children, whether breast-fed or bottle-fed, are subject to practically the same health rules after they are about one year old. Therefore I will now consider all children in the same class, and lay out for them what may be termed general instructions in health and hygiene.

Care should be exercised to omit from the diet of children just beginning to take solid food, all articles that will not dissolve readily without mastication.

GENERAL DIET FROM AGES ONE TO TWO

The diet from the first to the second year should consist of:

Baked apples
Baked potatoes--sweet or white
Cereal--limited quantity (thoroughly cooked)
Cream soups--home-made, such as:

Cream of celery Onion
Potato Rice
Tomato, etc.

Eggs
Milk
Pulp of soft ripe fruits
Vegetables--thoroughly mashed, such as:

{Asparagus
Fresh {Squash
{Spinach

The above vegetables contain much cellulose or pulp which should be entirely discarded, leaving only the meat or purée; but to the child from eleven to fifteen months old, they should be administered in very limited quantities.

SIMPLICITY IN FEEDING

Especial attention should be given to simplicity in feeding:

1 Avoid giving too many things at the same meal; from three to four
articles at one time are sufficient

2 Mothers should be especially cautioned against giving a child
bread made with yeast, or baking powder, and against the old diet of
milk toast

3 All meat, flesh food, stimulants or narcotics of every kind should
be omitted from the diet of children

4 The crowning mistake of the doting mother is often made in feeding
her child from the conventional table, on such things as weakened
coffee or tea, meats, and condiments

5 The custom of giving children an excess of sweets has ruined
millions of little stomachs, and has given them a heritage of
dis-ease and suffering before they have entered their 'teens

6 All condiments, such as pepper, salt, vinegar, pickles, and all
pungent things should be eliminated from the diet of children--the
taste of the child is very susceptible to cultivation, and with very
little encouragement it will accept things that have no place in the
human economy, and which are positively harmful

7 When a child begins teething, it may be given a small piece of
hard water-cracker with safety

If the above rules are observed, it is reasonable to assume that normal hunger of the child will guide it very correctly in selecting, proportioning, and combining its food through the period of childhood until it enters the period of youth.

OLD AGE

[Sidenote: Necessity for old age diet]

There seems to be two critical periods in every life--the ages of thirty and sixty. If the sixtieth year can be turned with good digestion, normal assimilation and excretion, it is fair to assume that with reasonable care the century mark may be easily reached. It is also reasonable to assume that experience will have taught most thoughtful people what to eat and what not to eat, but the mortality tables of nearly all civilized countries, of which the writer has made a careful study, prove that a majority of people do not reach their sixtieth year, and but a very small per cent of those who do are blessed with good digestion. Therefore an old age diet is quite as important to the student as infant feeding.

For purposes of convenience, I will put all cereal products, legumes, and white potatoes in the starch or bread class, and henceforth they will be referred to as such.

[Sidenote: Meat and bread produce old age]

The majority of disorders that mark the difference between youth and age may be traced directly to the overconsumption of meat and bread, especially cereal starch. The hardening of the arteries, the stiffening of the cartilage, the enlargement of the joints, and the general lack of flexibility throughout the body is due almost wholly to the overconsumption of these two staples.

[Sidenote: Uric acid in rheumatic conditions]

Uric acid is always present in gouty and rheumatic conditions, but it is there as Nature's defense against our sins, and not as a primary cause. Meat is not the cause of uric acid as has been popularly taught. Uric acid is one of the constituent elements of all animal bodies, and when the normal supply in the human body is supplemented by that which is contained in the body of the animal upon which we prey, we are oversupplied. This is as far as meat-eating contributes toward uric acid poisoning.

[Sidenote: Soluble starches desirable]

When the body is young and growing, it can consume and appropriate a considerable quantity of starchy or structural material, but when it is fully grown, or has turned forty, it can subsist healthfully upon a diet containing only from three to five per cent of starch, and as one becomes older the more soluble forms of starch should be taken, such as the starch contained in green peas, beans, and corn, which, immature, is readily soluble and assimilable. The starch in the banana is also easily appropriated and easily oxydized, and will be found to agree with many who cannot eat starch in any other form without producing fermentation.

