Food Remedies by Florence Daniel (best books to read for self improvement TXT) 📖

than the carnivorous and herbivorous animals so many of us seemingly prefer to imitate.

The chief objection to nuts is supposed to be on account of their indigestibility. But this has its foundation, not in the nut, but in the manner of eating it. I recommend all those people who find nuts indigestible to pay a visit to the Zoo and see how the monkey eats his nuts. He chews and chews and chews. And after that he chews!

I know, alas! that the majority of people do not possess teeth like the monkey, and to these I can only suggest that they macerate their nuts in a nut butter machine. There are several of these machines on the market, and they are stocked by all large "Food-Reform" provision dealers. They cost anything from six or seven shillings. The daily allowance of nuts may be thoroughly macerated and eaten with fruit in the place of cream. Ordinary people may use a nut-mill, which flakes, not macerates, the nuts. But people with bad teeth and a weak digestion will do better to invest in a nut butter machine. I may add that the nuts will not macerate properly unless they are crisp, and to this end they must be put in a warm oven for a short time, just before grinding. I have found new, English-grown walnuts crisp enough without this preparation. But if the nuts are not crisp enough they will simply clog the machine.

Now to our nuts! Almonds are the most nourishing. Next in order come walnuts, hazel or cob nuts, and Brazil nuts. The proteid value of these three does not differ much. After these come the chestnut and cocoanut, and lastly we have the pine kernel. Speaking very roughly, we may liken walnuts, hazel nuts, and Brazil nuts to beef for flesh and muscle-forming value, while pine kernels correspond more nearly to fish. Almonds are nearly double the value of beef.

Nut Cream.

Doctor Fernie recommends the following nut-cream for brain-workers. Pound in a mortar, or mince finely, 3 blanched almonds, 2 walnuts, 2 ounces of pine kernels. Steep overnight in orange or lemon juice.

It should be made fresh daily, and may be used in place of butter.

Oat.

The oat is generally cited as the most nourishing of all the cereals, and a good nerve food. The fine oatmeal gruel of our grandmothers has gone almost entirely out of fashion, but its use might be revived with advantage. Like wheat, it is a complete food. A good preparation of groats (ground oats from which the husk has been entirely removed) may be taken by those who find other preparations indigestible.

Some persons seem unable to take oatmeal, its use being followed by a skin eruption. This is supposed to be due to a special constituent called "avenin," the existence of which, however, is denied by some authorities.

There is little doubt but that persons of weak digestive powers and sedentary habits cannot digest porridge comfortably. In any case quickly-cooked porridge is an abomination.

Olive.

The chief use of the olive, at least in this country, consists in the oil expressed from it. Unfortunately our so-called olive oil is generally cotton-seed oil. Captain Diamond of San Francisco, aged 111, and the oldest living athlete in the world, attributes much of his health to the use of olive oil. But he lays great stress upon the importance of obtaining it pure. Cotton-seed oil consists partly of an indigestible gum, and its continued ingestion tends to produce kidney trouble and heart failure.

A simple test for purity is to use, the suspected sample for oiling floors or furniture. If pure, it will leave a beautiful polish minus grease. But if it contains cotton-seed oil, part of it will evaporate, leaving the gummy portion behind.

When pure olive oil is shaken in a half-filled bottle, the bubbles formed thereby rapidly disappear, but if the sample is adulterated the bubbles continue some time before they burst.

Pure olive oil is pale and a greenish yellow.

If equal volumes of strong nitric acid (this may be obtained from any chemist) and olive oil are mixed together and shaken in a flask the resulting product has a greenish or orange tinge which remains unchanged after standing for ten minutes. But if cotton-seed oil is present, the mixture is reddish in colour, and becomes brown or black on standing.

Olive oil is slightly laxative, and therefore useful to sufferers from constipation. It is also an excellent vermifuge.

Olive oil has been used with great success in the treatment of gall stones. A Dr. Rosenberg reported that of twenty-one cases treated by "the ingestion of a considerable quantity of olive oil, only two failed of complete recovery."

Onion.

The uses of the onion are many and varied. Fresh onion juice promotes perspiration, relieves constipation and bronchitis, induces sleep, is good for cases of scurvy and sufferers from lead colic. It is also excellent for bee and wasp stings.

Onions are noted for their nerve-soothing properties. They are also beautifiers of the complexion. But moderation must be observed in their use or they are apt to disagree. Not everyone can digest onions, although I believe them to be more easily digested raw than cooked.

A raw onion may be rubbed on unbroken chilblains with good results. If broken, the onion should be roasted. The heart of a roasted onion placed in the ear is an old-fashioned remedy for earache.

Raw onions are a powerful antiseptic. They also attract disease germs to themselves, and for this reason may be placed in a sickroom with advantage. Needless to say, they should afterwards be burnt or buried. Culpeper, the ancient herbalist, says that they "draw corruption unto them." It is possibly for this reason that the Vedanta forbids them to devout Hindoos.

