lmemsm

I've been investigating diets and foods to help with health recently. There's a lot of information out there and all types of different diets for different conditions. I can't help wondering how many of these will turn out to be dated or fad diets in another 10 or 50 or 100 years. To gain a better perspective, it's interesting to compare some of the ideas about what were considered good recipes for health in the last century or two and see if there are commonalities or ideas that lasted. It's also interesting to see what has changed.

The one diet I've seen a lot of positive feedback on and that hasn't changed over time is the Mediterranean diet. It can help with multiple health conditions. The only problem is, it's hard to figure out just what an authentic Mediterranean diet is. For instance, tomato (which is often used as an ingredients in recipes we would think of as Mediterranean) was originally from the Americas. So, it wasn't used in a standard Mediterranean diet until after trade with the Americas was established.

One interesting dietary myth you find in some of today's popular diets is that milk is an acid. Milk has always been alkaline. You can use any pH test to confirm that. Per wikipedia, whether a food is determined alkaline or acidic on an alkaline diet was based on the remains of the ash of a food after combustion by a device ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkaline_diet ). This is not the same as what happens in an actual stomach. Very few studies have actually gone in and checked what was going on in a real stomach. One such study did so almost a century ago. I've seen more than one scientific paper that has tried to determine if milk is acidic in the stomach. The results of the papers I've read have stated that milk is still alkaline. Here's one study on milk and acidity:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22081694/
On the other hand, yogurt and probiotic foods like kefir are acidic. What's interesting is that some people with acid reflux or gerd have found milk, yogurt and/or kefir to be helpful. Many people find products like yogurt and kefir easier to digest because some of the lactose is already broken down by the probiotics.

Several modern studies have found probiotics good for improving health. Modern diets contain significantly less sources of probiotics than earlier ones. There really aren't that many sources for probiotics these days. Some food sources are yogurt (which can include milk or be milk-free), yogurt cheese aka Greek yogurt, kefir, kefir cheese, kombucha, sauerkraut. There was mention of health benefits from probiotics over 100 years ago.

Some ingredients listed in older cookbooks may no longer be considered safe. Also, if you have a compromised immune system or other conditions, raw eggs are not recommended. You may use pasteurized eggs in their place.


Here are some public domain recipe books on what were considered healthy foods at the time they were written:

The New Cookery: A Book of Recipes, Most of which are in Use at the Battle Creek Sanitarium
https://books.google.com/books?id=351BAQAAIAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&hl=en
Investigates using nutrition to help with mental disorders. Includes recipes using yogurt.

A Handbook of Invalid Cooking
https://archive.org/details/handbookofinvali00bola

Invalid Cookery
https://archive.org/details/b20421618

Foods of the Foreign-Born in Relation to Health
https://d.lib.msu.edu/fa/30/datastream/OBJ/View/
It includes some recipes that may work for those on a Mediterranean diet along with other ideas.

Food and Cookery for the Sick and Convalescent
https://d.lib.msu.edu/fa/28/datastream/OBJ/View/

Common Sense in the Household: a Manual of Practical Housewifery
https://d.lib.msu.edu/fa/15/datastream/OBJ/View/
It includes a chapter on foods for the sick-room.

The Cook Not Mad, or, Rational Cookery; Being a Collection of Original and Selected Receipts...
https://d.lib.msu.edu/fa/55/datastream/OBJ/View/

The Ladies' New Book of Cookery
https://d.lib.msu.edu/fa/48/datastream/OBJ/View/

Practical Italian Recipes for American Kitchens
https://books.google.com/books?id=eZfUAAAAMAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Italian Recipes for Reformers
https://books.google.com/books?id=-AIFAAAAYAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false


I'll add more resources as I find them. Feel free to suggest others on our new mailing list.