Maintaining Health (Formerly Health and Efficiency)Alsaker, Rasmus Larssen
Science
Maintaining Health (Formerly Health and Efficiency)
Alsaker, Rasmus Larssen
Diet; Hygiene
To call a food unnatural means nothing, for we can call nearly all foods
unnatural and defend our position. A natural food is presumably a
nutritious and digestible aliment that is produced in the locality where
it is consumed, one that can be utilized without preparation or
preservation. So we may say that a resident of New York should not use
figs, dates, bananas and other products of tropical and semi-tropical
climates, for they are not natural in the latitude of New York. We can
take the position that it is unnatural for people to eat grains, which
need much grinding, for the birds are the only living beings supplied
with mills (gizzards). We can further say that it is unnatural to eat
all cooked and baked foods. But such talk is not helpful. The more a
person uses his brain the less power he has left for digestion and
therefore it is necessary to prepare some of the foods so that they will
be easy to digest. Man is such an adaptable creature that we are not
sure what he subsisted on before he became civilized and are therefore
unable to say what his natural food is. We know that in the tropics
fruits play an important part in nourishing savages, while in the frozen
north fat flesh is the chief food. Perhaps there is no natural food for
man.
Some of those who advocate the disuse of milk have a substitute or
imitation to take its place, nut milk made from finely ground nuts and
water. Like all other imitations, it is inferior to the original. It is
more difficult to digest than real milk and the flavor is quite
different.
The objection that milk is indigestible is not borne out by the
experience of those who give it under proper conditions. It is true that
milk disagrees with a few, but so do such excellent foods as eggs,
strawberries and Concord grapes, and many other aliments which are not
difficult to digest. This is a matter of individual peculiarity. Some
can take boiled milk, but are unable to take it fresh, and vice versa.
Outside of the few exceptions, milk digests in a reasonable time and
quite completely. It is easier to digest than the legumes (peas, beans,
lentils) which are rich in protein. It is also easier to digest than
nuts, which contain much protein. The milk sugar causes no trouble and
cream is one of the easiest forms of fat to digest, if taken in
moderation. The protein in milk will cause no inconvenience if the milk
is eaten slowly, in proper combinations and not to excess. The rennet in
the stomach curdles the casein. The hydrochloric acid and the pepsin in
the gastric juice then begin to break down and dissolve the clots, and
the process of digestion is completed in the small intestines.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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