The Yeo System

The diet recommended by Yeo is as follows: All fats and animal food are to be strictly limited, and farinaceous and starchy foods should be reduced to a minimum. Sugar must be entirely prohibited, but a moderate quantity of fat is allowed to secure the proper dilution and digestion of the food. Hot water and hot aromatic drinks may be taken freely in the intervals between meals, especially in gouty cases. He allows the patient to drink a little hock and still Moselle, or light claret with alkaline table water. Beer, porter, and sweets of all kinds are to be prohibited, and no spirits should be drunk unless for some special need as a tonic. Meat is not to be eaten more than once a day, and not more than six ounces should be taken at any one time. The meat which Yeo allows is lean beef, mutton, lamb, poultry, game, and sometimes fish and eggs. Two lightly cooked or poached eggs may be taken once a day, or a little grilled fish. He allows thoroughly toasted bread in thin slices and crackers. Soups in general and milk, unless skimmed, milk puddings, farinaceous puddings, pastry, salmon, and mackerel must all be avoided. Fresh vegetables and fruits are allowed.

He believes it is useless to attempt to give rules in regard to the actual quantity of dry food permitted, because it must necessarily vary in accordance with the weight and strength of the patient in each case. A quantity of food which might constitute an excess for one person would perhaps be insufficient to support the strength and activity of another.

Later a full diet of meat may be allowed, but sugars and starches must still be excluded to as great an extent as possible. The patient may be taught to supplement passive exercise by calisthenics.

The Dujardin-Beaumetz System

Dujardin-Beaumetz believes that the diets allowed by Oertel and Ebstein are too restricted to support the body in a condition of normal nutrition and activity, and his system of treatment is as follows: For the milder cases in which fatty degeneration has not yet invaded the heart and other viscera he gives half a pint of water or light wine diluted with Vichy, or some alkaline effervescent water, with each of the three meals of the day. Soup of all kinds is forbidden, wine or tea being recommended instead. If the gastric juice is apparently deficient, or if there is much dyspepsia, no fluid is allowed with the meals, but the patient is ordered to take a pint of weak tea without sugar or milk two hours after the completion of each meal. No other beverages are permitted excepting a small cup of black coffee with breakfast. Soup is also forbidden, and so is pastry. He allows dry bread in moderation, such as the outer part of Vienna rolls, or "soup sticks," which are chiefly crust, and he recommends animal food of all classes and several varieties of fresh vegetables and juicy fruits, such as oranges. For breakfast he gives three quarters of an ounce of dry bread, one and a half ounce of meat, and a cup of weak tea or a glass or two of light wine.

Lunch is served at noon, and consists of double the quantity of bread and meat permitted at breakfast, with three ounces of fresh vegetables, salad, a small piece of cheese, and fruit. Eggs may be substituted for the meat, or fish may be given at either breakfast or luncheon. The quantity of the several foods allowed may be varied slightly.