house and home we could put in a little pinch of salt, and thus
husband our resources without seeming inhospitable. A man who tasted
anything salty at our table would quickly bethink him that he had plenty
of more palatable fare in his own house. On the score of what to eat I
would reiterate what I have said about the use of foods in their
natural condition. The refinement of various foods has made them
entirely unfit for human consumption. Of first importance without doubt
is the use of the whole grain of the wheat for flour. Wheat, as
produced by the Almighty, is practically a perfect food, containing all
the elements required by the human body and in a proportion not very
far from that found in the body. In modern methods of milling, however,
the effort is made to eliminate everything in the wheat grain except
the pure starch, which naturally makes a fine, smooth, white flour. The
miller is not absolutely successful in his endeavor, but he does
succeed in robbing the product of the natural state, that is in an
uncooked form, salt can be more easily avoided, but cooking in many
instances modifies the flavor to such an extent that salt seems necessary.
I am not prepared to admit that it is a necessity, for I know of many who
avoid the use of salt altogether and who have maintained unusual vital
vigor. I have known of others, however, who have tried to eliminate salt
from their diet and the results have been unsatisfactory. We may
therefore say that in most cases the moderate use of salt can be
recommended.
One of the most interesting expressions of opinion on the subject of
salt that I have seen was a statement by Stefanson, the Arctic explorer,
in his "My Quest in the Arctic," in which he discusses the diet of the
Eskimos and their constitutional aversion to salt.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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