It is a complex amine, nitr ocobolamine, containing an atom 
of cobalt in its molecule, the only use known of this metal in 
biological processes. It is only needed in unimaginably minute 
amounts, a few millionths of a gram being sufficient. If this minute amount is not supplied, however, the most serious, possibly irreparable damage is done to the nervous system, besides serious ill 
effects on the blood-forming tissues. One can go a considerable time without any of this vitamin in 
the food, weeks or months, for the liver stores considerable amounts of it. As vegetable foods only c ontain fractional amounts of it, and 
many none at all, even when grown on natural soils—fruits do not have a trace of it—the body can evidently absorb amounts so small that they can easily pass chemical de tection. Since so little is needed 
by the tissues, even in such small amounts, the liver can presumably 
build up a reserve—under ideal conditions. Primates like the gorilla, who are strictly vegetarian, and th e other vegetarian animals, must 
accumulate their needs of vitamin B
12 in this way, and even on 
deficient soils, cattle for instance, appear to derive sufficient 
vitamin B 12. It is probable that the micro-organisms which abound 
in the digestive tracts of these an imals produce some of their needs 
of this vitamin. In the human being, traces of vitamin B 12 are probably also 
supplied by micro-organisms in the gut, but these microorganisms require the kind of fermentative conditions typical of a vegetarian 
dietary. Experiments on Vegans have shown that while some evidently derive enough of the vitamin, others do not do so, and the 
explanation of this difference is not yet understood. It is evidently 
not only a matter of raw food; probably the quality of the food comes into it. Owing to this uncertainty, and given the worldwide disturbance of the soil, it would be well for strict vegetarians to take a few micrograms of vitamin B
12 periodically, for instance, for one 
week per month. With this one exception, the ideal human requirements from 
food can undoubtedly be met by a preponderantly raw vegetarian diet. If fruits are eaten several times a day—the one item which can be eaten between meals—the high levels of vitamin C can be satisfied. Although in normal conditio ns of health, much of this 
vitamin C is excreted in the urine,  it should not be looked upon as a 
waste, for the human tissues seem to function best when continuously bathed with this vitamin. If always sufficiently present, passing infections are likely to be resisted, although when infection does occur, truly enormous amounts of this vitamin 
become necessary, which can only be met by large amounts of fruit 
juice, or the taking of vitamin C as a supplement. This should not be looked upon as a substitute for fruits, for there are many things in fruits, ponderable and imponderable, apart from their beauty and flavour, which are necessary, but it would be shortsighted to refuse to make use of this synthetic vitamin, in order to raise the vitamin C 
level when this becomes necessary. In the cooler regions, fruits are seasonally scarce and 
expensive. Provided sufficient raw vegetable food is eaten, there should be no harm in taking smalle r amounts of vitamin C daily in 
pill form. The complete non-toxicity of this vitamin has been amply 
proven; indeed, apart from water, it is about the only substance 
whose range is so wide as to be non-toxic even in amounts several hundred times the normal requirement. Furthermore, it is easily metabolized and excreted when in  excess without taxing in any way 
the alkaline reserves of the tissu es. The only condition under which 
large doses of vitamin C are questionable is when large amounts of 
dairy products are eaten. The vitami n C, which is an acid, may form 
kidney stones by combining with the calcium in these products. But then as we shall claim, dairy products are not a part of normal human food. In relation to their size, children need more food than adults. There is no need for so called 'protective' foods, high in protein, 
provided children can eat whole foods when ever hungry, and the calamitous sweets are kept away. Left to themselves, children will eat often, ignoring the regularity of meals favoured by adults, which is well and good. The meal regularity is in fact one more device for eating more, even when not hungry, for, like the dogs of Pavlov, 
meal times can become the means of a cortical conditioning which 
stimulates even a jaded and overtired stomach. It is thoroughly misguided to gi ve children such supplements as 
vitamin A and D, particularly in such disgusting and loathed forms 
as the fish liver oils. The body is designed to make its own needs of 
these vitamins, in the case of the vitamin A from the carotenoid 
pigments abundant in the colourfu l tissues of plants, and in the case 
of vitamin D, from light irradiation of the skin. Since both these vitamins are stored in the liver, occasional supplies will suffice. Except in the more extreme latitudes, where humans should not be living anyway, there is sufficient light to make vitamin D, provided 
sufficient skin surface is exposed . A clear indication that these 
vitamins should not be eaten as such, is the recent discovery that children who have been adminste red fish oils over a prolonged 
period have a lower I.Q. than other children. Life is preponderantly water, a nd almost all land animals need a 
regular supply of it. On an ideal human diet, so much water is 
contained in the fruits and vegeta bles, that very little water is 
needed. The addition of salt and other unnatural items completely upsets the water balance; as ever y one knows, thirst can become 
obsessive after a heavy meal. The need for water increases in hot weather. Unlike appetite, thirst is a reliable guide of body needs; it 
is unwise to drink except when thirsty. The universe is a whole, and all things aspire to wholeness. Food reflects the wholeness which is life; all the constituents are interdependent. One often finds that if a particular vitamin deficiency is treated, others previously not apparent become 
manifest. This means that when th e ideal diet for any particular 
species of animal prevails, there is  no need to fuss about proteins, 
calories, vitamins and minerals. Some items of food, commonly consumed but doubtfully a part 
of the normal human dietary, will now be examined, with a view to ascertaining the physiological cost th ey entail. For some, the price is 
evidently too high; others have a certain value as emergency foods. Milk. Generally considered a 'protective' food, except by the 
Chinese who look upon it as an obnoxious excrement. The milk of the different mammals varies considerably. The short-lived species 
have made no attempt to remove substances which could, over a 
number of years, jeopardise the longevity of the animal. So it is that cow's milk is high in those substances, the cholesterols and saturated fats, which slowly clutter up the blood vessels—cows and bulls do not live long enough for it to matter. In elephants, and in the higher primates, however, the composition of the milk is quite 
different. Not only is protein lower, but the saturated fats are 
replaced by less saturated and unsaturated, and the cholesterol is low. Furthermore, the first milk fed to infant elephants and primates, the colostrum, is particular ly rich in unsaturated fats. It is 
now realized that the quality of the blood vessels is determined by 
the early feeding of the young; to give cow's milk to a baby elephant 
or a primate is to predispose its blood vessels and heart to lifelong damage by saturated fats. The autopsies of quite young people today show often extensive circulatory damage, most likely due to the common habit of drinking cow's milk from infancy. Skim milk is less harmful, but one can doubt that the proteins 
of cow's milk are minutely identical  to those of the human, the one 
needed for rapid growth, the other for. slow development. Cream is a particularly dangerous food. Margarine, made from soft vegetable fats by saturating them 
with hydrogen, is no better than but ter, although they have little or 
no cholesterol, for their fat molecules are very much larger than those of human milk fat, and result in the deposition of fats as hard as those of animal food in the tissues. The soft margarines, made 
from partly hydrogenated vegetable fa ts, to which is added oils rich 
in unsaturated fats, are suspect, in  view of the chemicals used in 
their manufacture, and of the reports of serious disease following 
their experimental use in animals. Vegetable  'butters' made from emulsified nuts should be excellent, provided no emulsifying or other chemical agents are used in their manufacture. If one likes some fat on one's bread, the ancient device of Mediterranean peasants of dripping a little olive oil on the bread, rubbed with a 
little garlic, is a good one. Kephir, Yogourt, etc. Widely and anciently praised as a 'health' 
food, the fatty constituents rema in much the same, although the 
growth of bacteria and yeasts, producing an acid medium, is 
favourable to anti-putrefactive cond itions which should be helpful. But one should preferably not eat foods that putrefy. These preparations made with skimmed or defatted milk are preferable. Cheese. Hippocrates had noticed that cheese adversely affects a 
significant number of people, an indication that it is not a natural 
food. It has recently been incriminat ed in migraine. The hard, fullfat 
cheeses are more suspect than the li ghter kinds made with whey. At 
the most cheese should only be used occasionally, and in small amounts not so much as a food item but as a condiment. Eggs are designed to meet the extremely rapid growth of 
reptiles and birds, and as such, are the opposite of human needs. Their extremely high content of cholesterol makes them a dangerous food, perhaps the most dangerous. Furthermore, they are the vehicle of many viruses, known and unknown. Coffee, tea, chocolate. The popularity of these items comes not 
only from their stimulating properties, but from their very high content of purines and other extractiv es. On a 'mixed' diet, the body 
over-reacts against such extractives in the foods, thus engendering a drug-like demand for more, to mop up the body's over-production of 
defensive substances, resulting in a vicious circle of ever-increasing 
demand. If one must have hot drinks, many herbal teas are harmless. Weak tea seems less harmful than coffee. Vegetable oils. Although the unsaturated fatty acid content of 
different vegetable oils varies, thus affecting their value for 
eliminating saturated fats from the body, no vegetable oil contains 
the saturated fats abundant in all animal oils. Therefore, on a vegetarian diet, it is a matter of taste what oil one prefers. Olive oil, for instance, has a low content of unsaturated fats, but is tasty and good. The only safe fats, however, are those that have been cold 
pressed, out of contact with metal contamination; it is virtually 
impossible to obtain such oils today. Commercial processes entail the use of dangerous solvents, and high temperature extraction responsible for undesirable changes in  the oil itself, quite apart from 
anti-oxidant chemicals used to prevent rancidity. One vegetable oil, rape seed oil,  is toxic, and is being phased 
out of use. However, it is still the cheapest oil on the market. It is usually sold without a reference to its source, as just 'salad' or 
'frying' oil, and is widely used in  food processing and in restaurants. Potatoes, cassavas and starchy roots. The toxicity of the 
alkaloids of potato have already been mentioned. Cassava contains deadly prussic acid and will rapidl y kill when eaten raw. The real 
menace of such items is that they tend to reduce the consumption of cereals, which should be the main source of calories in combination with fruits. Bread, biscuits  
Fresh cereal grains can be nibbled like nuts, but once dried, 
something has to be done to them so  that they can be eaten. The best 
way is to soak them and allow them to germinate. Germinating 
grains are about the richest sources of a battery of indispensable 
vitamins. Some should always be set to germinate in succession in some corner of the home, or office. Soaked grains can be mashed, pounded and moulded into thin 
wafers, which can then be dried in a low oven, or yeast can be 
added, and the dough baked as bread. The damp conditions 
prevailing, and the moderate temperatures necessary, are not critical. Lightly cooked groat or porridge, goes back to the Palaeolithic. Unfortunately, industrial production of bread and biscuits, even many classed as 'brown' or 'wholemeal', is highly suspect, so that the best answer is  to make one's own, from wheat of 
known provenance. The bread should be made as coarse as possible, 
for, as with all cooking, one of the aims of breadmaking is undoubtedly to make it easier to eat more than one could otherwise. Pastry, homemade with wholemeal flour and good vegetable 
oil, thinly worked out and as light ly baked in the oven as possible, 
avoiding overbrowning, has probably been over-maligned. Vegetarian 'meats', whose basis is often cheap peanut meal, and 
various industrialized food additiv es, can be better made at home, 
with lentils or soya as a base and wholemeal flour and nuts as a 
padding. Yeast. The yeasts are present everywhere, and play an active 
and important role in the human alimentary tract, providing some of the B vitamin requirements when a fermentative flora prevails. But 
different yeasts produce many thousands of different nitrogenous 
substances, some of which are suspect. Moulds, close relatives of yeasts, are known to manufacture some of the most deadly chemicals, such as the cancer producing substances in mouldy peanut meal. While fresh fruit and bakers yeasts are probably excellent, care should be taken with brewers yeast, and only small 
amounts consumed. As for the so called hydrolized yeast 
preparations, made from disintegrating yeast cells usually in a strongly salted medium, they are definitely suspect. Their content of the B vitamins may be high, but they also contain nitrogenous extractives and other substances which have a dramatic effect on the 
blood-forming system, too dramatic not to be harmful. The seeds of the leguminous plants 
Green peas and beans when fresh  are close to other green 
vegetables and are excellent, but pulses are in some cases suspect. A 
few contain lethal amounts of hydrocyanic acid. Two which appear 
to pass the test are lentils and so ya beans. Raw peanuts are barely 
edible. Cooked when fresh they might pass, but a tropical crop, whose storage conditions are never known by the consumer, they are a very suspect food item in view of the extremely dangerous mould products they may harbour. It is of great interest that a milk substitute for infants made 
from soya beans is now available which appears to meet all the needs of the developing infant. Mothers who are not able to breast feed for a sufficient time, should ser iously think of such substitutes 
rather than condemn their offspring to a start in life which entails a 
permanent handicap to their arteries for which cow's milk is 
probably responsible. Coconut. These can be obtained today in fairly fresh condition, 
and are an excellent food. Human milk fats are closer to those 
present in 'coconut milk' than to those of cow's milk. A host of 
attractive preparations can be made from the dried meal. Sugar. The evil of sugar is that it fools the call of sweetness for 
fruits. The common belief that brown sugar is preferable, indeed beneficial, is unfounded, for the br own is due to caramelization and 
to metallic contamination in the course of manufacture. The content 
of B vitamins, not derived from the plant juices but formed as molasses is stored before the sugar is separated from it, is not sufficient justification. It is curious  to observe that in the days when 
hygiene was all the craze, white sugar, like white flour and white 
rice were thought of as better than the brown products because they 
were cleaner and purer, today there h as been a reversal into an equal 
