Health and Longevity through Rational Diet - Practical hints in regard to food and the usefulness or harmful effects of the various articles of diet E-Book

Arnold Lorand

• Herausgeber: Youcanprint
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

Probably but very few physicians have so frequently an opportunity to observe the harmful consequences of a faulty mode of nourishment as one who is practising as a Carlsbad bath physician. It is a surprising fact that even scholars well versed in a great variety of subjects often display the veriest ignorance or show the greatest carelessness precisely in respect to what and the manner in which they eat. Others, again, fall into the opposite error,—those, for example, who studiously avoid all foods containing even a trace of uric-acid-forming constituents, lest an excess of such substances prove injurious, and meanwhile overlook the fact that in addition to such uric-acid-producing components these foods contain many other important substances, e.g., certain nutritive salts, an insufficient intake of which may result in serious injury, particularly in the period of growth and development of the body. Because overeating may prove harmful, many persons restrict their diet to such an extent as to do their bodies more harm than they would by eating to excess. Every housewife knows that her dog or cat will thrive splendidly when plentifully fed upon proper food, but in the case of her children she often overlooks this point. Every farmer, too, is aware of the fact that horses require altogether different kinds of food, according as they are to be used as draught, riding, or carriage horses, and that a dog, to be used in the hunt, as a watch-dog, or to draw carts needs a different diet in each case. It is only in man that we observe the contrary condition, viz., that persons following most diverse occupations, be they laborers or brain-workers, scholars, merchants, officials, officers, clergymen, physicians, traveling salesmen, factory hands, or field workers, —all of them with their dependents, take the same or at least very siniilar foods, The diet should vary according to the nature of the occupation and the functions to be carried out, just as has always been the custom in the case of domestic animals.

Leseprobe

Contents

Contents

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I.- THE INFLUENCE OF FOOD UPON MAN

CHAPTER II.-THE FUNDAMENTAL LAWS OF RATIONAL FEEDING

CHAPTER III. - INJURIOUS MODES OF FEEDING

CHAPTER IV -THE GOOD AND EVIL EFFECTS OF VARIOUS FOOD SUBSTANCES

CHAPTER V.-VEGETARIANISM AND ITS ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES. HINTS FOR THE PREVENTION OF THE LATTER

CHAPTER VI.-THE PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES OF RATIONAL FEEDING. USEFUL HINTS.

CHAPTER VII.-HINTS FOR THOSE OBLIGED TO TAKE THEIR MEALS INRESTAURANTS. THE INJURIOUS EFFECTS OF THE"TABLE D'HOTE" DIET.

CHAPTER VIII.-THE INCREASED ACTIVITY OF CERTAIN FUNCTIONS BROUGHT ABOUT BY FOOD.

CHAPTER IX.-THE INCREASED MUSCULAR POWER RESULTING FROM A SUITABLE DIET.

CHAPTER X.-Conclusion.

Health and longevity through rational diet

Practical hints in regard to food and the usefulness or harmful effects of the various articles of diet

Arnold Lorand

First digital edition 2017 by David De Angelis

PREFACE

Probably but very few physicians have so frequently an opportunity to observe the harmful consequences of a faulty mode of nourishment as one who is practising as a Carlsbad bath physician. It is a surprising fact that even scholars well versed in a great variety of subjects often display the veriest ignorance or show the greatest carelessness precisely in respect to what and the manner in which they eat.

Others, again, fall into the opposite error,—those, for example, who studiously avoid all foods containing even a trace of uric-acid-forming constituents, lest an excess of such substances prove injurious, and meanwhile overlook the fact that in addition to such uric-acid-producing components these foods contain many other important substances, e.g., certain nutritive salts, an insufficient intake of which may result in serious injury, particularly in the period of growth and development of the body.

Because overeating may prove harmful, many persons restrict their diet to such an extent as to do their bodies more harm than they would by eating to excess. Every housewife knows that her dog or cat will thrive splendidly when plentifully fed upon proper food, but in the case of her children she often overlooks this point. Every farmer, too, is aware of the fact that horses require altogether different kinds of food, according as they are to be used as draught, riding, or carriage horses, and that a dog, to be used in the hunt, as a watch-dog, or to draw carts needs a different diet in each case. It is only in man that we observe the contrary condition, viz., that persons following most diverse occupations, be they laborers or brain-workers, scholars, merchants, officials, officers, clergymen, physicians, traveling salesmen, factory hands, or field workers, —all of them with their dependents, take the same or at least very siniilar foods,

The diet should vary according to the nature of the occupation and the functions to be carried out, just as has always been the custom in the case of domestic animals. Since certain nutritive salts play an important role in the activity of various organs, as, e.g., those containing phosphorus in brain activity, as full a consideration as possible has been given in the present volume to the question of the nutritive salt content of all varieties of food. In presenting the quantitative relations of these salts as well as the percentages of the various classes of foodstuffs contained in the articles of diet considered, I have made use of the figures given by König, Rubner, Bunge, E. Wolff, Robert Hutchison, Gautier, and Balland.