After the fiftieth year the diet becomes more and more a factor needing special attention in the daily regimen, both as to selection and quantity; and with advancing age the quantity of food should be gradually reduced until the minimum which will support life healthfully is reached.

[Sidenote: Importance of diet with advancing age]

In old age the diet should be governed by the same general rules as those of younger people; that is, elderly people should select, combine, and proportion their food according to temperature of environment, labor, and age. Those performing manual labor can use and eliminate food material which would produce uric acid and other poisons in the body of the sedentary worker.

THREE PERIODS OF OLD AGE

[Sidenote: Diet from fifty to sixty]

Old age may be divided into three periods. From fifty to sixty the diet should consist of a very limited quantity of bread products (not more than two per cent); fresh green vegetables, fresh mild fruits, nuts, a normal quantity of milk and eggs, a limited quantity of sugar, and a moderate amount of fats.

[Sidenote: Diet from sixty to seventy]

From sixty to seventy the amount of cereal starch should be reduced to one per cent, or not more than two per cent, while the other articles named may be taken as suggested from fifty to sixty, gradually eliminating starchy foods, and increasing foods containing proteids, casein, and albumin.

[Sidenote: Diet from seventy to one hundred]

Between the ages of seventy and one hundred, the same general suggestions as those above laid out should be followed, eliminating entirely all cereal products. The more soluble forms of starchy or carbohydrate foods, such as potatoes, bananas, and green peas, beans, corn, etc., may be taken. (See Lesson XIII, Vol. III, p. 632.)

The necessary amount of fats, albumin, casein, and proteids must be governed by activity and temperature of environment.

The following are suggestions for one day's menu, in spring and summer, age between fifty and sixty. Choice of menus may be exercised, but each menu should be taken in its entirety.

MENU I MENU II

BREAKFAST

Melon or subacid fruit One or two very ripe bananas,
One egg--coddled with figs, cream,
A potato or a very little and nuts
coarse bread Choice of fruit--non-acid
A glass of clabbered milk or Two glasses of milk
buttermilk
Two tablespoonfuls of raisins,
with cream and nuts

LUNCHEON

Choice of peas, corn, beans, Choice of carrots, parsnips,
or creamed onions beans, squash, or asparagus
Eggs or buttermilk A baked sweet or a white
A baked potato potato
A salad or something green, A glass of buttermilk
with nuts Cream cheese, dates, and
A banana, with cream, nuts nuts
and dates A very small portion of
green salad, with grated
nuts

DINNER

One fresh vegetable--spinach, A green salad
cooked ten minutes Two fresh vegetables
One egg or a very small A sweet or a white potato,
portion of fish with sweet butter
A baked potato A glass of sour milk
Choice of dates, figs, or
raisins, with cream cheese
and nuts

In cases of constipation, two or three tablespoonfuls of coarse wheat bran (cooked, if desired) should be taken with the breakfast and the evening meal, and a spoonful just before retiring, taken in a glass of water. Such fruits as plums, peaches, or berries should be taken daily, just after rising and just before retiring.

The following are suggestions for fall and winter menus, for a person between the ages of fifty and sixty:

BREAKFAST

Oranges, apples, pears, or soaked prunes
An egg and a small portion of either plain boiled wheat or rice
A very ripe banana, with nuts and raisins

NOTE: Sweet fruits may be taken instead of the acid fruits suggested, and milk instead of eggs.

LUNCHEON

One or two fresh vegetables, such as carrots, onions, turnips,
cabbage, or beans
Celery or any coarse plant
A potato or a very small portion of corn

If not very active, the luncheon may consist of two glasses of buttermilk and a spoonful of wheat bran.

DINNER

Choice of two fresh vegetables
A baked potato
Choice of fish, eggs, or buttermilk
Corn bread or a very small portion of coarse cereal

All fresh, watery vegetables should be cooked in a casserole dish.

A sufficient quantity of water should be drunk at each of these meals to bring the moisture up to about sixty-six per cent of the meal--two to three glasses.

