Higher Thought Centre Replies to Elsie Benedict

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 976, 20 May 1930, Page 14

Higher Thought Centre Replies to Elsie Benedict

No Spirit of Hostility MEAT VERSUS VEGETABLES On Sunday evening Mr. T. W. Silcock, president of the Higher Thought Centre, delivered an address entitled "Some Answers to Mrs. Benedict.” Mrs. Benedict is an American lecturer, who has been creating unusual interest in Auckland. Certain principles of the philosophy pronounced by her, not in accord with the teachings of the Higher Thought platform, had provoked the asking of questions of its leaders in Auckland, and it was considered advisable to reply by a series of addresses to be delivered every Sunday evening for a short period. Such would be done not in a spirit of hostility but in defence of the truths which they taught. To begin, Mr. Silcock replied to Mrs. Benedict’s statement that non-meat-eaters were among the fanatics, though she had later qualified that allegation by saying that one should eat a large supply of green salad every day, made entirely with raw vegetables, and meat only once a day. The speaker based his claims for vegetarianism on Biblical authority and modern science tests, referring to Genesis 1, 29, and Daniel 1. Modern science, he said, showed that man was anatomically built for vegetarian food. Mrs. Benedict had said that we all required energy, hut eating meat was not the best food to give energy. Dr. Kellogg, dealing with fatigue conditions, stated that it was necessary to maintain the normal chemical balance, to avoid excess of protein, and to attend to elimination. Most ordinary foods have now been studied, and were classified as alkaliproducing or acid-producing. If a person had high blood pressure he should eat sparingly of foods of high acidity. A non-acid diet was the best diet for people in middle life; it helps to hold old age at bay. Ail meats were acid-producing foods. On the contrary, fruits, vegetables and milk were the most alkaline foods which should be partaken of freely by persons who desired to maintain a normal chemical balance. As a consequence of these great discoveries we now knew beyond doubt or controversy that in order to keep healthy and efficient and cure that tired feeling, the alkali reserve must at all times be well maintained. That was ■ briefly Dr. Kellogg’s findings, and accepted by medical, science. Mr. Silcock cited a number of instances showing that the meat-eater cannot compete with the vegetarian in the matter of endurance in long-dis-tance walks.