

CONSTRUCTION OF DIET FROM DIFFERENT ARTICLES OF FOOD 145 



4. CONSTRUCTION OF THE DIET FROM THE DIFFERENT 

 ARTICLES OF FOOD 



In satisfying the requirements of his body, man has a great variety of 

 foods, both animal and vegetable in origin, from which to choose. Recently 

 the question has been much discussed in certain quarters whether the natural 

 food of man should be mixed or should be purely vegetable. 



That a purely animal diet is not suited to the requirements of the human 

 body after the period of infancy is passed need not be proved at length. On 

 the one hand, if we except milk and liver, the carbohydrates are practically 

 absent entirely from such a diet; and on the other hand, the relatively long 

 human intestine is not sufficiently stimulated by an exclusively animal diet 

 to prevent the residues of the food and the digestive fluids from remaining 

 overlong in the intestine. 



All the requirements of the body can be met, however, by foods of vegetable 

 origin alone ; for they contain fats and carbohydrates as well as proteid. 



Vegetarians assume that a purely plant diet is the only natural food of 

 man. But a number of objections can be raised against this conception. For 

 example, fat occurs in plants in large quantities only in the form of vegetable 

 oils, and the only place the latter figure to any extent in the preparation of 

 victuals is in southern countries. Hence, in many regions it is not easy on 

 a purely vegetable diet to supply the body with a sufficient quantity of fat. 

 To obtain fat the body must appropriate animal foods. Again, most vegetable 

 foods in proportion to their percentage of proteid are much more bulky than 

 animal foods, and their volume is still more increased by the absorption o'f 

 water in their preparation, whereas animal foods lose water in preparation and 

 hence become less bulky. Besides, the nitrogenous constituents of most vege- 

 table foods are but poorly absorbed in the intestine. In order to supply the 

 body with plenty of proteid from purely vegetable sources one is compelled, 

 therefore, to eat a rather voluminous diet. In so doing he runs the risk of 

 exacting too much work of the digestive organs, whence various untoward 

 effects might result. To prevent these, it is needful that a part of the daily 

 ration be drawn from animal sources. 



This is admitted by the vegetarian who eats no meat, but allows himself the 

 pleasure of milk, eggs and dairy products. In his case the diet is no longer 

 purely vegetable, for it contains both fat and proteid derived from animal 

 sources. Cheese is an article very rich in proteid, and in butter and milk the 

 body can get all the fat it requires. So far as the question is debatable at all, 

 it narrows itself to whether or not meats shall be included in the diet. 



From a purely physiological point of view, we can find no reason why a 

 healthy man should forego the use of so excellent an article of food, considered 

 with respect to its content of proteid and fat or its eminent adaptability, as we 

 know meat to be. But in so stating, I do not wish to be understood as saying 

 that one should eat any quantity of meat he pleases, or should cover too much 

 of his requirements with meat. In too large quantities the extractive substances 

 found in meat may possibly produce disorders of one kind or another in the 

 body (cf. Chapter XII, 1). The metabolism might also take an abnormal or 

 unfavorable form, if the fluids of the body were flooded with too much pro- 