These meals are mere suggestions, and are therefore subject to many variations.

All green salads may be substituted for one another; all starchy products--grain, potatoes, and legumes--may also be substituted for one another.

ATHLETICS

[Sidenote: Every diet should be an athletic diet]

The diet for the athlete really differs but little from that which should be taken by every person in normal health, the object in all cases being to secure the greatest degree of energy from the least quantity of food. In order to do this, the laws governing the selecting, the combining, and the proportioning of foods should be observed. When the digestive, the assimilative, and the excretory organs are properly performing their functions, the object should be to gain the highest efficiency in food with the least amount of loss or waste. Every diet, therefore, should be made an athletic diet.

In dealing with the public at large, the work of the practitioner will be confined very largely to prescribing for those who, by violation of Nature's laws, have become dis-eased, or in some way physically abnormal, and in these cases, of course, a remedial or counteractive diet first becomes necessary.

[Sidenote: General diet for normal athlete]

In dealing with the athlete as a special class, however, we must consider him as a normal creature, somewhere between the ages of twenty and forty. We must also consider that his digestion and assimilation of food, and elimination of waste are normal. Under these conditions, the diet should consist of highly nitrogenous and proteid compounds, leveled or balanced by the requisite amount of carbohydrates and fats.

[Sidenote: Quantity of fat required at different seasons]

If the athlete is training for action in summer, the quantity of fat should be reduced according to temperature or climate. When the thermometer ranges in the seventies and eighties, one ounce of fat each twenty-four hours would probably be sufficient, while if the mercury is down in the twenties or thirties, from two or three ounces may be required to keep up bodily heat.

The following are suggestions for summer athletic diet:

BREAKFAST

Fruit or melon
*Corn, or boiled wheat, with nuts and cream
Eggs, whipped, with sugar and cream--lemon juice flavor

LUNCHEON

Break from four to six eggs into a bowl, adding a heaping
teaspoonful of sugar to each egg; whip five minutes; while
whipping, add slowly one teaspoonful of lemon juice to each egg; to
this add half a glass of milk to each egg, and drink slowly

*Corn or a potato

DINNER

Fruit, berries, or melon
A salad of lettuce, tomato, and grated carrots; serve with dressing
of lemon juice, grated nuts and olive-oil
One fresh vegetable
An egg or tender fish
A baked potato
Buttermilk

[Footnote: NOTE: Corn to be prepared as follows:

Cut lightly from cob with a sharp knife and scrape down with a dull one; serve uncooked with a little salt, sugar and cream.]

The following are suggestions for winter athletic diet:

BREAKFAST

A baked apple or an orange
One coarse cereal, with nuts and cream
Two eggs, either whipped or boiled two minutes
Very ripe bananas, with dates, nuts and cream (If bananas are not
very ripe, they should be peeled and baked) See recipe, Vol. III,
p. 677

LUNCHEON

Beans or lentils
Carrots, turnips, squash, or corn
Fish or eggs
A baked potato
Buttermilk

DINNER

Two fresh vegetables
A green salad, with oil
Omelet, with grated nuts
A banana, with nuts and cream, and either dates or raisins
Buttermilk

These menus, like those given for summer, are merely for the purpose of suggesting selections, combinations, and proportions of food that will meet the exigencies of temperature, environment, and work. The quantity of food required will depend largely upon the size (physique) of the individual, the severity of training, and the feats to be performed. It is especially important that these suggestions be well considered at least one day before engaging in any athletic event or work requiring extraordinary physical effort, as the human body appropriates or uses food from twenty-four to thirty-six hours after it is eaten.

[Sidenote: Exposure to extreme cold or exertion]

If one is to be exposed to extreme cold, an excess of fats should be taken, beginning thirty-six hours before exposure. If much physical effort is to be exerted, the diet should be balanced as to all nutritive elements, with an excess of nitrogenous foods. In fact, these rules should be observed by every one who desires to make feeding scientific, and to make food his servant instead of his master, as our civilized habits have a tendency to do.

