Let's Eat Right To Keep Fit By the Same' Author VITALITY THROUGH PLANNED NUTRITION I LET'S COOK IT RIGHT LET'S HAVE HEALTHY CHILDREN Let's Eat Right To Keep Fit BY ADELLE DAVIS, A.B., M.S. CONSULTING NUTRITIONIST LONDON GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN LTD FI RST PUBLISHED IN GREAT BRITAIN IN 1961 This book is cop_yright wuler the Berne Con vention. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private stud,y, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Cop_yright Act 1956, no portion may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Enquiries should be addressed to the publisher COPYRIGHT, 1954, BY HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY, INC. te;\i10. tli~'" £- p ._ _ PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN-- BY BRADFORD AND DICKENS_ LONDON W.C.I FOREWORD _ Adelle Davis is the only author I know who can present au thoritative, accurate information concerning vital, compli cated, human nutritional processes in such an interestfng and fascinating manner. I could hardly leave the manuscript at my first reading. Even as a phYSician, especially informed and interested in human nutrition, I learned much from this book, as I have from hearing the author lecture on many oc casions. Each chapter has such a personal impact and meaning for the reader that he will stop and ponder as to how the.facts and knowledge gained specifically apply to himself. This happened to me. Many chapters will be reread several times. The book is wen documented and is an excellent source of reference material. Here is the book for the physician and technically trained person as well as for the layman. Non-medical people are constantly asking for more and more reliable technical knowledge expressed in direct yet simple understandable language. This is it as far as food, diet, and human nutrition are concerned. It will serve as a good review for even the physician and will bring the nutritionist up to 'date. How I wish I could have read this book before or during my medical school education. In medical college, the stu dents tend to get lost among the trees of technical knowledge. It is difficult for them to grasp the broader perspectives. They are taught the sound principle of specific therapy for v vi FOREWORD the specific disease. In my opimon, we all suffer from mal nutritional disease with result~nt physical and mental de terioration. However, the hum~ being probably never de velops just a single nutritional lack. Only in animals that we place in pens and feed food lacking in a single nutrient can we produce specific nutritional diseases. Can you imagine a diet for the human being which lacks only a single nutrient? It has occurred to me gradually that one nutritional defi ciency meant others, and if one tissue was harmed, others were also. Undoubtedly many vitamins and other food elements have not yet been discovered. Every year new ones are found that are essential for life or health. How many more are there yet to be isolated in the next 10 years; the next 100 years? We cannot get adequate nutrition even to sustain life from syn thetic foods and vitamms. They will only help, and they may lull us into a false sense of security. We must get our real sustenance from our/food, from good food, as the author ex plains. So many factors militate against our receiving the good health that our food should bring us. First, our soils today are mostly mediocre or poor, and hence the plants do not contain proper or frequently even the essential nutrients. The animals that eat these plants cannot have the proper food chemicals in their meat, milk, or eggs. Also, the proc essing or improper cooking of these foods further deteri orates them. And, finally, ,there are Important psychological deterrents which prevent us from feeding ourselves properly. There is so much psychology involved in the very act of eating. 'In the oral, first-year stage 01our~life. the actual foun dation is laid for most of our eating h(bits. Most of these are on a subconscious level, and we are not aware of reasons behind our likes and disHkes. We may overeat because of longing for affection. We may fail to eat or to eat properly because of unresolved hostilities. It is common knowledge FOREWORD vii to psychologists that we all possess unconscious needs and desires to hurt and injure ourselves, the less neurotic pun ishing themselves only to a lesser degree. Otherwise why do we "learn to like" so much of the devitalized food we eat? Why do we drink so much alcohol? Why do we smoke so much? Why do we overwork or underwork? In some people only adequate psychoanalytical consultation will remove these sell-damaging tendencies. It is well known that husbands and wives cannot easily sell each other, or their children for that matter, on new ideas or needed changes. This is especially so in regard to eating habits which have been a lifetime in building, when they are so deeply rooted in and forgotten by the subcon scious. This book can be much help, for instance, to the mother who feels so helpless in trying to promote good nu trition for her family. At the start she should ask her hus band to read only one chapter of this book-the second. In fact, almost any Single chapter, read alone, seems to be ade quate and complete in its ell. Therefore, one can profitably read this book even for fifteen or twenty minutes at a time. If the principles set forth in this book were followed by most people, I believe a greater advancement in health would result than from any other occurrence in the history of mankind. It surely represents the basis of preventive medicine. W. D. CURRIER, M.D. National Secretary, American Academy of Nutrition February 15, 1954 PREFACE Thousands of persons spend their lives doing research in nu trition. This research has only one purpose: to help us build health and thus better to control our destiny. Such research remains valueless until it is applied to human life. Before it can be applied, it must be known and understood. The pur poses of this book, therefore, are to report the facts, to make them understandable, and to stimulate their application. Every attempt has been made to report the research accu rately. The conclusions, however, are those of the author. In some instances, these conclusions are purposely speculative, drawn in an effort to stimulate the application of adequate nutrition. If such conclusions are eventually shown to be wrong, they will nevertheless have served their purpose in case health has been promoted. Many persons have aided in the preparation of the manu script or have offered valuable criticisms. To these generous people, the author wishes to express her sincere thanks and gratitude: Dr. Harry J. Deuel, Jr., Dr. Henry M. Leicester, Dr. C. Edward Havard, Dr. Arthur L. Jensen, Dr. and Mrs. Douglas Gordon Campbell, Dr. Victor Bard, Dr. Everett W. DeLong, Dr. H. M. Benninghoff, Dr. Gordon Orme, Dr. Clarence S. Marsh, Dr. Howard Fenton, Dr. and Mrs. Arthur C. Hicks, Dr. Lester M. Morrison, Dr. Michael J. Walsh, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Lindberg, Mr. Cyril Maire, Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Howe, Mr. and Mrs. D. R. Coleman, Mrs. ~ifar­ tha McGeein, Mrs. Thomas Gentle, Miss Olive Burchfiel, Mrs. Marianne Hix, Miss Freda Donahue, and Mrs. Milton Janes. ADELLE DAVIS (%