Show I The Value of Fruit as Food Few people arc aware ot the value of fruit as an article of food Many persons per-sons lookpn fruit as luxury whilst some shudder at the idea of it and conjure con-jure up internal tortures at the name Children on the contrary will eat fruit at any time and undergo much discomfort f comfort to get it It is elderly people or those past their first youth who cannot can-not eaifruit and enjoy it Cooked foods highly seasoned meats and alcoholic liqucfs have spoiled their taste and in many instances a ripe strawberry or plum would inconvenience them sadly But the person who values health and who knpwa a little of the value of fruit will make it a point to eat it daily and even on occasions to make a meal almost al-most entirely of it Another cause why ripe and wholesome fruits are given a bad name is because they are eated at the wrong end of a meal After many courses of heavy foods and strong drints a few harmless strawberriesare indulged in and then when these rich foods and stimulating drinks upset the stomach the blame is put on the innocent inno-cent strawberry The real place for fruitis at the beginning of a feast and not at the end Abetter plan still is tom to-m ke a meal of bread and ripe fruit The best meals to make thus are breakfast break-fast lunch or early tea The bread should be brown and dry and the fruit ripe and raw Dry brown bread cleans the tongue and brings out the flavor of tb fruit Butter on the bread would give its own flavor or even the salt in the butter would destroy the pure taste of the fruit Manjvpeople good num ber of whom are doctors are of opinion that autumnal autum-nal diarrhoea is due to fruit This is an idea not borne out by facts I inquired into thesubject ond found that in every case the diarrhoea was due to meat or fish but never td fruit alone I Jiave experimented on myselfand got other friends to test the result of free fruit eating on themselves but in no case as yet have 1 got a report of diarrhoea from it I lived one day last summer on strawberries managing to eat seven pounds during the day but I had no aiarrhcea Other times I have lived on plums and milk and have eaten freely of cherries and other fruits in their season sea-son but never had loosness of the bowels in consequence The true explanation ex-planation of autumnal diarrhoea lies in the fact that in hot weather flesh putri fies very quickly during putrefaction alkaloids called ptomaines are formed thpse are emetic and purgative and give riser to distressing symptoms These alkaloids found in meat at all times but more especially during hot weather Fruit has the composition of a perfect food containing all the substances required re-quired by the body Here is the composition compo-sition of strawberries 1 i per cent Water > 87 i 4 ee Ac id 1 11 Nitrogen j I Insoluble matter 114 per cent of which is ash 2i ioo From this table we can see that fruit L is a perfect food as it contains everything every-thing needed including water Were fruits used daily by all there would be less gout rheumatism gallstones gall-stones stone in the bladder and calcareous cal-careous degeneration than there now In connection with the curative power of fruit we must mention the grape cure u This is practiced in France and Germany in the autumn and is a cure for many diseases due to high eeaing The patient is given a pound of grapes to eat the first day This amount is added to until the person can eat five or six pounds a day The other food is gradually lessened and the diet at last consists entirely of grapes It cures obesity and many other complaints and starts the peron off on a new lease of life In this country we may partly carry out this cure using strawberries gooseberries cherries and plums in place of grapes Fruit is thus seen to oe a necessity in a rational tdiet and of immense value Jn dietetic I1Edicine TZafS ZTagaSine ffic October Jnttt i I |