     
FOOD AS MEDICINE
Food remedies. The use of food as medicine
is nothing new, however with the current trend of treating
illness and disease with nothing more than prescription drugs
seems to suggest that mainstream medicine has turned its back
on food as medicine. This website is dedicated
to the exploration of various foods and their possible medical
benefits. The site will be periodically updated with articles
related to various foods and their medical benefits so please
bookmark this site and comeback often.
NATURAL REMEDIES: FOOD AS
MEDICINE
While there is Fruit there is hope
While there is life and fruit there is hope. When this truth
is realised by the laity nine hundred and ninety-nine out of
every thousand professors of the healing art will be obliged to
abandon their profession and take to fruit-growing for a
living.
Many people have heard vaguely of the “grape cure” for diseases
arising from over-feeding, and the lemon cure for rheumatism,
but for the most part these “cures” remain mere names.
Nevertheless it is almost incredible to the uninitiated what
may be accomplished by the abandonment for a time of every kind
of food in favour of fruit. Of course, such a proceeding should
not be entered upon in a careless or random fashion. Too sudden
changes of habit are apt to be attended with disturbances that
discourage the patient, and cause him to lose patience and
abandon the treatment without giving it a fair trial. In
countries where the “grape cure” is practised the patient
starts by taking one pound of grapes each day, which quantity
is gradually increased until he can consume six pounds. As the
quantity of grapes is increased that of the ordinary food is
decreased, until at last the patient lives on nothing but
grapes.[1] I have not visited a “grape cure” centre in person,
but I have read that it is not only persons suffering from the
effects of over-feeding who find salvation in the “grape cure,”
but that consumptive patients thrive and even put on weight
under it.
The Herald of Health stated, some few years back, that in the
South of France where the “grape cure” is practised consumptive
patients are fed on grapes alone, and become quite strong and
well in a year or two. And I have myself known wonderful cures
to follow on the adoption of a fruitarian dietary in cases of
cancer, tumour, gout, eczema, all kinds of inflammatory
complaints, and wounds that refused to heal.
H. Benjafield, M.B., writing in the Herald of Health, says:
“Garrod, the great London authority on gout, advises his
patients to take oranges, lemons, strawberries, grapes, apples,
pears, etc. Tardieu, the great French authority, maintains that
the salts of potash found so plentifully in fruits are the
chief agents in purifying the blood from these rheumatic and
gouty poisons.... Dr. Buzzard advises the scorbutic to take
fruit morning, noon, and night. Fresh lemon juice in the form
of lemonade is to be his ordinary drink; the existence of
diarrhoea should be no reason for withholding it.” The writer
goes on to show that headache, indigestion, constipation, and
all other complaints that result from the sluggish action of
bowels and liver can never be cured by the use of artificial
fruit salts and drugs.
Salts and acids as found in organised forms are quite different
in their effects to the products of the laboratory, not
withstanding that the chemical composition may be shown to be
the same. The chemist may be able to manufacture a “fruit
juice,” but he cannot, as yet, manufacture the actual fruit.
The mysterious life force always evades him. Fruit is a vital
food, it supplies the body with something over and above the
mere elements that the chemist succeeds in isolating by
analysis and so is essential when using food as
medicine. The vegetable kingdom possesses the power of
directly utilising minerals, and it is only in this “live” form
that they are fit for the consumption of man. In the
consumption of sodium chloride (common table salt), baking
powders, and the whole army of mineral drugs and essences, we
violate that decree of Nature which ordains that the animal
kingdom shall feed upon the vegetable and the vegetable upon
the mineral.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] This was the original treatment; now other food is added,
although excellent results were obtained under the old
régime.
Fruit and the
Teeth
I mention the above because one of the objections that I have
heard cited against the free use of fruit is that “the acids
act injuriously upon the teeth.” Until I became a vegetarian I
used to visit a dentist regularly every six months. I had done
this for ten years, and nearly every tooth in my gums had its
gold filling. The last time I visited the dentist I told him
that I had become a vegetarian, and he replied that he rather
thought my teeth would decay quicker in future on account of an
increased consumption of vegetable acids. But from that day,
now nearly six years ago, to the present time, I have never
been near a dentist. My teeth seem to have taken a new lease of
life. It is a fact that the acids in fruit and vegetables so
far from injuring the teeth benefit them. Many of these acids
are strongly antiseptic and actually destroy the germs that
cause the teeth to decay. On the other hand, they do not attack
the enamel of the teeth, while inorganic acids do. Nothing
cleanses the teeth so effectually as to thoroughly chew a large
and juicy apple.
Fruit is a Food
Until quite recently the majority of English-speaking people
have been accustomed to look upon fruit not as a food, but
rather as a sweetmeat, to be eaten merely for pleasure, and
therefore very sparingly. It has consequently been banished
from its rightful place at the beginning of meals. But fruit is
not a “goody,” it is a food, and, moreover, a complete food.
All vegetable foods (in their natural state) contain all the
elements necessary to form a complete food. At a pinch human
life might be supported on any one of them. I say “at a pinch”
because if the nuts cereals and pulses were ruled out of the
dietary it would, for most people, be deficient in fat and
proteid (the flesh and muscle-forming element). Nevertheless,
fruit alone will sustain life if taken in large quantities with
small output of energy on the part of the person living upon
it, as witness the “grape cure.”[2] The percentage of proteid
in grapes is particularly high for fruit.
Those people who desire to make a fruitarian dietary their
daily régime cannot do better than take the advice of O. Hashnu
Hara, an American writer. He says: “Every adult requires from
twelve to sixteen ounces of dry food, free from water, daily.