SEDENTARY OCCUPATIONS

[Sidenote: Cessation of activity means disintegration]

Nature demands from every form of life a certain amount of activity or motion. Any transgression of this law means disintegration. Rest is merely the process adopted by Nature to reconvert matter into its original elements. To whatever extent one ceases activity, Nature, under normal conditions, inflicts this penalty.

[Sidenote: The penalty of civilization]

Man's civilized habits and customs have produced a class of workers who, while at work, are deprived of their requisite amount of motion, and who, therefore, pay the penalty by shortened periods of life, and by numerous disorders which we have come to characterize as dis-ease. There is but one method known to science by which these penalties may be avoided, and by which the worker whose occupation must be sedentary may become as healthful as his brother who can order his life in conformity with Nature's laws. That method lies in the ordering of his diet.

[Sidenote: Dis-ease is merely congestion]

All dis-ease may be called _congestion_, or the failure of the body to eliminate poisons and waste matter. The process of elimination is assisted by activity (work or play). The accumulation of waste and poisons in the body is measured or determined almost wholly by the diet.

[Sidenote: Diet governed by work]

The man who is swinging a pick or a sledge hammer in the open air may eat or drink almost anything, because his powers of eliminating waste are aided by his work. It follows, therefore, that those whose work is of a sedentary nature must procure their nutrition from substances containing the minimum of waste, and producing the maximum of energy, and the quantity must be measured accurately by the demands of the body, or autointoxication (self-poisoning) will result.

Intestinal congestion (constipation), which is almost universal among sedentary workers, is caused in nearly all cases by consuming a quantity of food in excess of the physical demands, and which cannot be thrown off owing to the lack of exercise. It is at this point that science must lay out the dietetic regimen so as to make it conform to the occupation, or to the lack of physical activity.

The following are suggestions for a spring or summer diet for the average sedentary worker:

BREAKFAST

Cantaloup, berries or peaches, with sugar and cream
An egg
One or two bananas, with nuts, cream, and raisins (Bananas should
be baked, if not very ripe)

LUNCHEON

Peas, beans, or asparagus
A heaping tablespoonful of nuts
A salad of lettuce and tomatoes, with nuts
A baked potato, tender corn, or a very little coarse bread

DINNER

Melon or cantaloup
Two tablespoonfuls of nuts
One or two fresh vegetables, including an ear of tender corn
Fish, eggs, or buttermilk
Plain ice-cream, if something sweet is desired

GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR SEDENTARY WORKER

The student will recognize that in these menus the heavier foods are prescribed sparingly, while the lighter or the more readily soluble articles predominate. From these suggestions a fair idea of a fall and winter diet can be drawn.

Indigestion, sour stomach (hyper-chlorhydria), constipation, malassimilation, and general anemia are the disorders with which the sedentary worker is most commonly afflicted.

In dealing with each and all of these conditions, including obesity, which is often the result of sedentary habits, the first thing to be done is to limit the quantity of food to the normal requirements of the body, and in extreme cases a diet below the normal should be observed; no one was ever made ill by underfeeding. Then, with proper care as to the selection, combination, and proportions of food, and an increased amount of exercise and deep breathing, the person of sedentary habits should be made as healthy and strong as the outdoor worker in the fields of manual labor.

CLIMATIC EXTREMES

In considering a diet to meet the requirements of climatic extremes, either hot or cold, it is necessary to reckon from normality, both as to climate and as to the health of the individual.

All the foregoing lessons, taken as a whole, are designed to teach one method or theory, involving two principles:

1 Selections, combinations, and proportions of food that will
counteract and remove the causes of unnatural conditions called
dis-ease

2 Selections, combinations, and proportions of food that will bring
the body up to its highest degree of development and there maintain
it

Under normal conditions the temperature of the body may be thoroughly controlled by feeding. The principal process of metabolism is that of making heat out of the fuel given to the "human boiler." The amount of heat, therefore, that a given quantity of food will produce is determined very largely by the amount of resistance that is met from natural environment.

