Page:The White House Cook Book.djvu/583

 HEALTH-SUGGESTIONS.

��541

��asparagus purifies the blood ; celery acts admirably upon the nervous system, and is a cure for rheumatism and neuralgia; tomatoes act upon the liver ; beets and turnips are excellent appetizers ; lettuce and cucumbers are cooling in their effects upon the system; beans are a very nutritious and strengthening vegetable; while onions, garlic, leeks, chives and shallots, all of which are similar, possess medicinal virtues of a marked character, stimulating the circulatory system, and the consequent increase of the saliva and the gastric juice promoting digestion. Red onions are an excellent diuretic, and the white ones are recommended raw as a remedy for insomnia. They are tonic, nu- tritious. A soup made from onions is regarded by the French as an excellent restorative in debility of the digestive organs. We might go through the entire list and find each vegetable possessing its espe- cial mission o^ cure, and it will be plain to every housekeeper that a vegetable diet should be partly adopted, and will prove of great ad- vantage to the health of the family.

��� �