Chapter 36

SELECTION AND PREPARATION OF FOOD.

The requirements for normal digestion, assimilation and elimination are: (1) An intestinal canal clean and sound from mouth to anus; (2) nutritious food properly prepared; (3) regularity and moderation in eating; (4) free use of pure water, sufficient to forward the emulsification and assimilation of the food and the elimination of waste--whether that waste be of the residual portion of the food or of detritus of tissue; (5) a seasonably clad body, free from fatigue or loss of sleep; (6) a cheerful mind.

Every sensible person will grant that a good digestion of vegetable or animal food furnishes sufficient steam and stimulus for the physical man; that a good digestion of intellectual food (ideas) furnishes the corresponding requisites for the mental man; and that exalted sentiments are the pabulum of the spiritual.

Why over-stimulate the physical, and reflexively degrade the mental and spiritual, by indulgence in tea, coffee, beer, wine, liquors, opium, tobacco, etc.? Over-stimulation will bring on indigestion; and prostration will follow that. Remember that Nature does not carry long credit accounts.

A suggestion for the selection and preparation of physical foods is here given; this book being hardly the place for a corresponding list of mental and spiritual foods.

FOODS EASY OF DIGESTION.

ARTICLES OF FOOD HOW PREPARED TIME OF DIGESTION

Venison steak Broiled 1 hour 30 minutes Pig's feet soused Boiled 1 " 00 " Brains Boiled 1 " 45 " Salmon, tripe or trout (fresh) Boiled or fried 1 " 00 " Eggs, fresh Whipped 1 " 30 " Rice Boiled 1 " 00 " Sago or barley Boiled 1 " 45 " Apples, sweet and mellow Raw 1 " 30 " Tomatoes or lettuce Raw 1 " 30 " Melons or watercress Raw 1 " 20 " Peaches, plums or pears Raw or stewed 1 " 30 " Oranges or bananas Raw 1 " 30 " Asparagus or dandelion Boiled 1 " 30 " Onions or apricots Stewed 1 " 30 " Mushrooms Boiled 1 " 30 " Cereal coffee Boiled 1 " 30 " Blackberries 1 " 30 " Grape-nuts 1 " 00 " Lemons 1 " 00 " Watermelons 1 " 00 " Doxsee's clam juice and little neck clams 1 " 00 " Milkine, Horlick's and Mellin's food 1 " 30 " Cereal milk 1 " 00 " Armour & Co.'s Vigoral. 1 " 00 " Valentine's or Wyeth's beef juice or Wiel's beef jelly 1 " 00 "

FOODS NOT SO EASY OF DIGESTION.

ARTICLES OF FOOD HOW PREPARED TIME OF DIGESTION

Beef Boiled 2 hours 00 minutes Pig, sucking Roasted 2 " 30 " Liver, beef (fresh) Broiled 2 " 00 " Lamb, fresh Broiled 2 " 30 " Turkey, domestic Roasted or boiled 2 " 30 " " wild Roasted 2 " 18 " Goose " Roasted 2 " 30 " Chicken Fricasseed 2 " 45 " Codfish, cured and dry Boiled 2 " 00 " Oysters, fresh Raw 2 " 35 " Hash (chopped meat and vegetables) Warmed 2 " 30 " Eggs, fresh Roasted 2 " 15 " " " Raw 2 " 00 " Milk Boiled 2 " 00 " " Uncooked 2 " 15 " Gelatine Boiled 2 " 30 " Custard Baked 2 " 45 " Tapioca or barley Boiled 2 " 00 " Beans, green Boiled 2 " 30 " Sponge cake Baked 2 " 30 " Apples, sour and mellow Raw 2 " 00 " " " " hard Raw 2 " 50 " Parsnips or green corn Boiled 2 " 30 " Potatoes and yams Roasted or baked 2 " 30 " Cabbage, head Raw 2 " 30 " " " with vinegar Raw 2 " 00 " Cauliflower Boiled 2 " 00 " Peas (green) or squash Boiled 2 " 00 " Cranberries or cherries Stewed 2 " 00 " Rhubarb or figs Stewed 2 " 30 " Turnips Boiled 2 " 30 " Sprouts Boiled 2 " 00 " Raspberries Raw 2 " 00 " Dates Raw 2 " 00 " Buttermilk Raw 2 " 00 " Pumpkin Cooked 2 " 00 "

FOODS SOMEWHAT DIFFICULT OF DIGESTION.

