Very hot foods are objectionable because the excessive heat injures the delicate mucous membrane lining the stomach and intestines. Dr. William Mayo, the eminent surgeon, has for years maintained that taking of hot food and liquids into the stomach is one of the causes of gastric ulcer. Very cold foods, e.g. ice water, ice cream, are also questionable items. If taken at all, they should be used in limited quantity and so slowly sipped, chewed and swallowed that before reaching the stomach they acquire a temperature near that of the body. What Not to Eat We should aim to meet our nutritional needs, while consuming as little poison as possible.
All food contains both artificial and natural poisons.
It is only when a food is more harmful than helpful that it can be classified as a poison. Life depends on several factors - one of them is food. All growth, repair of tissues and vital functions are the result of the process of nutrition. Animals that consume such foods exclusively become progressively deformed and infertile with each generation. Herbs must be considered as poisons rather than food because their consumption is followed by physiological changes similar to changes which follow administration of the drugs which they contain.