Now, since we have seen that man is anatomically and structurally a member of that family whose normal food is fruits and nuts, he too should live upon that diet if he wishes to maintain the highest degree of health. There is only one valid objection to this theory, which is that man, having lived so many ages upon the cooked diet, is now more adapted to that diet than to his original uncooked foods, and that an attempt to return to such a diet would be attended with grave and possibly disastrous consequences. As Professor Goodfellow put it: “The conditions of life have so altered that the natural food of our ancestors would be unnatural now, living as we do under such different conditions.”[39]
[39] “The Dietetic Value of Bread,” p. 166.
This objection, however, is completely refuted by the fact that _no anatomical change whatever_ has taken place in man’s digestive apparatus since the most primeval times. If the body had gradually grown accustomed to the cooked and unnatural foods, this should not be the case—certain modifications in the digestive apparatus and perhaps throughout the body should be noted, corresponding to this altered adaptability. But no such changes have been observed. As we have seen, man corresponds structurally throughout with the higher apes, and he has altered not one whit since the days when he more closely resembled them than he does now!
The second point to be noted is that such an objection is not in accord with facts. It is a comparatively simple thing for the majority of persons to adopt a fruitarian dietary. They can do so almost at once, having made up their minds to do so, and thereafter live upon it exclusively, without harm to themselves, but, on the contrary, with added health and strength. There is no real reason to think that, because a thing has been done for many generations, it is the best thing which _can_ be done. Experience merely shows us what _has_ taken place, not what _might_ take place; and, so far as that goes, experience has shown us in the past that, living upon the diet they have been accustomed to, human beings have been constantly suffering from one form of disease or another, and that they almost invariably become aged prematurely, lose their faculties before their allotted time, and die a premature death. So far as experience can teach us anything, therefore, it shows most conclusively that such a state of affairs as has existed in the past is by no means the most ideal, but, on the contrary, one which should be avoided and changed, if possible, and rendered more in accordance with nature’s laws—thus ensuring a greater degree of health, and a more prolonged and happy existence.