Almonds And Brazil Nuts

These nuts feed the higher nerve centers and generate a high quality of intelligence.

Walnuts, Pine Kernels And Chestnuts

These are excellent for those who wish to put on flesh. Care must be taken not to overtax the liver. People who have been accustomed to a large amount of bread or other starchy foods should begin with a small amount, and substitute them for bread. If they disagree, use lemon, cranberries, oranges or fruit salads with them. Walnuts supply the larger nerve structures. They are well balanced in all the elements and are excellent for people doing hard, muscular work. Sweet dried fruits also form a good combination with nuts. Chestnuts resemble cereals on account of being rich in starch. They contain less protein, fat and minerals than other nuts, and therefore combine well with such foods as supply these elements. Baked and boiled chestnuts are generally more agreeable than raw ones. Pine nuts are rich in both protein and fat.

Cocoanuts

They are rich in starch and fat and resemble the cereals closely.

Hazelnuts

They are a valuable food, but require thorough mastication.

The Peanut

The peanut is a very nutritious nut, but rather difficult of digestion for some people. It resembles beans and peas, and is sometimes classed as a legume. Excess of nuts at one meal, or nuts which have been poorly masticated, may cause severe disturbances of the liver and stomach. If the teeth are poor, the nuts may be ground, but even then great care must be exercised to insure their proper insalivation. Cooked nut foods and all vegetarian dishes to which strained legumes, nut-butter, eggs and other rich foods are added, should not be indulged in by people with weak stomachs.

Nut-Butter

Great care should be exercised in the preparation of foods with nut-butter. Never spread it on bread without first diluting it with an equal amount of water. Do not keep it on the shelf like ordinary butter after it has been mixed with water; prepare only sufficient to last for twenty-four hours, and keep it on ice.

Fruits

There are three classes of fruit: acid, sub-acid, and sweet fruits.

Fresh raw fruits, if eaten in the right proportion with other articles, are wholesome. The habit of eating a large amount of acid fruits at the beginning of the morning meal is not necessary. If a heavy meal is eaten, in the evening, remaining half digested in the stomach over night and putrefying, then acid fruits will cleanse the stomach in the morning. The better way is to go to bed with an empty stomach and there will be no need of cleansing in the morning. People of a highly nervous temperament should not eat the very sweet fruits at the morning or noon meal, as at this time they are too stimulating.

Hot* house fruits out of season are health destroying. Certain fruits, such as apples, plums, tomatoes, apricots, grapes, figs, bananas and cranberries, will keep for a long time in the natural state, if properly preserved. Some of them can be dried and used in the winter. Fresh fancy summer fruits are not required during the winter by healthy individuals, neither are canned fruits, jams or jellies.

The canning of fruits during hot summer days is a health destroying occupation and a waste of time and money. Fresh fruits prepared with a large amount of water and sugar are little better than beer, wine and whiskey. If such fruits are eaten with yeast bread, potatoes and a variety of other foodstuffs, they set up fermentation and burden, the eliminating organs. A few jars of sterilized fruit juice should be prepared and kept on hand for medicinal purposes only.

Fruits are an important article of diet, but few people know how to use them wisely. A large percentage of deaths in young children is due directly to the wrong use of fruits. Many forms of infantile paralysis, intestinal disease and malnutrition in general are due to the lack of knowledge of the scientific combination of fruits with other articles of food, so as to furnish a wholesome meal.

Many teachers of Domestic Science and writers in monthly magazines seem to have forgotten, entirely of what an ordinary mixed diet should consist. Their bills-of-fare are becoming more complex all the time. We find combinations, such as banana fritters, custard, meat, potatoes, nuts, milk, biscuits, dates, several kinds of vegetables, puddings, cheese, coffee, cake and ice cream, suggested for one meal (sometimes less, other times more than this). Any intelligent, thinking person must realize that such a mixture, besides being a great waste, will turn the stomach of the strongest individual into a yeast pot. Those with strong eliminating organs, who take plenty of out-door exercise and recreation of some kind, may be able to throw off the excess of poison for a long period, while others endowed with less vigor will suffer from the effects within a short time.

People who live on cooked foods consisting mainly of meat, bread, sugar, soups, puddings, cooked cereals, milk, etc., should realize that they have already filled their systems with foods which contain a large amount of water, and therefore will overburden their intestines and kidneys by adding a liberal amount of fruits to such a dietary. There is always great danger of fermentation and putrefaction, especially if constipation sets in, and here we have all the dangers of modern diseases, which begin with mal-nutrition, be it from under- or over-feeding. Only the most perfect specimens of men and women are safe from danger. Why? Because their instincts lead them to choose the right articles in the right combination, and at the table they know when to stop," while an individual with weak sensory nerves does not feel the effects of satisfaction from the food until dullness, pain or discomfort appear. It is from this lattter class mostly, that we have our health reformers, while the former class with their perfect battery, which can turn the poorest food materials into first grade tissue, look on us as diet cranks and faddists.

The man who ate three square meals all his life, indulged in tea, coffee, liquor and tobacco, was never sick and lived to be 100 years old, probably could have lengthened his years to 300, had he not been so dangerously strong.

The menus suggested in this book are made up carefully and scientifically, so that each individual can easily find a diet suited to his temperament, environment, age and occupation. Nuts contain a high percentage of protein, and therefore form an ideal dietary in combination with fruits. Meats, eggs, cheese, cream and fish are the next best articles suitable to combine with fruits; raw greens are an excellent addition, but breads, puddings, sugars, beverages, mushes and cooked vegetables are better left out at a meal if an abundance of fruits are taken, especially at dinner, or the amount of watery foods taken into the body during twenty-four hours will not be in the proper proportion to the solids. Dry legumes are very rich in protein, but being dissolved with water during the cooking process are less suited to combine with raw fruits, especially for those suffering with flatulence or kidney disorders. Apples, tomatoes and vegetables combine best with legumes. Apples and tomatoes, being of the most perfect type of foods, combine well with all classes of protein foods, including cereals. They should be staple articles in every household. As to other fruit combinations, study recipes and menus, and keep in mind that no matter how valuable an article may be, excess is a poison.

Those who live mainly upon dry foods, such as uncooked cereals and nuts, can safely make their morning and evening meal of fruits alone, while others who live like the average, if they attempt to make a meal of fruits alone, and continue to do active work, will soon fail in health.