Help Yourself to Health

Opotiki News, Volume II, Issue 274, 22 December 1939, Page 7 (Supplement)

Help Yourself to Health

By PENROD TERRY, D.D.L., Dietitian.

gfirSBirHOUGIi man can, and does cal all kinds of ■4l foods, from the highWtgtk 1 protein ones as meat, EwMbbl fi s h, eggs, cheese, to cereals, wheat, rye, oats, rice and the starchy vegetables — potatoes, kumeras, taro, peas and beans, etc. —it is agreed that these are not his natural diet, and that really his whole makeup, including the digestive organs, suggests a fructo-vegetarian regime as being the only one for which he was originally constituted.

In civilised conditions, it would be impracticable to live on fruits and vegetables alone, one drawback being that one would need to eat such quantities of these that too much time would be spent at each meal; but for any diet to be truly balanced, we must include a generous portion of these items in our menus. As the habit is to eat largely of the concentrated foods, and as this habit is unfavourable to health, it is not surprising that in any reliable book on nutrition we find this side of the question given great stress, and rightly so. A few years ago a great deal was heard about vitamins, and the word was on everybody’s lips —so much that we all became tired of the very sound of it. Vitamins alone, as a matter of fact, arc of no use whatsoever. Minerals are the crux of nutrition, and it is of minerals we must be very careful to assure ourselves a full supply, and in such proportion as will preserve

health. Vitamins play their part in making the minerals usable; their action is a catalytic one, so we must have both factors—one is valueless without the other. If an abundance of minerals and vitamins are taken, and these are in a correct balance, and ratio to each other, one can get along very nicely for long periods at a time, with insufficiency of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates, as has been often demonstrated, by majoring the vital foods, and restricting to half, or even less, the ration of concentrated items. But let there be some lack, or imbalancc or imperfect assimilation in the mineral intake, no matter what else is right, then we get trouble, real trouble, which may manifest itself in one or more of the hundreds of symptoms, now become so common that the medical profession has a name for. each, cancer, tuberculosis, duodenal and peptic ulcers, asthma, allergy, kidney diseases and so on being examples. Fortunately, nowadays, the experienced dietitian (unless actual structural damage to first-class tissue has taken place), by the use of a balanced regimen and certain mineral concentrates of an organic, or live nature, can rapidly remineralise the depleted system, and thus restore health, as the body is constantly being reborn, and if the necessary building blocks are provided, can rebuild itself on a sound basis. A

Green Leaf Vegetables

correct use of foods and these concentrates of natural origin are .the only true materia medica, and the time is not far distant when they will be the only specifics allowed by law, and all the serums, “tonics,” depressants, soporifics, in fact all drugs, will be swept out of existence, to the everlasting benefit of the race. Of course, prevention is better than cure, and if we are careful to assure ourselves a sufficiency, or even, to be on the safe side, an excess, of vital elements, then disease will not rear its ugly head; it is here that the liberal use of mineral and vitamin bearing foods is so important, and of these the green leafy vegetables take first place. In the “Newer Knowledge of Nutrition,” 1939, we find this statement: “The leaf of a plant is a complete food, whereas none of the storage organs of plants, seeds, tubers, roots, or fruits enjoy this distinction This fact was first noted by McCollum, who pointed out that this difference was associated with the difference in function of the leaf as contrasted with the specialised structures serving as storage organs containing reserve food for the young plants of the next generation. The leaf is the site of synthesis of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats, and is rich in actively functioning cells. These contain everything which is necessary for the metabolic processes, and they supply all the nutrients which an animal requires.” The black type is mine. Proof of this statement, of course, is found in the diet of the many grass-eating animals, which build up blood, bone, hair, hide and hoofs from this one food alone, grasses, or green leaves. For man there are many palatable leafy vegetables available, and if monotony is not desired, a rotation of some of the following can easily overcome this: Lettuce, endive, spinach, silver beet, cabbage, mustard, cress, spring onions, watercress. They are best eaten raw, and made up into salads, and combined with grated root vegetables as carrots, beetroot, parsnips, as well as tomatoes and even raw green peas, are by no means unattractive. Indeed, once the “salad habit” is formed, one feels a natural inclination for them, and if by some chance they are not included in the day’s menus they arc soon missed.