The diet best suited to preserve a perfect
state of health appears to be a combination of
animal and vegetable food. There are few,
says a medical authority, who subsist entirely
on vegetables, and of these few the constitu-
tions have generally inferior stamina. In hot
climates a vegetable diet may be carried to a
great extent without injury ; while, on the
other hand, some northern nations live almost
entirely on animal food, and in a very cold
atmosphere this may be indulged beyond what
would otherwise be safe for the health of the
body, so that a mixture of vegetable and
animal nourishment appears best fitted for the
health of mankind in general.
In the matter of diet we are liable to commit
errors, both as regards its quantity and quality.
The error in the quantity is ordinarily the
worse of the two. It should never be forgotten
that we are not nourished, as Dr. Abernethy
used to say, by what we eat, but by what we
digest. Nature is easily satisfied, and is
usually best provided for when we do not
intrude upon her more than a small and mo-
derate quantity of the most digestible animal
and vegetable food, at regular intervals of four
hours through the day.
As to the quantity of food to be actually taken
that must be regulated altogether by the appe-
tite, the supply required, and the condition of
health of the individual. The natural con-
sequence of repletion is satiety, and before this
takes place the stomach itself gives timely warn-
ing. The weak, delicate, and sedentary require
less food than the strong, robust, and active ;
infants need less than children, and children
than adults. " There can be no doubt," remarks
Dr. Graham, " that the majority of the more
respectable inhabitants of Great Britain eat and
drink twice as much as is neces-sai-j- and bene-
ficial ; and this is nearly equally "true of the
same class of persons in most of the other
PRO
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nations of Europe. It is a remarkable fact that
almost all those who have lived to a great age
have uniformly observed a very temperate diet,
and in numerous instances of longevity it has
been scanty and coarse."
In regard to the quality of our food, it ought
to be varied in much the same way as the
quantity. A keen and healthy appetite calls for
a daily supply of animal and other solid food,
whilst the patient with a deficient and capri-
cious appetite will often derive most benefit
from a vegetable diet. The sedentary and in-
active, and those whose constitutions arc natur-
ally delicate, do not require such nourishing
food as those of a strong robust frame, and
others who are dailj' engaged in laborious work
in the open air. Children need more animal
food than infants, adults than children, men
than women.
Page 1382
Presented as published in 1892. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
The diet best suited to preserve a perfect state of health appears to be a combination of animal and vegetable food. There are few, says a medical authority, who subsist entirely on vegetables, and of these few the constitutions have generally inferior stamina. In hot climates a vegetable diet may be carried to a great extent without injury ; while, on the other hand, some northern nations live almost entirely on animal food, and in a very cold atmosphere this may be indulged beyond what would otherwise be safe for the health of the body, so that a mixture of vegetable and animal nourishment appears best fitted for the health of mankind in general.
In the matter of diet we are liable to commit errors, both as regards its quantity and quality. The error in the quantity is ordinarily the worse of the two. It should never be forgotten that we are not nourished, as Dr. Abernethy used to say, by what we eat, but by what we digest. Nature is easily satisfied, and is usually best provided for when we do not intrude upon her more than a small and moderate quantity of the most digestible animal and vegetable food, at regular intervals of four hours through the day.
As to the quantity of food to be actually taken that must be regulated altogether by the appetite, the supply required, and the condition of health of the individual. The natural consequence of repletion is satiety, and before this takes place the stomach itself gives timely warning. The weak, delicate, and sedentary require less food than the strong, robust, and active ; infants need less than children, and children than adults. " There can be no doubt," remarks Dr. Graham, " that the majority of the more respectable inhabitants of Great Britain eat and drink twice as much as is necessary and beneficial ; and this is nearly equally "true of the same class of persons in most of the other
nations of Europe. It is a remarkable fact that almost all those who have lived to a great age have uniformly observed a very temperate diet, and in numerous instances of longevity it has been scanty and coarse."
In regard to the quality of our food, it ought to be varied in much the same way as the quantity. A keen and healthy appetite calls for a daily supply of animal and other solid food, whilst the patient with a deficient and capricious appetite will often derive most benefit from a vegetable diet. The sedentary and inactive, and those whose constitutions arc naturally delicate, do not require such nourishing food as those of a strong robust frame, and others who are daily engaged in laborious work in the open air. Children need more animal food than infants, adults than children, men than women.