The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1909-01-08

1t is true that the elements OF food
OF which the largest percentages are
needed in the daily ration are carbon
and nitrogen, and that white bread
contains these in larger percentage,
because excluding some valuable ele-
ments of nutrition found in the whole
wheat. But the exclusion of these
elements breaks the staff of life. A
man might have perfect stomach,
perfect lungs, perfect kidneys, with
abundance of food, and yet his death
within GO days from starvation might
be necessary conclusion from a con-
sideration of all the facts.
Prof. Magendie, a distinguished
French physician, fed two dogs, ap-
parently in equal health, one on
white bread and the other on entire
wheat bread, allowing both plenty of
water and keeping the conditions
The dog fed on fresh white bread was
dead in about 80 days, while the other
remained in his usual health.
The highest authority on health in
the world, the British Medical asso-
citation, has declared itselftin favor of
the coarser breads made from the full
grains. The London Lancet, the great
est medical journal in the world, re-
Gently expressed the opinion that the
great increase in appendicitis in
| Britain is due to the increased use of
| fine white bread.
Appendicitis results from the pu-
| trefaction in the large intestine Of
masses of incompletely digested food.
! No one can doubt the tendency Of
| white bread to mass and putrefy.
I have said that peanuts should not
be roasted because albumen, of which
the peanut largely consists, coagulates
at 100 degrees, and is then assimilated
with difficulty. The same applies to
wheat gluten. A large percentage Of
the gluten with the indigestible mat
ter in whole wheat bread is excreted.
Starch is one element of food that is
improved by cooking; when thorough
ly cooked it is more fully assimilated
than any other food element, except
sugar. 1t is natural to suppose, then,
that larger percentage Of waste
should be excreted from whole wheat
than from white bread. But it does
not follow that the white bread is bet
| ter than the brown.
| A certain amount of waste matter
in the food is beneficial, stimulating
naturally the action of the intestines.
No one familiar with the physiology of
digestion advocates predigested or
highly concentrated foods.
Well cooked starch is more COM
pletely assimilated than any other
cooked food, if there is a demand in
the system for supply of carbon at
the time the food is taken, and no alb
normal conditions exist to prevent its
assimilation. Therefore, We should ex.
pect a more complete use of the
cooked starch bread. A vigorous
man on long tramp would utilize
practically all of half a pound of sugar
daily, with other food, especially if he
were below normal weight; but sugar
is not good staple diet; half pound
a day would soon cause serious trou.
BILE for a bookkeeper. Let a book
keeper eat pound day of coarse
bread and no serious trouble may
follow for months or years; yet if he
eat pound a day of white bread
trouble will certainly follow in shor,
time. serious trouble, ultimately.
Of all the indirect causes Of disease
the most prolific is constipation; and
there is no more general contributing
cause of constipation than fine white
bread.
Fear God and keep your bowels
open" was the whole gospel preached
by Quaker who believed in speaking
the simple truth in a simple way. Per
haps he had taken his cue from an
other member of that society who
said: Il shall pass this way but once
therefore if there is any good thin:
can do while l am in the way, let me
not fail to do it," The young physi
clan, full of strange notions about
"pathogenic bacteria" and indications
of the opsonic index" may forget il
his inquiry into the causes of our com
mon ailments to ask whether we are
living according to the gospel of the
old Quaker; but our good old family
doctor, who learns and forgets mos
of the brilliant theories of the profes
sion, never forgets to ascertain the
condition of elimination. Many o.
our able thinkers in the healing pro
fession say there is but one cause o.
disease-the retention of waste mat
ter in the system.
Our grandmothers knew of severa
kinds Of physic. some of them moi
very agreeable, but there was one thai
was intended to serve as cure-all in
all cases in which it was not deemed
necessary to send for the doctor; II
was called by way of pre-eminence
"a physic." Now there are people who
seem to think that God made every
thing that might possibly be eater
without causing severe distress te
be used for food, and for hundreds Of
years doctors have been proving
specific remedies good for real and
imaginary ills. l am glad to have
this opportunity to say to large mum
Der of our American people that l am
satisfied that Nature did make one
good physic which man has learned
to improve CD by making it into
coarse bread; but shall deal with the
curative values of foods in forthcom
ing chapters on THE Diet Cure
Laws in Direct Conflict.