absurdity, when anything 'b rown' is necessarily good. Honey, another cult food, honey is designed for extremely 
rapidly growing insects, not humans. Although 'natural', there is no 
reason to suppose that it is preferable to sugar. There is, alas, no 
way out; if humans want sweet things while remaining healthy, they should have fruits. Mushrooms, fungi. There he goes again, the reader will say, 
belittling the one gourmet article of the vegetarian! But the aim is to 
face the facts, point out the extrem ely thin line of normality; it is up 
to the individual to decide how far he will swerve from the line, how much he is willing to pay for the deviant pleasures. The fact is that primates are as innately terrified by the sight of a mushroom, as by that of a spider or a snake! Although only a few fungi kill, most, 
if not all, cause various subtle sens itivity reactions in a majority of 
people. Commercially grown mushro oms are increasingly subjected 
to a rain of chemicals. However, if one comes upon a lucky patch of bluits, chanterelles, or capes, it would amount to cowardice to resist them. Leafy foods. As already indicated, it is not the more mature 
leaves, but the tender shoots which are intended to feature in moderation in the human diet. Since these are scarce, population 
pressure has encouraged the use of harder leaves, like the brassicas, 
which usually need cooking. It is not therefore surprising that 
various contradictions have been discovered. The brassicas, for 
instance, contain substances which interfere with thyroid function. The already mentioned poisonous oil,  from rape seed, is the product 
of a member of that plant family. They should therefore be looked upon as emergency rather than regular foods. Members of the lettuce family, the cruciferae such as the cress, 
and many other tender green leaves, appear satisfactory. A 
neglected green food is the tender green shoots of grass. Onions and garlic. Both contain extremely irritating and toxic 
substances which can induce serious anaemias and in large amounts, 
can possibly be fatal. They also  often result in hypersensitivity 
reactions of the mucosae and skin, and in some people appear to affect the mind, inducing lethargy and stupour. They should only be used sparingly. Roots, tubers. Here also, the ability to be eaten raw is a good 
test, which allows carrots, and celeriac to pass, while casting doubt on many others. Those members of the mustard family with roots, such as radish, contain strong irritants and are suspect. Tropical fruits. Many people who have lived in the tropics have 
become upset from eating tropical fruits, or at least developed a 
certain antipathy for particular fruits, longing for the more temperate apple. It is the high growing fruits which are usually involved. The ground living prehumans would not have had ordinary access to them. An example known to contain toxic 
substances, injurious to the liver, is  the Avocado. It has surprisingly 
been found to induce mastitis in mammals! Another is the mango, beautiful, but frequently nauseati ng and containing a milk which 
tends to irritate the lips and mouth. Low growing tropical and semi-tropical fruits, on the other hand, such as the banana, the pineapple, the citrus family, are pleasant and wholesome. But many attractive 
low growing berries and fruits of tropical regions are also extremely 
poisonous. Man's ideal dietary can eviden tly be extended, but care is 
needed, for many things commonly consumed and lightly assumed to be wholesome and good turn out to be suspect. Even beauty and 
attractiveness are no longer a reliable guide when one moves into an 
environment very different from that  of one's genetic wombing, or 
is exposed to apparently edible products from a foreign environment. Evidently, many foods which carry a relatively light risk, such as the potato, have a role as an emergency item, and at the present, the entire planet is in an emergency. But even if one is 
likely to be obliged to trespass the narrow limits of the ideal set by 
the very particular perimeters of humanization, one should at least appreciate how extremely narrow these limits happen to be, and realize that a levy is inevit able for the common sloppy and 
insensitive approaches to eating. Those coming the closest to the 
ideal human diet are the vegans, and, somewhat less close, the 
vegetarians. These people are usually above average in sensitivity, in an awareness of self and of others, of things and creatures, which is one reason why many of them come to differ from the common 
patterns in the first place. There can be no doubt that the subjective rewards are considerable, providing a sense of compassion and 
purpose, a zeal for what is whole and natural, and a delight in 
simplicities, rarely met in the genera l modern confusion. It is this 
cleansing of the doors of perception which no doubt accounts for the fact that many of the more sensitive people in the arts are attracted to vegetarianism while the more tough minded tend to go in an opposite dionysian direction of booze and beef. One does find in the ranks of vegetarians persons with a 
tendency to anxiety neurosis above the usual, as one does in any sensitivity demanding pursuit. Their condition is usually improved or cured, thanks to the sense of purpose and an effective life-pattern and idealism which vegetarianism can provide. But there are the 
few health-kick vegetarians who may not rise beyond a self-centred 
preoccupation. If that was all there was to vegetarianism, it would be a shallow concern, even if the pursuit of health is a primordial duty. The great advantage of vegetarianism today is not only its 
practice, but the philosophy it offers regarding other human beings, 
living creatures and nature generally. As the help in these directions 
which past religions could provide is now minimal, vegetarianism is 
particularly well suited to offer a life-pattern ideally adapted to 
modern conditions, restoring a sense of purpose and participation in the natural world, without which human beings are only too 
obviously alienated and distraught, the reason probably why an 
increasing number of young are being attracted to the vegetarian ideology. With regards the bodily advantages, one can be less definite. In 
the first place, some people become vegetarians as a result of 
chronic ill-health, when all else has failed, a fact which tends to 
falsify any comparative study. It is a sad fact that many people are congenitally less robust than othe rs, disadvantages all too often 
intensified by wrong feeding in infancy and childhood. Such people are certain to' be better off as vegetarians, but they may remain handicapped compared with the more genetically robust, living so 
called normal lives. But vegetarianism by itself may not be enough. A person giving 
up meat and fish but indulging in eggs and dairy produce may be no better off. Indeed, it is possible that  a person having some lean meat 
and fish, but no eggs and dairy pr oduce, would be less exposed to 
the long-term disasters of cholesterol, saturated fats and uric acid, 
what ever other insidious physical and mental effects attend. Vegetarian children eating the usual amounts of sweets, jams and sugar have teeth in every way as bad as the general population. As already mentioned, veganism without a supplement of 
vitamin B
12 is dangerous. With this supplement, it is probably as 
close as one can get to the ideal human diet, but perhaps for 
economic reasons, fruits may not feat ure sufficiently. It is probably 
as far as one can get practically in avoiding the usual long-term infirmities, gout and arthritis, colds and constipation, and the common afflictions of daily living. This should also apply to 
vegetarians, provided a sufficienc y of uncooked foods and fruits is 
the rule. In this context, the importance of activity cannot be 
overemphasized. The human body, and mind, are only optimally adaptable in terms of a certain pattern of activity. This pattern must 
have been originally set by the demands of ground living and food-
gathering, and has certainly not changed since, no matter how sedentary human beings have b ecome in urban conditions. This 
pattern is characterized, not by bursts of violent activity, but rather by prolonged moderate activity. For a ground-living primate to be able to fulfil its environmenta l and social obligations, would 
demand at least the equivalent of three hours walking a day. Medicine has now realized the importance of this kind of activity, of the risks of inactivity to the h eart, as those of excessive activity 
which entails athletism, or the weekend violent games of tennis or squash. One must insist, that no matter how ideal the diet, optimal 
physiological conditions will not be met unless this basic activity 
pattern is simultaneously met. Life must simply be arranged to meet 
it, an arrangement facilitated by the energy crisis. There are the half-hearted vegetarians, keen on keeping in with 
the 'normals' in their smoking and drinking habits and not averse to 
some meat and fish occasionally, 'for social reasons'. Such people 
are often less well than most, the victims of fatigue, of disturbed sleeping and of petty inconveniences, which should not be the lot of vegetarians. The high levels of protein and vitamin B complex on a mixed dietary do undoubtedly protect, to some extent, from the damage of alcohol and other poisons . Vegetarians, particularly those 
living on largely refined cereal foods, using sugar, are very 
vulnerable. Although very modera te amounts of non-distilled drinks 
like cider, beer and the lighter wines, are probably beneficial when consumed in the right circumstances, as we shall see, vegetarians are not equipped to keep up with common bad habits. People who become vegetarian in later life often do so as the 
result of some dire warning or health disaster for which medicine can do little or nothing. Usually, such a change of diet brings much benefit, but it would be expecting too much to suppose that the unbiological trespass of many years can be completely annulled. It is the young who especially benefit from a vegetarian diet, the best 
possible assurance that the developi ng tissues of brain and body are 
formed under the most ideal conditions. To cut out breast feeding, and to feed infants on animal foods, is not only likely to lead to mental disquiet, but, in maturity, to a higher incidence of degenerative disease. 15. Beautiful People, Beautiful Things 
 
 
The Creation is a whole, all isolation is disintegration. In the 
making of the human, nature has attained its highest expression of 
wholeness, in love, in the pursuit of beauty, order and harmony. But 
for the wholeness of the human condition to be attained, a 
wholeness in all things contri buting to human existence is 
indispensable. The importance of food to life in general emphasizes 
its supreme importance in the attainment of human wholeness, and 
only a highly specific pattern of eating can meet this highest 
achievement of evolution. Mankind on this planet has been the unfortunate victim of 
terrible times and tribulations. Barely had humanization been 
achieved, than the earth underwent a prolonged period of intermittent and devastating gl aciation, with world-wide 
repercussions. During these terrible times, human beings were obliged to adopt ways of living in order to survive which departed 
widely from the human ideal previously set by nature. Although 
when the Ice Ages subsided some ten thousand years ago, the majority of human beings tended to resume ways of living more 
tolerably human, inventing agriculture in the process to ward against further catastrophe, many bad habits have persisted, 
particularly regarding feeding, which, as we have suggested, 
accounts in large part for the horrors and abnormalities of human 
behaviour. Many parts of the world today should be sympathetic to a 
properly human condition, but because of the importance of cortical conditioning, these bad habits persist and remain a most 
dehumanizing influence, responsible for the terrors of human 
existence and the ugliness of the environment. As the means of 
expressing anger and hatred against nature, against other creatures, 
against man himself have increased  with the industrial age, so 
nature has become increasingly soiled and desecrated, and man's 
chronic inhumanity to man has become more sharpened. The 
situation is critical, for every aspect of the contemporary crisis examined shows a course set on annihilation and extinction. If further appeals to reason, to scien ce, to politics, to sociology, to 
economics are certain to be frustrated unless backed by a genuine change of heart, so are the more simpleton calls for a return to 
nature, for a denial of civili zation. Man is too wounded and 
humiliated a creature, too complicated by culture to be able to act from such purity. Salvation is likely to be very, very demanding. The change must begin from within, important as the tangible 
aspects of life happen to be. One simply must first restore the belief 
that the human being is a noble, sacred creature, holding the most 
essential post in the creative enterp rise of the universe. Anything 
less must entail alienation. Since no reasonable argument can change the colours of the soul, colour must be played, like music to the insane, in the hope that slowly, progressively, the divine 
sensitivities will be recovered, and the mind made whole. Although ugliness tends to cancel the craving for beauty, 
wholeness and purity, to be surrounded by beauty and harmony, to 
practise it at every possible opportunity, must in the long run work. One has the examples of this in the arts. People are often drawn to the arts as a reaction against the puerilities and frustrations of living, the deceptions of gain and material power. While artists, musicians and poets themselves are usually simple people, little good at 
worldly tasks, the patrons have always been people of power, in 
their lives ruthless and hard, yet st rangely softened in the presence 
of the beauty and divinity of ar t. They are not likely to become 
gurus and saints as a result, but they are more whole and human for it, certainly worse without it. The sensitivities on which the arts 
trade should be pursued in every possible aspect of living; nothing 
which is not beautiful should be tolerated, whatever its apparent 
lures. The aim of this book has been to emphasize that such 
sensitivities are eminently applicable to man's most important 
biological function, eating. Not only is it a matter of the choice of 
the right kinds of foods. The attit ude towards food, the conditions 
under which foods are eaten can provide a most important occasion for developing an overall, humanly compatible attitude and a recovery of the sensitivities, of the meaning of being human. This is not a new appeal. All ot her peoples had discovered that 
sacrament and myth are the supreme means of incorporating 
thought, feeling and action into a meaningful human cosmology. One finds, among primitives, as among other less materialistically preoccupied civilizations, that nothing is left out. All is made hallowed, meaningful and sacred. Part of the tragedy of the West, 
thanks to misinterpretation of the significance of science to society, 
has been to purge life of mythical  meaning. Eating is an excellent 
opportunity to restore this indispensable strategy. How one eats is as important as what one eats. Eating cannot be 
a matter only of belly filling, of meeting calories, proteins, and the other dietary essentials, but the daily recurring opportunity to 
express joy, to contemplate beauty, to feel the craving for purity, 
and, a need particularly ignored to day, to feel and express gratitude 
for the bounties of the earth. All peoples and ages have in fact insisted that food should be communally partaken, making it a socially bonding ritual, a bodily f unction raised to a high social and 
spiritual level, becoming in the process a joyful sacrament enacting 
the glory and joy of life. After all, food is not an incidental occurrence. It is the product 
of a quite fantastic creative ecology  on the part of nature, which 