ARTICLES OF FOOD HOW PREPARED TIME OF DIGESTION

Beef, fresh, lean Broiled 3 hours 00 minutes " " " Roasted 3 " 00 " Beef, dry Roasted 3 " 30 " " with salt only Boiled 3 " 45 " " " mustard, etc. Boiled 3 " 30 " Pork, steak Broiled 3 " 15 " " recently salted Broiled 3 " 15 " " " " Raw 3 " 00 " " " " Stewed 3 " 00 " Mutton, fresh Broiled 3 " 00 " " " Roasted 3 " 15 " " " Boiled 3 " 00 " Flounder, fresh Boiled 3 " 30 " Oysters, fresh Roasted 3 " 15 " " " Stewed 3 " 30 " Codfish (salted) or whitefish Boiled 3 " 00 " Sausages, fresh Broiled 3 " 20 " Rabbits Broiled 3 " 00 " Butter or cream 3 " 00 " Eggs, fresh Hard-boiled or fried 3 " 30 " " " Soft-boiled 3 " 00 " Potatoes, turnips or carrots Boiled 3 " 30 " Radishes or lentils Boiled 3 " 30 " Bread (white) fresh Baked 3 " 15 " " whole wheat Baked 3 " 30 " " rye Baked 3 " 30 " " graham Baked 3 " 30 " " corn Baked 3 " 15 " Corn cake Baked 3 " 00 " Apple dumpling Boiled 3 " 00 " Soup, mutton or oyster Boiled 3 " 30 " " bean Boiled 3 " 00 " " chicken Boiled 3 " 00 " Chocolate or cocoa Boiled 3 " 00 " Currants or filberts 3 " 00 " Raisins 3 " 00 " Hazelnuts 3 " 30 " Peanuts Roasted 3 " 00 " Potatoes (sweet) Roasted 3 " 00 " Walnuts 3 " 30 " Chestnuts Roasted 3 " 15 " Beans, lima Boiled 3 " 00 " Zwieback 3 " 00 " Turkey Boiled or roasted 3 to 4 hours Eels Fried 3 " 4 " Oleomargarine 3 " 4 " Cabbage Boiled 3 " 4 " Buckwheat cakes 3 " 4 " Mutton, lean Roasted 3 " 4 " Herring Broiled 3-1/2 " 4-1/2 " Cheese 3-1/2 " 6 "

FOODS VERY DIFFICULT OF DIGESTION.

ARTICLES OF FOOD HOW PREPARED TIME OF DIGESTION

Beef, fresh, lean Fried 4 hours 00 minutes " old, hard, salted Boiled 4 " 15 " " recently salted Boiled 4 " 30 " " " " Fried 4 " 15 " " fat or lean Roasted 5 " 15 " " suet (fresh) Boiled 5 " 30 " " soup with vegetables and bread Boiled 4 " 00 " Beef, soup from marrow bones Boiled 4 " 15 " Pork, fat and lean Roasted 5 " 15 " " recently salted Boiled 4 " 00 " Pork recently salted Fried 4 " 15 " " ham Cured 4 " 30 " Veal Broiled 4 " 00 " " Fried 4 " 30 " Mutton, suet Boiled 4 " 30 " Fowls Boiled or roasted 4 " 00 " Heart, animal Fried 4 " 00 " Salmon, salted, or mackerel Boiled 4 " 00 " Cabbage, with vinegar Boiled 4 " 30 " Cheese, old, strong Raw 3-1/2 to 6-1/2 hours Duck Roasted 4 hours 30 "