Cooking of Fruits

It is better to cook apples, cranberries, rhubarb, strawberries, and all other acid fruits without sugar until soft, and to add the sugar afterward.  Much less sugar will be required to sweeten them sufficiently than when the sugar is added before or during the cooking.

Dried fruits rank next to the fresh in value, as the evaporating process only removes a large percentage of water, without changing the chemical composition of the fruit in any way.  Prunes, apricots, apples, pears, peaches and berries may be obtained in the dried state all through the year.  Dates, figs, raisins and currants also come under this head.

Olives are an excellent food.  They are very rich in fats (about 50 percent), and contain also considerable quantities of organic salts.  They are therefore a good substitute for animal fat.

Avoid factory-canned fruits.  In the first place, they have become deteriorated by the cooking process and secondly, they usually contain poisonous chemical preservatives.  Home-preserved fruits and vegetables are all right providing they do not contain too much sugar and no poisonous preservative.

Bananas differ from the juicy fruits in that they consist almost entirely of starches, dextrines and sugars.  They belong to the carbohydrate groups and should be used sparingly by people suffering from intestinal indigestion.

However, we do not share the belief entertained by many people that bananas are injurious under all circumstances.  We consider them an excellent food, especially for children.

Mixing Fruits and Vegetables

Many people, when they first sit down to our table, are horrified to see how we mix fruits and vegetables in the same meal.  They have been taught that it is a cardinal sin against the laws of health to do this.  After they overcome their prejudice and partake heartily of the meals as we serve them, they are greatly surprised to find that these combinations of vegetables and juicy fruits are not only harmless, but agreeable and highly beneficial.

We have never been able to find any good reason why these foods should not be mixed and our experience proves that no ill effects can be traced to this practice except in very rare instances.  There are a few individuals with whom the mixing of fruits and vegetables does not seem to agree.  These, of course, should refrain from it.  We must comply with idiosyncrasies until they are overcome by natural living.

Eating fruits only or vegetables only at one and the same meal limits the selection and combination of foods to a very considerable extent and tends to create monotony, which is not only unpleasant but injurious.  The flow of saliva and of the digestive juices is greatly increased by the agreeable sight, smell and taste of appetizing food and these depend largely upon its variety.

With very few exceptions, every one of our patients (and we have in our institution as fine a collection of dyspeptics as can be found anywhere) heartily enjoys our mixed dietary and is greatly benefited by it.