THE VALUE OF FRUIT AS FOOD. 



149 



Again and again I advise my nerve patients to eat more fat, and they 

 reply, " Oh, but I don't like fat," and I always answer, "Don't you like 

 butter ? " " Oh yes," they glibly reply ; " I like butter." " Well, then," 

 I ask, " did you ever see any lean butter ? " The fruit world is full of fat. 

 The olive yards always formed one of the foremost pictures in the sweet 

 memories of the land of Canaan, and now the markets are full of olive oil, 

 Darlene (a refined preparation of cocoanut butter), almond oil, walnut 

 butter, almond butter, &c. 



The chestnut contains 1-3 per cent, of fat ; the walnut, 31-6 per cent. ; 

 the filbert, 28*5 per cent. ; the almond, 54 per cent. ; the pistachio, 51 per 

 cent. ; the cocoanut, 35*9 per cent. ; the peanut, 50 per cent. ; and the 

 delightful little pine kernel is like a little cone of nutty fat. 



These fats are all clean and wholesome, free from-taint and free from 

 disease, and of a most delightful flavour. 



I am growing daily more and more convinced of the great importance 

 of nuts and nut butters and nut oils for food. It is often objected that 

 nuts are indigestible, and this is true of all foods that are swallowed with- 

 out mastication ; but nowadays the difiiculty is entirely obviated by the 

 process of putting the nuts through a nut mill or using them malted. An 

 Orange's nut mill will at once transform shelled barcelonas or walnuts, 

 brazils or almonds, into a fluffy, snowy meal — dainty, digestible, and full 

 of nutrient fat. 



The two classes of fruits I have mentioned — the sweet fruits and the 

 fat fruits — make an ideal combination, and I know few dishes more 

 delightful than some good Tafilat dates with the stones removed and the 

 spaces filled up with walnut meal. The result is a sandwich of exquisite 

 flavour and of great nutritive value in a small compass. 



The immense value of fat as a powerful food is shown by the fact that 

 ten grains of fat will, by combination with oxygen, develop enough heat 

 to raise 23 "30 lb. of water one degree Fahrenheit ; that is, the equivalent 

 to the power of raising 18-003 lb. one foot high. 



The malted nuts are now sold under many names, and turn out in 

 appearance and flavour very like potted tongue, only much richer in fatty 

 elements. I believe there is a great industry ahead for those who take up 

 extensive nut culture coupled with a nut meat factory. 



4. Albuminous Matters. — Now it is here that so many people imagine 

 that fruits are deficient in food value. Liebig laid so much stress on 

 proteids and their constituent nitrogens that, ever since, people have been 

 scared lest they should weaken and die unless they took an ample supply 

 of this element. I can only very shortly deal with this vital subject here, 

 but let me emphasise upon you all — 



First, that Liebig's theories are not now held by the best physiological 

 dietists. 



Secondly, that Carl Voit and his school, who still uphold the need for a 

 high ratio of proteids, lay down the law that " a diet which contains the 

 smallest amount of proteid that will suffice to keep the body in a state of 

 continual vigour is the ideal diet," because proteids, as they are being used 

 up in the body, produce decomposition products which are a constant 

 menace to the welfare of the body, and any surplus, proteid therefore 

 may be an actual source of active injury to the system. This is seen in 



