This would not be a book on health from the Fraternitas Rosae Crucis if we did not have at least one chapter on diet. Dr. R. Swinburne Clymer, founder of the Beverly Hall Corporation, was the first physician to publish a book on the use of diet to prevent and cure disease. This work, entitled Dietetics, was first issued in 1917. At the time it was ridiculed as the work of a quack because such radical ideas were not yet a part of the medical mainstream thinking.

This early work was followed by a much enlarged edition renamed Diet, the Way to Health in 1919 and a dietary cook book entitled Dietary Guide in 1926. Diet, the Way to Health was again enlarged and modernized in 1930 and reissued under the title Diet, the Key to Health. This last work has gone through many revisions and upgrades and is still available in its latest incarnation from the publisher of this book under the 1930 title.

Since Diet, the Key to Health (1) is still up-to-date and obtainable we will not deal here with the guidance given in this excellent book, but simply recommend that those interested in this phase of their health get this work or my own text, It's Only Natural,(2) which describes more specific dietary help for individual conditions that may be causing the reader distress. What I would like to discuss in this chapter is the philosophy of diet rather than the nuts and bolts of the process itself.
----------------------------------------------
(1) Diet, the Key to Health. Available from the Philosophical Publishing Company, P.O. Box 220, Quakertown, PA 18951
(2) It's Only Natural. Available from the Philosophical Publishing Company, P.O. Box 220, Quakertown, PA 18951
----------------------------------------------

Philosophy of a Natural Diet

Whether or not one believes in a creative God, it should be obvious that the only way a species can grow and prosper is if it has within its territorial range sufficient food of the proper type to support its growth and development. It matters little whether that species is a bird, an amoeba or man; the need is the same. We can even state this observation as an axiom that I doubt can be successfully disputed: A species can survive only if there is available to it an adequate food supply giving tit the nutrition it requires to survive and prosper. If this food supply changes the species must either adapt or perish.

While we accept this without difficulty in regard to the other species, we sometimes balk when it comes to man. Yet if we look around us we will see the truth of this axiom everywhere. To each section of the world a food supply has been given that is proper for the needs of the area. The food available to the Eskimo contains the needed fats and high-energy elements to help him maintain life in his forbiddingly cold climate. On the other end of the spectrum, we find an abundance of low-fat, lighter foods in the tropical areas where such a natural diet is needed to meet the needs of this climate.

Modern man has tended to change all this, however. With his rapid transportation and refrigeration he has made the food of the world available to all who can afford it. Whether this is good or bad remains in question. Most certainly the availability of high vitamin C foods from the warmer climates has helped to control the infections of the Northern countries. However, if those indigenous to the colder climes would make full use of such foods as tomatoes and cabbage such augmentation should not be required.

On the other hand, the importation of foods, particularly prepared foods, has had a devastating effect on some native populations. Just as "firewater" compromised the Native American, so have processed refined foods compromised many Eskimos and others.

Another advantage of the foods found in our own locality is the fact that they have the best chance of being eaten fresh. This is a very important factor in diet that is too often overlooked. Ideally, foods should be allowed to ripen on the vine (so to speak) and then eaten as soon as possible after being picked. This, of course, is best accomplished where the food is grown locally. Much of the food that is imported is picked long before it has had a chance to mature properly and is then ripened artificially. This food is no longer the same as the tree- or vine-ripened variety. We are fed an adulterated food by this process, and I personally feel that many of the difficulties some have with foods can be laid at the feet of this process.

Studies have also shown that foods eaten within a few minutes of being prepared are generally more healthful than those eaten as leftovers. There are those societies that have learned this fact intuitively and never keep food that is not eaten shortly after it is prepared.

General Diet Patterns

It is possible to take these dietary comments and make some general dietary suggestions:

1. Attempt to obtain as much food as possible from your own local area.
2. Eat your food as fresh as possible. If necessary keep a garden, or find other who do and see if they will let you purchase their overflow.
3. Always try to obtain food that has not been treated with chemicals of any kind. This is best done by getting to know the local growers who do not use such poisons in their gardens.
4. Never prepare more cooked food than you can eat at one time.
5. Always attempt to obtain your food in as natural a form as possible. Consider all manufactured prepared foods as suspect until proven otherwise.
6. Restrict your intake of red meat. Use fish, seafood and poultry instead.
7. Dairy products are god for those who can use them without difficulty. They do cause digestive problems in many persons and are usually to be avoided by those who have difficulties with mucus congestion.
8. Fruits should be part of every diet but should be combined at a meal only with nuts, seeds or a small amount of fish or poultry.
9. Vegetables share equal importance with fruit but should not be combined with them, only with dairy products, meat, fish, poultry, whole grains, potatoes and fats.
10. It is always best to leave the table wanting more. This habit will not only help one control a tendency to overweight, but will enhance health as well.
11. While it is good to learn to eat to live and not live to eat, it is important that you enjoy your food, or the needed digestive juices will not flow and you will not get out of your food what you desire.
12. If you refrain from heavy condiments your taste buds will gradually recover their sensitivity and you will be able to truly enjoy the delicate and distinctive flavors placed in food by our loving Creator.

Over the years many diet fads have come and gone. The suggestions given here have stood the test of time. They are fundamental to good diet health. As you are able to adjust your eating habits to come into harmony with these rules you will find that they will help you to obtain you goals of Health and Happiness.
|Top|