GANDHI
SEVAGRAM
ASHRAMP.O. SEVAGRAM, DIST.WARDHA 442102, MS, INDIA. Phone: 91-7152-284753
FOUNDED BY MAHATMA GANDHI IN 1936
DIET AND DIET REFORM
DIET AND DIET REFORM
Table of Contents
PART-I
- SECTION I: General
- My Faith In Vegetarianism
- The Moral Basis of Vegetarianism
- Diet For Brahmacharya
- Green and Dietetic Ahimsa
- 'Food Faddists'
- Unfired Food Experiment
- Unfired Food
- Unfired Food
- Unfired Food
- National Food
- Minimum Diet
- For Four Rupees A Month
- A Talk to Village Workers
- Minimum Diet
- Plea for More Fruits
- Carrion-eating
- SECTION II : Rice, Wheat and Gur
- SECTION III : Soya Beans and Ground-nuts
- SECTION IV : Green Leaves, etc.
- SECTION V : Milk
- SECTION VI : Ghee and Oil
PART-II
- SECTION I : General
- Precautions Against Ills of The Season (M.D.)
- Dietetic Changes (M.D.)
- Mortification of The Flesh (M.D.)
- Vitamins - I (P. C. Ghosh)
- Vitamins - II (P. C. Ghosh)
- Physiological Basis of Nutrition
- Are you acid? (H. C. Menkel)
- What And How Much To Eat? (H. C. Menkel)
- Question on Diet (H. C. Menkel)
- Improved Diets (A. K.)
- Place of Cereals in Food (I. Amin)
- An Experiment in National Diet (Pyarelal)
- Revealing Figures (A. K.)
- SECTION II : Rice, Wheat and Gur
- The Miracle of Unpolished Rice (M.D.)
- Unpolished v. Polished Rice (Prof. Basu)
- Saving Cereals (D. K. Gupta)
- Useful Suggestion (M. A. Chadray)
- White v. Brown Sugar (M. D.)
- The Havoc of Sugar (M. D.)
- Bad Teeth and Refined Carbohydrates
- Potentialities of Palm Jaggery (Gajanan Naik)
- Nira - A Nutritious Beverage (Gajanan Naik)
- SECTION III : Soya Beans and Ground-nuts
- Warning against Soya Beans (M. D.)
- Soya Beans (M.D.)
- Soya Bean Recipes
- A Soya Bean Book (M. D.)
- The Utility of The Ground-nut (A. K.)
- SECTION IV : Fruit
- The Merit of Amla (A. K.)
- SECTION V : Milks
- Kimmed Milk and Buttermilk (W. R. Aykroyd and S. C. Dasgupta)
- SECTION VI : Ghee And Oil
- Edible Oils (P. C. Ghosh)
- Blindness At A Price (J. C. Kumarappa)
- Nakali Ghee (J. C. Kumarappa)
- SECTION VII : Tea
- Another Rising Menance (J. C. Kumarappa)
- Non-English Words With Their Meanings
About This Book
Written by : M. K. Gandhi
Edited by : Bharatan Kumarappa
First Edition : 5,000 copies, July 1949
ISBN : 81-7229-062-4
Printed and Published by : Jitendra T. Desai
Navajivan Mudranalaya,
Ahemadabad-380014
India
© Navajivan Trust, 1949
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Chapter 54 : Revealing Figures
The following facts and figures taken from a pamphlet entitled Food Crisis, 1946, are of special interest in view of the food shortage :
| Production of Foodstuffs in India (1945-46) | |||
| Rice | 25.8 | million | tons |
| Wheat | 8.3 | " | " |
| Gram | 3.0 | " | " |
| Millets | 7.5 | " | " |
| Maize | 2.2 | " | " |
| Barley | 1.7 | " | " |
The above quantity has been found insufficient for the total population of India and the estimated deficit is 6 million tons.The Punjab, C. P. and Berar, Sind, Orissa and Assam are not exporters of cereals in normal times. The deficit areas are the N.W.F.P., Bihar, U.P., Madras, Bombay, Bengal, the States of Travancore and Cochin, all of which have to import either wheat, rice, millet, or all.The production v. requirements of foodstuffs annually is as follows:
| Foodstuffs | Production million tons |
Requirements million tons |
Deficit million tons |
| Cereals | 50 | 60 | 10 |
| Pulses | 7 | 12 | 5 |
| Vegetables & Fruits | Unassessed | At least double | - |
| Fish | 0.6 | 9 | 8.4 |
| Milk | 22 | 35 | 13 |
| Eggs | 2660 | 146000 | 143340(No.) |
The following is a table of balanced diet for the maintenance of proper health:
| Cereals | 14 | Oz. |
| Pulses | 3 | " |
| Green leafy vegetable | 3 | " |
| Root vegetable | 3 | " |
| Other vegetables | 3 | " |
| Fruits | 3 | " |
| Milk | 10 | " |
| Sugar and Jaggery | 2 | " |
| Vegetable oil, Ghee, etc. | 2 | " |
| Fish and meat | 3 | " |
| Egg | 1 | Only |
This diet yields about 2600 calories.
| The adult Indian male requires | 2600 | calories |
| Female | 2100 | " |
| Child 12 and 13 year | 2100 | " |
| Child 10 and 11 year | 1800 | " |
| Child 8 and 9 year | 1600 | " |
| Child 6 and 7 year | 1300 | " |
| Child 4 and 5 year | 1000 | " |
| Pregnant woman | 2400 | " |
| Nursing mother | 3000 | " |
But how much do they get in comparison with other countries? The figures reveal a sorry tale:
| Country | Calories per head per day |
| America | ... 3,200 |
| Great Britain | ... 2,600 |
| Germany (after the war) | ... 1,600 |
| Japan (under American occupation) | 1,575 |
| 'Grim and dangerous level' | 1,500 |
| And India | 960 |
No wonder the death rate and infant mortality figures are appalling:
| Country | 1942Death rate per 1000 | Infant mortality per 1000 births |
| Australia | 10.5 | 39 |
| Canada | 9.7 | 54 |
| America | 10.4 | 40 |
| Germany | 12.7 (1940) | 68 |
| England | 12.2 (1940) | 54 |
| Japan | 17.6 (1938) | 114 (1937) |
| India | 22.01 | 63 |
| Country | Expectation of life at birth | |
| Males | Females | |
| Netherlands | 65.70 | 67.20 (1931-40) |
| New Zealand | 65.46 | 68.45 (1934-38) |
| Sweden | 64.30 | 66.92 (1936-40) |
| America | 63.65 | 68.61 |
| Denmark | 63.50 | 65.80 (1936-40) |
| Union of S.A. | 61.46 | 66.80 (1940) |
| Canada | 60.90 | 64.70 (1940-42) |
| Ireland | 59.00 | 51.00 (1940-42) |
| England | 60.18 | 64.40 (1937) |
| Germany | 59.86 | 62.80 (1932-34) |
| Italy | 53.76 | 56.00 (1930-32) |
| Japan | 46.92 | 49.63 (1935-36) |
| India | 26.91 | 26.56 (1931) |
Not until our people are able to get enough to eat, can all our schemes for proper housing or roads or even education and health be of any real avail. Adequate and proper diet is the first requirement of man, and to this end the energy of all Provincial Governments must be diverted forthwith if we are to live.
A. K.,
Harijan,
8-9-1946