The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1908-12-25
The SIMPLE DIET
copyright, by Joseph B. Bowles.)

ILL AS434A LIZ A/kA4
p return to nature is not always
cay, even when we know what nature
wuld have us do. Habit, it has been
gid, is second nature, and nowhere
this more true than in eating-the
oldest habit. But if improvement is
desirable it must be most desirable in
eating, which underlies all life proc
esses; and yet change should be made
only after careful consideration, and
then with all due deliberation.
Beef is digested chiefly in the stom-
ach by the action of the gastric fluid.
When reduced to a fine pulp by mas
tication before entering the stomach
it tends to pass out before being prop
erly digested, for the pylorus tends to
open when the food is sufficiently re-
duced by the movement of the stom-
ach and the action of the gastric fluid.
Hence many authorities say that meat
should be bo]ted as the dog swallows
his meat in large Jumps. This is
scientifically correct, but the very op-
posite is true of bread and potatoes.
Flesh digests in from three to five
hours; rice remains in the stomach
about one hour. When flesh and rice
are eaten at the same meal, there is
conflict. The meat and rice are COM
pletely mixed by the movement of the
stomach If now the homogeneous
mass Is retained four hours, the rice
undergoes fermentation. If the meat
is carried into the intestines within
two hours it's digestion must be imper-
feet, failing to receive the proper sup
ply of gastric f1uid-an error which
cannot be fully corrected by further
digestion in the intestines.
Much as this important phase of die
tetics has been neglected by the med
ical profession invalids are never
put upon bi-diet, much less upon
mixture of several foods, however cas-
lily digested. Beef is one of the COM
monest invalid diets, because it is al
most pure proteid, digesting easily in
the stomach. Rice, IS per cent.
meat and rice would not be prescribed
to be eaten together
Proteid foods (meats eggs, beans,
etc. digest principally in the stonl
ach; carDOnaccOus foods fruits, po-
tatoes, cereal foods, etc), principally
in the intestine. When these classes
of foods are Mixed there is a conflict
which must have a disquieting effect
upon the nervous system.
1t is natural to suppose that
hungry animal under natural co1di-
tons would confine itself to one kind
of food. Neither man nor the pig is
naturally omnivorous. AcC.ns are the
natural food of the pig which, like
man, becomes a prey to an almost in
finite variety of diseases when he be-
comes by force of circumstances ON
nivorous. A high authority on the dis
eases of the pig says that they are due
to its being fed upon the waste hui
man foods from cur tables.
1t is a peculiar fact that the di-
gestive organs Of the pig very closely
resemble those OF man. Acorns and
a few roots gre the natural food of
the wild pig. In his natural state
there is no healthier animal; and in
his domesticated state none more pitt
fully diseased exce.&. perhaps, man.
LIcretius, the Latin coet, says:
food.
And those rcd apples that adorn the
wood
The nerves that jonel their r,s1s were
firm and strong;
Their life was healthy. and their age was
long.
Returning years still saw thetn in ;tnar
They wralcd cen Wa wings Of mras1.r.
ing Time:
Nor colds. nor heats. n>r strong diseases
watt
Ard tell sad news Of coming nasty fate:
Nature not set grew weak, not yet be-
gan
To shrink into an inch the largest span.
Pavlov, the Russian physiological
chemist, has shown that the system
adapts itself to the digestion of the
food while it is In the mouth, the
character Of the digestive fluids Sc
creted varying with the food. How
bewildered it must be by ten-course
dinner Offering perhaps so different ar
ticles OF food!
Considering these facts, we must
conclude that serious injury is done
to the system by eating variety of
foods at the same meal. Perhaps we
may find here the hitherto unaccount-
able reason for the shortness OF hui
man life. And if this be the cause, we
must find all tbs noted cases Of lon-
gcvity among those people whose diet
is the simplest. Metchnikoff has
found the largest percentage OF cen
tenarians among the Hungarian peas
ants, living largely on black bread.
Among the Irish peasantry, living
CHIEFLY on potatoes, centenarians are
numerous. The noted cases of Ion
gevity In England were all among the
peasantry, living on very simple diet.
The most noted of celtenarians, Cor
naro. the Venetian. prolonged life 60
years by restricting his diet to a uni
form quantity Of eggs and uaferment-
ed wine, almost exclusively
Several monodiet tests recently
made under the writer's direction
showed. as would naturally be expect
cd, If the principles above stated are
true, remarkable results. Edgar Brobst.
a fouEcryman, eating only beans for
60 days, gained eight pounds in
weight, working Sundays, two nights
and several evenings extra during the
2eriod. On 40 days diet OF, oatmeal