The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8. 1908 THE PASSING OF THE BEEFSTEAK.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2083, 8 January 1908, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8. 1908 THE PASSING OF THE BEEFSTEAK.

]t' tile good people of “Wanganui carry the fasting craze to much greater lengths, the year that has just been entered upon will surely prove a disastrous one for the local butchers. There appear to he various grades among tho ‘Tasters,” from the enthusiast wlio declares that ho eail thrive on a pint of water per day mud tho smell of a crust of bread, t<> those who permit themselves the indulgence in a few nuts and raisins; but all are unanimous against tho meat diet—the beef steak must go. So far the most gratifying feature of the fasting epidemic in ’Wanganui is the fact tint- it- has apparently not become sufficiently contagious to infect other towns; but this may be a short-lived consolation, since at least one gentleman —an Auckland doctor has taken tho matter seriously, and, having paid a special visit to Wmigimui to investigate the lasting cases, intends to publish a report thereon. It is. of course., incontestable that a large section el the community eats more than it should and eats with little discretion as to the ruiiibleiioss or otherwise of its diet, but that is no argument for going to Ihn extreme cou i. c which has been adopted by tile fasters of “Wanganui. The occasionally was well-known to the ancient Egyptians, to the Hebrews, and to all the nations of antiquity) ami the great national churches today know and enforce to the best of their ability the disciplinary habit of fasting and abstinence to keep the body in subjection. Tho famous doctor Abernethy gave sound advice to his wealthy patient whom lie advised to live on sixpence a day and earn it, and the same could, with advantage, be bestowed upon many at the present time who eit and. drink too much and exercise too little. The old saying that food makes the man is not more true than that many men dig their own graves with their teeth, and for this reason tho study ol“ diet is .worth far more attention than it receives from the average man or woman. Such study will probably disclose the fact that the sensible course for most people to follow will be; to adopt a- moderate diet in whioli meat takes a prominent place with vegetables as an important subsidiary. It is generally recognised that in the early feeding of humanity flesh foods are nearly poisonous, anil that in after life gouty subjects should pay small butchers’ hills, detween these two extremes there is a delightful range of staple foods, the use of which has built up nations, stimulated wholesome appetites in all ages, and called forth culinary skill that has placed good housewives and famous chefs upon a high pedestal. The accessory, foods that vegetarians would have the world substitute for the nitrogenous have, so the analysts say, their deficiencies, that have to be supplemented from fleshy sources. The latest studies in the laboratories show that many of the new foods that have been forced into fashion by persistent puffing, while containing a high percentage of nutritive value, are also combined with substances which are irritating to the stomach, disturb digestion, or that may even behave as active poisons, and are consequently quite unfit for general use. They can only be taken in moderate quantities, and not as a staple food. Other of the new foods are described ns of now fuel value,” and are in a’small percentage of cases acutely poisonous to the users. Beans have been called Iho “poor man’s beefsteak,” but contain a toxic principle that is little short of dietetic cilamity. “They show up beautifully in the analysis,” says Mr Woods Hutchinson, a recent authority on diet delusions, “but you cannot live on them. Careful experiments have shown that whenever beans or peas aro taken as the soli' source of proleid in the diet, or in excess of about one-fifth of the |note id requirements of the body, they promptly produce burning of the stomach, .flatulence, loss of appetite, and, if persisted in, failure of nutrition.” Nuts, that figure so largely amongst food fails, though containing fats and proto-ids in large amounts and in readily-digested form, contain an irritating principle very injurious to the digestive cmal. The same authority, in what he calls “the casual criminals of our court of dietetics,” classes strawberries, cherries, raspberries, primes, apricots, peaches, plums, and .apples, all of which produce more or loss severe “and definite poisonings, independent of the amount taken or of tho condition and ripeness of the fruit. The tomato, says the same authority, .is in

a groat measure free from actual offence. The vegetables in common use .have copanatively definite spe>cilie poisonous effects upon certain individuals, irrespective of the amount taken, the state of digestion at the time, or the condition of the vegetables, Mr Hutchinson sums up Hie question by saying: '‘The economist ami the vegetarian who, for utilitarian or 'humane or moral reasons, urge the substitution for meat ol beans, peas, fruits, etc., are promptly baffled by the fact that those cheap and highly nutritious substances all contain elements which are poisonous or irritating to the average stomach when taken in excess of about ono-third of tho actual needs of the body, and an the case of fruits and vegetables are markedly deficient fuel value iu the amounts which can be sufficiently ingested or digested.”

All this will .make very pleasant reading to tho man whose stomach persists in yearning for the juicy steak, tho luscious sirloin and tho tender lamb whilst his' mind is torn bv misgiving regarding the dire, consequences predicted by his vegeian friends. Tho activity of the vegetarians in recent years lias done a great deal of good in drawing attention to the necessity of carefully studying diet and to the value of various kinds oi cereal and vegetable foods that have been to a largo extent neglected in the past, but withal meat will still remain an essential feature of the diet of the chief nations.