GOOD HEALTH | AdventAI

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Jul 18, 1878

GOOD HEALTH.

Proper Diet for Man.

MEAT A STIMULANT.

But there is still another reason why flesh food cannot be considered as the best suited to supply the dietetic wants of man; viz., it is stimulating in its character. Now, since stimulation is a diseased process, always resulting from the effort of the system to expel from its domain some foreign and unusable material, flesh food must be injurious to just that degree that it is stimulating. Should it be denied that animal food is stimulating, we have only to notice its effects when freely used. We find all the attendant symptoms of stimulation, modified, of course; and we also find the same depression of energy following the augmentation of vital activity, which follows alcoholic stimulation, though less in degree. It is on account of this stimulant effect that those who use flesh food imagine that it imparts to them more strength than a simple vegetable diet. But we have another evidence of the stimulant character of meat which will doubtless be accepted even by those who are somewhat skeptical. We have already seen that all animal food contains a greater or less amount of foreign material—decomposed tissues and various other effete matters. This can be of no possible use in the system, and must be eliminated from it in some way. Here we have one of the conditions for the production of stimulation; and now let us observe if these substances do really produce that effect. A few years ago an article known as "Liebig's extract of meat" was introduced to the public, being highly recommended as a condensation of the nutritive constituents of beef. For a time it gained great reputation, but the crucial test of actual experiment revealed the fact that it was quite insufficient to sustain life, and really contained less nutriment than an equal quantity of beef. A more minute examination of the process of manufacture reveals the fact that this famous extract contains only the soluble portions of the meat. This, of course, excludes entirely the albuminous or nutrient portions. The article comprises, then, little else than the broken-down structures and decomposed tissues of the body which are necessarily soluble for the purpose of excretion. In accordance with this fact, Edward Smith, M. D., F. R. S., in his recent popular work entitled, "Foods," in speaking of the article under consideration, remarks that "it should be classed with such nervous stimulants as tea and coffee, which supply little or no nutriment. Since the article in question is derived wholly from meat, and that without undergoing any decomposition, there can be no escape from the conclusion that animal food is in a degree stimulating, and consequently is thus much injurious.

No fact is better established, at the present day, than that stimulation is not increased strength, but merely increased activity incident upon the agitation and irritation of the vital powers. Indeed, it is fairly proved that stimulants always decrease the vital power and energy in the end. The apparent increase of muscular power which a flesh-eater feels, is, consequently, no more an argument in favor of flesh-eating than is a similar experience with the drunkard in favor of the habit of drinking whisky.

It is sometimes objected that meat is not a pure stimulant, and that being nutritious, as well as stimulating, its effects must be wholly different from those which result from using such stimulants as alcohol, brandy, etc. This is partially true, but not in the light in which it is commonly presented. Meat cannot be considered as injurious to the system as pure stimulants; but it is equally injurious to the extent that it is stimulating. The stimulating and nutrient portions of flesh are two wholly distinct elements. That portion of the meat which is nutritious is not in the least stimulating. The stimulating portion is foreign, effete, poisonous matter, and is not in the slightest degree nutritious. The effect of eating meat is, physiologically, precisely the same as would be that of eating any kind of wholesome, nutritious food mixed with some poisonous, innutritious stimulant.