The Virginia enterprise., 1908-12-11

here it may be remarked rnat vaoess
Of fatty tissue is an indication Of dis
ease, not of health. 81 >'i.g
The necessary albumen can be: OBJ
tanned from flesh because it is a nec-
essary constituent of the flesh of all
animals, including fish. But flesh con-
tafns small percentage of waste mat
ter of the animals system. It has been
repeatedly shown that flesh foods may
communicate disease, spite the in
spection; and the human alimentary
canal is not as well adapted to the
digestion of flesh as is the organism
of the carnivora, in which the stomach
and liver are relatively much larger
and the intestines much shorter than
in man. The well-knoWn tests of en-
durance recently made at Yale uni
versity proved that non-fesh eaters
had much greater sustaining power.
In all the great walking contests in
Germany and America the winners
have been abstainers from flesh meat.
The best sources Of albumen, aside
from meat, are nuts, beans, eggs and
whole wheat or graham bread.
But the character of the albumen is
important. Albumen coagulates at a
temperature of 160 F., and is then
assimilated with difficulty. It Is for
this reason, partly, that the egg is
found to be more nutritious uncooked
than cooked. And it is for this reason,
chiefly, that such apparently wonderful
results have been obtained from the
use of raw cereal foods, despite the
indigestibility of raw cereal starch.
Understanding, then, that the essen
tial element of food is albumen, in it's
natural state, the question arises:
What is its best and most economical
source? Considering economic con-
ditions, which exclude the pecan, wal
nut, and other expensive nuts, the
answer is: The peanut, which fur
nishes an abundant supply of easily
assimilable albumen together with fat,
which vies in nutritive value with
olive oil. This, with small amount
teid and fat ration. The state of
Texas alone can furnish the staple
food of our people. The rapidly in.
creasing consumption of the peanut
with the corresponding rise in price
should induce the planting of still
larger crop the coming season. The
incoming crop is the largest ever pro-
duced in this country.
Certain minerals or earth salts are
necessary to all animal life. Milk and
the yolk of egg contain lime, phos-
phorus, sulphur, sodium, ETC., and
these are also found in the outer she'll
OF wheat and other grains and in the
peanut, peas, beans, nuts, potatoes,
etc. The bean, is especially rich in
these mineral elements of food, as is
the peanut, which combines in a re-
markable degree the food qualities of
the nut and of the legumes. The finer
grades of white flour unfortunately
exclude most Of this important ele-
ment of food, but this will be fully con-
sidered in later article.
Not less than so per cent of the
solid part of our food should be that
which supports combustion, maintain
ing heat and muscular energy This
is taken as fat or oil, starch or sugar.
A certain percentage of fat is neces-
sary for the best nutrition. If it be
true, as many careful students of diet
believe, that nuts and fruits are the
most natural foodsef man, this per-
centage of fat should be large Animal
fats, even milk, fat when separated,
are assimilated With difficulty and
they, particularly lard, are open to 9TH
er objections. The consumption of
olive oil has increased rapidly during
the past few years. 1t is not general
ly known that peanut fat as in the un-
cooked nut or in peanut butter in
which fatty acid has not been de-
VelOped by excessive dry roasting, is
equal, if not superior, in nutritive quail
tiles to olive oil, being assimilated
with wonderful facility, as the ex-
treme degree of it's solubility in water
would indicate.
There are serious objections to
| cereal starch as the major element of
food, which it now is in the dietary of
the American people. The potato, es-
pecially if baked, is much to be pre-
ferred to fine white bread. Rice is
far superior to the ordinary cereals as
a source of carbon, as the example of
| the Japanese would indicate.
Sugars are the most easily assimilat-
ed of foods (including honey, and
fruit sugar should be substituted for
a large part of our cereal food, cane
sugar being inferior. And the best
sources of fruit sugar are the ripe
banana (almost unknown in this coun.
try) figs, dates and prunes.
Fruits are better eaten separately
| from other foods. Nuts and meat
| digest in the stomach, chiefly, requir-
ing about three hours there; fruits
digest in about one hour, in the in
| testine chiefly. There is as much OBJ
! lection to mixing them as there is to
| eating and drinking at the same mo-
| ment.
Now without here considering fur
| ther the requirements of an ideal diet,
! does it not seem evident that we have
already a knowledge of facts that
would enable us to make wonderful
| gain in good feeling and efficiency by
| improving the nutritive supply and
saving large part of the vital energy
daily wasted in digesting and eliminat-
ing improper and unnecessary food, if
not for the average person who is