Fitness

I serve kidneys frequently; kidney creole is hard to beat. Brains I bake in bacon rings, steam and then cream with ham or tuna, or serve liquefied in milk and added to scrambled eggs and soups; I have finally discovered they can be delicious. When liquefied, they have a texture similar to that of whipping cream and are amazingly palatable in ice cream and eggnogs. Unhydrogenated peanut butter and other nut butters are good old stand-bys; the untoasted varieties obtained from health-food stores are nutritionally superior to others. I keep peanuts, almonds, cashew nuts, and walnuts in the house at all times for children’s lunches and afternoon snacks; they are excellent if the budget can take it. The cumulative amounts of B vitamins obtained from all of these foods is worthwhile indeed. Many of them are too high in calories, however, for those of us who are forced to lead sedentary lives.

If I am working under pressure, which seems to be most of the time, I eat liver daily for breakfast. Fortunately it is my favorite meat and has become the children’s favorite, too. I saute it, using the least fat possible to keep it from sticking, sear it on both sides, then turn off the heat, and let it cook slowly, uncovered, from the heat in the pan. If the liver is not the best, I roll it in flour or wheat germ before cooking it or eat it covered with catsup so that I cannot taste it. Raw liver is nutritionally superior to well done because enzymes, which can help you digest it, are not destroyed; I prefer mine medium well and rationalize that I can produce my own enzymes. Every type of liver, be it rabbit, lamb, pork, beef, or giraffe, supplies B vitamins.

If you are one of those people who hate liver yet truly desire the best health you can obtain, desiccated liver, dried under vacuum at below body temperature, is available; not by the farthest stretch of the imagination, however, could one call it palatable; 2 heaping tablespoons are equivalent to one serving, or 1/4 pound, of fresh liver. I often tell people about it, saying they might try it if they want to. I have been surprised at the number of people who not only take it daily but claim it makes them feel so much better that nothing could make them give it up. I use it, stirred into water or tomato juice, when I cannot get fresh liver. Tablets of dried liver are expensive; 30 tablets are usually equivalent to a serving, or 1;4 pound, of fresh liver. Concentrates of liver or yeast are available but have not been tested for the anti-stress vitamins; certainly none contains the marvelous protein of powdered yeast or fresh or desiccated liver.

For all practical purposes, brewers’ yeast is the cheapest and best source of the B vitamins for a person not under stress. In fact, more nutrients are more concentrated in yeast than in any other known food. The use of yeast alone could correct the majority of the world’s nutritional problems: the proteinless meals of China and India; the B-vitamin needs in the Orient and the tropics; the iron starvation of women the world over; and the trace-mineral deficiencies of both sexes of all ages of every nationality. Yeast can be grown in a few hours without acres of land or sweat of a laborer’s brow, its nutritive value increased by the touch of a chemist’s hand. It is said that three hundred years have been required to introduce most new foods, for example, potatoes and tomatoes. Perhaps by the year 2250, yeast will save our overpopulated planet from famine.

Yeast contains almost no fat, starch, or sugar; its excellent protein sticks to your ribs, satisfies the appetite, increases your basal metabolism, and gives you pep to work off unwanted pounds. If any food could be said to be “reducing,” yeast is that food. Powdered yeast is preferable to flaked yeast which usually has a lower vitamin content, weight for weight. Moreover, 1 tablespoon of powdered yeast is the equivalent of 5 to 9 tablespoons of the light flaked. Yeast tablets are quite all right; 90 tablets are equivalent in mineral, protein, and vitamin content to 1 heaping tablespoon of powdered yeast. Uncooked bakers’ yeast grows in the intestine, grabs the B vitamins supplied by other foods, and refuses to give them up; it is dangerous to take.

Just as you may not have enjoyed your first taste of coffee, you may not enjoy your introduction to yeast. The best way for a beginner to take it is to add no more than 1 teaspoon to a large glass of fruit juice; increase the amount very gradually as you become accustomed to it. I must warn you, however, that there are yeasts and yeasts. Some taste so bad that no human being should be expected to swallow them. If you dislike the yeast you have, feed it to the cat and/or dog, and buy a different brand. Some varieties, to one who is used to yeast at least, are quite palatable. The flavor is, of course, a matter of personal preference.