The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-04-28

An Old Practitioners Notes ON the
Eating Beans. Cabbage, Etc.

quirements OF modern life are such that an
exclusive vegetable diet is injurious. The
healthy. active countryman. constantly
working IN the open air. exercising muscle
as well as skill. will thrive on vegetable
diet where the city man OF business or the
workingman. the delicate woman. and the
puny. pale-visaged child would become
sickly and die. Whether this necessity for
mixed diet is natural or acquired is o
vexed question. but the evidence seems TO
prove that IL Is the outcome OF civilization.
Each man must. therefore,. be n rule to
himself In the diet Of health as well as dis
ease. the main object being to eat suffi-
cient animal food 10 supply bodily. espe-
cially muscle waste. and sufficient respira-
tory food. or fuel so To speak. to keep alive
the spark of life. The former being found
in animal food. while the latter exists i'm
the form Of starch. sugar, etc. in vegeta-
bles.
Vegetarians cite the example of the Chi
nese. who live for the most part on rice.
or the Hindoos. who live on millet. the
wassee and badlee of India. but they do
rot consider the difference of environment.
Perhaps the best example of exclusive
vegetable diet is that OF the potato. When
Sir Walter Raleigh introduced potatoes
into Europe, bringing the original from
South America. he was hailed as n bene-
factor Of mankind. but this vegetable has
unfortunately become a curse. i'm some in
stances, TO the millions who depend upon
Is as the chief source Of food. Added 10
other food there is no better vegetable. AS
an exclusive diet there is none worse. PO-
tatoes contain a large percentage OF
water and starch, i'm fact commercial
starch is extracted from potatoes. but the
percentage OF fesh-forming elements is so
proportionately small that from seven to
ten pounds a day would be required to
support life. and i'm this quantity there
would be an excessive amount of
respiratory food. Ten pounds OF po-
tatoes is equivalent i'm food value TO
one and one-half pounds of bread, but
subsistence on such a diet leads TO an early
loss of health and vigor and greater sus-
ceptibility OF disease. Under any circum-
stances potatoes should be boiled until
they are mealy to the core, as unboiled
potato is not digested, but passes through
the bowels unchanged. irritating the It's
sues In its passage. Potatoes overlooked
have much of the goodness dissolved out
of them. Potatoes that are not ripe, and
this applies to many new potatoes. which
are rushed into the market 10 get the
benefit OF the higher price, are as bad as
potatoes not boiled enough, for no amount
of boiling will make them tender. Mashed
potatoes are not so digestible as potatoes
au naturel, because they are not chewed
up. but pass into the stomach In a mass
into which the gastric juice does not pene-
trate easily. Potatoes thickly smeared
with gravy are also indigestible, and as
for potatoes fried in fat they are simply
abominable, unless the eater has a rugged
digestion. Water in which potatoes have
been boiled contains poisonous principles,
the potato itself is of a poisonous family,
the night-shade. and this water should
never be used for any cooking purposes.
Peas, when young and green, are easily
digested. but when they are old and tough
they are extremely indigestible, the skin
especially so. sometimes remaining and
collecting in the intestines and setting up
irritation and Inflammation. Dried. So
called split peas" contain much vegetable
casein. analogous to the curd of milk, in
fact. the Chinese make cheese from it
hardly to be distinguished from ordinary
cheese made from milk. Dried peas meal
is also used for making bread, but its
more common use is for thickening pottage.
to which it adds flavor and nutriment.
NoNAh BNe' 49,
ly the cheapest kind of food as far as
price is concerned, but they are suitable as
a continuous and exclusive diet only for
those who labor much at heavy work.
They form a percentage. for example. of
the German erbswurst. or pea sausage. is
sued to German soldiers, experience hav-
ing shown that this supports strength and
health when the troops are actively en-
ployed.
A whole article might be written about
beans. for they are an old-time dish. There
is an old Latin proverb, "Fabas indulcet
flames" hunger sweetens beans; and an
old edmonton of Pythagoras was. "Ab-
stineto a fabis," abstain from beans. The
Eythagoreans had a superstition that the
souls of the dead took refuge in the center
of the bean, and this is perhaps why they
did not eat them. but others claim that
this was an admonition TO have nothing
TO do with elections, beans being used in
Athens as ballots. approval being signified
by putting a white bean into the voting
urn and disapproval by using a black bean.
King. a facetious poet, more than two
centuries ago, spoke a good word for beans
In the following:
Cornwall squabpie and Devon whitepot
brings,
And Lester beans ara bacon, food Of
kings
Dietetically considered. beans are similar
10 peas, and if properly cooked are nutri-
tious. although somewhat difficult of d-
gestion. causing fatulence, especially if
the skins are eaten, as they are the most
difficult Of digestion. The fact that loggers
consume and thrive upon a diet OF beans is
proof that they are nourishing. but the adj
aition of pork or some other fat meat or
oil Is required to supply the necessary
amount OF fat. otherwise the quantity of
beans would be beyond the containing ca
pacity of the stomach. As with peas, so
flour is made from beans, and bread made
from this -four is more nutritious than
bread made from cereals alone. There Is
also a meal made from lentils, a small
pea. called revalenta or ervalenta Arabica.
which forms a great part of the Arabian
diet.
Turnips. which belong to the mustard
family, are nutritious. having one part of
fesh-forming elements TO eight that give
heat and 80 to 60 per cent. water. but they
are laxative and cause fatulence and pain
when the digestive powers are weak.
Parsnips have a large percentage of flesh
forming elements and are sometimes used
as a substitute for potatoes. but are NOT