When a meat diet is discarded, it is imperative that other food substances rich in protein should be selected and used in its stead and with the same frequency, otherwise it is certain, with the exception of a few instances, that undesirable physical disturbances will develop. Converts from a meat diet usually make the serious mistake of believing that the mere discarding of meat is sufficient to reestablish health. They disregard the law that the food consumed must contain a sufficient amount of proteins and fats, roughly stated as one-sixth of each, hence, when meat is not eaten, right substitutes must be supplied.

Such substitutes may be selected from the legume family. It must be borne in mind, however, that some of the legumes, beans more than others, also generate gases which are almost as inimical to health as those created by meat. But this may readily be avoided if the various fresh vegetables which are indicated as correct accompaniments with meat, be combined with the legumes. There is one exception to this rule: tomatoes, fresh or stewed should never be eaten with legumes - not even tomato catsup as a "relish."

Much of the nutritive value of the legume family is found in its concentrated protein, in the form of nitrogen. As yet, comparatively few people are willing to believe that beans are as conducive to health, strength, and vital power, as meat. The truth is that legumes CAN take the place of meat and are of even greater value as a basic food; this is for the reason that the legumes do not contain the ureas and toxins which are in meat, and they do contain the organic mineral elements, vitamins and nuclein, none of which are present in meat. Beans, especially, contain an element, possibly a vitamin not yet isolated and classified, which acts as a vitalizing principle to the generative system.

Many people who are fond of legumes would willingly substitute them for meat but they have found serious difficulty in digesting them, and as a result, have reached the conclusion that they are not good food for them. The trouble, in these cases, does not lie in the legumes themselves but is caused by their inharmonious combination with other foods, or, more probably because the beans were served as a side dish in conjunction with meat, milk, tomato, or other foods, instead of being eaten as the basic dish of the meal.

Besides being desirable as basic foods and in instances to be preferred to meat, the legumes are more economical. The best beef that money can buy contains as much as 75% water and this water us, at least in part, composed of ureas and toxins and not infrequently contains disease serums of the worst type. And the meat contains only 20% protein.

Legumes, roughly estimated, contain about 10% water, 25% protein and 55% starches. It is because of this high starch content that bread, cake and potatoes should never be served with them, as none but the hardiest of manual laborers can digest the combination. Eating either potatoes or white bread with dried peas, beans or lentils, is to supply the system with a superabundance of starches, which congest, form gases and are most frequently the cause of the distressing indispositions which follow the consumption of the really harmless and excellent legume-food. This dietary principle should be clearly understood and strictly observed by sick and well.

The chief elements in legumes are carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen,, phosphorus, sulphur, all "broken down" during digestion and all of great importance to the system. During this breaking down process, various poisonous acids and gases are formed, but some of the organic mineral elements present are themselves burned (digested) into acid-forming oxides which case acid reaction. These chemical processes and changes are perfectly natural and all is as it should be save that the natural acid must be neutralized by the alkaline mineral elements or residue of digestion of such vegetables as spinach, Swiss chard, cabbage, celery, beet and turnip tops, and many others. Also, as in all food combinations, fruit should be eaten only between meals or before retiring.

All legumes are at their best while still green. They are then low in protein and starchy substances but rich in natural sugar and the organic mineral elements in combination with the vitamins. As they advance to the ripened or dry stage, the starches and proteins increase and they become acid-and-gas-forming, and can no longer be classified as vegetables.

Dried peas, beans, and lentils are mostly used for food in winter months in many localities, where fresh vegetables are not easily obtainable or are very expensive. As a result, meat, potatoes, and white bread, and very frequently tomatoes, are eaten with them. This combination, far to rich in starches and proteins and greatly deficient in neutralizing agents, forms a congesting, inflammatory, irritating mass in the stomach.

Of the bean family, the one held in highest esteem and rightly so, is the lima. This is at its best when not yet full grown and still a deep green in color. It is then richest in the organic mineral elements and vitamins, and contains the least amount of protein; at this stage it can still be considered in the vegetable class and free from those elements which create acids while undergoing digestion. It is then richest in the organic mineral elements and vitamins, and contains the least amount of protein; at this stage it can still be considered in the vegetable class and free from those elements which create acids while undergoing digestion.

Next to the limas, are the various varieties of string bean. These, while in their green state are to be eaten with the pods and are even more truly vegetable than the limas and have almost as great food value.

Few people realize the value of green beans (and these include the "wax bean") as a combination of legume and vegetable. If they did, they would use them, in some form, at least once a day during the summer months. While the bean remains immature (while it may still be "snapped"), served with baked potatoes or bread and a protein, it constitutes a balanced food. The nearer the bean is to maturity, the greater the per cent of starch, the less it is like a vegetable, and in this state it must not be combined with white bread or potatoes.

Dietetically speaking, there are but two varieties of the bean - lima and string. The so-called kidney bean and the navy bean (universally used for "Boston baked beans") are varieties which are commonly used when fully ripe. As already pointed out, only when green can they be used as a vegetable food.

The soy or soya bean cannot be classified with the other varieties as its content is markedly different; it is very high in protein and exceptionally rich in fat. Flour, milk, and even cheese are made from it. The flour is far richer than the most desirable corn meal, and the milk and cheese compare favorably with that obtained from the cow but - mark this! - the soy bean is deficient in vitamins, the organic mineral elements are not as precisely balanced; also, being a legume, its ashes are acid and must be neutralized by an abundance of fresh vegetables.

