THE MEDICINAL VALUE OF VEGETABLES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11825, 30 November 1901, Page 6 (Supplement)

THE MEDICINAL VALUE OF VEGETABLES.

Asparagus is an excellent vegetable, since it is cooling and easily digested, and is especially recommended for the lungs and kidneys.

Beans are nourishing if they can be digested, but where the digestive organs are failing they are best not taken. Beetroot is most nutritious, as it contains sugar; therefore it is fattening. With some it causes flatulency. Cabbage and cauliflowers are purifying to the blood, but should be partaken of sparingly by delicate persons, as they are laxative. Carrots are exceptionally good for the complexion, and are likewise nutritious, since they contain a large percentage of starch, in consequence of which they are flesh-forming, and should not be eaten by stout people. No vegetables that grow underground are of any use to the " fat" inclined.

Celery is good! for rheumatism and gout. It should be taken cooked ; otherwise, eaten in a raw state, it calls for a perfect digestion. Cucumbers are cooling, but indigestible to many. Horseradish is good for rheumatism. Lettuce is •< wholesome green food, but must be eaten while young and tender, otherwise it is apt to irritate a delicate stomach.

Mustard and cress are good for the complexion, being excellent stomachics. Onions, leeks, and eschalots possess cooling and diuretic properties, and are especially good when one has a cold. Boiled onions are soothing and nourishing. Leek soup is nutritious and appetising. Parsnips contain starch, and are easily digested and nutritious, but they are fleshforming ; therefore must not be taken by those inclined to make too much flesh.

Parsley is a great blood purifier and most cooling. Raw parsley sweetens the breath. Be sure to wash it well in salt and water before using it. Potatoes contain starch, and are in consequence fattening, and by some cannot be digested as they create flatulence, etc. Potatoes should not be eaten by anyone over forty years of age if they are at all inclined to dyspepsia or stoutness. Spinach and turnip tops are excellent for the blood and kidneys, and recommended for rheumatism and gout. They are laxative, and highly diuretic. Tomatoes.—lt is said if you wish to spoil a tomato cook it. However, tomatoes partaken 01 raw or cooked are good for the blood, as well as being cooling and purifying. —Weldon'.s Journal.