began some fifteen thousand million years ago, and has been ever since groping for the expression of the inherent drive for harmony, 
beauty, and creativity in all matter, ever more explicit, until its 
culmination in the human being. As we have seen, the beauty of fruits and flowers, of all things humanly good, reflect this deep goading at work in all nature . Unless these qualities had found 
previous expression in fruit and fl ower, the human mind would have 
been an impossibility. In spite of the apparent fumblings and 
distractions of time, of the long haul of evolution, seen with the unitive vision of gods, man finds a summit place in the operations of Creation. As an important constitu ent in this realization, such a 
providential offering as food should be partaken in joy, and in humility and reverence, a thanksgi ving to the gods and powers 
responsible for this strange and wonderful place. The right kind of attitude to nature, to food, indeed to all whole, 
natural things is best illustrated in Zen practice, which teaches that 
loose, unconnected thinking is necessarily bad, while at the same 
time it insists that a rigid, imposed direction, the kind favoured by the puritans and fascists, is also bad. Living is a constant juggling 
for which every occasion becomes an opportunity of practice, every 
thought, every touch, every sight, and especially every act. How can this apparent contradic tion be resolved in ordinary 
living? By sensing the inherent sanctity, dignity and cosmic connection of all that is worthy of human doing. Then, in the simple 
outfolding of such an act, no matter how elemental and superficially 
trivial, a sense of profound, exquisite meaningfulness results, beyond all analysis and doubt. This can  be practised in virtually any 
aspect of living, in one's daily work, in one's relations to others, in the contemplation of nature, in the ar ts, in sport, in some particular 
hobby. Eating is an excellent opport unity for so doing, which raises 
the simple act to a high order, physically and spiritually enhancing, and providing a level of satis faction and joy beyond verbal 
description. Zen is not native to the European mind and tradition, and such a 
suggestion will at first seem esoteric. Yet many people do in fact 
attempt to practise what is being suggested in their daily lives, 
having discovered intuitively that it is the best course through the jungles of civilized confusion and uncertainty. Many artists, for instance, are Zen practitioner; without realizing it. finding an integration and joy in their creative procedures which is pure Zen. The fact is that with a modicum of desire, what is being suggested is 
quite easily realizable, and all the more easily in the pursuit of a natural dietary. This exercise can begin with the preparation of food, through 
its presentation and serving, to consumption, stages necessarily demanding familial and social participation. Evidently, the 
environment becomes of great importance. One should forgo eating 
rather than eat in squalid, ugly  surroundings. Joyful, enticing, 
uplifting conversation, music and periods of quiet and meditation should be an intrinsic aspect of the pattern. By contrast, the usual futile banter, the ribald and mischievous exchanges of usual 
entertainment show themselves up as a counter strategy to deny the 
humanizing relevance of the meal, one  more aspect of the subtle and 
all-permeating impoverishment of the sensitivities. Regular meal times constitute a device for the convenience of 
cooks and the cortical conditioning to greed. Meals should be left to the kind of intuitive communal decisions one finds children 
displaying in their games. Eating can undoubtedly induce a 'high', an ecstatic type of 
experience, of the kind one can derive in the most humanizing raptures of life, in love, in communion with' nature, in art, and, as every age and culture has discovered in its own ways, through 
certain drugs. Although it has become so rare and out of line with 
the materialistic pursuit of modern society, hence the recourse to drugs, it is a natural and most nor mal human experience, one which the more humanistic and benign primitives appear to enjoy 
throughout the waking day and in their dream ecstasies also. It comes, as a more or less continuous irradiation of joyfulness, of a 
sense of profound relevance and belonging, with peaks amounting 
to rapture, as the reward for life wholly and humanly lived, for effective social and communal co mpassion and service, for sexual 
love achieved as for the extensions of loving freed of all sexuality; it 
comes in the practice of any humanly enhancing occupation, of work shared and socially relevant, of art, of ritual, of religion. The essential characteristic of the 'high' experience, as of the 
'high' dream, is that the level of experience is so altered that ordinary verbal descriptions and analyses are pointless. Its only possible evidence is its experience,  which is the reason why it has 
become so neglected in a materialistic culture which has 
increasingly insisted that only the so lid material things are real. But 
although rarely experienced by the majority of people today, except perhaps for the common intense in timations of puberty and of 
youth, it can be easily recovered, so well as to become the most rewarding ingredient in living. Food appears to have a singular capacity for inducing such a 
'high'. No doubt this can be entirely due to the sacramental element in eating, with its profound humanizing associations, but there could also be a more physiological boosting to it. The attractiveness, beauty and purity of natural foods are such a boosting, for the 'high' experience is necessarily a hyper-aesthetic experience. Ugliness is 
anathema to it. In another book, the writer mentioned an observation of 
Macacus monkeys in the wild, in a drunken, rapturous condition following feasts on ripe guavas. So keen were they on the effects, that some individuals were seen to prefer the overripe fallen fruits to 
those on the bough. Is this a perversion, or does it reflect a natural 
boost to the joy of living which primate eating is intended to provide? An analysis of ripe guavas revealed the interesting fact that they contained up to 0.8 per cent ethyl alcohol, while those on the ground could have as much as 2 per cent to 3 per cent. Because of its crude abuses as a mind-fuddling drug in the 
West, entailing the consumption of large amounts of alcoholic 
drinks, alcohol is a misunderstood substance. When very small amounts of alcohol are taken, in the right frame of mind, it is 
nothing but a stimulant of the higher, humanizing emotions. It is only when this threshold is exceeded that alcohol passes quickly 
from being a stimulant, to a depressant, cutting out the higher 
aspects of mental functioning and thus inducing a lower, frequently subhuman level of experience and behaviour. The importance of the 
right frame of mind has been observed in the case of other psychotropic substances. Taken without the uplifting influence of sacrament, they have banal and frequently anti-human results. Taken in a sacramental atmosphere, they can be potently 
humanizing. The humanly enhancing effects of minimal amounts of alcohol 
taken in a sacramental context was not missed by the early Christians. Some early sects so managed to enhance the quite 
minimal amounts of alcohol taken in the sacrament that they would 
dance and shake with divine rapture, to the point of becoming scathingly called the 'shakers' by those who did not share their 
rapture. The fact that yeasts specialized for converting sugar into 
alcohol are present on the skins of all fruits, that naturally such 
fruits become bruised, if ever so minutely as by the effects of wind, would imply that any creature designed to live preponderantly on fruits would necessarily partake of certain minimal amounts of alcohol. Knowing how canny nature, in the guise of natural selection, happens to be in making use of any such offerings, it is 
reasonable to suppose that such minute traces of ethyl alcohol were 
made use of in the human genesis to act as a stimulant to the higher humanizing faculties. If a 'high' experience is a humanly decisive experience, then such a stimulation would have been as much a tool in humanization as the perception of order and beauty in nature, as 
the evolution of the musical capacities of the human voice. It would 
have been an ideal antidote to the risks of the antihuman substances 
which can, as we have seen, arise in the course of deviant dietaries. Granting the relatively large amounts of fruits intended to be eaten, enough alcohol could be derived to induce the kind of 'high' 
described, emphasizing the humanizing role of food in general. There are hints that in prehisto ry, such feasting occurred, and 
that the grape, a typical low growi ng fruit of EuroAsia, featured in 
such feasts. But with the advent of the Ice Ages, or the ending of the first great Interglacial during which humanizing conditions applied, a disturbed environment led to a disturbed way of life. It was not a 
big step unfortunately for the minimal amounts of alcohol in natural 
foods to give way to the higher amounts made available in especially fermented fruits, in accord with the rising subhuman arousals of a disturbed existence. So the fermented juices of fruits became linked to the Dionysian cults; as innocence was lost, so 
these evidently became more orgias tic and lascivious. Quite early in 
human history alas, alcohol became an active agent in dehumanization, as it still is. To say that beauty goes with h ealth, and that health is the 
reward of wholeness, requires a defi nition of beauty distinct from its 
usual sexy involvements. Necessarily natural beauty is designed to 
enshrine sexual love, but this is different from the beauty, which is 
no more than a veiled invitation to licence, evident in entertainment, in fashion, in the novel, in a romanticized sexuality not so far from embellished pornography. Natural b eauty demands purity, and is 
inseparable from love. In the eyes of love, provided there is no 
untoward blemish, what could be seen as sexually plain could 
appear as of great beauty, a matter of internal light rather than of outward provocation, of wholeness rather than surface. That the human being, when truly human, is particularly attuned to this definition of beauty is made eviden t in art. Indeed, when it is the 
'sexy' kind of beauty that prevails, one has not to do with art, but 
with pornography. It is a fact, which anyone can put to the test, that a return to a 
natural dietary not only restores health, but beauty as just defined. The foul breath, and humiliating body odours, supporting a vast artificial industry, give way to a na tural sweetness. It is remarkable 
how fragrant the skin becomes on such a diet. The common greasy 
patches on forehead and nose, the dilated pores and psoriasis, the crinkly piggy fat and sagging which deform give way to a clarity, a firmness and a harmony of movement even in long abused bodies, 
and the eyes, those true portals to the soul, become bright and alive. There is enough evidence to sustain hope, that even advanced so 
called incurable disease can yield to a natural restoration, 
particularly when this is accompanied by a supporting restoration in human faith. But sadly, in some of the most terrible ills against which all the 
skills of medicine and science remain largely powerless, the cancers and mutilations of ageing, mostly the results of human mischief and 
misunderstanding of nature, the body has no experience of reaction 
and defence. Death must then come, and be faced, as it must anyway, however joyful and wonderful life has been. In a civilization geared to the worship of material power, death is a most terrifying, utterly humiliating event. As nothing but an animal, 
knowing only material things, death is totally unacceptable, and 
those who say that they have resigned themselves to it on such terms, have in truth only shut their eyes to its ultimately humiliating power. Contemplating the wholeness and progressive achievements of life, it would be a contradiction of the entire enterprise of 
Creation to produce a creature aware of itself, and so of death, 
without some compensatory adaptation. Such compensations have perennially come in the form of a transcendental belief that the human being is not entirely in bo ndage to time and space, a belief 
lost in the present crisis of materialism. It will have to be restored, if human beings are to recover a dignified and meaningful place in the 
Creation. There is no reason why it should not be a perfectly natural 
restoration. There are pointers today even in science that so called material reality is much more than space, time and substance. But while this is at present a challenge  for the individual to face for 
himself, nature has equipped the human to face death, in making 
death itself the culminating 'high' to living. Even following the 
terrible and prolonged torments of disease, there is abounding evidence that death can come as an ecstasy, although it would seem 
that the 'high' of dying is more likely to be the reward for a life lived wholely and in respect of natural law. Just as there is a natural way to living, so there is a natural way 
to dying, one completely ignored by the modern age, one in fact 
actively rejected by the medical profession. It is a simple way, practised by all other cultures. At the end of a long life humanly lived, the intimation of death comes with a kindness that robs it of fear. On the contrary, there is a welcome and a reassurance about it. When death comes sooner, shortcutting the natural span, death can 
still be met by a letting go, when a ll hope is gone, by simply fasting 
out. For those who have regularly practised the fast in the course of living, there will be the reassurance that this simple act brings with it intimations of transcendence, of purity and glory which thoroughly defy the apparent finalit y of material things. Fasting out 
implies abandoning the sacrament of eating for the sacramental act 
of dying. The same hallowing, reverential, grateful approach is needed, the same envelopment in  beauty, joy and purity. The 
timeless association of the human and the floral should not follow, but precede death; flowers should be for the dying, not for the dead, 
the reminder in such wonderful things, that nature is profoundly 
humanly attuned, and that wherever the Creation goes, there will its chosen creatures, in rapturous joy and fulfilment, go also. 16. Hints for the Millennium 
 
 
In happier times, fruits and salads feature more predominately 
in the dietary, just as they go out in darker times. The head gardener 
of James II, was of the opinion that an ordinary salad should have at least 30 ingredients (mentioned in the Popular Encyclopaedia of 
Gardening, by H. H. Thomas and G. Forsyth). The tender roots of 
daisy, of fennel, of angelica and campion, as well as of carrot and parsnip were used. Leaves of wild and cultivated plants, whose names are likely to sound foreign to many a city-dweller but which abound, were also popular—dandelion, cowthistle, primrose, violet, tarragon, rocket, sage, hyssop, marigold, marjoram, leek tops, 
purslane, cowslip, basil, borage, chevil, daisy, vine and marrow 
tendrils, sorrel, scurvy grass, broom  and elder buds and many other 
things, procurable without cost by the diligent. Flowers were also added liberally, those of dandelion, angelica, nasturtium, rose, primroses, etc. The happy Elizabethans were especially fond of 
salads, and seldom had a meal without one. Just as fruits should be available at all times, the humanizing 
decoration in every room, in ev ery office, and eaten whenever 
desired, so the salad should form the artistic focus of every meal. As John Evelyn, the salad authority of the seventeenth century remarked, the picking and preparing of salads is a great and 
legitimate art, giving much pl easure and healthfulness in its 
practice. If one has no back garden, many things can be grown from 
seeds in boxes, from the common 'mustard and cress' to the 
germinating shoots of cereals, of wheat, barley, maize. If you buy or 
are given roses, eat one! If you are lucky in having something of a 
