Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1908-12-24

/ bread, toasted white bread without
butter) being a common diei for in.
yalids; yet cornmeal bread, which is
almost pure proteid, is easily d.
| gested
1t is admitted that, from the scien-
tiflc viewpoint. the Chinese are the
best fed people in the world Only
! their mind-dwarfing system of educa.
ton has prevented Their dominating
the world. The Japanese, living large
ly on monodiet Of rice with better
a ruling race The Scotch living
largely on oatmeal have won distinc-
ton in science, invention and philos-
ophy for centuries. The worlds mas
terpieces originate never in the ban
quet hail. but often in the garnet fed
by dry crusts.
During the past Il months | have
eaten almost exclusively but one ar
ticle at a meal-rice, whole-wheat
bread peanuts, bananas, beans, pota-
toes (baked), apples, and, as a rule,
nuts at noon and fruit in the evening
my regular diet--and have enjoyed
perfect health and increased eff
cheney.
The human system has developed
wonderful power Of adaptation to en-
vironment food included Evolution
has produced in man an inhabitant of
all climates, capable of suhsisting on
great variety of foods. The diet of the
average American is not a uniform
one, but a continually changing diet.
This is true not of the traveller only
who may lunch in Chicago and dine in
Kalamazoo, but equally Of the society
woman who may dine at home today
and tomorrow at the church, and Of
the business man or woman who eats
at a restaurant or hotel The only
system the average person has in eat
ing is that Of having no system, COM
paratively speaking.
If, however, one has long been in
the habit of drinking cup or two Of
coffee in the morning, for instance.
the dropping of that stimulant will
cause, for awhile, the same inton-
venience that the habitual user OF in
toxicants finds on disseminating his
daily two or three glasses of beer,
wine or whisky, or that the smoker
finds for a time after he stops smok-
ing.
l often hear people say they are
convinced that coffee, for instance,
is injurious, but when they tried
20 1ooVo oM ,sfp0 - +hav cuF
fered from nervous headache so much
that they were obliged to resume its
use to be in fit condition for their
work Persons who have tried to do
without meat often conclude that they
are the better for eating il, because
they do not feel so well when they
discontinue it--for a few days.
Eating or drinking any particular
food or drink becomes in time habit,
and even though it may be injurious,
It is hard TO discontinue It, Even the
substitution of better habit is irk-
some
Natures way is to change gradually,
as we see in the weaving of the young,
as we may see when at times the food
of our domestic animals is changed.
Suppose, for instance, that you de-
eide to discontinue the use of coffee,
mix with the coffee onefourth cereal
coffee for the first week or two, next
one-half, then threefourths, and finally
use pure cereal coffee, which may be
continued as a substitute drink or
not.
In living on one article Of diet, even
milk, or wheat, or fruits, which may
supply every element of material nu-
triton needed by the system there ia
craving for something else for a
time. 1t does not necessarily follow
that something else is really needed,
but only that the habit Of eating more
than one thing is calling for satisfac-
ton. 1t is well known that there is a
crying demand for food during the
first few days of a fast, but that after
the fourth day there may be no call
for food for 80 days or more.
In adopting a complete new diet, the
law Of gradual change applies as in
dealing with a single article, like cot
fee. The manner of effecting the
change, in detail, should be deter
mined by age, temperament, and other
particulars The longer the habit has
been established the more gradual
should be the change. A person Of
nervous temperament should change
more slowly than phelgmatic person
Of iron will.
Occasionally after one has become
established in the better way and be-
ing fully convinced that the change
has proved beneficial, an overwhelm-
Ing desire will take possession
OF one to return, temporarily, to
the old way l believe it is best.
in such cases, to yield, for one meal,
or even for day or two. Coffee does
not become deadly poison the day
one forswears IT, One must be care
full, however, lest the last state be
come worse than the first"