Garlic possesses the same properties as the onion, but in a very much stronger degree. Leeks are very much milder than the onion.

Onion Juice.

The following prescription is excellent for sufferers from bronchitis or coughs: Slice a Spanish onion; lay the slices in a basin and sprinkle well with pure cane sugar. Cover the basin tightly and leave for twelve hours. After this time the basin should contain a quantity of juice. Give a teaspoonful every now and then until relief is afforded. If too much be taken it may induce headache and vomiting.

Onion Poultice.

An excellent poultice for the chest may be made by placing one or two English onions in a muslin bag and pounding them to a pulp. This should be renewed every three or four hours, and the chest washed. I have been told that, at the age of six weeks old, I was saved from dying of bronchitis by such an onion poultice applied to the soles of my feet.

Orange.

The orange possesses most of the virtues of the lemon, but in a modified form. But it has the advantage of being more palatable.

The juice of oranges has been observed to exert such a beneficial influence on the blood as to prevent and cure influenza. Taken freely while the attack is on they seemingly prevent the pneumonia that so often follows. By far the quickest way to overcome influenza is to subsist solely on oranges for three or four days. Hot distilled water may be taken in addition.

The peel of the bitter Seville orange is an excellent tonic and remedy in cases of malaria and ague. A drink may be prepared from it according to the prescription under the heading "Lemon."

The "orange cure" is used with great success for consumptive patients, for chest affections of all kinds, for asthma, and some stomach complaints. Oranges are taken freely at every meal. The "navel" kind are generally used.

Herbalists sell dried orange pips to be crushed to a powder and taken in the proportion of 1 teaspoonful to a cup of hot water. This is a harmless sedative, and useful in hysterical affections.

Marmalade Tonic.

A drink made with half a pint of hot water poured over a tablespoonful of good, home-made marmalade will often give relief in cases of neuralgia and pains in the head.

Parsley.

Parsley is useful in cases of menstrual obstruction and diseases of the kidneys. The bruised leaves applied to the breasts of nursing mothers are said to cure painful lumps and threatened abscess. It may also be taken with advantage by cancerous patients. In all these cases parsley may be taken in the form of a soup, in common use among members of the Physical Regeneration Society, which consists of onions, tomatoes, celery, and parsley, stewed together in distilled water.

Dr. Fernie remarks that when uncooked parsley has been eaten to excess it has been observed to produce epilepsy in certain bodily systems. The oil of parsley has also been found useful in cases of epilepsy. This would naturally follow on the homeopathic principle of similars.

Pear.

The pear possesses most of the virtues of the apple. But, unlike the latter, it is credited with producing a constipating effect if eaten without its skin. In an old recipe book I found the following tribute to Bergamot pears. The writer says: "I had for some years been afflicted with the usual symptoms of the stone in the bladder, when meeting with Dr. Lobb's "Treatise of Dissolvents for the Stone and Gravel," I was induced on his recommendation to try Bergamot pears, a dozen or more every day with the rind, when in less than a week I observed a large red flake in my urine, which, on a slight touch, crumbled into the finest powder, and this was the same for several succeeding days. It is ten years since I made the experiment, and I have been quite free from any complaints of that nature ever since. The pears were of the small sort and full of knots."

Pea Nut.

The pea nut—or monkey nut—is especially recommended as a cure for indigestion. I have not been able to find out why. As a matter of fact it is such a highly-concentrated food that, unless taken in very small quantities, it is liable to upset weak digestions. I suspect the secret to lie in the chewing. Almost any kind of nut will cure the habitual indigestion induced by "bolting" the food, if only it be chewed until it is liquid. Hard biscuits will do instead of nuts, although an uncooked food like the nut is the better. But whatever is taken must be "Fletcherised," that is, chewed and chewed and chewed until it is all reduced to liquid.

Pea nuts contain a good deal of oil, and for this reason are recommended for consumptives. They are the cheapest nuts to buy, for the reason that they are not really nuts but beans.

Pine-apple.

Pine-apple juice is the specific for diphtheria. This seems to have been first brought to the notice of Europeans by the fact that negroes living round about the swamps of Louisiana were observed to use it with great success. A writer who records this says: "The patient should be forced to swallow the juice. This fluid is of so pungent and corrosive a nature that it cuts out the diphtheria mucous and causes it to disappear."

The above direction looks satisfactory enough on paper, and it is eminently cheering to read of how the pine-apple juice causes the diphtheria mucous to disappear, but anyone who knows anything about diphtheria knows that to "force" a diphtheria patient to swallow is more easily written about than accomplished. Fortunately I have been able to obtain the following explicit directions from an experienced nurse and mother:

The pine-apple should be cut up and well pounded in a mortar. The juice must then be pressed out