garden, or access to a growable patch, there is no limit to your contribution to health and joy. Ma ny vegetables allowed to flower 
make beautiful flowers, e.g., the Jerusalem Artichoke, which, 
incidentally, is delicious grated raw with olive oil, giving very much 
less wind than when cooked. This is true regarding the artichoke as 
well. There are few more beautiful flowers than the enormous nettle 
of the artichoke. Cardoons are easier to grow in England than artichokes proper. The hearts are delicious raw, and the leaves can be wrapped with newspaper and blanched, the tips eaten raw and the rest cooked as a delicious vegetable. To extend the role of fruits, when they are scarce or expensive, 
the 'rawcost' of the Scandinavians and the Swiss can be resorted to. The principle is to batter the fibres of the harder parts of roots and leaves so as to make them approach  the softer consistency of fruits, 
enabling them thereby to be eaten in the larger quantities needed for 
meeting the needs of vitamin C and bulk generally. Although this 
can be done by hand chopping and macerating, there are many mechanical gadgets which save much time. As earlier mentioned, one should not become geared to a fixed 
pattern of eating in a family; even  in entertaining, spontaneity can be left greater opportunities, and meals should be joyfully prolonged 
with long intermittences—many courses need be no more than attractive snippets! It is however usually more convenient to prepare 
the day's eating after a breakfast of cereal, fruit and light tea or 
herbal. The main meal is best taken during the day, not late at night. For those working, fruits and bread and spread can be taken during the day, and the main meal taken on returning, followed by exercise and recreation. Later in the evening, a warmed soup, a light vegetable dish or a cooked fruit pudding should be sufficient. The main meal should begin with  fruits or rawcost, and end 
with them; the salad dish should be  laid as the centrepiece, available 
to be dipped into while the ot her courses are eaten. On a natural 
diet, one barely needs to drink at meals. It is ill-conceived to drink large amounts of commercial fruit drinks during meals. If wine is 
taken on festive occasions, it is not a bad idea to dilute it, and 
prepare it as a wine cup, with various herbs, rather than drinking it neat. A day on fruits is a splendid idea. Once a week should suffice, 
but if one begins to feel jaded, irritable, tired, or at the first tremors 
of a cold, of an ache, then one should go on fruits, and stay on fruits 
for several days if necessary. If one is unwell, the quantity of fruits should be cut down, and fruit jui ces, adequately diluted, taken 
instead. In more severe disease, nothing but diluted fruit juice should be taken. Except in chronic overfeeding or advanced degenerative disease, anything more than a short fast is not 
recommended. In looking through the recipe books, one can pick those needing 
the least cooking, just as one can usually leave out the more questionable items like eggs, substituting by a flour sauce, or nut or lentil padding. Undue cooking can be avoided by soaking. For 
instance, if rice is soaked for 24 hours, it needs little more than a 
few minutes simmering. A tasty risotto can be prepared from such rice, by adding finely chopped raw items, onions, garlic, tomatoes, and other vegetables, sprinkled with grated nuts. Those who cannot have their cereals firm, owing to chewing troubles, can further break down soaked grains in a blender. Lentils, soya and other hard grai ns and seeds, can be similarly 
soaked, up to 48 hours and more, acquiring in the process a delicious sweetness. Thus soaked, le ntils will cook adequately in ten 
minutes simmering. A useful thickening is provided by semolina, obtainable for making gnocci in several grain sizes. Added to 
soaked lentils, mushed cereals or soyas, and lightly cooked, a 
sufficiently solid mixture results, wh ich can be used either 'sour', 
with vegetables and spices, or 'sweet', with fruits, or dried fruits. A flour sauce is also useful, obtained  by stirring sufficient wholemeal 
flour in oil, cold, to make a creamy paste, followed by gentle heating for two or three minutes, followed by adding water, 
vegetable juice or skimmed milk. S our milk can also be used, the 
curds resulting beaten down to form a uniform mixture. For a change, wine or cider can be used. Cold or warm sauces, with infinite varieties of taste, can be prepared by making this mixture more dilute. Do not skimp on uncooked oil; pour it liberally on foods. The 
human love of fat is really a love of soft fat, of oil, first relished in mother's milk, and later in the oil plentiful in the germ of seeds and 
cereals. It helps to keep the tissues firm and young. Much harm is done by the popular recipes for slimming, 
usually recommending an increase in unnatural foods like meat, and 
cutting down on essential human foods like cereals, fruits and oil, with the result that as one becomes more lean, so one becomes more toxic, twisting a few more of the spirals of the degeneracies which will ripen in old age. Body fat is indispensable for health, for the 
proper support of organs as for a normal reserve of energy which 
the body is designed to carry. But as every farmer knows, a fact 
apparently ignored by most human nutritionists, one can decide the kind of fat laid down by the kind of fat eaten, soft or crinkly, streaky or hard. Saturated fats, the fats in all animal foods, lay down hard 
fat in the tissues, which deforms th e normal aesthetic lines of organs 
and limbs, and accounts for the ugly deformities, layerings and 
bulges of even quite young people today. Hard fat further damages the cells in which it is laid. The soft fat laid down from vegetable oils does not deform in 
this way, unless grossly abused, and even then the limbs tend to 
remain smooth, the bulges not necessarily ugly. There is a sexual 
difference in the way fat accumulates. Male sex hormone has a specific effect on metabolism generally, helping to keep the body lean, an indispensable condition for healthy, efficient muscles, a male prerogative. When the male  sex hormones wane with age, 
wisdom would decree that the level of eating should decrease. It is 
usually the reverse that applies, resulting in the monstrous 
deformities of a majority of ageing civilized males. The female hormones, on the other hand, enc ourage the deposition of fat on 
those areas of maximal erotic appeal, the breasts, the hips and buttocks, sites, alas, readily sabotaged by overfeeding. The 
predilection for skinny women, as now prevails in the fashion 
world, is probably a homosexual de-feminization of women. Of greater concern to aesthetics, soft fat is easily mobilized and 
removed from the depot tissues, while hard fat, once laid down, can be very difficult to remove in a synchronized manner that leaves the body aesthetically whole. Even after prolonged dieting, it tends to 
remain in the weary sagging ti ssues in the backwater areas where 
circulation is the poorer, particularly the belly and hips. The reason is that the space left as soft fat is mobilized, is rapidly filled up, as the healthy, elastic protoplasm boun ces back into shape. But owing 
to the damage done to the cells by hard fat, elasticity is lost, so that 
the spaces left become filled with wa ter. This can persist for a long 
time, accounting for the fact that weight loss on dieting appears so slow, and, what is even more frustrating, as soon as a 'normal' diet with fat is resumed, these spaces become rapidly occupied by fat again. Few subjects are so confused as that of dieting, of overweight, 
in which an absence of any notion of normality is apparent at every 
turn. Undoubtedly, when overweight is due to hard fat eating, it is a killer. Soft fat, unless in cons iderable excess, is probably less 
dangerous. There is evidence that the incidence of circulatory and heart diseases is significantly less in the overweight Italian emigre 
communities in the States, living largely on pasta and much 
vegetable oil, than in the community generally. The real test of adequate or excess adiposity is the resulting aesthetics or inaesthetics. When fat, even soft , becomes unattractive, it is bad 
without further question. Exercising the body daily should be a pleasure, not the 
punishment it often becomes in the various cult systems. If one 
cannot walk sufficiently daily—two or three hours—then on several occasions during the day one can ambulate joyfully, wherever one happens to be, alone or communally, with music or without, in freedom and abandon, going through the kind of natural movements one would naturally perform as a native food gatherer—reaching for 
imaginary apples, bending to pick imaginary berries, thrusting, 
raising, bending, jumping, dancing, jogging. Evidently one should take up  this kind of spontaneous 
exercising of the entire body, eye and mind in the ways to which it has been adapted through millions of years of evolution, 
progressively, all the more carefully and gently the longer one has 
remained a sedentary, indolent victim of urbanism. People with heart trouble should not try them at all, and if any malaise is felt while doing them, one should stop immediately, and rest. Pleasure, a sense of enhancement of vitality, a burst of joy in living, are the 
assurances that all is well. The proper balance to exercise is relaxation, not a sedentary 
fidgeting, a tense, anxious stationary restlessness which most people understand by 'doing nothing'. The natural ability to relax, a letting go rather than a concentrated effort, is so far lost, that it must be diligently practised in order to be recovered. One can start in a small 
way, relaxing the fingers, then the hand, then the arm, and 
progressively the entire body. Once acquired—it cannot be consciously imposed—the mind itself is predisposed, the electric patterns of the brain change, and it can even become possible to 
affect the Birger rhythms, the heart beat, the blood pressure in a 
favourable direction. Breathing is a key way of obtaining this 
desirable state, but the popularly advocated 'deep breathing' can be 
unpleasant, even dangerous, when undertaken in the usual anxious, agitated state of mind. Over-breathing, by washing out too much carbon dioxide from the blood, can produce alarming panic symptoms. Deep breathing, gently, harmoniously, slowly, should 
therefore only be practised when an initial ability to relax 
muscularly has been reached. On the other hand, eye relaxation can be beneficially practised from the start—head back to increase 
drainage in the anterior chamber of the eye, sitting or lying in a relaxing position, in quiet or listening to soft music, to poetry, the 
eyes closed, while the muscles of th e lids are increasingly relaxed, 
so that often one reaches a condition when the eyes are half closed, without any effort. One can think of pleasant things, or attempt to cut out stray thinking altogether, to think of darkness, of colour, of light, of smoke, or non corporeal things. Cutting out sound, in noisy environments, by ear-lugging duri ng periods of relaxation or 
meditation, is indispensable. The universe is a creative enterprise; in its lapses of destruction, 
it cannot be said to exist. So the human place in the cosmos is a creative one; all whole, human thinking is creative, and it is only when humans are properly human that they can be said to exist fully 
as far as the Creation is concerned. The creative attitude becomes 
the measure of cosmic fitness, the qualification for belonging meaningfully in the scheme of things, the only assurance against alienation. Although there are some activities patently destructive 
and antihuman practised in most societies, the majority of living functions and activities have a creative potential. If this is realized, 
it can be developed in many of the common tasks of living, in many 
hobbies and interests, individually and socially. But the amateur practice of some art, of any art,  of any activity with an aesthetic 
content, is the supreme means of exercising the creative obligation. Although it is possibly more helpful to become involved in artistic expression, no matter how amateur, to be engaged in the 
appreciation of any art is in itself a creative experience, whether it 
be the simple act of reading, of listening to poetry or music, of appreciating nature, of looking at pa intings or sculpture, of trying to 
sense the possible aesthetic content in  any situation by removing the 
clutter and confusion, the hi deous and the obstructing. By 
developing the aesthetic sensitivities, as this book has from the start 
emphasized, one becomes all the mo re effectively human; while this 
can be exercised in the most important arena of food and feeding, it should clearly become an all-reconciling life-attitude. 17. Notes and Readings 
 
 
An account of the evolution and significance of the humanizing and 
the aesthetic sensitivities can be found in my books, Art into life 
(London 1958) and Art as understanding (London 1963). Human 
History (London 1954), by the great anatomist and anthropologist, 
Sir Elliot Smith, remains the most convincing scientific support for 
an Arcadian' view of man, for a natural goodness and decency. The 
role of mother-love in the evolution of the mammals, the prelude to 
the humanizing sensitivities, is dealt with by F. Alverdes in his, 
Social Life in the Animal World (London 1927). See also M. 
Burton's, Animal Courtship (London 1953). For the innate urge to beauty  in matter, made evident in 
crystals, minerals and molecular structure, and for the resulting sustaining aesthetic theme in nature's creativity generally, in art as in mysticism, see my, The Crystalline Theme (Academy Books, 
1975), Sir Alister Hardy's, The Living Stream (London 1965) is an 
inspired biologist's account of th e aesthetics and the directiveness of 
evolution, culminating in the human being. Support for the significance of the human sensitivity to beauty 
comes from an unexpected quarter, the renowned physicist P. A. M. Dirac, who contends in a very readable article in the Scientific American May 1963, p. 45, that beau ty in a scientific theory is the 
best assurance to its validity. Ugly theories are wrong theories. Support for the natural sensitivities fro m the arts, especially poetry, 
and for the Arcadian view of man, come in a delightful book, The 
Golden Feast, by R. Walker (London 1952). Scientists no longer insist that animal foods are necessary. Although it is rarely admitted that man is not properly adapted to 
such foods, many authorities accept that a vegetarian dietary can be quite adequate, as does the eminent pathologist Rene Dubois, in his, Man Adapting (Yale 1965). Recently, the protein controversy has flared up again, with 
increasing insistence that previous estimates have been far too high. As Drs Miller and Payne point out (Strategy for a hungry world. Nature, Vol. 25, 20 Sept 1974), there is no shortage of protein for the poor peoples of the world as long as there is enough cheap cereal available. To attempt to fill the so called protein gap by increasing the availability of animal protein at the sacrifice of 
primary food production is illogical. P. V. Sakhatme (Nature, Vol. 248, March 1974), claims that protein standards are in excess by nearly 60 per cent. In a recent study in New Guinea, good health was found to be maintained, on essentially vegetable foods, 53 per 
cent less than the standards usuall y considered necessary. Fish was 
plentiful, but was not sought or eaten by the inhabitants (New 
Scientist, Monitor, 25 June 1973). Dr D. McLaren also criticizes the nutritionists attempts to make available more animal protein at the expense of primary cereals (Lancet, 1974). The conclusion that the fantastic creative pilgrimage of cosmic 
evolution has mind as its destiny, finds support from scientists, as in Nature, Vol. 249, p. 208, 17 May 1974. See also W. H. Thorpe's 
Biology, psychology and belief (Cambridge 1962). For a 
combination of science and sensitivity in an approach to nature, see V. F. Weiskopf's brilliant little book, Knowledge and Wonder 
(London 1964).