Since through unintelligent and, one might almost say, brutal methods of cooking many important nutritive substances and salts are withdrawn from our foods, I have found it necessary to include a discussion of rational methods of cooking as well as of several other questions which lie somewhat outside of the sphere of the practising physician.

Many of the subjects here discussed have previously been but little or hardly at all touched upon in scientific works, as, e.g., the manner in which various functions such as the intelligence, the sexual function, etc., can be activated through thediet.

The author is not so presumptuous as to affirm that he has already definitely solved the question as to how it is possible to convert a stupid school child into a bright one, or to restore a person sexually weakened through congenital deficiency or as a result of various vices to normal sexual vigor, with the aid of an appropriately selected diet and certain kinds of food. If, however, he has succeeded in making some slight contribution to the subject or even only in stimulating further research along these lines, as well as in eradicating certain faulty and life-shortening practices in regard to eating, the purpose ofthis work will have been fulfilled.

Dr. Arnold Lorand.

INTRODUCTION

BY

Victor C. Vaughan.

When Dr. Lorand asked me to write a foreword to the American edition of his well-known and highly esteemed treatise on "Rational Diet" I gladly consented. The author has had large practical experience in the dietetic treatment of many disorders at the greatest and oldest of the world's health resorts, Carlsbad. This resort, annually visited by thousands who come from all parts of the world, is free from medical quackery, and the simple life enjoyed there is not the least helpful of its beneficial agencies. Moreover, Dr. Lorand has been an extensive and obser^-ant traveler, especially interested in the foods used and the methods of preparation employed by different peoples. I am fairly conversant with the German edition of this popular work on dietetics, and I have read the proof of the English translation. While I might take issue with the author on certain unimportant points, it is my conviction that the work has been admirably done, and is certainly free from the fads which render so many of the books written on this subject, for the laity, harmful. The highest scientific authorities have been consulted, and their researches made comprehensible to the non-professional. The body is a machine, the most complicated and neatly adjusted one in existence. Foods supply not only the fuel used in running this machine, but also the material with which the wear and tear must be replaced. Every engineer knows that he cannot get the greatest efficiency out of his machine unless he supplies the fire-box with the best, high-grade fuel. With dirty, low-grade coal the result is not up to the standard, and when itcontains a large amount of sulphur and other impuritiesof the machine is impaired. Pure air to breathe, wholesome water to drink, and proper food to eat should be secured by the State for all its citizens, the poorest as well as the richest. The man who traffics in impure, diseased, and adulterated food is a malefactor, and should be treated as such. We may have good laws upon these subjects, but they will not be adequately enforced until the public becomes properly educated along these lines. The purpose of this book is to contribute to this much-needed education. A government which permits the sale of injurious foods,or allows the price of proper foods to be manipulated by any man or combination of men for financial gain, is not serving its citizens in a just, wise, or humane manner.

INTRODUCTION, WITH REMARKS UPON THE IMPORTANCE OF THE APPETITE AND THE OBJECT OF THE PROCESSES OF NOURISHMENT.

Two instincts, that of hunger and the sexual impulse, hold man enthralled in an iron grip, and afford, consciously or unconsciously, the motive power for many bad, as well as for many useful, acts. Both man and beast owe their existence and their perpetuation to these impulses.

These two instincts worry and torment all living beings, and in order that their calls may be more readily obeyed they hold out the lure of enjoyment. A dog may be ever so hungry, yet often refuse a food which may be most nourishing, if it does not appeal to his taste, and rats often die of hunger in captivity, rather than eat food which they do not like. Man, with his intelligence, is an exception, and will often eat distasteful food when starving; no matter how nourishing such food may be, however, he will only take that which is barely sufficient to still the pangs of hunger. In order that man or animals shall take a sufficient quantity of useful food to satisfy bodily requirements, omniscient Nature has at the same time provided him with the sense of taste, which acts as a bait for enjoyment. Thus, albumin, a most important foodstuff, would, in the form of white of egg, be refused by many dogs, even though suffering with hunger; when, however, the albumin has combined with it a savory flavor, as in the form of the extractives in meat, the dog will eagerly devour it. Thesecond important constituent of the food, the carbohydrates, would not be very tempting in the original tasteless form of starch, but when it is combined with a series of tasteful substances, as, e.g., in the potato, it forms a favorite and universal food staple. Fat, likewise, does not taste nearly as good in the form of pure oil as it does in butter in which aroma and savor pave the way to its enjoyment.