To supply this a quarter of a pound of shelled nuts and
three-quarters of a pound of any dried fruit must be used. In
addition to this, from two to three pounds of any fresh fruit
in season goes to complete the day’s allowance. These
quantities should be weighed out ... and will sustain a
full-grown man in perfect health and vitality. The quantity of
ripe fresh fruit may be slightly increased in summer, with a
corresponding decrease in the dried fruit.”
FOOTNOTE:
[2] Recent years have witnessed a modification of the original
cure. Other food is now included, but I have not heard that the
results are better.
Objections to
Fruit
Some vegetarians object that it is possible to eat too much
fruit, and recommend caution in the use of it to people of
nervous temperament, or those who seem predisposed to skin
ailments. It is true that the consumption of large quantities
of fruit may appear to render the nervous person more
irritable, and to increase the external manifestations of a
skin disease. But in the latter event the fruit is merely
assisting Nature to throw the disease out and off more quickly,
while in the former case the real cause lies not in the fruit
but in some nerve irritant, tea, for example, the effects of
which are more acutely felt under the new régime. The nervous
system tends to become much more sensitive upon a vegetarian,
especially fruitarian, diet, and people often attribute their
increased nervousness and irritability to the diet when it is
simply that they now react more quickly to poisons. This is not
a bad thing, on the contrary, it shows that the system has
become more alert. Under the old régime we tend to store up
poisons and impurities in the body, but the effect of a
vegetable diet, especially when united with the use of
distilled water, is to cause all our diseases and impurities to
be expelled outwards and downwards. Tea is a slow poison, and
so is coffee except under exceptional conditions when it is
used as a medicine, and then it should always be
pale-roasted.
Fruit should always be eaten at the beginning of a meal. Again,
when the diet consists of a mixture of cooked and uncooked
foods, the uncooked should always be eaten first. Also when the
meal consists of two courses, a sweet and a savoury dish,
sufferers from indigestion should try taking the sweet course
first. I have known several cases where this simple expedient
has resulted in a complete cessation of the discomfort of which
the patient complained.
A Pioneer of Food
Remedies
When it comes to food as medicine the pioneer,
in England, of the treatment of all sorts and conditions of
disease by means of a vegetable (chiefly fruit) dietary was Dr.
Lambe, a contemporary of the poet Shelley. His last book
appeared in 1815, and in it and the one preceding are recorded
some wonderful cures, especially in cases of cancer. It is only
fair to add here that in Dr. Lambe’s opinion no system of cure
is completely efficacious so long as the patient is allowed to
drink the ordinary tap or well water. Distilled water was the
only drink he advised. But he held it better still not to drink
at all if the necessary liquid could be supplied to the body by
means of fresh, juicy fruits. He contended that man is not
naturally a drinking animal; that his thirst is a morbid
symptom, the outcome of a carnivorous diet and other
unwholesome habits. And I think that anyone may prove the truth
of this for him or herself if he or she will adopt a fruitarian
dietary and abstain from the use of salt and other
condiments.
I have cited so out-of-date a personage as Dr. Lambe for two
reasons. The first is that I know many of the so-called new and
unorthodox ideas are more likely to appeal to some readers, if
it can be shown that they originated with a duly qualified
medical practitioner who recorded the results of his
observations and experiments in black and white. The second is
that the principles and practices of Dr. Lambe are incorporated
with those of the Physical Regeneration Society, a large and
ever-increasing body of enthusiasts having its head-quarters in
London, to whose annals I must refer those readers who desire
up-to-date instances of the efficacy of the use of fruit in
disease. Lack of space will not allow me to quote them
here.
The Simple Life
We hear a great deal about the “Simple Life” and “Returning to
Nature” nowadays, but most of us are so situated that the
proposed simplicity simply spells increased complexity. The
“vegetarian chop” costs the housewife more than double the time
and labour involved in preparing its fleshly namesake. And when
it comes to illness some of the systems of bathing and
exercising prescribed by the “naturopath” are infinitely more
troublesome to the patient and his friends than the simple
expedient of sending for the doctor and taking the prescribed
doses. I do not want to be misunderstood here. I am not
condemning treatment with water and exercises. On the contrary,
I hope to pass on what I have learnt about these methods of
treatment. But so many people lack the time, help, and
conveniences necessary to carry them out successfully. It is to
these that I would say that the patient’s cure may be effected
just as surely, if more slowly, by means of fruit alone.
Fruit or Fasting
With regards to using food as medicine;
Treatment of disease by fasting has come into fashion of late,
and there is really no lack of proof as to the benefits to be
obtained from abstaining entirely from food for a short period.
I know of an elderly man who fasts for a fortnight every
spring, and gains, not loses, weight during the process! He
accounts for this by explaining that certain stored up,
undigested food particles come out and are digested while he
fasts. Whether this is the correct explanation I do not know,
but the fact remains, and it is not by any means a solitary
case. Of course, the majority of people lose weight when
fasting, but this is very quickly recovered. Now I do not think
fasting should be undertaken recklessly, but only under
competent direction. But an excellent and safe substitute for a
fast is an exclusive fruit diet.
Acute Illness
The simplest and quickest method of recovering from attacks of
acute illness, fevers, inflammatory diseases, etc., is to rest
quietly in bed in a warm but well-ventilated room, and to take
three meals a day of fresh ripe fruit, grapes by preference. If
the grapes are grown out of doors and ripened in the sun so
much the better. I have found from two to three pounds of
grapes per day sufficient. If there is thirst, barley water
flavoured with lemon juice should be taken between the
meals.
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