Science in the Kitchen Part 52

TABLE TOPICS.

Regimen is better than physic.--_Voltaire._

Many dishes have induced many diseases.--_Seneca._

Dr. Lyman Beecher tells the following story of his aunt, which well ill.u.s.trates a popular notion that sick people should be fed with all sorts of dainties, no matter what the nature of the disease. When a boy eight or nine years of age, he was one day suffering in the throes of indigestion, as the result of having swallowed a large amount of indigestible mince pie. His kind-hearted aunt noticed the pale and distressed look on his face, and said to him, with genuine sympathy in her voice, "Lyman, you look sick. You may go into the pantry and help yourself to a nice piece of fruit cake just warm from the oven."

Fix on that course of life which is the most excellent, and custom will render it the most delightful.--_Pythagoras._

A MERE indigestion can temporarily metamorphose the character. The eel stews of Mohammed II. kept the whole empire in a state of nervous excitement, and one of the meat-pies which King Philip failed to digest caused the revolt of the Netherlands.--_Oswald._

Few seem conscious that there is such a thing as physical morality.

Man's habitual words and acts imply that they are at liberty to treat their bodies as they please. The fact is, that all breaches of the laws of health are physical sins.--_Herbert Spencer._

Practical right and good conduct are much more dependent on health of body than on health of mind.--_Prof. Schneider._

Dr. Abernathy's reply to the Duke of York when consulted about his health was, "Cut off the supplies and the enemy will soon leave the citadel."

FOOD FOR THE AGED AND THE VERY YOUNG.

FOOD FOR THE AGED

One of the first requisites of food for the aged is that it shall be easy of digestion, since with advancing age and decreasing physical energy, digestion and a.s.similation may be taken with impunity at an earlier period of life, overtax the enfeebled organs and prove highly injurious. The fact that the vital machinery is worn and weakened with age has led to the popular notion that old people require a stimulating diet as a "support" for their declining forces. That this is an error is apparent from the fact that stimulation either by drink or food lessens instead of reinforces vital strength, thus defeating the very purpose desired. Flesh food in quant.i.ties is a peculiarly unsuitable diet for the aged, not alone because it is stimulating, but because it produces a tendency to plethora, a condition which is especially inimical to the health of old persons. Eminent authorities on diet also reason that the loss of the teeth at this period, whereby thorough mastication of flesh food is done with difficulty, even with the best artificial aids, should be considered a sign that nature intends such foods to be discarded by the old.

A milk, grain, and fruit diet is undoubtedly the one best suited to the average person in old age. Vegetables and legumes in well-prepared soups may also be used to advantage. Directions for such soups, as also for cooking grains and grain products, will be found in the preceding pages.

The following bills of fare, one for each season of the year, will perhaps serve to ill.u.s.trate how a varied and appetizing regimen may be provided without the use of flesh foods:--

BREAKFAST

Fresh Fruits Graham Grits and Cream Prune Toast Graham Puffs Cream Crisps Strawberries Caramel Coffee or Hot Milk

DINNER

Vegetable Broth with Toasted Rolls Baked Potato with Pease Gravy Stewed Asparagus Cracked Wheat and Cream Whole-Wheat Bread Canned Berries Manioca with Fruit Caramel Coffee or Hot Milk

BREAKFAST

Fresh Fruits Rolled Oats and Cream Baked Sweet Apples Macaroni with Cream Sauce Whole-Wheat Puffs Stewed Peaches Caramel Coffee or Hot Milk

DINNER

Lentil Soup Baked Potato with Cream Sauce Escalloped Tomato Green Corn Pulp Browned Rice and Cream Fruit Bread Lemon Apple Sauce Prune Pie Caramel Coffee or Hot Milk

BREAKFAST

Fresh Fruits Blackberry Mush and Cream Cream Toast Graham Crusts Blueberries Caramel Coffee or Hot Milk

DINNER

Green Pea Soup Mashed Potato Macaroni with Tomato Sauce Pearl Barley and Cream Cream Rolls Blackberries Stewed Fruit Pudding Caramel Coffee or Hot Milk

BREAKFAST

Fresh Fruits Rolled Wheat and Cream Tomato Toast Corn Bread Graham Gems Stewed Prunes Caramel Coffee or Hot Milk

DINNER

Vegetable Oyster Soup Baked Sweet Potato Mashed Peas Steamed Rice with Fig Sauce Graham Bread Stewed Dried Fruit Apples Caramel Coffee or Hot Milk

In the selection of a dietary for elderly persons, much must depend upon their physical condition, the daily amount of exercise to which they are accustomed, their habits in earlier life, and a variety of other circ.u.mstances.

The quant.i.ty as well as quality of food for the aged should receive consideration. Diminished bodily activity and the fact that growth has ceased, render a smaller amount of food necessary to supply needs; and a decrease in the amount taken, in proportion to the age and the activity of the subject, must be made or health will suffer. The system will become clogged, the blood filled with imperfectly elaborated material, and gout, rheumatism, apoplexy, or other diseased conditions will be the inevitable result. The digestion of heavy meals is a tax upon vital powers at any time of life, but particularly so as age advances; and for him who has pa.s.sed his first half-century, over-feeding is fraught with great danger. Cornaro, an Italian of n.o.ble family, contemporary with t.i.tian in the sixteenth century, after reaching his eighty-third year wrote several essays upon diet and regimen for the aged, in one of which he says: "There are old lovers of feeding who say that it is necessary that they should eat and drink a great deal to keep up their natural heat, which is constantly diminis.h.i.+ng as they advance in years; and that it is therefore their duty to eat heartily and of such things as please their palate, be they hot, cold, or temperate, and that if they were to lead a sober life, it would be a short one. To this I answer; Our kind Mother Nature, in order that old men may live to still greater age, has contrived matters so that they may be able to subsist on little, as I do; for large quant.i.ties of food cannot be digested by old and feeble stomachs."

