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PURE 
AND IMPURE FOODS. 
“What a Man Eats He Is.” 
WHAT TO BAT. 
C. B. MENTE, M.A.. PH.D. 
Someone has said “The study of what 
_ we eat is man’s strongest castle of health.” 
A few observations are intended along this 
line, clothed in language easily under- 
stood, since technical terms will be as far 
as possible omitted. 
A person in good health may eat al- 
most anything that is relished, if the taste 
be not previously perverted. A person 
of average weight, who exercises suffi- 
ciently to maintain good health, requires 
5 ounces a day of nitrates for the mus- 
cles, 20 ounces of carbonates for heat, 
2 or 2% per cent of phosphates for the 
brain, nerves and bones, with waste to ac- 
company it for bulk, which may consist 
in part of water and natural acids, to en- 
able the liver to eliminate the effete mat- 
ter from the blood. 
The greatest danger lies in eating too 
much carbonaceous food which over- 
heats and inflames the blood, and, is a 
fruitful cause of disease. The danger of 
eating food containing an excess of ni- 
trates and phosphates is not great, be 
cause such food is not sufficiently abun- 
dant to overstock the system. The class 
of food overrich in nitrates is cheese, 
Southern corn, beans, peas, fish, lean 
meats, fruits, and vegetables. The 
best of common phosphatic, or _ brain 
foods, are lean meat, ffish, cheese, 
whole wheat, oatmeal, almond nuts, beans, 
peas, potatoes, figs and prunes, while the 
most common carbonaceous or heat-pro- 
ducing foods are fat, sugar, butter, rice, 
rye, chocolate, dates, buckwheat and 
white bread. Among the most common 
nitrogenous or muscle-producing foods 
are cheese and vermicelli; in fact, they are 
among the best muscle producers known 
for use in modern life. 
Persons of strong mentality, who study 
much and whose habits are sedentary, 
such as clergymen, lawyers, physicians, 
writers, and some classes of business men, 
require a larger proportion of phosphorus 
than others not so employed. School 
girls grow pale, and the cause may be 
ascribed quite often to the loss of phos- 
_ vitality, 
phorus and the lack of foods which con- . 
tain _ that element. One of the most 
nourishing drinks for the brain and ner- 
vous system, as well as for the general 
316 
is bran water. Owing to the 
great predominance of phosphorus in 
bran the nervous system, as well as the 
vitality of body and brain, are quickly 
nourished by it; weariness vanishes and 
the eyes become bright. The digestive 
organs require that kind of food which 
creates energy and strength of action. 
Weak stomachs hardly capable of digest- 
ing anything stronger than rice can grad- 
ually acquire power by careful training to 
digest the most difficult food. Food which 
contains the most nourishment is usual- 
ly the least wholesome, when taken alone; 
waste matter is necessary to distend the 
stomach and intestines and to produce an 
excitement of good digestion and a stimu- 
lant to the bowels to throw off their ex- 
cretions. The use of condiments, such as 
mustard, cloves, horse radish, sauces and 
pungent spices has been proved to be 
injurious to the stomach, liver and espe- 
cially to the heart, yet taken in small 
quantities seem to do no harm to strong 
stomachs. Meat ought not to be eaten 
by very young persons, as it often causes 
nervous derangements, fits and other kin- 
dred ailments. Potatoes sliced thin and 
fried are indigestible. They afford no 
real nourishment, but injure the process 
of digestion as to other food. Cake clogs 
the stomach. All rich pastry is poison to 
the liver. Glucose, prevalent in soft car- 
amels and creams, syrups, jellies and simi- 
lar things, is to be shunned. The rapid 
spread of Bright’s disease is attributed by 
some physicians to the use of glucose. 
Hearty and ruddy-cheeked persons, full of 
health, to whom neuralgia and rheuma- 
tism are entirely unknown, should avoid 
buckwheats and syrups, white flower 
cakes, butter-biscuits, white bread, bacon, 
coffee and the like,—all heaters and all 
without brain or nerve foods, unless they 
would invite headaches, dull, stupid days, 
tired feelings and‘a disposition to lounge 
about and do nothing. Milk is undoubt- 
edly the simplest and most closely allied 
to nature of all means for sustaining the 
body, while eggs and milk have been 
known to sustain life for many years. 
Care should always be taken that both 
should be fresh. The apple is an excellent 
fruit and should always be kept where it 
can be partaken of at any hour of the day. 
An appetite for apples should, if neces- 
sary, be cultivated, but they shouid be 

