Valere Aude: Dare to Be Healthy, Or, The Light of Physical Regeneration

(B.) Basedow's disease. (Graves disease.)

(C.) Diabetes mellitus.

(D.) Obesity.

(E.) Bright's disease.

(F.) Arterio-sclerosis.

THE A.B.C. OF MY SYSTEM OF HEALING.

Setting aside for the time being the special groups of more complicated diseases, such as are characterized by the degeneration of several of the tissues at the same time, I will now give a short and comprehensive description of the several distinct groups of disease. In each case, as already shown, there must be a joint co-operation of these three factors:

(A.) Diet, or the natural means of providing both healthy and degenerating tissues alike with such substances as will support and strengthen the healthy tissues, enabling them to resist the danger of disease and consequent decomposition, and will also arrest degeneration and prepare the way for the regeneration of the tissue which is already affected.

(B.) Nutritive compositions. Such as will in each case introduce into the system in a pure and proportionate combination, the necessary quantities of the sixteen nutritive elements, the lack of which is the characteristic factor of all disease and which diet unaided could not adequately produce with the needful speed and proportion, unless supplemented in this simple and effective manner.

(C.) Physical treatment, for the purpose of assisting the proper distribution and assimilation of these nutritive factors-(A. and B.)-and promoting the proper circulation of the blood.

DIET.

This is a subject of vast and vital importance. It comprises the science of alimentation, which forms one of the indispensable functions of life; it is thus, of necessity, a serious preoccupation under all conditions.

I have treated this important subject in my greater work with the minute detail, which it deserves; thus, in following the advice given, therein, in chapter XVIII, the reader will be able to ascertain the foods that are best suited to various conditions, and how to prepare them in the most sensible way.

At present, I can treat it only in a short and general way, giving the principal groups of diet prescribed, with more or less variation, in each case of disease as a part of the general treatment.

A few words may show why diet plays so important a part in this system of healing.

In the body there is a laboratory which produces spontaneously everything necessary to maintain life.

This laboratory has various branches which are busy day and night without interruption.

Here the life blood is created.

Prominent amongst these branches are:

The stomach with its prolonged intestines;

The liver;

The kidneys;

The lungs, and

The skin.

Each one of these branches has a distinct part, or function to perform.

The stomach serves as the sorting house. Here the food is mixed with the gastric juice which aids digestion and dissolves those ingredients necessary to produce blood, flesh, fat, bones, etc.

Each of the other branches receives that portion of the ingredients needed to perform its share of the work.

A structure cannot be constructed without a frame upon which every part depends. In order to stand erect, the body must possess such a framework. The skeleton is the same to the body as the frame is to the building. This frame, then, or skeleton, together with the flesh, blood, etc. are all formed from the material furnished by the food.

A residue of the digested food is removed from the body as useless; everything else is utilized.

The portion of the food used, therefore, must contain all those ingredients which go to make up and maintain the body in perfect working order.

Experience has suggested certain groups of suitable diet which for the sake of convenience I shall enumerate under the title of Forms No. I to No. VI.

These food forms contain everything of which patients may safely partake, and from these selection, in each case, must be made.

They are as follows:

Form I. Complete elimination of the stomach in the nourishing process.

To allay thirst, moisten the mouth with pure or carbonized water, melting small pieces of ice on the tongue. Small sips of water either lukewarm or cold, according to the condition of the stomach. Otherwise, only introduce water by clyster-i.e.-injection, and if the stomach cannot be disturbed for more than one or two days, introduce nourishing substances by way of the rectum.

Form II. Purely liquid nourishment, "soup diet."

Consommé of pigeon, chicken, veal, mutton, beef, beef tea, meat jelly (which becomes liquid under the influence of the heat of the body,) strained soups or such as are prepared of the finest flour with water or bouillon, of barley, oats, rice (thick soup), green corn, rye flour, malted milk. All of these soups, with or without any additions, such as raw eggs, either whole or the yolk only, if well mixed and not coagulated, are easily digested.

Form III. Nourishment which is not purely liquid, but partly glutinous.