Next comes the pea. All that has been stated in regard to beans is equally true of peas, there being but a very slight difference in their constituents, though some varieties contain a great deal more natural sugar than others. There are varieties which are eaten with the pods - these are generally known as French peas; they are high in sugar value and are the most desirable for food because, being more in the nature of vegetables, they are exceptionally rich in organic elements.

The lentil is next in importance but is not so well known to Americans. As a food, its use is as old as civilization - see the story of Jacob and Esau. The lentil compares favorably with both pea and bean although it is richer in organic mineral elements and especially rich in iron. Lentils are best served in soups as a meat substitute and are especially valuable during the colder months. Lentils and vegetables form a complete and balanced meal.

The portion of milk which is considered most valuable as a food (aside from the fat, organic mineral elements and vitamins), is the casein. In legumes, particularly in soy beans, the casein is almost identical with that found in milk. This casein is far different from that found in other foods and its influence in the system is not the same. Because of this fact, the casein in beans and other legumes is of greater value in rebuilding a shattered nervous system than the nitrogenous elements in other foods. Great care, however, must be exercised to combine them properly with an abundance of fresh vegetables, and they must be served sparingly to those who suffer from and irritation of the generative organism, as they are both heat-and-passion-creating.

In prescribing any of the legumes for the rebuilding of the nervous and mental systems, it should be made clear that they should be combined with spinach and celery as these vegetables are rich in the oxygen-carrying iron, and for that reason necessary to balance the other elements in the legumes.

Legumes cause trouble only when the digestive organism is exceptionally weak or when improperly combined with other foods. One ideal combination would be: Legumes; spinach, celery, or Swiss chard; possibly a glass of milk. If the legumes are in a green state, then they can be eaten with two or three other vegetables, a whole baked potato, and milk.

Neither vinegar nor tomatoes should be served with the vegetables combined with any of the dry legumes.(1) They coagulate the casein, make digestion more difficult and destroy part of the food value. When any coagulation of any form of casein or albumen occurs, aside from that caused naturally by the digestive process, the agent of such coagulation must be unscrambled, so to speak, from the casein or albumen before digestion can proceed. This causes a delay in digestion and requires more energy and is therefore a waste of both food and energy.
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(1) We are aware of the universal practice of serving either catsup, piccalilli, pickles or other acid with beans as well as with spinach. Dietetically this is wrong and in many cases a direct cause of indigestion and malassimilation. Where the idea prevails that dried beans, irrespective of the method of preparation, call for an acid, the juice of half a lemon should be mixed with a glass of water and this taken one-half hour before meal time. Spinach to be at its best, should be served with a little drawn butter. A meal composed of fish or other sea food and vegetables, one of which is spinach, may include part of a lemon to be used either on the fish or the spinach, preferably on the fish, and the spinach mixed with a little drawn butter.
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All legumes must be thoroughly masticated in order that part of the starch may be converted with the aid of the saliva before the food reaches the stomach, otherwise there is delayed digestion and the misuse of energy required elsewhere.

All vegetables (with the exception of tomatoes) may be served with legumes. Unless there is extreme sub-acidity, under no circumstances should fruit be served shortly before or after a meal of legumes and vegetables.

A combination which should be religiously avoided, yet one that is very generally used by Americans, is: Meat (as the basic food - the piece de resistance); white bread (starchy); potatoes (starch); a legume (also starch); almost certainly followed by a dessert more or less rich, in which starch predominates. Every article in this combination (with the exception of the potato) burns (digests) into acid ash, and the resultant mass is acid-and-gas- generating and cannot but result in acidosis after a time. Legumes should not be combined with meat nor with white breads, and it is even as well not to combine any of the whole-grain breads with them as all of these are burned into acid ash which must be neutralized by vegetables into an alkaline ash.

It is now comparatively easy to purchase almost every variety of pea and bean, fresh, during the entire year. As long as this is possible, they should be used in place of the dried product. People who live far from markets would do well to can peas and beans so as to be supplied for winter months. Another method would be to buy the green beans and peas while still green and when the price is reasonable and dehydrate them in their green state. Or, buy the dehydrated product from dealers who can give assurance that the dehydration took place while the products were still green. A good variety of commercially canned beans and peas can be bought with the assurance that they were not dried before being canned, as the labels on cans are becoming more and more dependable.

Manual laborers will find legumes far preferable in results to meats, for while the legumes create a nascent lactic acid, this is not as detrimental as the toxins and ureas of meat and is much easier to eliminate from the system.

The basic food of the Mexicans is their native bean.(2) If the bean can be made the basic food of Mexico and other Southern countries, is there any sound reason why it cannot be for people throughout the continent? None, if this one fact is clearly in mind: the bean furnishes a concentrated protein and must be well balanced with vegetables to avoid the formation of gas and to neutralize the acid salts.
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(2) Practically every variety of the bean family is desirable as a protein food whether these be known as brown beans, little black beans, spotted beans, or scarlet runners. They differ in their content it is true, but they are all well balanced as a protein. Possibly no other food substance is as universally condemned as gas-creating as the bean. This is not the fault of this food- substance, but is nearly always due to its preparation. Baked beans with pork and molasses, sugar or other sweetening cannot help but be gas-forming. If catsup or tomatoes in any form are added so much the worse. Beans, whether navy or soy, should be boiled until the skin cracks, seasoned with butter and salt, not bacon or pork, and baked. This is a delicious dish and not difficult of digestion.
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