Food_Fit_For_Humans_by_Frank_Wilson.txt
Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        It is a complex amine, nitr ocobolamine, containing an atom 
of cobalt in its molecule, the only use known of this metal in 
biological processes. It is only needed in unimaginably minute 
amounts, a few millionths of a gram being sufficient. If this minute amount is not supplied, however, the most serious, possibly irreparable damage is done to the nervous system, besides serious ill 
effects on the blood-forming tissues. One can go a considerable time without any of this vitamin in 
the food, weeks or months, for the liver stores considerable amounts of it. As vegetable foods only c ontain fractional amounts of it, and 
many none at all, even when grown on natural soils—fruits do not have a trace of it—the body can evidently absorb amounts so small that they can easily pass chemical de tection. Since so little is needed 
by the tissues, even in such small amounts, the liver can presumably 
build up a reserve—under ideal conditions. Primates like the gorilla, who are strictly vegetarian, and th e other vegetarian animals, must 
accumulate their needs of vitamin B
12 in this way, and even on 
deficient soils, cattle for instance, appear to derive sufficient 
vitamin B 12. It is probable that the micro-organisms which abound 
in the digestive tracts of these an imals produce some of their needs 
of this vitamin. In the human being, traces of vitamin B 12 are probably also 
supplied by micro-organisms in the gut, but these microorganisms require the kind of fermentative conditions typical of a vegetarian 
dietary. Experiments on Vegans have shown that while some evidently derive enough of the vitamin, others do not do so, and the 
explanation of this difference is not yet understood. It is evidently 
not only a matter of raw food; probably the quality of the food comes into it. Owing to this uncertainty, and given the worldwide disturbance of the soil, it would be well for strict vegetarians to take a few micrograms of vitamin B
12 periodically, for instance, for one 
week per month. With this one exception, the ideal human requirements from 
food can undoubtedly be met by a preponderantly raw vegetarian diet. If fruits are eaten several times a day—the one item which can be eaten between meals—the high levels of vitamin C can be satisfied. Although in normal conditio ns of health, much of this 
vitamin C is excreted in the urine,  it should not be looked upon as a 
waste, for the human tissues seem to function best when continuously bathed with this vitamin. If always sufficiently present, passing infections are likely to be resisted, although when infection does occur, truly enormous amounts of this vitamin 
become necessary, which can only be met by large amounts of fruit 
juice, or the taking of vitamin C as a supplement. This should not be looked upon as a substitute for fruits, for there are many things in fruits, ponderable and imponderable, apart from their beauty and flavour, which are necessary, but it would be shortsighted to refuse to make use of this synthetic vitamin, in order to raise the vitamin C 
level when this becomes necessary. In the cooler regions, fruits are seasonally scarce and 
expensive. Provided sufficient raw vegetable food is eaten, there should be no harm in taking smalle r amounts of vitamin C daily in 
pill form. The complete non-toxicity of this vitamin has been amply 
proven; indeed, apart from water, it is about the only substance 
whose range is so wide as to be non-toxic even in amounts several hundred times the normal requirement. Furthermore, it is easily metabolized and excreted when in  excess without taxing in any way 
the alkaline reserves of the tissu es. The only condition under which 
large doses of vitamin C are questionable is when large amounts of 
dairy products are eaten. The vitami n C, which is an acid, may form 
kidney stones by combining with the calcium in these products. But then as we shall claim, dairy products are not a part of normal human food. In relation to their size, children need more food than adults. There is no need for so called 'protective' foods, high in protein, 
provided children can eat whole foods when ever hungry, and the calamitous sweets are kept away. Left to themselves, children will eat often, ignoring the regularity of meals favoured by adults, which is well and good. The meal regularity is in fact one more device for eating more, even when not hungry, for, like the dogs of Pavlov, 
meal times can become the means of a cortical conditioning which 
stimulates even a jaded and overtired stomach. It is thoroughly misguided to gi ve children such supplements as 
vitamin A and D, particularly in such disgusting and loathed forms 
as the fish liver oils. The body is designed to make its own needs of 
these vitamins, in the case of the vitamin A from the carotenoid 
pigments abundant in the colourfu l tissues of plants, and in the case 
of vitamin D, from light irradiation of the skin. Since both these vitamins are stored in the liver, occasional supplies will suffice. Except in the more extreme latitudes, where humans should not be living anyway, there is sufficient light to make vitamin D, provided 
sufficient skin surface is exposed. A clear indication that these 
vitamins should not be eaten as such, is the recent discovery that children who have been adminste red fish oils over a prolonged 
period have a lower I. Q. than other children. Life is preponderantly water, a nd almost all land animals need a 
regular supply of it. On an ideal human diet, so much water is 
contained in the fruits and vegeta bles, that very little water is 
needed. The addition of salt and other unnatural items completely upsets the water balance; as ever y one knows, thirst can become 
obsessive after a heavy meal. The need for water increases in hot weather. Unlike appetite, thirst is a reliable guide of body needs; it 
is unwise to drink except when thirsty. The universe is a whole, and all things aspire to wholeness. Food reflects the wholeness which is life; all the constituents are interdependent. One often finds that if a particular vitamin deficiency is treated, others previously not apparent become 
manifest. This means that when th e ideal diet for any particular 
species of animal prevails, there is  no need to fuss about proteins, 
calories, vitamins and minerals. Some items of food, commonly consumed but doubtfully a part 
of the normal human dietary, will now be examined, with a view to ascertaining the physiological cost th ey entail. For some, the price is 
evidently too high; others have a certain value as emergency foods. Milk. Generally considered a 'protective' food, except by the 
Chinese who look upon it as an obnoxious excrement. The milk of the different mammals varies considerably. The short-lived species 
have made no attempt to remove substances which could, over a 
number of years, jeopardise the longevity of the animal. So it is that cow's milk is high in those substances, the cholesterols and saturated fats, which slowly clutter up the blood vessels—cows and bulls do not live long enough for it to matter. In elephants, and in the higher primates, however, the composition of the milk is quite 
different. Not only is protein lower, but the saturated fats are 
replaced by less saturated and unsaturated, and the cholesterol is low. Furthermore, the first milk fed to infant elephants and primates, the colostrum, is particular ly rich in unsaturated fats. It is 
now realized that the quality of the blood vessels is determined by 
the early feeding of the young; to give cow's milk to a baby elephant 
or a primate is to predispose its blood vessels and heart to lifelong damage by saturated fats. The autopsies of quite young people today show often extensive circulatory damage, most likely due to the common habit of drinking cow's milk from infancy. Skim milk is less harmful, but one can doubt that the proteins 
of cow's milk are minutely identical  to those of the human, the one 
needed for rapid growth, the other for. slow development. Cream is a particularly dangerous food. Margarine, made from soft vegetable fats by saturating them 
with hydrogen, is no better than but ter, although they have little or 
no cholesterol, for their fat molecules are very much larger than those of human milk fat, and result in the deposition of fats as hard as those of animal food in the tissues. The soft margarines, made 
from partly hydrogenated vegetable fa ts, to which is added oils rich 
in unsaturated fats, are suspect, in  view of the chemicals used in 
their manufacture, and of the reports of serious disease following 
their experimental use in animals. Vegetable  'butters' made from emulsified nuts should be excellent, provided no emulsifying or other chemical agents are used in their manufacture. If one likes some fat on one's bread, the ancient device of Mediterranean peasants of dripping a little olive oil on the bread, rubbed with a 
little garlic, is a good one. Kephir, Yogourt, etc. Widely and anciently praised as a 'health' 
food, the fatty constituents rema in much the same, although the 
growth of bacteria and yeasts, producing an acid medium, is 
favourable to anti-putrefactive cond itions which should be helpful. But one should preferably not eat foods that putrefy. These preparations made with skimmed or defatted milk are preferable. Cheese. Hippocrates had noticed that cheese adversely affects a 
significant number of people, an indication that it is not a natural 
food. It has recently been incriminat ed in migraine. The hard, fullfat 
cheeses are more suspect than the li ghter kinds made with whey. At 
the most cheese should only be used occasionally, and in small amounts not so much as a food item but as a condiment. Eggs are designed to meet the extremely rapid growth of 
reptiles and birds, and as such, are the opposite of human needs. Their extremely high content of cholesterol makes them a dangerous food, perhaps the most dangerous. Furthermore, they are the vehicle of many viruses, known and unknown. Coffee, tea, chocolate. The popularity of these items comes not 
only from their stimulating properties, but from their very high content of purines and other extractiv es. On a'mixed' diet, the body 
over-reacts against such extractives in the foods, thus engendering a drug-like demand for more, to mop up the body's over-production of 
defensive substances, resulting in a vicious circle of ever-increasing 
demand. If one must have hot drinks, many herbal teas are harmless. Weak tea seems less harmful than coffee. Vegetable oils. Although the unsaturated fatty acid content of 
different vegetable oils varies, thus affecting their value for 
eliminating saturated fats from the body, no vegetable oil contains 
the saturated fats abundant in all animal oils. Therefore, on a vegetarian diet, it is a matter of taste what oil one prefers. Olive oil, for instance, has a low content of unsaturated fats, but is tasty and good. The only safe fats, however, are those that have been cold 
pressed, out of contact with metal contamination; it is virtually 
impossible to obtain such oils today. Commercial processes entail the use of dangerous solvents, and high temperature extraction responsible for undesirable changes in  the oil itself, quite apart from 
anti-oxidant chemicals used to prevent rancidity. One vegetable oil, rape seed oil,  is toxic, and is being phased 
out of use. However, it is still the cheapest oil on the market. It is usually sold without a reference to its source, as just'salad' or 
'frying' oil, and is widely used in  food processing and in restaurants. Potatoes, cassavas and starchy roots. The toxicity of the 
alkaloids of potato have already been mentioned. Cassava contains deadly prussic acid and will rapidl y kill when eaten raw. The real 
menace of such items is that they tend to reduce the consumption of cereals, which should be the main source of calories in combination with fruits. Bread, biscuits  
Fresh cereal grains can be nibbled like nuts, but once dried, 
something has to be done to them so  that they can be eaten. The best 
way is to soak them and allow them to germinate. Germinating 
grains are about the richest sources of a battery of indispensable 
vitamins. Some should always be set to germinate in succession in some corner of the home, or office. Soaked grains can be mashed, pounded and moulded into thin 
wafers, which can then be dried in a low oven, or yeast can be 
added, and the dough baked as bread. The damp conditions 
prevailing, and the moderate temperatures necessary, are not critical. Lightly cooked groat or porridge, goes back to the Palaeolithic. Unfortunately, industrial production of bread and biscuits, even many classed as 'brown' or 'wholemeal', is highly suspect, so that the best answer is  to make one's own, from wheat of 
known provenance. The bread should be made as coarse as possible, 
for, as with all cooking, one of the aims of breadmaking is undoubtedly to make it easier to eat more than one could otherwise. Pastry, homemade with wholemeal flour and good vegetable 
oil, thinly worked out and as light ly baked in the oven as possible, 
avoiding overbrowning, has probably been over-maligned. Vegetarian'meats', whose basis is often cheap peanut meal, and 
various industrialized food additiv es, can be better made at home, 
with lentils or soya as a base and wholemeal flour and nuts as a 
padding. Yeast. The yeasts are present everywhere, and play an active 
and important role in the human alimentary tract, providing some of the B vitamin requirements when a fermentative flora prevails. But 
different yeasts produce many thousands of different nitrogenous 
substances, some of which are suspect. Moulds, close relatives of yeasts, are known to manufacture some of the most deadly chemicals, such as the cancer producing substances in mouldy peanut meal. While fresh fruit and bakers yeasts are probably excellent, care should be taken with brewers yeast, and only small 
amounts consumed. As for the so called hydrolized yeast 
preparations, made from disintegrating yeast cells usually in a strongly salted medium, they are definitely suspect. Their content of the B vitamins may be high, but they also contain nitrogenous extractives and other substances which have a dramatic effect on the 
blood-forming system, too dramatic not to be harmful. The seeds of the leguminous plants 
Green peas and beans when fresh  are close to other green 
vegetables and are excellent, but pulses are in some cases suspect. A 
few contain lethal amounts of hydrocyanic acid. Two which appear 
to pass the test are lentils and so ya beans. Raw peanuts are barely 
edible. Cooked when fresh they might pass, but a tropical crop, whose storage conditions are never known by the consumer, they are a very suspect food item in view of the extremely dangerous mould products they may harbour. It is of great interest that a milk substitute for infants made 
from soya beans is now available which appears to meet all the needs of the developing infant. Mothers who are not able to breast feed for a sufficient time, should ser iously think of such substitutes 
rather than condemn their offspring to a start in life which entails a 
permanent handicap to their arteries for which cow's milk is 
probably responsible. Coconut. These can be obtained today in fairly fresh condition, 
and are an excellent food. Human milk fats are closer to those 
present in 'coconut milk' than to those of cow's milk. A host of 
attractive preparations can be made from the dried meal. Sugar. The evil of sugar is that it fools the call of sweetness for 
fruits. The common belief that brown sugar is preferable, indeed beneficial, is unfounded, for the br own is due to caramelization and 
to metallic contamination in the course of manufacture. The content 
of B vitamins, not derived from the plant juices but formed as molasses is stored before the sugar is separated from it, is not sufficient justification. It is curious  to observe that in the days when 
hygiene was all the craze, white sugar, like white flour and white 
rice were thought of as better than the brown products because they 
were cleaner and purer, today there h as been a reversal into an equal 
absurdity, when anything 'b rown' is necessarily good. Honey, another cult food, honey is designed for extremely 
