Part 23

EMACIATION OR UNDERWEIGHT--THE REMEDY

Emaciation is sometimes caused by organic or hereditary dis-eases, but the usual causes are to be found within the field of dietetics. The remedy, therefore, is first to naturalize or normalize the diet as to quantity, selection, proportion, and combinations of food.

In the majority of cases, those who come to the food scientist for treatment will be those who have tried every conceivable remedy except the natural one, therefore they come in a chronic state of emaciation, poisoned by overeating. Never having been instructed in regard to diet, exercise, breathing, bathing, or any other hygienic law, they will, in most cases, require a counteractive or remedial diet. There may be a number of supplementary causes to be considered, but the most important things for the practitioner to ascertain are:

1 Time the patient rises

2 Hour the first meal is eaten

3 Of what that meal consists

4 Time the second meal is eaten

5 Of what the second meal consists

6 Time the third meal is eaten

7 Of what this meal consists

8 All mental influences under which the patient is laboring, especially fear or worry

9 The condition of the bowels as to congestion

10 The amount of liquid taken during the day and at meals

In nearly all emaciated cases it will be found that the patient is suffering from premature fermentation, intestinal and stomach gas, and a congested condition of the bowels commonly known as constipation.

The first remedy lies in the selection and the combination of foods which are readily soluble and assimilable, and which contain the best flesh and cell-building properties. The chemical properties or elements most necessary are albumin, phosphorus, casein, proteids and carbohydrates. These elements are supplied best by milk, eggs, nuts, sweet fruits and coarse cereals, followed by a limited quantity of fresh green vegetables.

The nutriment contained in the egg is all that is required for the young chick, while the nutrient contents of milk is all that is necessary for the young animal. Therefore these two articles contain the most reliable and speedy counteractive elements known to chemistry, but in dealing with the adult they should be supplemented by fresh vegetables, coarse grain, wheat bran, raisins, and the seeds and skins of grapes.

It must be remembered that milk has a constipating tendency when taken in ordinary quantities--from one to two glasses at a meal. Therefore in laying out the diet for the emaciated, it is vitally important to avoid constipation, which may be done by giving milk during the first two or three days in quantities ranging from two and one-half to three and one-half quarts a day, together with a liberal quantity of coarse cereal. (See "Constipation--The Remedy," p. 436.)

These remedial methods may be repeated day by day until a substantial gain in weight is noticed, when the diet may be normalized--such articles selected as will give to the body all the required elements of nourishment in the right proportions.

It sometimes happens that the body is thrown into a chronic state of emaciation on account of a catarrhal formation over the mucous membrane of the intestines, which closes the "winking valves" that take up nutriment from the alimentary tract. In such cases coarse cereal or wheat bran, the seeds and skins of fruit, especially grapes, together with milk and eggs, form the best foods known. The milk and the eggs may be forced, not only beyond the limitations of hunger, but beyond the normal needs of the body. By thus forcing them for a short period of time (twenty to thirty days) a physical "trial balance" can be reached, and the body brought to its normal weight, which can be maintained for an indefinite period of time, if the bill of fare is again balanced or leveled according to the chemical requirements governed by the three natural laws, namely, age, temperature of environment, and work.

There is another condition of chronic emaciation which, in the beginning, should sometimes be treated in exactly the opposite way. For instance, when the forcing of casein proteids, albumin and nitrogen (the principal nutrient elements in milk and eggs) produces complications, such as extreme constipation, it becomes necessary to put the patient on a diet composed of coarse cellulose articles and fruit for a period of from three to six days. This should be done in the following manner:

Immediately on rising drink two or three cups of water--lime-free.

BREAKFAST

(One hour later)

The strained juice of two or three sweet oranges, or a bunch of grapes; grapes preferred

A cup of wheat bran, cooked; serve hot, with thin cream

LUNCHEON

Plain wheat and an equal quantity of coarse wheat bran, cooked until very soft; preferably simmered over night

A salad of celery, lettuce and tomatoes, with nuts