[Sidenote: Amount of fat required in different temperatures]

The human body, under ordinary conditions, in a temperature of 60° Fahrenheit, will use about two ounces of pure fat every twenty-four hours. If the temperature should drop to 30° Fahrenheit, it would require about three ounces of fat every twenty-four hours to keep the temperature of the body at normal. Under certain conditions of exposure it might require as much as five and even six ounces of pure fat to maintain normal temperature of the body, and in the extreme north, where the temperature ranges in winter from 25° to 30° below zero, the natives often take as much as sixteen ounces of fat during the day. Fat being the principal heat-producing element, it is, therefore, the most necessary thing to consider in a temperature of extreme cold.

The student will readily understand that, in order to maintain a normal standard of vitality and endurance, the selection of foods must be made according to age, activity, and temperature.

For a person undergoing a reasonable amount of exposure, and working in a climate where the temperature is ranging between 20° and 30° Fahrenheit, the following menus, covering one day, may be suggested:

Immediately on rising, drink a cup of hot water, then take vigorous deep breathing exercises, followed by a cool sponge bath and rub down.

BREAKFAST

(An hour later)

Add half an ounce of sugar to two or three eggs, and whip five
minutes; add a tablespoonful of lemon juice while whipping; mix
with this two glasses of rich milk
A tablespoonful of nuts
One very ripe banana, with cream

LUNCHEON

One fresh vegetable
Lima or navy beans
A salad, with either olive-oil or nuts
A baked potato or boiled wheat (A liberal supply of butter or
cream)

DINNER

A baked sweet potato
One or two vegetables
Eggs, or buttermilk, unskimmed
A baked white potato, with either olive-oil or butter
Dates, with cream cheese, or gelatin, with cream

As the temperature becomes lower, the amount of fats and proteids should be increased according to exposure and activity.

The student should bear in mind that carbohydrates, proteids, and fats are the most important factors in the winter dietary. Other articles can be held level over a wide range of temperature, provided these three staple nutrients are taken in the requisite proportions.

[Sidenote: Summer diet requires scientific consideration]

Nearly all people in normal health instinctively avoid heat-producing foods in hot weather, and as in warm or hot climates people live more in the open air, oxidation is therefore more perfect, and has a tendency to aid elimination, so the errors of diet are not so serious. Nevertheless, the food to be taken in hot climates, or the heated term of summer, should receive scientific consideration.

Anthropoid life, of which man is the highest type, originated in the tropics, and nearly everything necessary for his highest physical development grew prodigally in that country. His natural or primitive diet was nuts, fruits, and salads (edible plants).

Civilization has transplanted him in the north, and has laid heavier burdens upon him, therefore he needs, in many instances, heavier and different foods, such as the carbohydrates, proteids, fats, and the albumin and the phosphorus in eggs.

As the temperature becomes warmer, the heat-producing factors, such as fats and carbohydrates (starch and sugar), should be gradually reduced.

The following menus are suitable for the average person, in normal health, between the ages of thirty and sixty, when the temperature is ranging from 70° to 90° Fahrenheit:

BREAKFAST

Cantaloup, peaches, or berries
Very ripe bananas, with grated nuts and cream
A glass of milk

LUNCHEON

One whipped egg
A fresh vegetable
A teaspoonful of nuts
A lettuce and tomato salad
A baked sweet or white potato

DINNER

Peas, beans, asparagus, or corn
A salad, with grated nuts and carrots
A potato
One whipped egg
Half a glass of milk
A service of gelatin

These menus are mere suggestions, not invariable, and in following them it should be remembered that all green salads may be substituted for one another, and as a general rule such underground articles as beets, carrots, turnips, and parsnips may be substituted for one another. Also green corn, peas, and beans are in the same general class. (See "Constipation," Vol. III, p. 761.)

Observation of these rules will give the student rather a wide range of articles to draw upon in selecting a diet for the normal person.

LESSON XVII

NERVOUSNESS ITS CAUSE AND CURE

The nerves of the human body are the most important, the most complex, and probably the least understood of any part of the human anatomy. In conditions of health they are never heard from, therefore every expression of the nervous system is a symptom of some abnormal physical condition.

