HARMONIOUS FOOD COMBINATIONS

Proper Combinations of Food in Health and Disease To Begin With, Use Reason

In taking up the natural system of dietetics, whether it be for the maintenance of health or for the purpose of regaining health, reason should be followed not fanaticism. Dietary rules are actually extremely simple when one has once learned the fundamentals; the Law should always be, in sickness or health: Diet as varied as Possible but with few articles of food at any one meal. Have a foundation, or basic food, and a few harmonious articles in combination. Continually vary the diet, but do not have many varieties of food at any one meal. Have a Basic or Foundation food, and combined with it a few harmonious articles not considered Basic. THE FIRST REQUISITE: Whether one desires to main tain health, or is seeking for a reestablishment of the shattered forces which will mean health, the first requisite, absolutely es sential is hunger. To eat when not really hungry is to give the stomach food to digest when it is not actually prepared to do so properly, and unless food is properly digested it is not possible that its nutritive value, building material, energy producing, vitamine, mineral elements and nuclein be absorbed. Food taken when there is not actual hunger is like a foreign substance in the stomach, it be comes poisonous to the body.

As an actual fact, food is neither required nor desired, be cause these sensations are symptoms of dyspepsia, indigestion etc. and proof there is food in the stomach which has not been digested, which is rapidly approaching the stage of fermentation or putrefaction; to add more food to this, is to add fuel to flame. It is for this reason that dyspepsia and indigestion are usually the forerunners of other serious ailments. Hunger, like thirst, is felt in the throat and not in the stom ach. When one actually is hungry, there is a sensation in the throat just as there is when one is thirsty; and if there is health, the stomach is not felt at all. If the stomach makes itself felt through any sensation whatever, it is never an indication of the necessity for food, but always a warning there is something not as it should be. - In hunger, the saliva flows freely, the digestive juices are abundant; the food tastes good without spices; and there is a desire to chew it thoroughly in order to get out of it all the good taste there is in it. Under these circumstances the food is thor oughly masticated, hence properly prepared when it reaches the stomach; normal digestion results and the absorption of its food value is assured. The daily food must consist of some part of the following classes and a sufficient quantity of each to meet the demand of every individual; this depends entirely upon the occupation of the man or woman and upon the state of health. FATS: These are to be obtained principally from nuts, olives, vegetables, milk, cream and butter. - PROTEIN: Also found in nut products, eggs, whole meal breads, oatmeal, cheese, pulse etc. PHOSPHATES: Contained in the outer coverings of all grains, in many vegetables, in cheese, bananas, apples etc.

 From the above it will be noted that some foods, such for instance as cheese, contain most of the food elements required: fat, protein and phosphates, though no sugar. Adding honey and whole wheatbread, we have one of the most perfect food combinations known; one of equal benefit to the laborer, the brain and nerve worker, or -the invalid. If such a diet were followed daily, then vegetables must necessarily be added for the cellulose as well as the additional vitamine and organic mineral elements. However, such a com bination indicates how extremely simple food combinations may be and still be perfect from both the dietetic and practical stand point. JUST TWO CLASSES OF FOOD For the reasons given, some of the most successful Dietitians have claimed there are actually just two important groups of food, and if we had a perfect understanding of these we can be successful in practice. GROUP ONE: The proteids; nitrogenous or albuminous. GROUP TWO: The carbonaceous: starches, sugars and fats. The first of these build up the muscular fibres of the body, form flesh, and take the place of waste. The second class are converted into heat and force, sustain physical energy; muscular, nervous and mental power. One other fact must be borne in mind however, though some foods are harmonious according to their food value, they are not agreeable to bodily chemistry, especially the tomato with the starches. However, these exceptions are notably few.

NITROGENOUS MATERIAL 

Nitrogenous or proteid matter is found in the flesh of ani mals (we will give substitutes for this proteid), and also richly abounds in certain vegetables; in peas, beans, lentils; in nuts, milk and milk products; and in eggs. Apart from proteids, the vegetables are richer in other nutritive constituents than beef,

Thus we find that while the total nutriment found in beef is about 28 per cent, in lentils it is about 83 per cent and whole wheat bread contains 88 per cent. Beef contains no carbonaceous matter, and is therefore less valuable as food. CARBONACEOUS FOOD These are the starch and sugar yielding foods. They em brace the cereals, the pulse, nuts, fruits and beets; are usually cheap foods, rich in carbohydrates or starchy matter and also in nitrogenous or proteid matter. They contain in themselves all that is essential in building up the body, bone, muscle, flesh, blood and supply heat and energy; though are lacking in the eliminating agents. In many diseases these foods, or some of them, must be limited in order to free the system from an already over-abund ance of one or more of the elements they supply. Milk, cheese and eggs form a group in themselves and are DISTINCT CLASSES OF FOOD strictly Basic foods. Milk is the ideal food for all; cheese is far richer in protein than beef; containing more than twice the nutriment, being too a nerve and brain builder without stimula tion. These dairy products must therefore form the base of all food combinations where the restoration of nerve and brain power is the chief consideration; must be fortified by the cereals and vegetables, as well as the fruits, in order to supply an extra supply of the organic mineral elements, nuclein and vitamine. MEAT SUBSTITUTES The most important substitutes for meat, because easiest of digestion and assimilation, are: milk, cheese, eggs and fish. Next in importance are the cereals, closely followed by the legumes.