this subject thoroughly can hardly entertain any doubt that the more largely our diet consists of these simple products of nature, the more likely we shall be to enjoy health and to secure longevity.
The number and variety of such fruits and seeds is very great (including all the nuts and cereals and their products, as well as the pulses, legumes, etc.); and the Science of Dietetics has made such rapid progress in recent years that nuts and grains are, for the benefit of those who possess weakened digestive organs, now prepared in various ways which make them easily digestible and very savoury when cooked. To such foods may be added, for the sake of convenience and variety, vegetables of various kinds and dairy produce, such as milk, butter, cheese and eggs.
Personal Testimony. Nineteen years of abstinence from flesh-food (practised without any illness, and resulting in increased strength, stamina and health), and of observation and experiment during that period, combined with the knowledge obtained through helping hundreds of men and women to regain health by reforming their habits of living, have convinced me that a well selected fruitarian dietary, thus supplemented, will prove beneficial to all who desire physical and mental fitness. Temporary difficulties may be experienced by some in adopting such a simple style of living, or in obtaining adequate provision in their present domestic conditions; mistakes may be made – certain necessary elements being omitted from the new diet – and temporary failure may sometimes result in consequence; but if some preliminary study and consideration are given to the matter, and variety in the food is secured to ensure complete nourishment, success is easily obtainable.
A Step at a Time. In most cases where there is a desire to adopt this purer and better way, it will be found that the policy of proceeding slowly but surely, a step at a time, is the wisest in the end.
The first step must be total abstinence from the flesh and blood of animals, and the substitution of less objectionable food containing an equal amount of proteid; this will soon lead to a distaste for fowl, but the use of fish should be retained by those commencing to reform their ways until some experience has been gained, and any serious domestic difficulties which may exist have been removed. Then this partial vegetarian diet can be still further purified, until it is more entirely "fruitarian" in its nature. Circumstances, and individual sentiment and taste, must regulate the rate of this progress towards what may be termed Edenic living; I can but show the way and give helpful information.
Advantages of Fruitarianism. A few of the reasons which lead me to advocate a fruitarian dietary as the ideal one, are as follows: —
Persons who live chiefly upon fruits of all kinds do not injure themselves by consuming the poisonous waste-products (uric acid, &c.), contained in flesh; and they are not often tempted, like those who partake of very savoury and toothsome dishes, to eat after the needs of the body are satisfied. They thus escape two of the chief causes of disease and premature death —auto-intoxication and excessive eating. They also avoid, to a great extent, the temptation to eat when they are not hungry, and thus they are more likely to obey the dictates of natural instinct concerning when to eat. Even if fruit should be taken in excessive quantity, very little harm results from such indiscretion.
Fruitarians thus lessen the amount of work put upon the digestive organs, and consequently have more energy to expend upon mental or physical labour. The grape sugar contained in sweet fruits – such as dates, figs, raisins and bananas – is assimilated almost without effort and very quickly.
The juices of ripe fruits help to eliminate urates, waste products, and other harmful deposits from the blood and tissues, as they act as solvents. Fruit, therefore, tends to prevent ossification of the arteries, premature old age, gouty and rheumatic disorders, sickness and untimely death.
Fruitarian diet – if scientifically chosen and containing all the elements required by the body – prevents the development of the "drink crave," and it will cure nearly all cases if properly and wisely adopted. Dipsomania is induced by malnutrition, by eating stimulating food, such as flesh, or by eating to excess; a fruitarian drunkard has not yet, so far as I am aware, been discovered in this country.
Pure blood is secured by living upon such food, and consequently there is little or no tendency to develop inflammatory maladies. The wounds of Turkish and Egyptian soldiers have been found to heal three times as quickly as those of shamble-fed Englishmen; the reason is that they live chiefly upon dates, figs and other fruits, milk and lentils, etc.; and the same tendency has been observed in the case of the Japanese wounded. A wonderful immunity from sickness is enjoyed by those who live in accord with Nature's plan; microbes and disease germs do not find a congenial environment in their bodies. This I have proved by nearly twenty years of uninterrupted good health, and freedom from medical attendance, and my experience is corroborated by that of a multitude of witnesses in the ranks of the food-reformers.
Fruitarian diet, if complete, tends to lessen irritability, to promote benevolence and peace of mind, to increase the supremacy of the 'higher self,' to clear and strengthen spiritual perception, and to lessen domestic care. Those who desire to develop the higher spiritual powers which are latent in Man, to cultivate the psychic or intuitive senses, and to win their way to supremacy over their physical limitations, will find fruitarianism helpful in every respect. Such have only to try it, intelligently, in order to prove that this is true.
Such a system of living may thus become an important factor in the great work of uplifting our race from the animal to the spiritual plane; and herein lies the great hope for mankind. The harbingers of the 'Coming Race' – a more spiritual Race – are already treading this Earth, known and recognized by those whose eyes have been opened to the vision of the higher and transcendent life. And that which tends to accelerate the development of these characteristics is worthy of our serious consideration and earnest advocacy.
Such a diet does not necessitate the horrible cruelties of the cattle-boat and the slaughter-house – therefore it must commend itself to every genuine humanitarian.
It does not contain the germs of disease that are found in the dead bodies of animals – frequently afflicted with tuberculosis, cancer, foot-and-mouth-disease, incipient anthrax, swine-fever and parasites of various kinds.
It is free from that potent cause of physical malady, uric acid – which is contained in all flesh; and from "ptomaines," – which develop in corpses quickly after death and often prove fatal to consumers of meat. And it will be found, if wisely chosen, to produce a stronger body, a clearer brain, and a purer mind.
The testimony of thousands of living advocates, both in cold and warm climates – many of whom are medical men, or athletes who have accomplished record performances which demanded prolonged endurance and unusual stamina – bears evidence to this fact; therefore those who are desirous of commencing this more excellent way of living need not fear they are making any reckless or dangerous experiment.
The food which our Creator intended us to eat must be the safest and best for us. Man does not resemble, either internally or externally, any carnivorous animal, and no unprejudiced student of the subject can well escape the conclusion that when we descend to the level of the beasts of prey, by eating flesh, we violate a physical Law of our being, and run the risk of incurring the inevitable penalties which Nature exacts for such transgressions.
These penalties are being lavishly dealt out with inexorable impartiality in the civilized lands of the Western world, where, in spite of the rapid increase of our medical men, and the 'wonderful discoveries' of panaceas by the representatives of unscrupulous pathological search, such maladies as appendicitis, consumption, cancer, lunacy, gout, neurasthenia and other evidences of physical deterioration are still prevalent or steadily increasing.
And, although the fact is not so apparent to the superficial observer, a still heavier penalty in the form of spiritual loss is being suffered by those who err in this respect,
