THE FREEDOM WAY
(Page 12 of 26)
The Spaniards, accustomed to a diet of cereals, meat, wine
and olives, starved rather than try the food of the
Indians. And many, many others - even today - are just such
slaves of habit and custom, ready to starve to death before
trying a new and strange food. Corn, called "maize" by many
European peoples, is considered by them to be fit only for
animal food. Relief agencies, trying to aid starving
millions, have often been in despair by the rejection of
such things as canned corn, hominy, cornmeal mush,
corn-pone or "Johnny cake," which so many of us Americans
regard as delicacies.
RELATED CONTENT
Habit and custom bind all of us with heavy chains, but when
combined with ignorance they form a barrier which is
well-nigh insurmountable.
Man is perhaps the most omniverous feeder of all animals.
The stomachs of cows and grass eaters are especially
adapted for their diet. Cats, dogs and similar creatures
are particularly suited for a meat diet. But nature has
apparently made the digestive apparatus of man so adaptable
that it can handle the widest variety of foods. Fanatics
have many times proved that man can live healthfully on a
raw fruit and vegetable diet; on a diet that excludes all
meats and animal products, and even on a completely liquid
diet. A famous physician who has suffered so severely with
amoebic dysentery that he was able to handle nothing but
boiled milk, still lived comfortably and well for many
years. A well-known engineer, faced with the problem of
completing his senior year of college on a very small
income, solved his problem by mixing large batches of dry
oatmeal with a little sugar and a few raisins. He had no
facilities for cooking, but ate several handfuls of this
Spartan ration daily, washed down with plenty of water. He
suffered no ill effects on this diet, maintained normal
weight and health and graduated with honors. On the other
hand, the life of the Eskimo proves that a diet of meat and
fish can be equally successful. The famous explorer,
Viljalmer Stefanson, once spent a year in the arctic during
which time his diet consisted solely of meat, yet he
returned to civilization in vigorous health and weighing
ten pounds more than when he left.
Diet in man, therefore, seems to be very largely a matter
of choice and education. Everyone who has watched a mother
wean her baby must realize this. The infant is accustomed
to a diet of milk and recognizes nothing else. When a
spoonful of porridge is given him, he promptly spits it
out. Only by the patience and persistence of the mother,
during which time the food is spilled over bib and
clothing, rubbed in the hair and played with, is he finally
taught to eat it. Each new item of diet is more or less a
repetition of the same routine. Where the mother is busy
and impatient, or where the income and available food is
limited, the diet of the child, and his food likes and
dislikes carried over into adult life, may be very limited.
Pellagra, beri-beri, scurvy and other nutritional diseases
arise not from starvation but from a restricted diet. Even
the meat-eating Stefanson found that to maintain health, he
had to eat various kinds of meat and include fat, such as
seal blubber, and the body organs - heart, liver, etc.
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