[Sidenote: True meaning of nervousness]

The usual term "nervousness" conveys to the mind of the average person such conditions as sleeplessness, restlessness, lack of mental and physical tranquillity, but to the trained mind of the food scientist or physician, it means mental aberration, hallucinations, morbidity, mental depression, lack of self-confidence, uncertainty, loss of memory, fear of poverty, anticipation of accident, tragedy, death, insanity, and a multitude of things that never happen. Language cannot adequately describe or convey to the mind of another person the strange impressions that sweep o'er the mind--the mental anguish caused by an ordinary case of nervous indigestion. Those only who can understand why many good men and women sometimes take their own lives, or commit some great crime, are those who have experienced the same affliction.

If we could correctly interpret the various symptoms given to the brain from the nervous system, and would heed these symptoms, the body might be kept in almost perfect health under all conditions of civilized life.

[Sidenote: Relation of nutrition to nervousness]

The lack of fresh air and exercise is always told by nervous expression, but the most important and significant message conveyed by the nerves at the brain is that concerning food and general nutrition. Instinct often leads us to fresh air and exercise, but with our food it is vastly different. We acquire a taste for certain things; the habit grows upon us, and though the nerves tell the story to our senses over and over, we heed it not because we are held behind the bars of habit by the tyranny of appetite. In this respect the tobacco fiend, the drug fiend, and the food fiend are all in the same class.

CAUSES

Nervousness usually has its origin in disorders of the functions of metabolism, assimilation and elimination. In other words, somewhere between the time the food is first taken into the system, and the time the poisonous débris of the food and the body waste is finally eliminated, there are some grievous faults of function.

Some deficiency in the activity and in the secreting power of any of the digestive organs; some defect in the assimilation of the finished pabulum; some short-coming in the process by which oxygen is carried through the system to convert the "end-products" into less toxic substances for final excretion--any or all of these causes may conspire to produce nervousness. These may again, in their turn, be due to causes that arise within the mind, inhibiting the proper functional activity of the body.

But overfeeding, or eating the wrong combinations of food, and lack of proper elimination, are probably the most frequent causes of nervousness. When we take into the system more food than the body requires, there is bound to be a certain amount of it which cannot be utilized to build tissue, or furnish heat, or supply mineral salts.

This excess food, under the influence of fermentative processes, breaks down into various poisonous products. This is especially true of the albuminous elements of the food. For these, in the heat and moisture of the small intestine, rapidly undergo a process of rotting--this is exactly what it is--and develop some of the most virulent organic poisons known to man.

They exercise a profound depression upon all the physiological functions, and cause an actual toxic degeneration of the nervous protoplasm. This, in turn, causes nerve irritability, insomnia, and many of those protean symptoms roughly grouped under the head of neurasthenia.

To completely relieve the condition means that a thorough reform in habits,--and particularly in dietetic habits--must be undertaken.

Excesses of every kind--even of play or work--must be stopped. All possible sources of worry must be removed. Rest and recreation should be made quite as important--in fact more so, than house-work or business.

Sleep, and plenty of it, should be secured at all costs. Eight hours are none too many--although ten would be better.

Needless to say, the question of diet is of prime importance. The use of tea, coffee, tobacco, alcohol, and all stimulant beverages, as well as condiments, should be discontinued.

Plain, wholesome food--with an ample supply of lecithin (or nerve fat) such as eggs, milk, olive oil, etc., should be taken liberally.

All sources of fermentation--especially those forms due to an excess of starch, sugars, and acids, should be avoided. Careful attention should be given to securing free bowel movement.

And, above all, an equable frame of mind should be cultivated; the way to defeat this purpose is to overwork and worry in order to accumulate the thing called property.

[Sidenote: Working for wealth alone defeats its purpose]

The desire to accumulate property has for its excuse immunity from work at some future time so that we can enjoy life, but experience teaches us that the physical cost of this effort defeats the very purpose for which we are striving.