rapidly growing insects, not humans. Although 'natural', there is no 
reason to suppose that it is preferable to sugar. There is, alas, no 
way out; if humans want sweet things while remaining healthy, they should have fruits. Mushrooms, fungi. There he goes again, the reader will say, 
belittling the one gourmet article of the vegetarian. But the aim is to 
face the facts, point out the extrem ely thin line of normality; it is up 
to the individual to decide how far he will swerve from the line, how much he is willing to pay for the deviant pleasures. The fact is that primates are as innately terrified by the sight of a mushroom, as by that of a spider or a snake. Although only a few fungi kill, most, 
if not all, cause various subtle sens itivity reactions in a majority of 
people. Commercially grown mushro oms are increasingly subjected 
to a rain of chemicals. However, if one comes upon a lucky patch of bluits, chanterelles, or capes, it would amount to cowardice to resist them. Leafy foods. As already indicated, it is not the more mature 
leaves, but the tender shoots which are intended to feature in moderation in the human diet. Since these are scarce, population 
pressure has encouraged the use of harder leaves, like the brassicas, 
which usually need cooking. It is not therefore surprising that 
various contradictions have been discovered. The brassicas, for 
instance, contain substances which interfere with thyroid function. The already mentioned poisonous oil,  from rape seed, is the product 
of a member of that plant family. They should therefore be looked upon as emergency rather than regular foods. Members of the lettuce family, the cruciferae such as the cress, 
and many other tender green leaves, appear satisfactory. A 
neglected green food is the tender green shoots of grass. Onions and garlic. Both contain extremely irritating and toxic 
substances which can induce serious anaemias and in large amounts, 
can possibly be fatal. They also  often result in hypersensitivity 
reactions of the mucosae and skin, and in some people appear to affect the mind, inducing lethargy and stupour. They should only be used sparingly. Roots, tubers. Here also, the ability to be eaten raw is a good 
test, which allows carrots, and celeriac to pass, while casting doubt on many others. Those members of the mustard family with roots, such as radish, contain strong irritants and are suspect. Tropical fruits. Many people who have lived in the tropics have 
become upset from eating tropical fruits, or at least developed a 
certain antipathy for particular fruits, longing for the more temperate apple. It is the high growing fruits which are usually involved. The ground living prehumans would not have had ordinary access to them. An example known to contain toxic 
substances, injurious to the liver, is  the Avocado. It has surprisingly 
been found to induce mastitis in mammals. Another is the mango, beautiful, but frequently nauseati ng and containing a milk which 
tends to irritate the lips and mouth. Low growing tropical and semi-tropical fruits, on the other hand, such as the banana, the pineapple, the citrus family, are pleasant and wholesome. But many attractive 
low growing berries and fruits of tropical regions are also extremely 
poisonous. Man's ideal dietary can eviden tly be extended, but care is 
needed, for many things commonly consumed and lightly assumed to be wholesome and good turn out to be suspect. Even beauty and 
attractiveness are no longer a reliable guide when one moves into an 
environment very different from that  of one's genetic wombing, or 
is exposed to apparently edible products from a foreign environment. Evidently, many foods which carry a relatively light risk, such as the potato, have a role as an emergency item, and at the present, the entire planet is in an emergency. But even if one is 
likely to be obliged to trespass the narrow limits of the ideal set by 
the very particular perimeters of humanization, one should at least appreciate how extremely narrow these limits happen to be, and realize that a levy is inevit able for the common sloppy and 
insensitive approaches to eating. Those coming the closest to the 
ideal human diet are the vegans, and, somewhat less close, the 
vegetarians. These people are usually above average in sensitivity, in an awareness of self and of others, of things and creatures, which is one reason why many of them come to differ from the common 
patterns in the first place. There can be no doubt that the subjective rewards are considerable, providing a sense of compassion and 
purpose, a zeal for what is whole and natural, and a delight in 
simplicities, rarely met in the genera l modern confusion. It is this 
cleansing of the doors of perception which no doubt accounts for the fact that many of the more sensitive people in the arts are attracted to vegetarianism while the more tough minded tend to go in an opposite dionysian direction of booze and beef. One does find in the ranks of vegetarians persons with a 
tendency to anxiety neurosis above the usual, as one does in any sensitivity demanding pursuit. Their condition is usually improved or cured, thanks to the sense of purpose and an effective life-pattern and idealism which vegetarianism can provide. But there are the 
few health-kick vegetarians who may not rise beyond a self-centred 
preoccupation. If that was all there was to vegetarianism, it would be a shallow concern, even if the pursuit of health is a primordial duty. The great advantage of vegetarianism today is not only its 
practice, but the philosophy it offers regarding other human beings, 
living creatures and nature generally. As the help in these directions 
which past religions could provide is now minimal, vegetarianism is 
particularly well suited to offer a life-pattern ideally adapted to 
modern conditions, restoring a sense of purpose and participation in the natural world, without which human beings are only too 
obviously alienated and distraught, the reason probably why an 
increasing number of young are being attracted to the vegetarian ideology. With regards the bodily advantages, one can be less definite. In 
the first place, some people become vegetarians as a result of 
chronic ill-health, when all else has failed, a fact which tends to 
falsify any comparative study. It is a sad fact that many people are congenitally less robust than othe rs, disadvantages all too often 
intensified by wrong feeding in infancy and childhood. Such people are certain to' be better off as vegetarians, but they may remain handicapped compared with the more genetically robust, living so 
called normal lives. But vegetarianism by itself may not be enough. A person giving 
up meat and fish but indulging in eggs and dairy produce may be no better off. Indeed, it is possible that  a person having some lean meat 
and fish, but no eggs and dairy pr oduce, would be less exposed to 
the long-term disasters of cholesterol, saturated fats and uric acid, 
what ever other insidious physical and mental effects attend. Vegetarian children eating the usual amounts of sweets, jams and sugar have teeth in every way as bad as the general population. As already mentioned, veganism without a supplement of 
vitamin B
12 is dangerous. With this supplement, it is probably as 
close as one can get to the ideal human diet, but perhaps for 
economic reasons, fruits may not feat ure sufficiently. It is probably 
as far as one can get practically in avoiding the usual long-term infirmities, gout and arthritis, colds and constipation, and the common afflictions of daily living. This should also apply to 
vegetarians, provided a sufficienc y of uncooked foods and fruits is 
the rule. In this context, the importance of activity cannot be 
overemphasized. The human body, and mind, are only optimally adaptable in terms of a certain pattern of activity. This pattern must 
have been originally set by the demands of ground living and food-
gathering, and has certainly not changed since, no matter how sedentary human beings have b ecome in urban conditions. This 
pattern is characterized, not by bursts of violent activity, but rather by prolonged moderate activity. For a ground-living primate to be able to fulfil its environmenta l and social obligations, would 
demand at least the equivalent of three hours walking a day. Medicine has now realized the importance of this kind of activity, of the risks of inactivity to the h eart, as those of excessive activity 
which entails athletism, or the weekend violent games of tennis or squash. One must insist, that no matter how ideal the diet, optimal 
physiological conditions will not be met unless this basic activity 
pattern is simultaneously met. Life must simply be arranged to meet 
it, an arrangement facilitated by the energy crisis. There are the half-hearted vegetarians, keen on keeping in with 
the 'normals' in their smoking and drinking habits and not averse to 
some meat and fish occasionally, 'for social reasons'. Such people 
are often less well than most, the victims of fatigue, of disturbed sleeping and of petty inconveniences, which should not be the lot of vegetarians. The high levels of protein and vitamin B complex on a mixed dietary do undoubtedly protect, to some extent, from the damage of alcohol and other poisons. Vegetarians, particularly those 
living on largely refined cereal foods, using sugar, are very 
vulnerable. Although very modera te amounts of non-distilled drinks 
like cider, beer and the lighter wines, are probably beneficial when consumed in the right circumstances, as we shall see, vegetarians are not equipped to keep up with common bad habits. People who become vegetarian in later life often do so as the 
result of some dire warning or health disaster for which medicine can do little or nothing. Usually, such a change of diet brings much benefit, but it would be expecting too much to suppose that the unbiological trespass of many years can be completely annulled. It is the young who especially benefit from a vegetarian diet, the best 
possible assurance that the developi ng tissues of brain and body are 
formed under the most ideal conditions. To cut out breast feeding, and to feed infants on animal foods, is not only likely to lead to mental disquiet, but, in maturity, to a higher incidence of degenerative disease. 15. Beautiful People, Beautiful Things 
 
 
The Creation is a whole, all isolation is disintegration. In the 
making of the human, nature has attained its highest expression of 
wholeness, in love, in the pursuit of beauty, order and harmony. But 
for the wholeness of the human condition to be attained, a 
wholeness in all things contri buting to human existence is 
indispensable. The importance of food to life in general emphasizes 
its supreme importance in the attainment of human wholeness, and 
only a highly specific pattern of eating can meet this highest 
achievement of evolution. Mankind on this planet has been the unfortunate victim of 
terrible times and tribulations. Barely had humanization been 
achieved, than the earth underwent a prolonged period of intermittent and devastating gl aciation, with world-wide 
repercussions. During these terrible times, human beings were obliged to adopt ways of living in order to survive which departed 
widely from the human ideal previously set by nature. Although 
when the Ice Ages subsided some ten thousand years ago, the majority of human beings tended to resume ways of living more 
tolerably human, inventing agriculture in the process to ward against further catastrophe, many bad habits have persisted, 
particularly regarding feeding, which, as we have suggested, 
accounts in large part for the horrors and abnormalities of human 
behaviour. Many parts of the world today should be sympathetic to a 
properly human condition, but because of the importance of cortical conditioning, these bad habits persist and remain a most 
dehumanizing influence, responsible for the terrors of human 
existence and the ugliness of the environment. As the means of 
expressing anger and hatred against nature, against other creatures, 
against man himself have increased  with the industrial age, so 
nature has become increasingly soiled and desecrated, and man's 
chronic inhumanity to man has become more sharpened. The 
situation is critical, for every aspect of the contemporary crisis examined shows a course set on annihilation and extinction. If further appeals to reason, to scien ce, to politics, to sociology, to 
economics are certain to be frustrated unless backed by a genuine change of heart, so are the more simpleton calls for a return to 
nature, for a denial of civili zation. Man is too wounded and 
humiliated a creature, too complicated by culture to be able to act from such purity. Salvation is likely to be very, very demanding. The change must begin from within, important as the tangible 
aspects of life happen to be. One simply must first restore the belief 
that the human being is a noble, sacred creature, holding the most 
essential post in the creative enterp rise of the universe. Anything 
less must entail alienation. Since no reasonable argument can change the colours of the soul, colour must be played, like music to the insane, in the hope that slowly, progressively, the divine 
sensitivities will be recovered, and the mind made whole. Although ugliness tends to cancel the craving for beauty, 
wholeness and purity, to be surrounded by beauty and harmony, to 
practise it at every possible opportunity, must in the long run work. One has the examples of this in the arts. People are often drawn to the arts as a reaction against the puerilities and frustrations of living, the deceptions of gain and material power. While artists, musicians and poets themselves are usually simple people, little good at 
worldly tasks, the patrons have always been people of power, in 
their lives ruthless and hard, yet st rangely softened in the presence 
of the beauty and divinity of ar t. They are not likely to become 
gurus and saints as a result, but they are more whole and human for it, certainly worse without it. The sensitivities on which the arts 
trade should be pursued in every possible aspect of living; nothing 
which is not beautiful should be tolerated, whatever its apparent 
lures. The aim of this book has been to emphasize that such 
sensitivities are eminently applicable to man's most important 
biological function, eating. Not only is it a matter of the choice of 
the right kinds of foods. The attit ude towards food, the conditions 
under which foods are eaten can provide a most important occasion for developing an overall, humanly compatible attitude and a recovery of the sensitivities, of the meaning of being human. This is not a new appeal. All ot her peoples had discovered that 
sacrament and myth are the supreme means of incorporating 
thought, feeling and action into a meaningful human cosmology. One finds, among primitives, as among other less materialistically preoccupied civilizations, that nothing is left out. All is made hallowed, meaningful and sacred. Part of the tragedy of the West, 
thanks to misinterpretation of the significance of science to society, 
has been to purge life of mythical  meaning. Eating is an excellent 
opportunity to restore this indispensable strategy. How one eats is as important as what one eats. Eating cannot be 
a matter only of belly filling, of meeting calories, proteins, and the other dietary essentials, but the daily recurring opportunity to 
express joy, to contemplate beauty, to feel the craving for purity, 
and, a need particularly ignored to day, to feel and express gratitude 
for the bounties of the earth. All peoples and ages have in fact insisted that food should be communally partaken, making it a socially bonding ritual, a bodily f unction raised to a high social and 
spiritual level, becoming in the process a joyful sacrament enacting 
the glory and joy of life. After all, food is not an incidental occurrence. It is the product 
of a quite fantastic creative ecology  on the part of nature, which 
began some fifteen thousand million years ago, and has been ever since groping for the expression of the inherent drive for harmony, 
beauty, and creativity in all matter, ever more explicit, until its 
culmination in the human being. As we have seen, the beauty of fruits and flowers, of all things humanly good, reflect this deep goading at work in all nature. Unless these qualities had found 
