
PURE AND IMPURE FOODS. 
‘““What a Man Eats He Is.” 
THE PROPER DIET FOR AN ATHLETE. 
R. H. COOK, M. D. 
Secretary of the Section on Physiology and Dietetics, 
American Medical Association. 
The role played by inherited traits, influ- 
encing the life of the individual is perhaps 
of no greater moment than the influence 
of diet on our lives. To diet means, in 
the mind of the average man, to live prin- 
cipally on meat and eggs. This errone- 
ous conclusion is so largely prevalent that 
I have ventured to show, in a way to be 
understood by the laity, what constitutes 
a proper diet, especially for one “in train- 
ing.” 
a true food is necessarily one that will 
furnish nutrition, strength and power of 
endurance. The class of food by which 
the body maintains these 3 conditions is 
found in the albumens. Since the chief 
fuel for our animal economy is found in 
both the vegetable and animal kingdoms, 
I purpose showing the evils resulting from 
the introduction of albumens in the form 
of a meat diet. Meat in any form and 
however prepared contains a substance 
known as uric acid, which when intro- 
duced into the system, and under certain 
conditions, causes a contraction of the 
caliber of the blood vessels of every organ 
of our body. Now, since all nutritive 
material is carried from the alimentary 
tract to the-various parts of the body and 
waste material removed by the circulating 
blood, here at once becomes apparent 
the great influence necessarily produced 
by any substance which will contract the 
caliber of the blood vessels, and thereby 
interfere with the amount of blood supply- 
ing the various organs. 
The same amount of albuminous food 
can be introduced in forms which will not 
at the same time introduce this poisonous 
material—uric acid. Let us compare 
the effects produced by the introduction 
of our chief food under these 2 con- 
ditions. The man who. supplies his 
system with albumens in the form 
of meat will, within a comparatively short 
time, feel his strength increasing. He be- 
comes buoyant in disposition, and is one of 
the first to ridicule those who claim he 
has not partaken of a most nutritious food. 
This now happy possessor of the piece of 
meat begins his duties, at first with the 
feeling of being able to accomplish great 
feats, both physical and mental. But, 
alas! he soon begins to feel indisposed, 
and fatigue rapidly follows. Physically he 
is able to do a good day’s work only by 

the greatest effort. Mentally he becomes 
clouded and must work under conditions 
not favorable to himself. Many readers 
will say such symptoms have never 
manifested themselves in their own cases, 
and that they have eaten meat all their 
lives. True—I grant. But let us look 
into the reason for the above symptom and 
see whether or not we can show the fal- 
lacy of these many apparent exceptions. 
The man who ate his dinner of meat did 
introduce one of Nature’s best foods; but 
with it he also introduced a certain 
amount of uric acid. The  introduc- 
tion of the food raised the acidity of 
the blood and from the fact that uric acid 
which is circulating in the blood is de- 
posited in the various organs of the body, 
when the acidity of the blood is increased 
you will at once see that his meat caused 
a cleansing of the blood of uric acid, and 
the blood vessels which were contracted 
in the caliber now enlarge and a freer cir- 
culation throughout the body is establish- 
ed. This, together with the nutritive por- 
tion of the beef, causes the feeling of well 
being and buoyancy described above. But 
the next step shows us the reason of the 
early fatigue which follows. You will re- 
member the increased acidity of the blood 
was the factor which caused the uric acid 
to be driven into the tissues and allowed 
more to be absorbed. Within 1% or 2 
hours the blood again becomes high and 
the rebound must follow, for we now have 
a condition which brings out the uric acid 
which was driven into the tissues and the 
extra amount absorbed. 
Those individuals who can not see any 
ill effects of a meat diet in their own case 
are eliminating uric acid in an abnormal 
amount through the kidneys, which will 
sooner or later lead to dire results; or, 
they are storing up uric acid in their tis- 
sues which must necessarily be brought 
out when the conditions for such are fa- 
vorable. Such a man may boast of his 
health and deride my theories, but let him 
be taken sick, and should the disease be 
one that will raise the alkalinity of his 
blood, then comes the time when he is 
more than handicapped with his uric acid, 
which is freely drawn from his tissues and 
may add a factor which will baffle all med- 
ical skill. 
How different the lesson to be drawn 
from the man who has introduced the 
same amount of nutritive material with- 
Such a diet can be 
cheese, 
out the uric acid. 
had from milk, cereals, peas, 
