The Health Cookery Book

Phiroz Mehta wrote four chapters of The Health Cookery Book, probably in the early years after the Second World War. He seemed to have intended it for publication, but it does not appear ever to have been printed

Continued from part 1

Whilst scientific facts must be well borne in mind, all fads and fancies, speaking generally, are best avoided. But sometimes, they must be indulged. For if you are not happy when you eat, you cannot extract the full value out of even the most scientifically prepared food. All rules must be generally followed, and occasionally broken — with discretion — in order to get the best out of life.

All foods are good foods, and you can eat whatever you like, provided you will observe certain principles first, and take your liberties — in moderation — afterwards.

First, remember the two main purposes of food:

1. To nourish you.
2. To keep the whole system internally clean.

The first is a question of assimilation; the second, of elimination. It is the problem of elimination which is sadly neglected, whereas you will find everyone over-anxious about nourishment. Most of us are over-nourished; we eat too much food and that of the nourishing kind rather than the cleansing kind. When we take too much food, it is the food which eats us up rather than we who eat the food! That is why so many people have quite the wrong appearance, instead of being strong and full of vitality.

Nature has made ample provision to nourish us. It is our duty to attend to the cleaning job by choosing the right foods.

We have to balance the nourishing and elimination foods. Here is a list of each kind for general purposes:

• Nourishing: Meat, fish, eggs, milk, cheese, nuts, wheat, oats, beans, peas, lentils.
• Eliminating: Fruits and vegetables (especially greens), wheat, oats, butter, olive oil.

You will notice that foods like wheat and oats perform both functions fairly equally, because of the “roughage” they contain. This roughage acts like a broom sweeping the intestines clean.

Here is an important classification which you should always follow carefully:

• Eat most liberally all green vegetables (raw as well as cooked), tomatoes, wholemeal bread (or other simple wholewheat product), carrots, onions, and vegetable marrow.
• Eat less liberally most fruits (by themselves or with raw green salads principally), cereals like rice, porridge made from coarse oats, potatoes, butter, milk, nuts, peas and beans (soya, haricots, etc.)
• Eat least liberally lentils, cream, and fats other than butter, eggs, cheese, meat, fish, all spices, fruits of the “-berry” group, rhubarb, and pure honey.
• Whilst the about classification holds good for the adult, a difference must be observed for growing children. Let them:
• Eat most liberally all ripe sweet fruits (especially apples, oranges, figs and dates, and grapes), tomatoes, all green vegetables (especially raw), carrots (raw) and carrot juice, and milk.
• Eat less liberally wholemeal bread and wholewheat products, porridge from course oats, eggs, butter, pure olive oil, green peas, nuts, and pure honey.
• Eat least liberally meat and fish (preferably avoided until 5 years of age at least), beans, lentils, potatoes, turnips, parsnips, and starchy cereals, oils, cream, and all fats other than butter, artichokes, and rhubarb.

Under normal circumstances, children should not be given any artificial preparations, patent bodybuilding foods, and certainly no tea, coffee, chocolate, sugar, sweets and candies, or any preserves, - in short any foods which are deprived of their natural vitamins and mineral salts, or tampered with and spoilt by man. For infants, no food equals mother’s milk. Not only physically, but also psychologically, it is essential for the infant to have its own mother’s milk till weaned. If it does not, it always suffers from some disability or defect in body and character when grown up to adult age. The mother of course must take good care that she is quite healthy and eats correctly, from well before pregnancy, onwards through all her remaining years. Only when she is unhealthy does it become necessary, unfortunately, to substitute foods other than mother’s milk for the infant.

It is wise to observe the following points when choosing foodstuffs, and when preparing them:

1. The natural produce of a country is the best food for that country.
2. The natural produce during a particular season is the best food during that season.
3. All food that has had the full benefit of the sun is superior in every way to any that is gathered prematurely.
4. Clean culture produce is superior to all excessively manured produce.
5. All foods must be pure and not demineralised and denatured.
6. All patent foods and manufactured foods are best avoided. They may be taken only under compulsion when natural foods are absolutely unavailable.
7. Most canned foods are better avoided, with the exception of a few, such as tomatoes, pineapples, asparagus which are canned by the most modern processes, and are as free as possible from chemical preservatives.
8. Plain wholesome food, simply and quickly prepared, is superior to all “rich” and “savoury” food containing condiments, essences or extracts, and which takes a long time to cook.

Note well:

1. Uncooked, baked, and conservatively cooked foods are best.
2. Steamed and boiled foods are second best.
3. Simple savouries, and foods stewed in any oil or fat are next in goodness.
4. Rich and fried foods are bad.
5. Very rich, highly spiced, highly stimulating, highly putrefying (like some cheeses), long over-cooked, over elaborate, and very stale foods are worst, leading to disease, decay, and death.

In connection with point (e) above, you should use:

• Whole wheat flour and bread, not white flour.
• Whole brown rice, not “polished” white rice.
• Eggs fresh laid, not egg substitutes.
• Fruit drinks obtained by squeezing fresh ripe oranges, lemons, limes, etc., not bottled drinks called lemon or orange squash etc.
• Pure water, or water from natural springs, not alcohol, or “mineral” waters.
• Pure brown sugar (like Barbados, refined once only), not white sugar and all its derivative sweets and candies, saccharine, glucose, etc.

As far as possible, do not eat the products entirely deficient in vitamins — “polished” rice, soda crackers, tapioca, starch, refined sugar, hydrogenated oils.

Also avoid milk heated twice, green vegetables cooked with soda, fruit or vegetables cooked for a long time, white flour, and egg substitutes.

The flesh formers, and repairers of tissue lost through muscular activity are the protein containing foods — principally eggs, cheese, meat, fish, beans, peas, and lentils. Man’s tendency through the centuries has been to overeat the proteins. The excess amount decomposes in the intestines, and gives rise to various ailments and diseases of a serious nature. The actual amount of protein necessary for the average adult is only about two or three ounces of the dry weight of the daily food — say roughly one-eighth of his total daily food. Instead of this, the usual amount, even today, in spite of great improvement in this direction, is nearly three times in excess — before the Great War it used to be seven times in excess of what it should be. Consequently there is an excess of uric acid in the system, and we have the high degree of prevalence of rheumatism and kindred complaints.

Meat or fish once a day, taken in moderate amounts is quite sufficient. Lean meat, cod and herring, and plain white fish are best. Of the meats, mutton, lamb, rabbit, veal, and reliable beef are best; of poultry, chicken is best. If you want to enjoy good health always, definitely avoid all high game, fish of the oyster and lobster variety, and all the meat dishes of the paté de fois gras and jugged hare type, and also the whole host of manufactured meat drinks. Take them if you like them — but remember you have to pay the price in terms of money and health. It is preferable also to avoid all forms of pig food, and all the insides of an animal: liver, kidneys, etc. Naturally, you may ask why? Well, the liver, like the kidneys, is a “filth filter” of the animal system. One of the functions of the liver is to extract out of the circulating blood, and store up, all the unwanted matter present. Some of this matter is poisonous, and if allowed to circulate in the blood would kill the creature. Organs like the liver save life by acting like a filter, and holding these poisonous substances within them. If the liver continously does this and never gets a chance of being cleaned out itself, we get the various liver diseases — and they are rather terrible — and finally death. So why eat these filth filters which are sources of disease to ourselves? But on the other hand, in strict moderation, you can enjoy liver and kidneys and be lucky enough to suffer no consequences.

Continued in part 3, part 4, part 5 and part 6

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