previous expression in fruit and fl ower, the human mind would have 
been an impossibility. In spite of the apparent fumblings and 
distractions of time, of the long haul of evolution, seen with the unitive vision of gods, man finds a summit place in the operations of Creation. As an important constitu ent in this realization, such a 
providential offering as food should be partaken in joy, and in humility and reverence, a thanksgi ving to the gods and powers 
responsible for this strange and wonderful place. The right kind of attitude to nature, to food, indeed to all whole, 
natural things is best illustrated in Zen practice, which teaches that 
loose, unconnected thinking is necessarily bad, while at the same 
time it insists that a rigid, imposed direction, the kind favoured by the puritans and fascists, is also bad. Living is a constant juggling 
for which every occasion becomes an opportunity of practice, every 
thought, every touch, every sight, and especially every act. How can this apparent contradic tion be resolved in ordinary 
living. By sensing the inherent sanctity, dignity and cosmic connection of all that is worthy of human doing. Then, in the simple 
outfolding of such an act, no matter how elemental and superficially 
trivial, a sense of profound, exquisite meaningfulness results, beyond all analysis and doubt. This can  be practised in virtually any 
aspect of living, in one's daily work, in one's relations to others, in the contemplation of nature, in the ar ts, in sport, in some particular 
hobby. Eating is an excellent opport unity for so doing, which raises 
the simple act to a high order, physically and spiritually enhancing, and providing a level of satis faction and joy beyond verbal 
description. Zen is not native to the European mind and tradition, and such a 
suggestion will at first seem esoteric. Yet many people do in fact 
attempt to practise what is being suggested in their daily lives, 
having discovered intuitively that it is the best course through the jungles of civilized confusion and uncertainty. Many artists, for instance, are Zen practitioner; without realizing it. finding an integration and joy in their creative procedures which is pure Zen. The fact is that with a modicum of desire, what is being suggested is 
quite easily realizable, and all the more easily in the pursuit of a natural dietary. This exercise can begin with the preparation of food, through 
its presentation and serving, to consumption, stages necessarily demanding familial and social participation. Evidently, the 
environment becomes of great importance. One should forgo eating 
rather than eat in squalid, ugly  surroundings. Joyful, enticing, 
uplifting conversation, music and periods of quiet and meditation should be an intrinsic aspect of the pattern. By contrast, the usual futile banter, the ribald and mischievous exchanges of usual 
entertainment show themselves up as a counter strategy to deny the 
humanizing relevance of the meal, one  more aspect of the subtle and 
all-permeating impoverishment of the sensitivities. Regular meal times constitute a device for the convenience of 
cooks and the cortical conditioning to greed. Meals should be left to the kind of intuitive communal decisions one finds children 
displaying in their games. Eating can undoubtedly induce a 'high', an ecstatic type of 
experience, of the kind one can derive in the most humanizing raptures of life, in love, in communion with' nature, in art, and, as every age and culture has discovered in its own ways, through 
certain drugs. Although it has become so rare and out of line with 
the materialistic pursuit of modern society, hence the recourse to drugs, it is a natural and most nor mal human experience, one which the more humanistic and benign primitives appear to enjoy 
throughout the waking day and in their dream ecstasies also. It comes, as a more or less continuous irradiation of joyfulness, of a 
sense of profound relevance and belonging, with peaks amounting 
to rapture, as the reward for life wholly and humanly lived, for effective social and communal co mpassion and service, for sexual 
love achieved as for the extensions of loving freed of all sexuality; it 
comes in the practice of any humanly enhancing occupation, of work shared and socially relevant, of art, of ritual, of religion. The essential characteristic of the 'high' experience, as of the 
'high' dream, is that the level of experience is so altered that ordinary verbal descriptions and analyses are pointless. Its only possible evidence is its experience,  which is the reason why it has 
become so neglected in a materialistic culture which has 
increasingly insisted that only the so lid material things are real. But 
although rarely experienced by the majority of people today, except perhaps for the common intense in timations of puberty and of 
youth, it can be easily recovered, so well as to become the most rewarding ingredient in living. Food appears to have a singular capacity for inducing such a 
'high'. No doubt this can be entirely due to the sacramental element in eating, with its profound humanizing associations, but there could also be a more physiological boosting to it. The attractiveness, beauty and purity of natural foods are such a boosting, for the 'high' experience is necessarily a hyper-aesthetic experience. Ugliness is 
anathema to it. In another book, the writer mentioned an observation of 
Macacus monkeys in the wild, in a drunken, rapturous condition following feasts on ripe guavas. So keen were they on the effects, that some individuals were seen to prefer the overripe fallen fruits to 
those on the bough. Is this a perversion, or does it reflect a natural 
boost to the joy of living which primate eating is intended to provide. An analysis of ripe guavas revealed the interesting fact that they contained up to 0. 8 per cent ethyl alcohol, while those on the ground could have as much as 2 per cent to 3 per cent. Because of its crude abuses as a mind-fuddling drug in the 
West, entailing the consumption of large amounts of alcoholic 
drinks, alcohol is a misunderstood substance. When very small amounts of alcohol are taken, in the right frame of mind, it is 
nothing but a stimulant of the higher, humanizing emotions. It is only when this threshold is exceeded that alcohol passes quickly 
from being a stimulant, to a depressant, cutting out the higher 
aspects of mental functioning and thus inducing a lower, frequently subhuman level of experience and behaviour. The importance of the 
right frame of mind has been observed in the case of other psychotropic substances. Taken without the uplifting influence of sacrament, they have banal and frequently anti-human results. Taken in a sacramental atmosphere, they can be potently 
humanizing. The humanly enhancing effects of minimal amounts of alcohol 
taken in a sacramental context was not missed by the early Christians. Some early sects so managed to enhance the quite 
minimal amounts of alcohol taken in the sacrament that they would 
dance and shake with divine rapture, to the point of becoming scathingly called the'shakers' by those who did not share their 
rapture. The fact that yeasts specialized for converting sugar into 
alcohol are present on the skins of all fruits, that naturally such 
fruits become bruised, if ever so minutely as by the effects of wind, would imply that any creature designed to live preponderantly on fruits would necessarily partake of certain minimal amounts of alcohol. Knowing how canny nature, in the guise of natural selection, happens to be in making use of any such offerings, it is 
reasonable to suppose that such minute traces of ethyl alcohol were 
made use of in the human genesis to act as a stimulant to the higher humanizing faculties. If a 'high' experience is a humanly decisive experience, then such a stimulation would have been as much a tool in humanization as the perception of order and beauty in nature, as 
the evolution of the musical capacities of the human voice. It would 
have been an ideal antidote to the risks of the antihuman substances 
which can, as we have seen, arise in the course of deviant dietaries. Granting the relatively large amounts of fruits intended to be eaten, enough alcohol could be derived to induce the kind of 'high' 
described, emphasizing the humanizing role of food in general. There are hints that in prehisto ry, such feasting occurred, and 
that the grape, a typical low growi ng fruit of EuroAsia, featured in 
such feasts. But with the advent of the Ice Ages, or the ending of the first great Interglacial during which humanizing conditions applied, a disturbed environment led to a disturbed way of life. It was not a 
big step unfortunately for the minimal amounts of alcohol in natural 
foods to give way to the higher amounts made available in especially fermented fruits, in accord with the rising subhuman arousals of a disturbed existence. So the fermented juices of fruits became linked to the Dionysian cults; as innocence was lost, so 
these evidently became more orgias tic and lascivious. Quite early in 
human history alas, alcohol became an active agent in dehumanization, as it still is. To say that beauty goes with h ealth, and that health is the 
reward of wholeness, requires a defi nition of beauty distinct from its 
usual sexy involvements. Necessarily natural beauty is designed to 
enshrine sexual love, but this is different from the beauty, which is 
no more than a veiled invitation to licence, evident in entertainment, in fashion, in the novel, in a romanticized sexuality not so far from embellished pornography. Natural b eauty demands purity, and is 
inseparable from love. In the eyes of love, provided there is no 
untoward blemish, what could be seen as sexually plain could 
appear as of great beauty, a matter of internal light rather than of outward provocation, of wholeness rather than surface. That the human being, when truly human, is particularly attuned to this definition of beauty is made eviden t in art. Indeed, when it is the 
'sexy' kind of beauty that prevails, one has not to do with art, but 
with pornography. It is a fact, which anyone can put to the test, that a return to a 
natural dietary not only restores health, but beauty as just defined. The foul breath, and humiliating body odours, supporting a vast artificial industry, give way to a na tural sweetness. It is remarkable 
how fragrant the skin becomes on such a diet. The common greasy 
patches on forehead and nose, the dilated pores and psoriasis, the crinkly piggy fat and sagging which deform give way to a clarity, a firmness and a harmony of movement even in long abused bodies, 
and the eyes, those true portals to the soul, become bright and alive. There is enough evidence to sustain hope, that even advanced so 
called incurable disease can yield to a natural restoration, 
particularly when this is accompanied by a supporting restoration in human faith. But sadly, in some of the most terrible ills against which all the 
skills of medicine and science remain largely powerless, the cancers and mutilations of ageing, mostly the results of human mischief and 
misunderstanding of nature, the body has no experience of reaction 
and defence. Death must then come, and be faced, as it must anyway, however joyful and wonderful life has been. In a civilization geared to the worship of material power, death is a most terrifying, utterly humiliating event. As nothing but an animal, 
knowing only material things, death is totally unacceptable, and 
those who say that they have resigned themselves to it on such terms, have in truth only shut their eyes to its ultimately humiliating power. Contemplating the wholeness and progressive achievements of life, it would be a contradiction of the entire enterprise of 
Creation to produce a creature aware of itself, and so of death, 
without some compensatory adaptation. Such compensations have perennially come in the form of a transcendental belief that the human being is not entirely in bo ndage to time and space, a belief 
lost in the present crisis of materialism. It will have to be restored, if human beings are to recover a dignified and meaningful place in the 
Creation. There is no reason why it should not be a perfectly natural 
restoration. There are pointers today even in science that so called material reality is much more than space, time and substance. But while this is at present a challenge  for the individual to face for 
himself, nature has equipped the human to face death, in making 
death itself the culminating 'high' to living. Even following the 
terrible and prolonged torments of disease, there is abounding evidence that death can come as an ecstasy, although it would seem 
that the 'high' of dying is more likely to be the reward for a life lived wholely and in respect of natural law. Just as there is a natural way to living, so there is a natural way 
to dying, one completely ignored by the modern age, one in fact 
actively rejected by the medical profession. It is a simple way, practised by all other cultures. At the end of a long life humanly lived, the intimation of death comes with a kindness that robs it of fear. On the contrary, there is a welcome and a reassurance about it. When death comes sooner, shortcutting the natural span, death can 
still be met by a letting go, when a ll hope is gone, by simply fasting 
out. For those who have regularly practised the fast in the course of living, there will be the reassurance that this simple act brings with it intimations of transcendence, of purity and glory which thoroughly defy the apparent finalit y of material things. Fasting out 
implies abandoning the sacrament of eating for the sacramental act 
of dying. The same hallowing, reverential, grateful approach is needed, the same envelopment in  beauty, joy and purity. The 
timeless association of the human and the floral should not follow, but precede death; flowers should be for the dying, not for the dead, 
the reminder in such wonderful things, that nature is profoundly 
humanly attuned, and that wherever the Creation goes, there will its chosen creatures, in rapturous joy and fulfilment, go also. 16. Hints for the Millennium 
 
 
In happier times, fruits and salads feature more predominately 
in the dietary, just as they go out in darker times. The head gardener 
of James II, was of the opinion that an ordinary salad should have at least 30 ingredients (mentioned in the Popular Encyclopaedia of 
Gardening, by H. H. Thomas and G. Forsyth). The tender roots of 
daisy, of fennel, of angelica and campion, as well as of carrot and parsnip were used. Leaves of wild and cultivated plants, whose names are likely to sound foreign to many a city-dweller but which abound, were also popular—dandelion, cowthistle, primrose, violet, tarragon, rocket, sage, hyssop, marigold, marjoram, leek tops, 
purslane, cowslip, basil, borage, chevil, daisy, vine and marrow 
tendrils, sorrel, scurvy grass, broom  and elder buds and many other 
things, procurable without cost by the diligent. Flowers were also added liberally, those of dandelion, angelica, nasturtium, rose, primroses, etc. The happy Elizabethans were especially fond of 
salads, and seldom had a meal without one. Just as fruits should be available at all times, the humanizing 
decoration in every room, in ev ery office, and eaten whenever 
desired, so the salad should form the artistic focus of every meal. As John Evelyn, the salad authority of the seventeenth century remarked, the picking and preparing of salads is a great and 
legitimate art, giving much pl easure and healthfulness in its 
practice. If one has no back garden, many things can be grown from 
seeds in boxes, from the common'mustard and cress' to the 
germinating shoots of cereals, of wheat, barley, maize. If you buy or 
are given roses, eat one. If you are lucky in having something of a 
garden, or access to a growable patch, there is no limit to your contribution to health and joy. Ma ny vegetables allowed to flower 
make beautiful flowers, e. g. , the Jerusalem Artichoke, which, 
incidentally, is delicious grated raw with olive oil, giving very much 
less wind than when cooked. This is true regarding the artichoke as 
well. There are few more beautiful flowers than the enormous nettle 