Milk and milk preparations (belonging to this group on account of their coagulation in the stomach):

(a) Cow's milk, diluted and without cream, dilution with 1-2 to 2-3 barley water, rice water, lime water, vichy water, weak tea, or pure water.

(b) Milk without cream, not diluted.

(c) Unskimmed milk.

(d) Cream, either diluted or undiluted.

(e) All of these milk combinations with an addition of yolk of egg, well-mixed, whole egg, cocoa, also a combination of egg and cocoa.

Milk mush made of flour for children, arrowroot, mondanin, cereal flour of every kind, especially oats, groat soups with tapioca or sago and potato soup.

Egg,-raw, stirred, or sucked from the shell; or slightly warmed in a cup; any of these, either with or without the addition of a little sugar or salt.

Biscuit and crackers, softened or well masticated and salivated, taken with milk, mush, etc.

Form IV. Diet of the lightest kind, containing meat, but still mainly glutinous.

Noodle soup, rice soup.

Mashed boiled brains or sweetbread, or puree of white or red roasted meat, in soup.

Brains and sweetbread boiled.

Raw scraped meat (beef, ham, etc.)

Lean veal sausages, boiled.

Mashed potatoes prepared with milk.

Rice with bouillon or with milk.

Toasted rolls and toast.

Form V. Light diet, containing meat in more solid form:

Pigeon, Chicken boiled.

Small fish with little fat, such as brook or lake trout, boiled.

Scraped beefsteak, raw ham, boiled tongue.

As delicacies: Small quantities of caviar, frogs' legs, oysters, sardelles softened in milk.

Salted potatoes crushed, spinach, young peas mashed, cauliflower, asparagus-tips, mashed chestnuts, mashed turnips, fruit sauces.

Groat or sago puddings.

Rolls, white bread.

Form VI. Somewhat heavier meat diet. (Gradually returning to ordinary food).

Pigeon, chicken, young deer, hare, everything roasted.

Beef tenderloin, tender roast beef, roast veal.

Boiled pike or carp.

Young turnips.

All dishes to be prepared with very little fat, butter to be used exclusively. All strong spices to be avoided.

NOTE:-For special dietary in all diseases, see under each separate tissue degeneration in the succeeding Chapter on Therapy.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] In the following chapter, several important paragraphs given in the foregoing had to be repeated as the readers who were not interested in the "Club" proposition, would miss these points.

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NUTRITIVE COMPOSITIONS

In order to convey a better understanding of these nutritive compositions, I deem it necessary to outline and explain more emphatically and in greater detail their wonderful scope and possibilities, in perhaps a more impressive manner, by giving the reader the benefit of an article entitled:

"The functions of minerals in our food

How they may be greatly increased"

Of these I have sent some 560 copies to all our Senators and Congressmen, as well as to our chief Government Physicians, for their information and disposition, with the intention of placing my knowledge and equipment freely at the disposal of the United States Government. I have made this purely disinterested proposal at this critical and trying juncture, in the interest, first, of our war-worn soldiers; next, of our women, enervated by unaccustomed labour and restricted means; and lastly, of the children, born, and yet to be born of them-the future Citizens of the Republic-all, in short, who, under stress of injury, strain and hardship abroad, or the sometimes equally strenuous privations of war conditions at home, may, in their respective degrees, be suffering from nervous breakdown or depleted vitality and the various disorders which my proffered remedial measures are so admirably fitted to successfully overcome, bearing, as they must untold relief, comfort and renewed health to thousands.

I have not spared expense in putting this matter fairly and fully before the Authorities-and indeed the initial cost of so doing has already absorbed some $300 or more. That is merely a detail. But the main point is this: That I have offered this valuable knowledge-(practically the work of a lifetime)-to the Nation, together with the prescriptions of my compositions, free of cost, as an earnest of my sympathy and goodwill; and had the Government, seen fit to accept my proposal, the immediate effect would have been that these compounds, which at present, through reduced manufacture and the consequent great scarcity of chemicals (necessarily of the finest description and purity) are very costly, would have been brought by extensive and organized production within the reach of every citizen, removing at once that paramount difficulty of my system, so far as the general public is concerned; namely, the expense.

