The Corner Stones Again

We have said that the corner stones of the new routine were to 1st. Conserve the minerals. 2nd. Balance the acids.

And with all this discussion of other food divisions we must not lose sight of these corner stones. The plan of basing our dietary on them does not conflict with other food divisions, neither does it complicate. It really simplifies—as we shall see.

So much has recently been written on the subject of food—so much which is arbitrary and analytical that it is no wonder we feel at sea when we have finished reading.

So much of this writing is semi-scientific and mysterious chiefly mysterious.

We are told learnedly of vitamins for instance and we feel vaguely that we are trying to grasp at something elusive, something almost ethereal—like the fragrance of a flower; and again will come an article on “Fat Soluble A and Water Soluble B” so shrouded in mystery that our minds receive but a hazy impression.

One thing is certain. When you have finished reading Mr. McCann’s “Science of Eating” no such impression remains. Clear as the crystal depths of one of Nature’s own springs stands out the ringing Slogan :

EAT EVERYTHING WHICH GOD HAS PUT ON THE EARTH FOR FOOD–BUT EAT IT AS HE PUT IT THERE. REFUSE TO HAVE IT JUGGLED.

Some portion of the natural article has been removed either in the preparation or the cooking; while all the “balanced” foods are complete—as found in nature.

In other words (referring to our first thought in Chap. I) the sixteen elements repeat themselves all through nature, so that whether we choose our food from vegetable roots, or stalks, or leaves, or seeds; or from animal products—as eggs or milk—the mineral element is always present.

It is only when a portion is chosen from the whole that the mineral element may be lost. This is some-times unavoidable—as in the case of fish or meat, and it is then that we need to conserve the minerals in our other foods to balance the acids thus formed.

Don’t worry about your proteins. The chances are you have had a vast oversupply in the form of meat. All the protein which your body needs will be found in whole wheat bread and milk your carbohydrates in a judicious mixture of vegetables; your fats in cream and butter and nuts, etc.

(No we are not eliminating meat—we are advising less of it.)

In other words the road to the new routine is a very simple one. You will not need an arithmetic. You will not need to learn technical terms.

Food values—all of them—are blended and inter-mingled in any one perfect article of food (such as a grain of wheat) just as the separate colors of the rainbow are blended in one single ray of light.

All you have to do is to get these foods in their natural state, unadulterated by a food manufacturer, and prepare them without wasting any life-giving element.