THE REMEDY

The victim of nervousness should first seek a complete change of environment, and engage in pleasant, and, if possible, profitable occupation.

[Sidenote: Therapeutic value of working for the public good]

Thousands of people become nervous wrecks by pursuing work for which they have no natural taste or ability, and many become nervous from the monotony of environment. This is especially true with women, and while it is exceedingly difficult for countless housewives and mothers to escape from this monotony, yet they can secure relief by becoming interested in some work of a public or quasi-public nature, or by taking up a "hobby" that has for its purpose some form of public good.

All people love the plaudits and esteem of their fellow-creatures, and there is nothing that will relieve the monotony and bring that satisfaction which all of us desire more quickly than earnest labor in a worthy cause. Therefore, this is one of the first and the best remedies for that character of nervousness caused by the monotony and narrowed life of the average woman.

[Sidenote: The effects of wrong eating and drinking]

The most prolific cause of nervousness, however, is incorrect, unnatural habits of eating and drinking, therefore, the logical remedy must be found in simplifying, leveling, and making the diet conform to the requirements of the body governed, of course, by age, occupation, etc.

The nervous person should eliminate from the diet acids, sweets (see Lesson VIII, Vol. II, pp. 313 and 332), flesh foods, and all stimulating beverages.

The following menus, with variations according to the available supply of fruits and vegetables in season, should be adopted:

SUGGESTIONS FOR SPRING

Choice of the following menus:

MENU I MENU II

BREAKFAST

A cup of hot water Very little farina or oatmeal,
Two baked bananas with cream
Steamed wheat--cream A glass of buttermilk

LUNCHEON

Corn hominy, with butter A white potato, baked
or cream A large, boiled onion
Raisins, nuts, cream cheese Corn bread
One or two glasses of water A glass of milk

DINNER

A pint of junket One egg or a morsel of fish
Bran gems A baked potato
A coddled egg (For bran Choice of carrots, parsnips,
meal and coddled eggs, or onions
see Vol. III, pp. 677 and (A green salad or spinach
683) may be eaten at this
Hot water meal, if desired)

One or two glasses of water should be drunk at each of these meals.

If there is a tendency toward constipation, a liberal portion of wheat bran, thoroughly cooked, should be taken at both the morning and the evening meal.

Bran possesses valuable nutritive properties, such as mineral salts, iron, protein and phosphates, and it harmonizes chemically with all other foods.

SUGGESTIONS FOR SUMMER

BREAKFAST

Melon, or any mild subacid or non-acid fruit, such as pears, baked
apples, sweet grapes, very ripe peaches, Japanese plums, or
persimmons
Choice of whipped egg or junket
A banana--natural, or baked, if the digestion is slightly impaired

LUNCHEON

A fresh green salad, such as celery or lettuce, with oil or nuts
Onions, uncooked
A whipped egg
Carrots, peas, or beans

DINNER

Corn, carrots, peas, beans, or squash
Half a cup of plain wheat bran, cooked
A baked potato
A glass of water

SUGGESTIONS FOR FALL

In adopting the two-meals-a-day system, the noon meal should be omitted. This gives the stomach and the irritated nerves a rest, and creates natural hunger which augments both digestion and assimilation. (See Lesson XIII, p. 630).

BREAKFAST

Melon or peaches
A very ripe banana, with soaked prunes and cream
A spoonful of nuts
One or two spoonfuls of whole wheat, cooked very thoroughly
One egg, prepared choice--preferably whipped
One glass of water

A green salad or some sweet fruit may be eaten at noon if very hungry.

DINNER

Squash or pumpkin, cooked en casserole
Fresh string beans
A baked sweet potato
One or two tablespoonfuls of nuts--choice
Junket or gelatin
A glass of water

SUGGESTIONS FOR WINTER

FIRST DAY: On rising, drink two cups of cool water, and devote from five to ten minutes to vigorous exercises and deep breathing.

