DIETETIC PHILOSOPHY.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 766, 5 November 1886, Page 4

DIETETIC PHILOSOPHY.

The more that is known concerning digestion and the needs of the human system, the better do we know how to prepare food to supply those needs. It should be recognised that one of the most important functions of woman is the preparation of wholesome food, which really exercises an enormous influence on human life and happiness. Foods carefully selected, well cooked, and calculated to sustain the body equally in all its parts, without oppressing the nervous digestive powers, conduce to felicity in an astonishing manner; -yet how little thought is given to the matter by most people. What do the generality of sick-nurses know of the objects of food, its forms, and its digestion ? I trow very little ; their ideas are bounded by beef-tea and jelly. I wonder that one of our philanthropic medical men, who have so readily responded to demands for ambulance lectures, does not suggest a course of lectures on dietetics in infancy, convalescence, old age, and disease, for the information of nurses and that portion of the feminine public who are becoming more and more alive to the importance of this subject. There is one fact that cannot be too forcibly impressed upon people ; that is, that we all consume too much meat. Animal flesh is useful as a concentrated form of nutriment; valuable for the small space it occupies in the stomach. Like every other description of food it is highly useful in its place, but is by no means absolutely necessary to health and strength. Sir Henry Thompson, a well-known authority, declares that flesh-eating is not a natural taste of the young; that if they followed their own instincts they would reject meat and take only that part of the meal which consists of vegetables, pudding, or fruit. That anxious mothers who coax or coerce children into overcoming their repugnance to eating meat are much to blame for forcing them to acquire an unnecessary habit; for the little ones would, as a rule, thrive better on milk, eggs, and the varied produce of the vegetable kingdom. I must say that Wellington is anything but profuse in the production of vegetables ; they are both scarce and dear, probably from the comparatively small demand for varieties. Yet it has been demonstrated that life can be supported on vegetable diet alone. There are circles devoted to this mild and asthetic diet, and the number is rapidly increasing. Indeed, we have heard of a sect whose disciples meet in a spirituallyminded way and eat nothing but raw vegetables. I should imagine they had little knowledge of the digestive organs and their capabilities, or they would not so rashly overtax them ; but all reforms take on a certain amount of extravagance. There is no doubt it would do much good for over-fed folks to be restricted to a purely vegetable diet for some weeks of the year. The Church knew this when it instituted the Lenten season, and so exercised a good dietary influence in connection with a religious idea. Where we need the greatest reform, however, is in the article of bread, and food formed from the cereals, Their value is not

half recognised. True, we consume a certain amount of bread —baker’s bread—per day, but what is that bread ? A tasteless, vapid mixture of water and flour, from which the principal nutritive properties have been carefully eliminated ; nothing but the finest, whitest flour is now tolerated instead of the sweet, nutritious, delicious wheat-meal. _ Let me quote a passage from the * Hygienic Cook Book —‘ The use of flour made into bread, from which the bran ha 3 been removed, is especially noticeable in its effects on the bony structure of the body, and is the prime cause of bad teeth, rickets, and other deformities of the bony framework. This has been demonstrated by experiment, for M. Chossett, a learned and careful French physiologist and chemist, fed a number of pigeons exclusively on wheat from which every particle of the covering or shell had been removed. He found that this diet answered well enough for three months; then diarrhoea set in, and the birds died between the eighth and tenth month. But the remarkable point in the experiment related to the bones, which became exceedingly thin and fragile. One bird was found with both the thigh and large bone of the leg fractured, and examination after death showed that the bony tissues had disappeared from many parts of the breast-bone. The bran should never be separated from the rest of the grain by bolting or otherwise, for thereby the nutritive value is greatly lessened, and it should be widely known that the finer and whiter the flour is, the lower is its nutritive value. The part of the wheat that is discarded by bolting or dressing holds the phosphate of lime, silica, iron, &e., —materials that are essential in the building up of bones, muscles, nerves, brain, &c, while the woody fibres of the bran serves by its bulk and stimulating action to facilitate digestion. No person regularly using bread made from whole flour suffers from indigestion, costiveness, or piles.’ So we see that by insisting on nice white bread made from nothing less than 4 silver dust,’ or < golden gem ’ flour, we are actually defrauding Dame Nature to our own detriment. But you will say, *We do not like dark, heavy, damper-like loaves.’ In all probability you have never tasted a loaf made from whole meal, or you would not make such an objection. I have been favored with samples of bread made from several kinds of cereals, all coarsely ground, and baked without yeast or any lightening material, and I never enjoyed the richest of cakes, or whitest of French rolls as I did that bread ; gladly could I make an entire meal of a wheaten scone and sweet butter. As a people, we do not give the family of cereals a proper place in our cuisine ; seldom is any other than wheaten flour used, when there are so many varieties to choose from. Maize is almost entirely neglected ; yet what good, wholesome, nutritious food can be made from it. Mixed with white flour, in the proportion of one third, it makes a delicious bread or scone. As for buckwheat and hominy, which, when prepared, is a lovely white grain like rice, they are absolutely unknown. Then there are the legumes, haricots, pink and white ; lentils, from which is made the Revolenta Arabiea so often recommended for invalids; and the bright red Egyptian lentils. Each of these have a far higher dietetic value than flour, and is available as vegetable, or for bread. Yes, I know these things, or many of them, are not procurable here, but how long would that be the case if there is a demand for them ? Already I see there are in the market samples of wheat meal, maize meal, pea meal, etc., of local production, but these all are not quite the desired article to make the perfect food ; they are too finely ground, and I fancy have the coarser and sweeter particles removed. This defect is easily remedied, and I for one intend to try my hand at the making of unfermented bread, with the materials that are at present available ; the result I hope to lay before you on a future occasion.

Elisb,