The child, with its undeveloped intelligence, prefers those foods which appeal most strongly to the sense of taste, e.g., the sugar in candy. That milk which is most rich in sugar, like mother's milk, is most desired by the nursling. In milk are contained all three of the chief components of food, and the sugar contained in it makes it pleasant to take. A milk entirely free from sugar would scarcely be accepted by the child.

Besides the albumin, fat, and carbohydrates, the nutritive salts also play an important role as essential nutritive substances, and the delightful fragrance and taste of the fruits which contain them in large quantities make such fruits very tempting.

In this way necessary substances, which exert a great influence upon the composition and constitution of the blood and our most important tissues, are taken into the body.

Taste-exciting substances are, to be sure, rather perishable, and are only present in their entirety while the plants remain in relation to the earth through the agency of their roots. When grass is mown and allowed to dry upon the meadow, its perishable taste-arousing components, which excite the cow to constant eating, are lost. This is particularly the case if the grass has not been piled up in mounds, to prevent the carrying off of these components by the wind. The quality of the butter subsequently obtained is also affected under such conditions. I have often noticed the fact that a bilberry or raspberry tastes best when plucked from the bush. After having been picked for some time, much of the aroma is lost.

The most tasty fruit and vegetable foods can, therefore, only be thoroughly enjoyed by those living in the country; we, in the cities, get only a fraction of this enjoyment, for such foods rarely come to us quite fresh. How true the saying of Horace: "O fortunalos illos agricolas!"—O happy country people! The tilling of the soil by farmers provides us with plentiful and healthy foods when all the appliances which modern science has given us are brought into use. It is surely an anomaly when the land is so neglected as is the case with thousands of hectares in Austria and Hungary, and in Germany, which remain uncultivated. With good will and industry, these fallow lands could, with the aid of modem agricultural knowledge, be made to furnish us an ample supply of bread, fruit, and vegetables. Much is accomplished in farming in the United States, where the government sends entire schools to outlying districts in cars especially constructed for the purpose, and equipped with the necessary agricultural apparatus, in order to teach the farmers how to obtain a tenfold return from their fields, cattle, and poultry. How desirable it would be for us to have such a useful arrangement, in order to further the rational nourishment of our people! The yearly emigration from Austria and Hungary of hundreds of thousands of our most useful population, the farmers or husbandmen, to America or Canada, where virgin lands, promising a rich harvest, are given to them free of cost, could thus be avoided. Of those who remain at home, thousands forsake their former healthy vocation, and, instead of being happy in the possibility of breathing the delightful, health-giving open air of nature itself, they sacrifice their health in the large cities, in the smoky impure air of the factories, and eat food which, at home, would have been despised by their dogs.

It is true that those who have abandoned their mother country find in Canada a fresh, virgin soil, which soon furnishes plentiful nourishment, while, with us, the earth, in the

Health Through Rational Diet.

hundreds of years during which it has been cultivated, has already yielded almost all of its nutritive salts.

But the illustrious Justus von Liebig taught us how to overcome this difficulty: we must artificially provide the plants with these salts; and since we ingest these plants as our food, sometimes through the circuitous route of the meat of animals who have themselves been nourished by them, these nutritive salts will be taken into our bodiesand exert an active influence in their building up and health. As a matter of fact, nearly all the substances contained in our bodies are brought in from the outside, and this mainly through the food we take. The components of the earth are also absorbed in the form, of salts, which are concerned principally with the formation of our bony structure. Another element, besides the earth, plays an important role in the nutrition both of plants and of ourselves. However much of nutritive salts be at the disposal of plants, these salts are of no use until the rain comes and takes them in solution; in the same way we are enabled to absorb our food only by the aid of water.

Still another body, the air, is of great importance in the building up of our food. Plants absorb the all-important carbon from the air, and many of them—as the leguminous plants—also take up nitrogen through their roots with the aid of the nitrogen-gathering bacteria. When we eat these plants, or the meat of animals which have fed upon them, the nitrogen is taken up into our systems.

In addition to the elements mentioned, a powerful heavenly body comes to our help in the formation of our nourishment, one without which no man, animal, or plant could exist,— the sun.

