The Musings of a German Dietist

I AM never going to eat again. Eating is unhealthy; it is dangerous. All foods that do me good, harm me. So science maintains.

Take sugar, for instance: it becomes quickly converted into energy. Tests have shown that after athletes have partaken of a meal containing sugar they accomplish more. But a considerable intake of carbohydrates causes decay of teeth. Doctors state that we would be less prone to tooth decay if we consumed less sugar-containing foods.

I must therefore exclude sugar. But stop a bit! Too little sugar in the blood-stream can make me irritable, even to the extent of my committing a crime. It has been found that in the case of robbers and murderers there was too little sugar in the blood.

Therefore, now and again, I must eat a piece of sugar in order to quite the criminal urge within me. But then, how can I starve the cancer cells that my body may be harboring? They seem to develop especially well in a blood having a high sugar content. And how shall I prevent having to carry about with me superfluous fat by putting on weight if I have a heart attack and need sugar?

You can understand that I am somewhat nonplussed.

Take spinach now. It may not produce huge muscles, but it contains much iron and calcium and is therefore wholesome, and that is why children should eat it.

But the university professors say that only about a fifth of the iron in spinach is utilized in the body. What is still worse, spinach contains a noxious substance, oxalic acid, which not only binds the calcium in the spinach, but also steals the calcium from other foods that I eat. I am robbed!

I always felt that I did something very special for my health when I nibbled a carrot. It made me feel particularly virtuous. I had learned that carrots contained carotene which the body con­verted into the coveted vitamin A.

But the latest researches show that the body converts only about a sixth of the quantity it was formerly thought to utilize. If I am to get as much vitamin A as I always thought I should, then I must eat carrots from morning to night, like a rabbit.

With this realization that the vegetable diet does not contain that which has always previously been promised, I turned to animal products—e.g., eggs. Eggs look so nice, don't they? They are a nourishing food, too. Or are they?

Raw white of egg is one of the most indigestible proteins, so states an authorative chemist of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research. Of what use is it then to me, when other specialists assert that the protein content in the white exceeds that of the yolk! On the other hand, the cholesterol in the yolk could contribute to the early hardening of my arteries.

Perhaps a cup of coffee would do me good, to clear my head somewhat. It cannot be harmful. But—stop—reverse—no coffee. Coffee can bring about the formation of gastric tumours. This has been proved on both rats and humans. Coffee can also make me restless. But there is a way out. It has also been proved that a little sugar in the coffee exercises a contrary effect. But then I am back to sugar again (see above). In my perplexity I must get hold of some sweetening stuff. But a Hungarian scientist declares that saccharine impairs my precious anti-criminal blood-sugar. Ob­viously the sweet tooth for saccharine leads the body astray, as it believes that it is getting a supply of the real thing—sugar.

Is there need to wonder, then, that I have decided to live on nothing but bread and water. But only until I have gone more closely into the bread question. I mean, of course, white bread, as tests with mice fed on white bread have shown that they were more capable of resistance to inflammation of the lungs than when fed on wholewheat bread. But white bread is much poorer in health-promoting fats, proteins, and vitamins than the wholewheat. Even when one enriches it with these useful substances it is still no substitute. Besides, the white flour might be bleached with a chlorine compound which brings about convulsions in dogs and could have an influence upon my body in the direction which leads to drunkenness.

There remains for me only the water. Pure water is, if not particularly nutritious, at least a healthful drink. Or is it?

Yes, it is unfortunately thus. Absolutely pure water does not contain the minerals so essential for my body. When I am tired and thirsty and gulp down clear, cold water, this can lead to cramps. If I overdo it the excess water can bring about a mental condition worse than delirium tremens.

You will now begin to understand why I have made up my mind to give up eating and drinking, which to the ignorant, appears such a pleasant occupation.

You will likewise appreciate that when someone advises me to eat yeast on account of the vitamin B, I know in advance that somebody else will declare to me that the living yeast cells not only hold on firmly to their own vitamin, but most likely also take the vitamin from my stomach.

