436 KEEPING DOWN WEIGHT. 



needs water, food, and a continual supply of oxygen, which, 

 as we have seen, is obtained by the lungs from the breathed- 

 in air. Water, which forms about three-quarters of the 

 entire weight of the body, is necessary for the repair and 

 development of the tissues ; for the replenishment of the 

 blood and other fluids of the system ; for keeping down 

 surplus heat by means of evaporation ; and for removing 

 injurious products out of the body. Ordinary food consists 

 of nitrogenous (albuminous) matter, starch, sugar, fat, mineral 

 matter, and water. Albuminous matter is largely found in 

 meat, fish, eggs, and cheese. Bread, potatoes and rice contain 

 a high percentage of starch, which is present in all food 

 grains. There is only a small proportion of starch in green 

 vegetables, and practically none in fruit. A certain amount 

 of albumen is required in food, in order to make up for 

 the loss in nitrogenous matter which the tissues constantly 

 experience. Sugar, starch, and fat in food can mutually 

 replace each other to a great extent without injury to health. 



Although a mixed diet is best for mankind, an exclusive 

 meat diet would furnish us fairly well with all the materials 

 our body requires, and, for our present purpose, would have 

 the great advantage of forming very little fat. Unfortunately, 

 it possesses the serious drawback of over-loading the system 

 with waste nitrogenous matter, which has a depressing 

 and hurtful effect on the body. Hence the objection to 

 Banting, which was the plan of getting down weight by 

 means of an almost exclusive meat diet, which a gentleman 

 of that name proposed and practised many years ago. 

 Although it obtained an extended trial, it naturally proved 

 a failure. 



The nitrogenous matter of white fish and cheese appears to 

 have a less depressing effect on the system, than that of meat. 

 Extracts of meat are particularly bad in this respect, although 

 at first they have a stimulating influence. 



