Greetings! In today’s class, we will learn about how stimulating foods and drinks contribute to the development of an appetite for intoxicants, and also tobacco.

Group Two, Stimulating Foods

The foods in this class are: Meat extracts, meat broths, beef tea, meat soups, raw meat in particular, all meats.

From Alexander Haig we take this paragraph showing the interrelation between meats, tea, and coffee: “The animal foods in common use (meat, fish, fowl, game, and eggs) all contain uric acid or substances of the xanthin group which can be converted into it. The alkaloid of tea (caffeinated), coffee, chocolate and cocoa are also xanthins and are to be avoided.”

The table below is given to help you to appreciate how large are the amounts of these undesirable substances in the juices of flesh, and in tea (caffeinated) and coffee, taken from “High Blood Pressure,” by G.K. Abbott, M.D., page 48:

Numerous authorities also recognize that these extractives of meat lead in the direction of alcohol. Dr. Fitch, a very noted authority, says:

Flesh foods

“In cases of periodic alcoholism, in which there is no inordinate or indeed, as a rule, no
desire whatever for alcohol between the attacks, a non-stimulating diet is believed by most authorities to be best. Fruits, plainly cooked cereals, and vegetables should constitute the staple diet…There are those who hold that the consumption of meat in large quantities predisposes to drink, and that the proper treatment for those addicted to drink is to withhold meat as far as possible. Although undoubtedly great drinkers are often large meat eaters, this is by no means universal. For example, in Australia, where probably more meat is eaten per capita than in any other part of the world, the favorite beverage and that most largely drunk is tea. Climate plays an important role in those countries in which meat and alcohol are the popular diet. Nevertheless, a relationship apparently exists between the consumption of meat and alcohol…”

Dr. Fitch’s citation that the Australians do not use much alcohol, but use much tea, confirms the idea that the tea will partially replace the alcohol, and so he strengthens our argument rather than weakening it.

We present another author who has written from the standpoint of curing the drinking habit:

Vegetarianism & Alcoholism

“Speaking upon the relation between vegetarians and total abstinence, Hon. Edvard Wavrinsky, a member of the Swedish parliament, a very active worker in the temperance cause, holding the office of International Chief Templar, said: “It is time that the friends of total abstinence duly appreciate and resort to the powerful ally they have in vegetarianism. If a drunkard can be induced to embrace the mild, healthful, vegetarian diet, his desire for alcohol will at once be considerably reduced, and finally wholly fall off. He will feel somewhat lax in the beginning, lacking the excitement caused by flesh and alcohol; but soon he will feel his vitality increase, his outer and inner buoyancy return; and he will understand that under normal circumstances no stimulants are needed to keep the machinery of the body running.’

” ‘Of course they who want to serve and elevate humanity must control themselves in food and drink. It does not suffice that we do not use the destructive, intoxicating liquors; we must go the whole length, and also work for the best food, since this stands in exceedingly close relation to temperance.’ “

All writers agree that meats contain stimulants, and many have pointed out the fact that these lead in the direction of alcohol; several such are offered here. Surely a diet that is anti-alcoholic after the appetite is established would be equally anti-alcoholic before the appetite is developed, and so be a preventative.

Meat Is a Stimulant

“Dr. Haig then shows that flesh, beef-tea, soups, meat-extracts, and other ‘deadly decoctions of flesh,’ are stimulants, quickly evolve quantities of force and consequently produce a corresponding amount of depression. ‘Stimulation is not force, but force renders a little more quickly available.’

” ‘Hence it comes about that those who took alcohol on a flesh diet generally very soon give it up when they give up flesh, and smoke also very little, having no craving for any stimulants; while if what most meat-eaters say were true, that meat is very much better nourishment, it ought to be exactly the other way.’

Meat & Tobacco

“The editor of the London Clarion, England, relating his own experience, said: ‘I was a heavy smoker for more than thirty years. I have often smoked as much as two ounces of tobacco in a day. I don’t suppose I have smoked less than eight ounces in a week for a quarter of a century. If there was one thing in life I feared my will was to weak to conquer, it was the habit of smoking. Well, I have been a vegetarian for eight weeks and I find that my passion for tobacco is weakening. I cannot smoke those pipes now. I have to get new pipes and milder tobacco, and am not smoking half an ounce a day. It does not taste the same.’ “

Evidently a non-flesh diet, consisting largely of fruits and vegetables, would constitute a mighty barrier against the development of alcohol. A plant-based diet does not set up cravings for tobacco and alcohol, but lessens them.

A Quote to Note: “Grains, fruits, nuts, and vegetables constitute the diet chosen for us by our Creator. These foods, prepared in as simple and natural a manner as possible, are the most healthful and nourishing. They impart a strength, a power of endurance, and a vigor of intellect that are not afforded by a more complex and stimulating diet.” MH 296

Grab a friend and share the wealth, from what you’ve learned in the School of Health! In our next class, we shall learn more about how stimulating drinks create a craving for tobacco and alcohol. Until then, God bless!

Tell us what you learned from today’s class, in the comment section, below!

                                                            Previous Class: Part 1, Part 2