The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1895-08-04
FOOD AND DIGESTION.
THE PROPER COMBINATIONS FOR
PERFECT DIGESTION.

vegetables Not In Favor with This An.
thority--They Were Given to tho row.r
An'mnis-The Whoiesomeness of Fruits.
They, With Seeds, Intended For Man.
Tho comparative dictetic value of fruits
aud Vegetables is matter which seems to
DC very little understood. Vegetables are
unQucstionably valuable article of food,
pup IL needs only superficial study of tho
subject OF dictctics 60 mako 1t clear that
Vegetables are very greatly inferior to
grains In nutritivo value, and in their
composition arc far less suited to the hu-
man stomach than arc tho seed products
commonly known It's fruits and grains. An
interesting fact, also, is that, considered
from the standpoint of comparative anat-
omy, mans digestive organs arc very diff
ferent In structure from those of animals.
winch suDsist upon roots, leaves buds,
twigs' stems and other products included
under tho general term vegetables. An
other fnct of worry great interest I'm this
connection is that vegetables were not in
cluded In tho original bill of fare given to
man by his Creator as recorded In the first
chapter of Genesis. Vegetables were given
TO tho lower animals for their sustonanc1,.
ana seeds and fruits Were reserved for INN.
seeds and fruits are unqucstionnbly tho
most highly elaborated products of tho
vegetable Kingdom. Vegetables nre much
coarSer In character and much less Der
fectly elaborated Nearly all vegetables
contain largo amount Of woody matter.
which requires the action of very power
full digestive juices and of strong muscular
action ON tho part of the digestive organs
to reduce them to fluid state and to CO.
f1,,,
amount OF nourishment which they con-
tain. To n much less degree is this tho
case with fruits and grains, while in the
case OF fruits wo find food substances more
nearly prepared for assimilation and in a
form moro easily attacked by tho digestive
organs of man than any other.
Inc writer has met many cases in which
invalids were really suffering, and TINT Sc
riousiy, in Ignorance of these facts. To n
person In vigorous health and with stronn
digestive powers, these principles may bo
ignored with comparative impunity. md
often for long time, but person whose
digestive powers are feeble and especially
one suffering from dilation of tho stomach
an extremely common condition, cspr-
clhlly among women, in consequence of
their injurious mode of drcss-oftcn suf
fcrs seriously in consequence of tho great
tho use of such coarse vegetable products
rs celery md salads of various sorts. In
some Instances the tubcrs-parsnips, bccts.
turnips and cabbago-arc the only articles
which need to be excluded from tho diet
airy, While In others even potatoes are u
source of serious digestive disturbance
Win many persons the principal evils
arising from the use of Vegetables nIp rem
dcrcd conspicuous only when these articles
are consumed in connection with others
with which they do not we'll agree. Many
persons hayO recognized that various arti-
clcs of food can be eaten separately or with
certain Others when in other combinations
they prove extremely unwholcSome The
reason for this Is the fact that fruits and
Vegetables require so different degruo
and kind of activity ON tho part of the d.
gcstiyc organs a ruling principle In rela.
ton to the combination of food IL this:
Those articles Of food should bo euton to-
gcther which arc digestod together; in
other words, tho bill Of faro should be so
arranged that the combination of food sub
stances will harmonic with the action OF
tho digestive organs upon those substances.
In applying this principle 10 vegetables
we lind that tho starchy vegetables arp
hand OF digestion, and thot tho large QUAIL
tity of potash salts which they contain is,
according to BunSc, sourJD OF irritation
10 the stomach and intcrfercs With eastyiD
digestion. Tho ctarse, woody structure oP
nearly all vegetables akso renders ;cnsory
tho retention Of tho digosted macs Ill tho
stomach for long time, thus lengthorlinQ
the tinio of diSintossrntion. Thus we find
thraseA reasons for IL Vnry considerable cy-
tefssQn OF tho gastric digestion of tho v,ns,-
tables.
In tho onsc OF fruits, on tho of7,ey lantl.
when ripe and properly cooked, wo hayo
substances which arp diS,estai and assim-
Lated With very great esza Tho tiIno To
quird for the digestion OF cabbage Ia he
tween four and five hours, whih Zinc M
pie dtecStS in mIe hour. II tlsxp two ar
Dicacs arc taken into tho stomach as ts,c
salnc time, both nnisS rsqnain tharo until
both are digcsted as they will become so
intimately intcr1ningled tfnas they cannos
possibly TIC separated. Tho npplo, digestetl
and ready for absorption, If non absorbed.
undcrgoes fermentation. Il is q principlo
which is constantly Recognizable in rclzs-
ton no digestion that the delay OF tho ob-
sorptdon of food product nfttY 10 has heen
dignsteh Is certain to result in It's deteuior-
alton through fermentation and dccomDo-
sition, which arc set up ny the numerous
microbes constantly present In the ali-
ItiNhlary cinhi. LILO Siino l5 true IL tho
digestive product of one portion Of tho ali
fnciitary canal is not passed along with
due promptness to another part of the di-
gcstivc apparatus, where its further elab-
or7tion is to TAKE place preparatory to alb
sorption.
The combination Of fruits and vegetables
FOR the reasons given form one of tho most
nnsuitcd of all combinations for person
or feeble digestive powers. AS before re-
marked, persons with diiated stomachs arp
especially likely to suffer from the use OF
vegetables, and still more so from the COM
pination OF vegetables with fruits, for tho
reason that with these persons thcrp Is a