Diet and Health Part 4

Starches (breads, cereals, potatoes, corn, legumes, nuts)

Vegetable fibre, or cellulose

MINERAL MATTER: Shares in forming bones and teeth, and is necessary for proper functioning.

Carbon Lime Sodium Pota.s.sium, Sulphur Iron Phosphorus Etc.

[Sidenote: _Whole Grain Products Not Devitalized_]

These elements are contained largely in the outer coatings of grains, fruits, and vegetables, and in animal foods and their products. Do not pare potatoes before cooking. Cook vegetables in a small amount of water, saving the water for soups and sauces.

WATER: The universal solvent, absolutely necessary for life.

Contained in purest form in all vegetables and fruits. The average person needs, in addition, from three to five pints taken as a drink. If not sure of the purity, boil. Do not drink while food is in the mouth.

[Sidenote: _Absolutely Necessary for Growth_]

VITAMINES: Health preservers. Vital substances necessary for growth. The chemistry of these products is at present not thoroughly understood, but their importance has been demonstrated by experiments (not torture) on animals. By this work we know that diseases like beri-beri, scurvy, rickets, and probably pellagra, are due to a lack of these vital elements in the food, and from that fact these are called "deficiency"

diseases.

[Sidenote: _Guinea Pigs vs. Babies_]

Of course I realize that nations can be saved from horrible diseases, and hundreds and thousands of babies saved from death, through this experimentation on a few guinea pigs and other animals; but what is the life of a baby compared with the happiness of a guinea pig? Down with animal experimentation! Let us do everything in our power to hamper scientific work of this kind. We are giving up our husbands, fathers, sons, perhaps to die, for the cause of humanity, but a guinea pig!

Horrors!

It has been found that the vitamines, like the minerals, are most abundant in the outer coverings and the germ of grains, and in fruits and vegetables. They are also present in fresh milk, b.u.t.ter, meat and eggs. Babies fed pasteurized or boiled milk should have fruit juices and vegetable purees early. Begin with one-half teaspoonful, well diluted, and gradually increase the feeding to an ounce or more between meals once or twice daily.

Most animal fats have the vitamines, but vegetable fats are deficient in them. That is the reason cod liver oil is better for some therapeutic uses than olive oil.

[Sidenote: _Balanced Diet_]

BALANCED DIET: Should contain

10-15% Protein (children may need more) 25-30% Fat 60-65% Carbohydrates

[Sidenote: _To Get the Elements Necessary for Health_]

For example, suppose you are a fairly active woman and need 2500 calories per day. Then for a balanced diet you would need:

10% Protein, or 250 C.

25% Fat, or 625 C.

65% Carbohydrates 1625 C.

------- 2500 C.

250 C. of P. = 2-1/5 oz. dry protein (250 113 = 2-1/5, approximately) 625 C. of F. = 2-1/2 oz. of fat (625 255 = 2-1/2, approximately) 1625 C. of CH. = 14-1/2 oz. dry carbohydrates (1625 113 = 14-1/2, approximately)

Two and one-fifth ounces dry protein equals the approximate amount of protein in 10 ounces lean meat, fish, or fowl, or 9 ounces cheese, or 9 eggs. (You should not take all of your proteins in any of these single forms.) Two and one-half ounces fat equals approximately 5 pats of b.u.t.ter.

[Sidenote: _If Appet.i.te Not Perverted_]

But listen! You don't have to bother with all this fussy stuff. _Be careful not to over-or under-eat of the proteins_, and your tastes will be a fair standard for the rest. You should remember that a balanced diet contains some of all these foods, in about the proportions given, and that, while _watery vegetables and fruits contain very few calories, they contain very important mineral salts, vitamines, and cellulose._ The latter is good for the daily scrub of the intestinal tract.

[Sidenote: _A Pretty Nearly Universal Error_]

CONSTIPATION is many times caused by a too concentrated diet, or one containing too little roughage. It has also been discovered that some individuals who are troubled with faulty elimination digest this cellulose, and only the more resistant, like bran, is not absorbed. For those, the j.a.panese seaweed called agaragar in the laboratory, but more familiarly known as agar by the layman, is excellent. The most industrious digestive tract apparently can not digest that. It has the further property of absorbing a large amount of water, thus increasing its bulk.

[Sidenote: _C.S._]

[Sidenote: _Have Enough Water, Else You'll Choke to Death. I Did Once_]

Mineral oils (refined paraffine) also are not absorbable, and they act with benefit in some cases. About the worst thing to do, in general, is to take physics constantly. These are not physics, however; they act mechanically. Even the C.S. (common-sense?) individual can take these.

The agar may be taken two or three heaping teaspoonfuls in a large gla.s.s of water before retiring, or in the morning before breakfast, or in lieu of 4 o'clock tea. Drink it down rapidly--for goodness' sake, don't try to chew it.

Mineral oil will make fine mayonnaise dressing. It has little or no food value, so the constipated overweight individual may indulge freely. For faulty elimination, then--

1. Correct diet.

2. Exercise--especially brisk walking.

3. Regularity of habit.

4. Possibly the addition of bran, agar, or mineral oils.

5. Sweet disposition. Mean people are always constipated.

_Review_

1. Give cla.s.ses of food, with examples of each.

2. What are vitamines? How importance discovered?

3. Where most abundant?

4. What is a balanced diet?

5. What should be done for faulty elimination?

4

More Keys and More Calories

[Sidenote: _List of Foods to Follow_]

The following list probably does not contain all of the foods you might like and want to know about, but from those named you can judge of the food value of others. In general, the caloric value, and therefore the fattening value, depends upon the amount of fat and the degree of concentration.