So far have I got, then, with my "nutrition," without eating and drinking. But at least I have the certainty of having eliminated everything detrimental to my health. But one moment, please. Perhaps I was too hasty. Perhaps I have read only superficially what file scientists had to say. Perhaps I have not troubled myself to grasp their meaning and have held only to the words. Words are dangerous things. It can easily happen that one can read more into them than is intended.

As gradually, the suspicion arises in me that this decision in regard to my "nutrition" without eating and drinking has a snag in it I decide to reconsider it.

I commence with the yeast. It is quite correct; fresh yeast does destroy vitamins—but not so dry yeast. So I could take this. And water is not such an evil after all. If I will have it absolutely pure, I can obtain the mineral from other sources. And when I am over­tired I can dissolve a pinch of salt in the water; then I do not get any cramps. And with the exercise of some will-power I shall avoid drinking water by the bucketful.

Neither is bread such an evil when one considers the matter more closely. I can enrich the white bread by supplementing it with other foods. It is not proved that flour which has been bleached by trichlornitrogen has ever done anybody any harm. To be sure, sensitive dogs feeding almost exclusively upon such flour do develop convulsions; but no detrimental effects were evident in a proportion of 1 : 3. But what is of more importance is that this bleaching procedure is now no longer used in the mills.

Whole wheat bread is also in order. It has never made anyone prone to inflammation of the lungs.

I should like to revert to coffee. I have never got tumors from drinking it. Obviously I must belong to the ninety per cent who are immune to its bad influence. It seemingly produces them only in a very small proportion of supersensitive. I certainly do not worry myself that coffee can make me nervous. I believe that, in any case, it is to a great extent imagination. People have been given caffeine-free coffee and they could not sleep. Others were given caffeine-free coffee and they have slept like little babes.

Raw white of egg may be protein difficult to digest, while proteins generally are easily digestible. Anyway, I cook my egg. The theory that die cholesterol in the yolk contributes to the harden­ing or blocking of the arteries is, after all, nothing but a theory. At all events I do not eat one egg less on that score.

I obtain some vitamin A when I eat carrots, and even more from liver and butter. In any case carrots are cheaper. And the oxalic acid in a portion of spinach is no reason for cutting it out from an otherwise good and varied menu.

Now, so far as white sugar is concerned—a pure carbohydrate —it contains neither vitamins nor proteins, mineral salts nor fats. So far as I am concerned, the individual might be right in that there is a connection between excess sugar consumption and tooth decay. But a little carbohydrate cannot do much harm when I can silence my conscience by cleaning my teeth afterwards. Anyway, I no longer intend to suck a sweet merely because of the danger that a lack of sugar will irritate my nerves. I have myself suffici­ently well in hand not to commit crimes through a lack of sugar. Sweet-eating on the sly I leave to would-be homicides.

I remember that experiments were made in factories. Tit-bits were given to the workers between meals. It is alleged that the production was increased. But perhaps the break had more to do with this than the snack. Recent tests on the effects of refreshments for furthering output have, at all events, yielded no result.

Naturally I would not refuse a piece of chocolate if I felt weak in the middle of a tennis tournament, or if I required extra strength when climbing a mountain. And if I should be adrift on a raft in the middle of the ocean I should be grateful if there were some grape sugar handy. I have read that, through some kind of trick of chemistry, grape sugar will somewhat reduce my desire for water.

In a word, I shall return to the approved balance diet and will alter nothing of importance. I shall also take to heart the words of one of our greatest physiologists who stated that nutrition fit for humans is healthful nutrition for man, woman and child. Only a very few individuals are exceptions in a particular way in that they react abnormally to certain foods—e.g., by a skin eruption after enjoying some strawberries.

Further, the physiologist sees a safety factor as regards a correct diet in that one can include in the menu the animal kingdom as well as the vegetable.

Yes, at the start this scheme of not eating and drinking ap­peared to me just fine, but now I have come to my senses.

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