Encyclopedia of Diet: A Treatise on the Food Question, Vol. 2

In Short

Eugene Christian’s Encyclopedia of Diet, Vol. 2 serves as a detailed manual of natural dietetics, cataloging the biochemical traits of real foods alongside a sweeping condemnation of standard medical drug treatments. Spanning vegetable ingredients, chemical stimulants, and diagnostic frameworks for chronic illness, it maps out precise dietary interventions to restore biological equilibrium. It has retained its historical curiosity because it captures a pivotal moment when modern nutritional chemistry began challenging traditional medical orthodoxy, offering an unfiltered look at early alternative medicine that continues to parallel contemporary wellness movements and whole-food philosophies.

The Story

The volume opens with an exhaustive cataloging of plant-based sustenance, establishing a foundation built on the chemical constituents of foods derived from the earth. Christian systematically evaluates the protein, fat, and carbohydrate ratios of various tree nuts, legumes, fruits, succulent vegetables, sugars, and plant oils. He emphasizes that fresh plant matter—particularly green, leafy vegetables and coarse fibers—supplies crucial solvent juices, mineral salts, and structural cellulose needed to drive internal mechanics. He details how specific oils and unprocessed plant materials interact with human physiology, laying the groundwork for a philosophy that views food as the primary mechanism for regulating biological function.

From this nutritional baseline, the argument shifts sharply to a critique of modern pharmacology and chemical interventions. Christian categorizes the common drugs, stimulants, and narcotics of his day, attacking coal-tar derivatives like acetanilid, standard laxatives, tobacco, alcohol, and widespread alkaloids. He contends that orthodox medicine frequently mistakes the suppression of warning symptoms for actual healing. Drug therapies, he claims, merely stupefy the nervous system or force the body into violent reactions to expel chemical toxins, ultimately degrading the blood and weakening vital organs without addressing the root causes of disease.

Building on this critique, the treatise transitions into clinical application, redefining diagnosis as the art of locating underlying lifestyle causes rather than merely naming symptoms. Christian outlines a foundational law of health centered on pure blood, efficient circulation, and minimal metabolic waste. He explores common digestive failures, demonstrating how overeating, improper food combinations, and excess refined starches trigger stomach fermentation, superacidity, and systemic autointoxication. According to his model, these digestive disturbances manifest across the body as diverse physical and psychological symptoms, ranging from mental irritability to severe structural decay.

In its final phase, the book applies these principles to a long list of specific diseases, presenting custom dietary regimens designed to resolve each condition. Christian tackles ailments such as nervous indigestion, emaciation, obesity, locomotor ataxia, hay fever, asthma, Bright’s disease, heart trouble, and appendicitis. For each condition, he identifies bad habits—such as consuming refined white flour, excessive red meat, or toxic stimulants—as the true origin of suffering. He counters these with targeted menus featuring coarse wheat bran, whole grains, green salads, baked potato skins, and limited proteins. The work concludes on a note of therapeutic radicalism, asserting that by stripping away refined food products and providing raw, fibrous, natural nutrients, the body can clear internal obstructions, restore organ function, and reclaim its natural vitality.

How It Unfolds

Analyzing nature's pantry The text systematically breaks down the chemical composition and physiological utility of nuts, succulent greens, tubers, and vegetable oils. It asserts that unprocessed plant foods provide essential mineral salts and solvents necessary to break down heavier starches.

Exposing pharmaceutical poisons Turning to standard medical treatments, the narrative dissects popular pain relievers, coal-tar derivatives, purgative salts, and everyday stimulants. It argues that these substances merely kill the body's warning messengers while causing systemic cell destruction.

Redefining bodily diagnosis Christian redefines proper medical diagnosis as an investigation into a patient's dietary habits rather than a search for isolated diseases. He formulates a core principle: health depends entirely upon pure blood, unhindered circulation, and correct fuel.

Tracing the acid cycle The author explains how overeating and poor food combinations cause stomach fermentation, creating lactic acid that disrupts digestion. This chemical breakdown triggers an abnormal appetite, establishing a destructive cycle of sour stomach and nervous tension.

Prescribing corrective menus Addressing a wide array of chronic conditions from obesity to Bright's disease, the work outlines explicit daily meal plans. It systematically replaces refined starches, red meats, and sugars with whole boiled grains, coarse bran, green salads, and fresh fruits.

The People

Eugene Christian As the primary voice and authority of the text, Christian acts as a uncompromising reform health practitioner. He wants to dismantle the traditional reliance on chemical drugs and replace it with a precise science of food-based healing, driven by his conviction that human illness stems directly from improper nutrition.

The "Old School" Physician Serving as the collective antagonist of Christian's philosophy, the traditional medical doctor seeks to cure disease by administering toxic alkaloids, coal-tar headache powders, and harsh cathartics. Christian views this approach as fundamentally flawed, arguing that it merely stupifies the nervous system and obscures the underlying causes of illness.

The Over-Fed Patient Representing the typical sufferer of modern civilization, this figure seeks relief from conditions like obesity, nervous indigestion, and autointoxication. Driven by perverted appetites and a diet of refined starches, their goal of regaining vitality is constantly thwarted by overeating, toxic drug prescriptions, and a complete lack of dietary fiber.

In Its Own Voice

"This is equivalent to killing the messenger that warns us of our sins."

Christian uses this stark imagery to describe how coal-tar drugs and pain-killers mask symptoms by paralyzing the nervous system rather than fixing the underlying illness.

"Laxative drugs do not act on the body--the body acts on the drug because it abhors a poison..."

In explaining the illusion of chemical cures, the author clarifies why violent purgatives deplete human vitality instead of restoring natural bowel function.

"They have been shaped by the process of ages to accommodate coarse food, therefore a generous amount of non-nutritive cellulose is absolutely necessary..."

Christian summarizes his core anatomical thesis, arguing that human digestive health depends entirely on unrefined fiber that modern food processing actively removes.

What It's Really About

At its core, Encyclopedia of Diet, Vol. 2 argues that human physiology is an unyielding mechanical engine governed by natural chemical laws rather than medical mysteries. Christian contends that the rise of modern industrial food processing—specifically the stripping of bran from grains and peelings from vegetables—has starved the human gut of essential roughage and mineral salts, leading to chronic decay. The book challenges the foundational premise of orthodox medicine, asserting that true healing cannot come from synthetic pharmaceuticals or symptom-suppressing narcotics. Instead, it frames sickness as a moral and physical failure to respect internal mechanics, proposing that radical self-discipline, simplified eating, and natural plant fiber are the only true paths to biological redemption.

Why Read It Today

Modern readers interested in the history of medicine, alternative health, or nutrition will find this volume a fascinating, unfiltered artifact from the early days of American dietetics. Christian’s prose is direct, confident, and delightfully free of modern corporate hedging. Reading his work feels like stepping into the office of a passionate, early-1900s reformer who is genuinely convinced he has found the key to human longevity.

The text is not without its period difficulties. Readers must navigate outdated medical terminology, repetitive clinical lists, and Victorian-era concepts of pathology that do not align with modern evidence-based science. Christian’s firm rejection of germ theory in favor of pure autointoxication can feel jarring, as can his dogmatic insistence on raw wheat bran as a universal cure-all. Yet what stays with you is how remarkably modern many of his core concerns feel. His warnings against ultra-processed foods, hidden coal-tar additives, and the over-prescription of quick-fix pharmaceuticals read like contemporary health headlines, proving that our debate over the modern diet is far older than we think.