of the artichoke. Cardoons are easier to grow in England than artichokes proper. The hearts are delicious raw, and the leaves can be wrapped with newspaper and blanched, the tips eaten raw and the rest cooked as a delicious vegetable. To extend the role of fruits, when they are scarce or expensive, 
the 'rawcost' of the Scandinavians and the Swiss can be resorted to. The principle is to batter the fibres of the harder parts of roots and leaves so as to make them approach  the softer consistency of fruits, 
enabling them thereby to be eaten in the larger quantities needed for 
meeting the needs of vitamin C and bulk generally. Although this 
can be done by hand chopping and macerating, there are many mechanical gadgets which save much time. As earlier mentioned, one should not become geared to a fixed 
pattern of eating in a family; even  in entertaining, spontaneity can be left greater opportunities, and meals should be joyfully prolonged 
with long intermittences—many courses need be no more than attractive snippets. It is however usually more convenient to prepare 
the day's eating after a breakfast of cereal, fruit and light tea or 
herbal. The main meal is best taken during the day, not late at night. For those working, fruits and bread and spread can be taken during the day, and the main meal taken on returning, followed by exercise and recreation. Later in the evening, a warmed soup, a light vegetable dish or a cooked fruit pudding should be sufficient. The main meal should begin with  fruits or rawcost, and end 
with them; the salad dish should be  laid as the centrepiece, available 
to be dipped into while the ot her courses are eaten. On a natural 
diet, one barely needs to drink at meals. It is ill-conceived to drink large amounts of commercial fruit drinks during meals. If wine is 
taken on festive occasions, it is not a bad idea to dilute it, and 
prepare it as a wine cup, with various herbs, rather than drinking it neat. A day on fruits is a splendid idea. Once a week should suffice, 
but if one begins to feel jaded, irritable, tired, or at the first tremors 
of a cold, of an ache, then one should go on fruits, and stay on fruits 
for several days if necessary. If one is unwell, the quantity of fruits should be cut down, and fruit jui ces, adequately diluted, taken 
instead. In more severe disease, nothing but diluted fruit juice should be taken. Except in chronic overfeeding or advanced degenerative disease, anything more than a short fast is not 
recommended. In looking through the recipe books, one can pick those needing 
the least cooking, just as one can usually leave out the more questionable items like eggs, substituting by a flour sauce, or nut or lentil padding. Undue cooking can be avoided by soaking. For 
instance, if rice is soaked for 24 hours, it needs little more than a 
few minutes simmering. A tasty risotto can be prepared from such rice, by adding finely chopped raw items, onions, garlic, tomatoes, and other vegetables, sprinkled with grated nuts. Those who cannot have their cereals firm, owing to chewing troubles, can further break down soaked grains in a blender. Lentils, soya and other hard grai ns and seeds, can be similarly 
soaked, up to 48 hours and more, acquiring in the process a delicious sweetness. Thus soaked, le ntils will cook adequately in ten 
minutes simmering. A useful thickening is provided by semolina, obtainable for making gnocci in several grain sizes. Added to 
soaked lentils, mushed cereals or soyas, and lightly cooked, a 
sufficiently solid mixture results, wh ich can be used either'sour', 
with vegetables and spices, or'sweet', with fruits, or dried fruits. A flour sauce is also useful, obtained  by stirring sufficient wholemeal 
flour in oil, cold, to make a creamy paste, followed by gentle heating for two or three minutes, followed by adding water, 
vegetable juice or skimmed milk. S our milk can also be used, the 
curds resulting beaten down to form a uniform mixture. For a change, wine or cider can be used. Cold or warm sauces, with infinite varieties of taste, can be prepared by making this mixture more dilute. Do not skimp on uncooked oil; pour it liberally on foods. The 
human love of fat is really a love of soft fat, of oil, first relished in mother's milk, and later in the oil plentiful in the germ of seeds and 
cereals. It helps to keep the tissues firm and young. Much harm is done by the popular recipes for slimming, 
usually recommending an increase in unnatural foods like meat, and 
cutting down on essential human foods like cereals, fruits and oil, with the result that as one becomes more lean, so one becomes more toxic, twisting a few more of the spirals of the degeneracies which will ripen in old age. Body fat is indispensable for health, for the 
proper support of organs as for a normal reserve of energy which 
the body is designed to carry. But as every farmer knows, a fact 
apparently ignored by most human nutritionists, one can decide the kind of fat laid down by the kind of fat eaten, soft or crinkly, streaky or hard. Saturated fats, the fats in all animal foods, lay down hard 
fat in the tissues, which deforms th e normal aesthetic lines of organs 
and limbs, and accounts for the ugly deformities, layerings and 
bulges of even quite young people today. Hard fat further damages the cells in which it is laid. The soft fat laid down from vegetable oils does not deform in 
this way, unless grossly abused, and even then the limbs tend to 
remain smooth, the bulges not necessarily ugly. There is a sexual 
difference in the way fat accumulates. Male sex hormone has a specific effect on metabolism generally, helping to keep the body lean, an indispensable condition for healthy, efficient muscles, a male prerogative. When the male  sex hormones wane with age, 
wisdom would decree that the level of eating should decrease. It is 
usually the reverse that applies, resulting in the monstrous 
deformities of a majority of ageing civilized males. The female hormones, on the other hand, enc ourage the deposition of fat on 
those areas of maximal erotic appeal, the breasts, the hips and buttocks, sites, alas, readily sabotaged by overfeeding. The 
predilection for skinny women, as now prevails in the fashion 
world, is probably a homosexual de-feminization of women. Of greater concern to aesthetics, soft fat is easily mobilized and 
removed from the depot tissues, while hard fat, once laid down, can be very difficult to remove in a synchronized manner that leaves the body aesthetically whole. Even after prolonged dieting, it tends to 
remain in the weary sagging ti ssues in the backwater areas where 
circulation is the poorer, particularly the belly and hips. The reason is that the space left as soft fat is mobilized, is rapidly filled up, as the healthy, elastic protoplasm boun ces back into shape. But owing 
to the damage done to the cells by hard fat, elasticity is lost, so that 
the spaces left become filled with wa ter. This can persist for a long 
time, accounting for the fact that weight loss on dieting appears so slow, and, what is even more frustrating, as soon as a 'normal' diet with fat is resumed, these spaces become rapidly occupied by fat again. Few subjects are so confused as that of dieting, of overweight, 
in which an absence of any notion of normality is apparent at every 
turn. Undoubtedly, when overweight is due to hard fat eating, it is a killer. Soft fat, unless in cons iderable excess, is probably less 
dangerous. There is evidence that the incidence of circulatory and heart diseases is significantly less in the overweight Italian emigre 
communities in the States, living largely on pasta and much 
vegetable oil, than in the community generally. The real test of adequate or excess adiposity is the resulting aesthetics or inaesthetics. When fat, even soft, becomes unattractive, it is bad 
without further question. Exercising the body daily should be a pleasure, not the 
punishment it often becomes in the various cult systems. If one 
cannot walk sufficiently daily—two or three hours—then on several occasions during the day one can ambulate joyfully, wherever one happens to be, alone or communally, with music or without, in freedom and abandon, going through the kind of natural movements one would naturally perform as a native food gatherer—reaching for 
imaginary apples, bending to pick imaginary berries, thrusting, 
raising, bending, jumping, dancing, jogging. Evidently one should take up  this kind of spontaneous 
exercising of the entire body, eye and mind in the ways to which it has been adapted through millions of years of evolution, 
progressively, all the more carefully and gently the longer one has 
remained a sedentary, indolent victim of urbanism. People with heart trouble should not try them at all, and if any malaise is felt while doing them, one should stop immediately, and rest. Pleasure, a sense of enhancement of vitality, a burst of joy in living, are the 
assurances that all is well. The proper balance to exercise is relaxation, not a sedentary 
fidgeting, a tense, anxious stationary restlessness which most people understand by 'doing nothing'. The natural ability to relax, a letting go rather than a concentrated effort, is so far lost, that it must be diligently practised in order to be recovered. One can start in a small 
way, relaxing the fingers, then the hand, then the arm, and 
progressively the entire body. Once acquired—it cannot be consciously imposed—the mind itself is predisposed, the electric patterns of the brain change, and it can even become possible to 
affect the Birger rhythms, the heart beat, the blood pressure in a 
favourable direction. Breathing is a key way of obtaining this 
desirable state, but the popularly advocated 'deep breathing' can be 
unpleasant, even dangerous, when undertaken in the usual anxious, agitated state of mind. Over-breathing, by washing out too much carbon dioxide from the blood, can produce alarming panic symptoms. Deep breathing, gently, harmoniously, slowly, should 
therefore only be practised when an initial ability to relax 
muscularly has been reached. On the other hand, eye relaxation can be beneficially practised from the start—head back to increase 
drainage in the anterior chamber of the eye, sitting or lying in a relaxing position, in quiet or listening to soft music, to poetry, the 
eyes closed, while the muscles of th e lids are increasingly relaxed, 
so that often one reaches a condition when the eyes are half closed, without any effort. One can think of pleasant things, or attempt to cut out stray thinking altogether, to think of darkness, of colour, of light, of smoke, or non corporeal things. Cutting out sound, in noisy environments, by ear-lugging duri ng periods of relaxation or 
meditation, is indispensable. The universe is a creative enterprise; in its lapses of destruction, 
it cannot be said to exist. So the human place in the cosmos is a creative one; all whole, human thinking is creative, and it is only when humans are properly human that they can be said to exist fully 
as far as the Creation is concerned. The creative attitude becomes 
the measure of cosmic fitness, the qualification for belonging meaningfully in the scheme of things, the only assurance against alienation. Although there are some activities patently destructive 
and antihuman practised in most societies, the majority of living functions and activities have a creative potential. If this is realized, 
it can be developed in many of the common tasks of living, in many 
hobbies and interests, individually and socially. But the amateur practice of some art, of any art,  of any activity with an aesthetic 
content, is the supreme means of exercising the creative obligation. Although it is possibly more helpful to become involved in artistic expression, no matter how amateur, to be engaged in the 
appreciation of any art is in itself a creative experience, whether it 
be the simple act of reading, of listening to poetry or music, of appreciating nature, of looking at pa intings or sculpture, of trying to 
sense the possible aesthetic content in  any situation by removing the 
clutter and confusion, the hi deous and the obstructing. By 
developing the aesthetic sensitivities, as this book has from the start 
emphasized, one becomes all the mo re effectively human; while this 
can be exercised in the most important arena of food and feeding, it should clearly become an all-reconciling life-attitude. 17. Notes and Readings 
 
 
An account of the evolution and significance of the humanizing and 
the aesthetic sensitivities can be found in my books, Art into life 
(London 1958) and Art as understanding (London 1963). Human 
History (London 1954), by the great anatomist and anthropologist, 
Sir Elliot Smith, remains the most convincing scientific support for 
an Arcadian' view of man, for a natural goodness and decency. The 
role of mother-love in the evolution of the mammals, the prelude to 
the humanizing sensitivities, is dealt with by F. Alverdes in his, 
Social Life in the Animal World (London 1927). See also M. Burton's, Animal Courtship (London 1953). For the innate urge to beauty  in matter, made evident in 
crystals, minerals and molecular structure, and for the resulting sustaining aesthetic theme in nature's creativity generally, in art as in mysticism, see my, The Crystalline Theme (Academy Books, 
1975), Sir Alister Hardy's, The Living Stream (London 1965) is an 
inspired biologist's account of th e aesthetics and the directiveness of 
evolution, culminating in the human being. Support for the significance of the human sensitivity to beauty 
comes from an unexpected quarter, the renowned physicist P. A. M. Dirac, who contends in a very readable article in the Scientific American May 1963, p. 45, that beau ty in a scientific theory is the 
best assurance to its validity. Ugly theories are wrong theories. Support for the natural sensitivities fro m the arts, especially poetry, 
and for the Arcadian view of man, come in a delightful book, The 
Golden Feast, by R. Walker (London 1952). Scientists no longer insist that animal foods are necessary. Although it is rarely admitted that man is not properly adapted to 
such foods, many authorities accept that a vegetarian dietary can be quite adequate, as does the eminent pathologist Rene Dubois, in his, Man Adapting (Yale 1965). Recently, the protein controversy has flared up again, with 
increasing insistence that previous estimates have been far too high. As Drs Miller and Payne point out (Strategy for a hungry world. Nature, Vol. 25, 20 Sept 1974), there is no shortage of protein for the poor peoples of the world as long as there is enough cheap cereal available. To attempt to fill the so called protein gap by increasing the availability of animal protein at the sacrifice of 
primary food production is illogical. P. V. Sakhatme (Nature, Vol. 248, March 1974), claims that protein standards are in excess by nearly 60 per cent. In a recent study in New Guinea, good health was found to be maintained, on essentially vegetable foods, 53 per 
cent less than the standards usuall y considered necessary. Fish was 
plentiful, but was not sought or eaten by the inhabitants (New 
Scientist, Monitor, 25 June 1973). Dr D. McLaren also criticizes the nutritionists attempts to make available more animal protein at the expense of primary cereals (Lancet, 1974). The conclusion that the fantastic creative pilgrimage of cosmic 
evolution has mind as its destiny, finds support from scientists, as in Nature, Vol. 249, p. 208, 17 May 1974. See also W.
The most serious consequence of not consuming vitamin B12 is damage to the nervous system, which can be irreparable.
What is the most serious consequence of not consuming vitamin B12?
The recommended daily intake of vitamin B12 is not specified in the text, but it is emphasized that a supplement is necessary to ensure the ideal human diet.
What is the recommended daily intake of vitamin B12?
The recommended way to prepare grains is to soak them in water for a certain period, then germinate them, and finally dry them in a low-temperature oven.
What is the recommended way to prepare grains?
The recommended way to relax is to engage in activities that promote a sense of wholeness and harmony, such as meditation, contemplation, and gentle physical activity.
What is the recommended way to relax and reduce stress?
The recommended way to cook grains is to lightly cook them, avoiding overcooking, as this can lead to the loss of nutrients and the formation of toxins.
What is the recommended way to cook grains?