Cornaro lived to be one hundred years old, doubtless owing largely to his simple, frugal habits.

DIET FOR THE YOUNG.

A very large share of the mortality among young children results from dietetic errors which proper knowledge and care on the part of those who have them in charge might commonly avoid. From infancy to the age of twelve or eighteen months, milk is the natural and proper food. Milk contains all the food elements except starch, which cannot be digested by very young children, owing to the insufficient formation of digestive elements of the salivary secretion during the first few months. If the child is deprived of the milk provided by nature, the best artificial food is cow's milk; it, however, requires very careful selection and intelligent preparation. The animal from which the milk comes, should be perfectly healthy and well cared for. The quality of her food should also receive attention, as there is little doubt that disease is often communicated to infants by milk from cows improperly fed and cared for.

An eminent medical authority offers the following important points on this subject:--

"The cow selected for providing the food for an infant should be between the ages of four and ten years, of mild disposition, and one which has been giving milk from four to eight weeks. She should be fed on good, clean grain, and hay free from must. Roots, if any are fed, should be of good quality, and she should have plenty of good clean water from a living spring or well. Her pasture should be timothy gra.s.s or native gra.s.s free from weeds; clover alone is bad. She should be cleaned and cared for like a carriage horse, and milked twice a day by the same person and at the same time. Some cows are unfit by nature for feeding infants."

Milk from the same animal should be used if possible. Changing from one cow's milk to another, or the use of such milk as is usually supplied by city milkmen, often occasions serious results. The extraction of the heat from the milk immediately after milking and before it is used or carried far, especially in hot weather, is essential. While the milk itself should be clean and pure, it should also be perfectly fresh and without any trace of decomposition. To insure all these requisites, besides great care in its selection, it must be sterilized, and if not intended for immediate use, bottled and kept in a cool place until needed. It is not safe to feed young children upon unsterilized milk that has stood a few hours. Even fresh milk from the cleanest cows, unless drawn into bottles and sealed at once, contains many germs. These little organisms, the cause of fermentation and decomposition, multiply very rapidly in milk, and as they increase, dangers from the use of the milk increase.

There is no doubt that cholera infantum and other digestive disturbances common among young children would be greatly lessened by the use of properly sterilized milk. Directions for sterilizing milk, and additional suggestions respecting points to be considered in its selection, are to be found in the chapter on Milk, etc.

Cow's milk differs from human milk in that it contains nearly three times as much casein, but only two thirds as much fat and three fourths as much sugar. Cow's milk is usually slightly acid, while human milk is alkaline. The casein of cow's milk forms large, hard curds, while that of breast milk forms fine, soft curds. These facts make it important that some modification be made in cow's milk to render it acceptable to the feeble stomach of an infant. Cases are rare where it is safe to feed a child under nine months of age on pure, undiluted cow's milk. A common method of preparing cow's milk so as to make it suitable for infant feeding, is to dilute it with pure water, using at first only one third or one fourth milk, the proportion of milk being gradually increased as the child's stomach becomes accustomed to the food and able to bear it, until at the age of four months the child should be taking equal parts of milk and water. When sterilized milk is to be thus diluted, the water should be first boiled or added before sterilizing. A small amount of fine white sugar, or what is better, milk sugar, should be added to the diluted milk. Barley water, and thin, well-boiled, and carefully strained oatmeal gruel thoroughly blended with the milk are also used for this purpose. A food which approximates more nearly the const.i.tuents of mother's milk may be prepared as follows:--

ARTIFICIAL HUMAN MILK NO. 1.--Blend one fourth pint of fresh, sweet cream and three fourths of a pint of warm water. Add one half ounce of milk sugar and from two to ten ounces of milk, according to the age of the infant and its digestive capacity.

ARTIFICIAL HUMAN MILK NO. 2.--Meigs's formula: Take two tablespoonfuls of cream of medium quality, one tablespoonful of milk, two of lime water, and three of water to which sugar of milk has been added in the proportion of seventeen and three fourths drams to the pint. This saccharine solution must be prepared fresh every day or two and kept in a cool place. A child may be allowed from half a pint to three pints of this mixture, according to age.

ARTIFICIAL HUMAN MILK NO. 3.--Prepare a barley water by adding one pint boiling water to a pint of best pearl barley. Allow it to cool, and strain. Mix together one third of a pint of this barley water, two thirds of a pint of fresh, pure milk, and a teaspoonful of milk sugar.--_Medical News._

Peptonized milk, a formula for the preparation of which may be found on page 426, is also valuable as food for infants, especially for those of weak digestion.

MUCILAGINOUS FOOD EXCELLENT IN GASTRO-ENTERITIS.--Wheat, one tablespoonful; oatmeal, one half tablespoonful; barley, one half tablespoonful; water, one quart. Boil to one pint, strain, and sweeten.--_Dietetic Gazette._

PREPARED FOODS FOR INFANTS.--Of prepared infant foods we can recommend that manufactured by the Sanitarium Food Co., Battle Creek, Mich., as thoroughly reliable. There are hundreds of prepared infant foods in the market, but most of them are practically worthless in point of food value, being often largely composed of starch, a substance which the immature digestive organs of a young child are incapable of digesting. Hundreds of infants are yearly starved to death upon such foods.