Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1877-07-30
SUMMER DIET.


the polar regions with the seal, the
whale, and the bear; all are personifi-
cation of fat and oil-while vegetation
is comparatively unknown. On the 9TH
er hand, as you approach the tropics,
oranges, bananas, lemons, and all our
luscious fruits greet you on every hand,
and vegetation runs wild. This disposi-
ton of providence teaches us-what our
appetites confrm-that in cold weather
our diet should consist mainly of oily
substances, or such food as is converted
into fat by the process of digestion;
while in the summer we should select
such articles of diet as are not converti-
BILE into fat
It has been affirmed that everybody
either eats to live or lives to eat. While
many of both the above classes are rush
ing--some on the seashore, and others
to the mountains-in search of comfort
during the hot weather, it may be well
for them to consider how they can in-
crease that element of happiness by reg
ulating their diet.
While our appetites, to certain ex-
tent, should be our guide in the selec-
tion of food, we should not turn deaf
ear to the teachings of experience. AS
coolness is the essential of comfort dur
ing the summer, for our purpose we
shall divide all food, animal and veg
etable, into the heat-producing and
the cooling classes.
The heat-producing are the same as
the fat-producing. and comprise all fatty
and oily substances, together with all
farinaceous vegetables which are con-
vertible into fat through the process of
digestion. A very practical and easily
applicable rule for discriminating be-
tween cooling and heat-producing veg
etable is that all those whose edible
parts ripen beneath the ground, as the
potato, carrot, parsnip, etc., are cooling.
AS vegetables should comprise by far
the major part of our diet the year
round-and especially during warm
weather-it is easily seen, by applying
the above practical test, that asparagus,
lettuce, peas, beans, tomatoes, sweet
corn, and all fruits in their season
should supply our tables. Of meats
which should be partaken of at most
only twice a day-fsh, lamb, poultry,
game, and lean meat form an ample
list to select from.
Just here we would put in plea for
the much-abused cucumber. What is
more delicious, or cooling in thought as
weII as reaIlJy, Jnan disn OF thlckly
pared, thinly wafer-sliced, freshed Gu
cumber just off the ice, in vinegar? Of
course it should be sparingly partaken
of and thoroughly masticated, as should
all feod, and especially all raw articles
which contain starch. Bolting is not
only the great source of dyspepsia, but
italso brings into disrepute many inno-
cent members of the vegetable world.
A word in favor of the tomato is al
ways in order. The idea Of its being a
fruitful source of cancer having been ex-
ploded, the tomato takes rank by the
side of the potato as an indispensable
vegetable. While the taste for toma-
toes is an acquired one. once acquired it
is lasting. With the Turks it is used
very extensively. You find it in all
their soups and many of their promi-
nent dishes. Large draughts of water
and especially of ice-water should be
avoided, as not only deranging the
stomach, but also as not assuaging the
thirst as efectually as small quantities
taken slowly and at shorter intevals-
W. II. VasI, N. d.