BREAKFAST

A cup of hot water or thin chocolate
A small portion of boiled wheat
One exceedingly ripe banana, eaten with cream
One or two eggs, whipped--cream and sugar added
One or two figs, with cream and either nuts or nut butter

LUNCHEON

Two eggs, whipped; add a flavor of sugar, orange juice, and a glass
of milk
A cup of hot water

DINNER

Turnips, carrots, parsnips, onions--any two of these
A baked potato or baked beans
A small portion of fish, white meat of chicken, or an egg

Just before retiring, take exercises as prescribed for the morning, and, if constipated, two or three tablespoonfuls of wheat bran.

SECOND DAY: The same as the first, slightly increasing the quantity of food if hungry.

THIRD DAY: The same as the second, adding one or two baked bananas to the morning meal, and varying the vegetables according to the appetite for the noon and the evening meal. Nearly all vegetables such as turnips, beets, carrots and parsnips may be substituted for one another.

FOURTH DAY:

BREAKFAST

Tokay or Malaga grapes
A cup of hot water
Two eggs, lightly poached, or a very rare omelet
A whole wheat muffin or a bran gem
A cup of chocolate
A liberal portion of wheat bran (one-fourth oatmeal), cooked and
served as an ordinary cereal, eaten with butter

LUNCHEON

Choice of either _a_ or _b_:

_a_ Two eggs, prepared as follows: Break into a bowl. Add a
teaspoonful of sugar to each egg. Whip five minutes very rapidly
with a rotary egg beater. Add a glass of milk and a teaspoonful of
orange juice to each egg

_b_ A quart of milk and half a cup of bran
One baked banana

DINNER

Any green salad--celery or shredded cabbage (very little), with salt and nuts

Choice of any two fresh vegetables

Choice of:

_a_ One or two exceedingly ripe bananas, baked, eaten with butter or
cream

_b_ Figs or raisins, with cream
A glass of water

Exercise the same as prescribed for the first day.

FIFTH DAY: The same as the fourth day.

SIXTH DAY: The same as the first, repeating these menus for a period of three or four weeks.

The nervous person should eat very sparingly of bread and cereal products, with the exception of bran and a few coarse articles, such as flaked or whole wheat or rye, and these should be taken sparingly while under treatment.

A generous quantity of water should be drunk at meals, and mastication should be very thorough.

If the body is overweight or inclined toward obesity, the diet should consist of fewer fat-producing foods, such as grains, potatoes, milk, eggs, and an excess of vegetable proteids. If underweight or inclined toward emaciation, the fat-producing foods should predominate.

Under all conditions of nervousness the patient should take an abundance of exercise and deep breathing in the open air, and sleep out of doors, if possible. An abundance of fresh air breathed into the lungs is the best blood purifier known, and if the blood is kept pure, and forced into every cell and capillary vessel of the body by exercise, the irritated nerves will share in the general improvement.

The cool shower or sponge bath in the morning, preceded and followed by a few minutes' vigorous exercise, is a splendid sedative for irritated nerves.

RECREATION

The nervous person should divide the day as nearly as possible into three equal parts--eight hours' pleasant but useful work; eight hours' recreation, and eight hours' sleep.

[Sidenote: Necessity for true recreation]

Under modern civilized conditions the majority of people do not seem to understand recreation. The summer seashore resorts, with their expensive attractions and whirling life, the great hostelries in the hills and mountains, and the lakes where thousands of people congregate, entail upon them certain duties, anxieties, expectations, disappointments, and often financial strain that deprive these places of all features of recreation, and make the sojourn there one of labor and strife. The real purpose that takes most people to these resorts is to be seen; to "star" themselves before the multitude, which in its last analysis is a kind of vanity, and it is obvious that from any effort in this direction no recreation can be obtained.

The nervous person should seek a few congenial and thoughtful companions, and get back into the great heart of nature where everything moves in obedience to supreme law. Associate intimately with animals; study their habits, and notice how they respond to kindness; admire their honesty; analyze the love and fidelity of a dog. This is true diversion and recreation. This defines the purpose of life, if there be purpose behind it. This draws a sharp distinction between the condition that makes nervousness and the condition that makes honest, thoughtful, useful human beings.

LESSON XVIII

POINTS ON PRACTISE