By the aid of the sun's rays, the carbonic acid of the air, through the agency of the chlorophyll, furnishes the starch required for the healthy growth of plants. The longer the sun shines upon the plants, the more starch is formed in them.

For this reason, the plants—trees and fruits^-^growing in the bright sunshine of the south contain more starch, to which miUions of savages owe their principal food. Thus, we see that nothing is lost in tliis world, and that the sun's rays have not shone in vain upon these plants, since we can absorb the energy stored up in them through the agency of the sun's rays, by eating their starch-containing fruits, such as bananas, figs, rice, etc. Even those rays of the sun which streamed down millions of years ago upon the plants of former ages, including the stately conifers of those times, are not lost to us. They are useful since we now burn upon our hearths the products of those distant ages, transformed into coal. With their heat the warmth, and with their burning the light, of the sun reappear, even as they do when we hold a match to the petroleum in our lamps—also a distillation product of former ages. We thus, in a sense, not only consume the siuilight, but also cook our meals thereby. Even the lifeless mineral world lends us its aid for our nourishment. Thus, the phosphates,, found in large quantities in South Carolina, Florida, Algeria, etc., are used by us to fertilize our fields, in order to furnish the necessary phosphorus to the grain; and from the grain, we absorb this phosphorus in our food. The manufacturing industries likewise, though otherwise the foes of land cultivation, are helpful to us, as the phosphorus used in fertilizing is also obtainable from the waste material of iron factories, in the form of ground Thomas phosphates. Nitrogen, too, can be elaborated from the sulphate of ammonium contained in the residue of the gas and coal industries, or gathered from the air by the aid of electricity.

All the elements thus enter into our nourishment, and, since we are built up by what we absorb, we are also composed of these elements. After our death, when our bodies are decomposed, these substances are set free again. It is literally true, as the Holy Scriptures state, that man is made of dustand to dust returns. New organisms are built up with the elements again rendered free by the decomposition of our bodies, and it would appear as though our decay and natural death were a grim necessity, in order that from our worn-out and decomposed component parts new combinations with fresh energy, new beings, in fact, should arise.

From the organic portions, the salts, and other substances which have been liberated from our moldering bodies and taken up by the water in the earth and springs, new plant bodies, e.g., grass, spring up. As the grass is eaten by the cattle, flesh is again formed from it, which can be utilized by us, or is once more excreted, in the dung, forming an efficient fertilizer, through the influence of which the most juicy fruits, the finest strawberries and vegetables, grow, again to be absorbed by us. Thus, in life a continuous cycle is established of which the process of nourishment is the activating influence. Old forms of life disappear—for plants have life, as do man and the animals—and new ones are engendered. The above observations, however, also show us that cremation of dead bodies does not fit in with this, our predestined use; it removes our bodies from their ethical duty, the elaboration of new living beings. Since the thought of the burial in a closed grave is really painful to many persons, it would be of use and would further this ethical end if the ashes, instead of being uselessly sealed up, were scattered broadcast over the fields in the springtime, where they would lie in the light of the sun until the rain could carry their helpful influence into the soil. What a beautiful destination this would be for many who during their lifetime were able to accomplish but little, thus to serve mankind —^possibly in this way accomplishing their most useful act! The church, too, could find no objection to this, since the dust would again return to the dust from which it had arisen.