I append hereto a copy of the article referred to, together with copy of an accompanying letter.

My dear Senator:

The disarrangement of the habits of life of our civilian population, and the physical needs of our boys who will return from Europe wounded and crippled, prompts me to offer my services to the Government for the development of specially enriched foodstuffs to maintain the health of our people under the strain of the war, but particularly to aid in the speedy recovery of our boys who return shattered from the trenches. I have spent more than thirty years in the study of physiological chemistry and biology, and this study has been devoted to the application of scientific principles in the treatment of various diseases.

Hitherto our food experts and medical men have been satisfied with a ration properly balanced as regards protein, carbohydrates and fat, but the mineral salts in our food have been given little if any serious consideration. Indeed, they have usually been dismissed as "ash." As a matter of fact, however, as the statement I am sending you under separate cover will show clearly, even to a layman, mineral salts perform an important function in keeping the body strong and healthy.

I am prepared to demonstrate that the quantity of essential minerals in vegetables, small fruit and eggs can be multiplied several times by scientific fertilization and nutrition. If I can do this (and I am prepared to prove that I can) the Government should be willing to arrange for the production of such foods in connection with every military hospital and convalescent camp, both here at home and behind the lines in Europe. Moreover, given a central experimental station with proper equipment, it would be an easy matter to train men to teach this knowledge to soldiers at every reconstruction camp.

The statement is made by Dr. Mae H. Cardwell, of Portland, Oregon, one of the investigators for the Federal Children's Bureau that millions of children are suffering from lack of sufficient food and from improper feeding, and she adds that not only the parents but the doctors, in many cases, need education with respect to what constitutes proper feeding for children. I think that when you have read and digested my statement of the function of the mineral salts in the human economy, you will agree with me that the need for just what I am asking the government to give me an opportunity of doing is very great indeed.

I trust that I may count upon your co-operation, not only in getting this matter before the proper officials, but also in seeing that an opportunity for a fair demonstration is accorded me.

The dissemination of this knowledge and the production of such foods would make America the ALMA MATER of the world in scientific nutrition, thanks to the application of physiological chemistry. As things are now done in agriculture and in aviculture, however, very little can be expected along this line.

I will give you two concrete illustrations of what can be done in the way of augmenting the mineral content of food, and then I will point out the significance of that fact. We will consider eggs: ordinarily 100 grams of egg yolk contains from 10 to 20 milligrams of iron, but eggs laid by hens fed by my method yield from 30 to 80 milligrams of iron per 100 grams of dried yolk. This is an increase, as you see, of between 300 and 400 per cent. Such eggs might be justly classed as haemoglobin eggs, and they would be a godsend to our boys suffering from anaemia due to wounds or operations. At the same time, my method of handling chickens greatly enriches the lecithin, or nerve substance, in the eggs, and they are, therefore, of special value in dealing with cases of shell shock and nerve exhaustion.

What is true in the case of iron and lecithin content of eggs produced by my method, is equally true with respect to their content of all the other essential mineral elements; they are all multiplied several times.

This is made possible of accomplishment by the application of the principles of physiological chemistry to the breeding and feeding of the poultry.

Needless to say, I am prepared to submit to the test of scientific examination of my claims. No, not merely a theoretical examination of myself, but, rather, to submit the claim I make for eggs produced under my direction to the test of chemical analysis. It is a very easy matter to determine thereby whether my claims are well founded.

I cannot state my desire to serve the government in this way too strongly; as I have spent more than thirty years of my life in the study of biology and physiological chemistry, I feel that it is my duty to offer to the Government the benefits of my knowledge and experience. All that I can ask in this connection is to be given an opportunity to prove that my claims are sound and practical.

I believe that you will realize the full value of such a course of action as outlined, if it can be proven practicable. The opportunity of offering proof under direction of the proper branch of government is, I repeat, all that I ask at the moment, as the results will tell their own story far more eloquently than mere words.

Thanking you for giving this matter your attention, and trusting that my hope of serving in the ranks of those seeking to rebuild our boys will not prove vain, I am, Sir,

Yours truly,