EAT FRUITS FREELY by D. H. Kress, M. D.

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 18, 1900

EAT FRUITS FREELY.

By D. H. Kress, M. D.

D. H. KRESS, M. D.

(Battle Creek, Mich.)

What can be more luscious than a thoroughly ripened peach? If man should be deprived of hearing, seeing, and feeling, so that God’s character could not be revealed to him through these avenues, by eating fruits he could still taste and perceive that God is good. I recently heard a child offer this prayer: “Lord, I thank thee for the beautiful grass and the leaves.” It is evident that this child saw and appreciated in the grass and leaves some things about God’s nature to which most men and women are blind. The same child was heard to say, in her evening prayer: “Lord, I thank you for the watermelon you gave me to-day.” It seems to me that our hearts should likewise well up with thanksgiving to God for supplying us so abundantly with the numerous fruits.

In some parts of the earth, as in England, Ireland, and Scotland, peaches are sold at from eight to ten cents a piece; other fruits are also expensive. Notwithstanding these conditions people manage to dispense with animal foods. Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and some other States are really gardens, in which are grown all manner of fruits pleasant to the eye and good for food. There can be no more excuse for a man to subsist on dead animal tissue and animal products than there would have been for Adam in the garden of Eden. The one who fails to be a vegetarian under such conditions must certainly be a hopeless case, and belong to the mixed multitude in the rear of the camp: even the restored garden of Eden could offer no inducement to lead him to forsake his Egyptian habits. Heaven itself could not supply his unnatural cravings and supposed needs, without a slaughterhouse.

Do not be afraid to eat peaches, or to allow the little ones to eat an abundance of them, because there is nothing at all harmful about thoroughly ripened fruits, for either adults or children. I know of no fruit superior to the peach as a tissue cleanser or remedy for physical and mental ills. Away with the nauseating patent medicines and drugs! Save your doctor’s bills by supplying your families with peaches, and do not be afraid to say to the children, “Of these you may freely eat.” The One who understands our needs has said it before you; you are merely repeating the words after him.

I have examined many chronic cases of indigestion and dyspepsia, but have never found a case that could not be benefited by the use of fruits. I have heard many say, “I can not eat fruits, they distress me,” etc.; but in every case I have been able to satisfy the patient in a short time that the distress was not due to the fruit. Sometimes people eat ham, eggs, milk, cheese, butter, ice cream, mustard, pepper, etc., etc., closing the meal with an innocent peach; and if indigestion follows, the peach is blamed for it all. So they say, “Away with it.” They continue to cling to the harmful and dangerous, and throw aside the innocent and harmless. Good is called evil, and evil is pronounced good.

When fruits disagree with a person, it is due to one or more of the following causes:—

The fruit is unripe.
The pulp is hard, and is swallowed in chunks, not being properly chewed.
The fruit is eaten with the skin, which is indigestible, and often has adhering to it a great many germs, which produce fermentation.
The fruit is eaten with other foods, such as potatoes, breads, or cereals, which make a poor combination.
The food is moistened with fruit juice instead of nature’s digestive, and the action of what little saliva is present is neutralized by the acid in the fruit.

Eating fruit with starchy foods, which require the presence of saliva, is probably one of the most common and prolific causes of starch indigestion, fermentation, and the numerous ills that arise from stomachic and intestinal disturbances.

Adhere as close as possible to the following principles, and you will find that fruits will not disagree with you; that they are not a curse to humanity, but one of the greatest blessings.

Eat only thoroughly ripened fruits.
If the meat is tough, masticate it thoroughly before permitting it to enter the stomach.
Remove the rind, or skin, which is usually covered with germs.
Do not eat fruits with coarse vegetables; as, beets, turnips, cabbage, greens, etc.
Use fruits sparingly or not at all if soup or other liquid or semiliquid foods are eaten at the meal.
Eat fruits at the close of the meal, when through with the starchy foods.

If starchy foods are well masticated, and mingled with the proper amount of saliva, they digest in a very short time. Fifteen minutes after food enters the stomach, the starch digestion has been completed as far as the saliva is concerned. By eating the fruit at the close of the meal, neither the liquid nor the acid it contains can interfere with digestion; in fact, the fruit acid eaten at the close of the meal will get into the stomach just in time to aid in the digestion of the proteids, and there will be no need of prescribing hydrochloric and other chemical acids, as a relief from indigestion.

Incidentally, I might state that even soups or semiliquid foods are better eaten at the close of the meal. Those accustomed to having every mouthful of dry food moistened with fruit juice or other liquid will, at first, find it a little difficult and disagreeable to learn to eat properly. Adopt that course of living which is best, and habit will soon render it the most enjoyable and agreeable.

One more suggestion,—dispense with the evening meal of solid foods; and substitute fruit in its place. Let all eat as heartily as they wish. Evening meals, as usually taken, create dyspepsia, and form poisons which are a source of great physical harm. Fruits, on the contrary, cleanse the tissue and brain; their soft, distilled, pure liquids sweep out the poisons that have accumulated during the day. Feed your children on fruit, and in a short time you will observe a change in them.