Since so many valuable substances, among them most useful mineral constituents, unite in providing for our nourishment and are embodied in us, it must surely follow that they are accomplishing a higher mission than the mere tickling of cur palates. He who believes that we eat for the sole purpose of satisfying our hunger and of satiating or indulging ourselves when our food tastes good only proves his own simplicity, and gives us reason to believe in the truth of the words of Socrates: "The bad live to eat and drink, but the good eat and drink to live." No; we must energetically proclaim our belief, that eating is a higher function,—a kind of religious act. We eat in order to build up our tissues, we eat in order to put ourselves into condition to withstand the endless assaults of lower organisms which attack us by day and by night, and we also eat in order that our organs, and in particular our brain, will be enabled rightly to perform their functions! We are only able, however, to carry out these functions when we have absorbed certain salts, the nutritive salts, with our food and drink, among them being phosphorus and lime, without which life is impossible. In addition to the nutritive salts many important medicinal substances, such as iron, iodine, and even salicylic acid, are ingested with certain fruit berries. Though the amounts absorbed are minimal,homeopathic doses, yet they are of no inconsiderable importance in the chemical laboratory represented by our bodies. In this sense it might be said that we are taking in along with our food medicinal or curative agents no doubt even more efficacious than those compounded by the druggists. It follows, therefore, that he who nourishes himself with wisely chosen food can maintain his body in such a state of health that he will not need any form of artificial medicine. Not only does health of body and mind depend upon the food, but it is also built up from childhood, and appears to be responsible for the making of man what he is,—the most advanced creation of the animal world. While man has attained this station by virtue of his intelligence, we shall show later on that this intelligence, too, dependsupon his food. As a matter of fact, we find that wherever man is restricted to a sparse, one-sided, and incomplete diet,—and that of most animals is of this nature,—as are the inhabitants of many of the southern islands, and the Bushmen, his intelligence is likewise of the lowest order. Thus, the ancient Aztecs, who already cultivated com and cocoa, and lived on a plentiful and varied diet, although principally a vegetable one, had a well-ordered state, with courts of justice very similar to our own. We can also show, by means of instructive examples of which we shall give several later on, how both man and beast are made what they are by their foods. I would like, however, to cite here one example from the life history of the bees, quoted from Roberts. As soon as the bees need a new queen, they feed the larva of a worker with the finest portions of the jelly-like substance contained in the hives, called "royal jelly" by the English bee cultivators. While the rest of the larvae, which are to form the workers, only get this dainty substance on the first day, the one selected to be the queen is constantly fed with it until fully grown. As the result, a bee is developed which is several times as large as the others, and is also more intelligent. Many examples can, moreover, be mentioned of the manner in which the various tissues of mankind and of animals are influenced by this mode of nourishment. This will be described in the following chapters, and I shall only adduce here the instructive example of an experiment performed by John Hunter: Birds living upon vegetable food, i.e., those eating grain, possess a hard, horny musculature in their stomachs,—for otherwise they would not be able to digest such hard food. The carnivorous birds, gulls, for example, do not require this muscular structure. Hunter, the great physiologist and surgeon, fed gulls upon grain only. The consequence was that the stomachs of these birds grew to be like those of the naturally graminivorous birds. From the above it follows that man and beast are made what theyare by their food, and, therefore, that we are able, by a deliberate choice of our food, to influence our minds and bodies in the most favorable manner for the accomplishment of our best achievements. To bring about this result is the main object of our use of food.

CHAPTER I.- THE INFLUENCE OF FOOD UPON MAN

I. The Influence of Food upon the Outward Appearance of Man, His Stature and His Development.

Food exerts so great an influence upon man that even the size of his body may be essentially affected thereby. Thus, we see that nations which nourish themselves witharticles of diet rich in nitrogenous elements, that is, with plenty of meat, in addition to a sufficient quantity of the other main groups of foodstuffs, e.g., the English, the Swedes, and other nations living in a similar way, attain to a considerable physical development.

One might, perhaps, attribute this circumstance to the influence of the cold and damp climatic conditions, but even in Africa there is a tribe, the Watussi, which is richly nourished, since its members possess extensive herds of animals, with plenty of pasture land, and these people, according to the description given of them by Duke Adolf Frederick of Mecklenburg, are also noted for their great physical development. Among them there may be seen many individuals of a height of 2 meters, and even more. When, however, an exclusive nitrogenous meat diet is indulged in, as with the Eskimos, growth is hindered, and low stature is the rule. Not in this case either can the climate be considered a factor, for in that of tropical Africa there may be found, in addition to the above-mentioned giants, tribes of dwarfs, the Batwa and the Wam-buti. These forest-living dwarfs are like the Eskimos in that (10)they also feed almost exclusively upon meat. There can be no question of coincidence in the matter. There must therefore be a certain relationship between modes of nutrition and growth. This relationship must be of such a nature that, in the pronounced growth of those persons living upon a diet rich in meat, a certain influence is brought to bear upon the organs which regulate bodily growth. These organs are the thyroid gland, the sexual glands, and the hypophysis. They influence, in particular, the metabolism of lime and phosphorus, which are the main elements of which the bony structure is composed. When these organs have degenerated, growth does not usually take place, and when there is defective develop--ment of the sexual glands the well-known dwarf-like condition of the cretins often occurs. The experiments of Briesacher, Blum, and others have proven that a meat diet—and this preferably not in the form of meat which has been boiled out— has a stimulating influence upon the thyroid gland. The increased growth of the nations named above can be accounted for in this way,—also the fact often observed among our own people, viz., that the children of the wealthy who often eat roast meats and other articles of food rich in nitrogenous substances frequently grow very tall, while, on the other hand, the children of poor people often develop very slowly. This would likewise afford an explanation of the large number of tall persons in the aristocracy, and among the well-to-do classes where riches have existed during generations, as in the patrician families.