diet of hot vegetables,
puddings, cocoashell, etc.? (2) Are cooked lentils,
butter-beans, macaroni, etc., more beneficial taken hot than
after they have cooled? (3) Could uncooked vegetables _of
sufficient nutriment_ be substituted for these? I shall be glad
if it is quite safe to live entirely on raw foods, whether fresh
or "prepared."

The use of the oven, pan and kettle is not essential to a healthy
diet, but few people in this changeable, and often cold, depressing
climate are willing to forgo their occasional use. One cannot get hot
water for a drink without a kettle or a small saucepan and a gas ring,
and hot water is often a very comforting and useful drink, especially
where an effort is being made to break off the tea and coffee habit.

A diet of bread and butter, biscuits, cheese, fresh and dried fruits
is excellent, provided our correspondent also includes grated raw
roots and salads as the medicinal part of the regimen, and keeps the
fresh fruit to itself as one meal of the day. Cold water or cold milk
could also be taken in the place of hot water or hot milk, although I
deprecate the use of milk as a beverage unless a person is willing to
live entirely on milk like a baby does. The hot vegetables are
uncalled for, provided the raw vegetables are substituted for them.
The puddings can well be discarded. Cocoashell beverages are useful in
very many cases.

Beans or lentils can be eaten sparingly in a raw state if first
soaked, then flaked in a Dana machine, and afterwards flavoured with
herbs or parsley. I certainly think that, if they _are_ to be cooked,
the taste is better if eaten hot; but there is no reason why cold
cooked lentils should not be eaten any more than is the case with an
other form of cooked food. Uncooked vegetables will not take the place
of lentils, because they are of a different order of food-stuff. The
uncooked vegetable would go well with the lentils as neutralising
agents of the acids into which all nitrogenous foods break down in the
body. Most people will find that nuts, cheese and eggs are better
sources of proteid than lentils or other "pulse foods."

H. VALENTINE KNAGGS.

THE

HEALTHY

LIFE

The Independent
Health Magazine.

3 AMEN CORNER LONDON E.C.

V