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By
Susanna Cocroft
Author of
“Let’s Be Healthy,” “The Woman Worth While”
“Growth in Silence,” etc.
_Fourth Edition_
G. P. Putnam’s Sons
New York and London
The Knickerbocker Press
1916
COPYRIGHT, 1916
BY
SUSANNA COCROFT
PREFACE
THE subject of dietetics has only of late years begun to come into
its own. For centuries it was thought that the body was a thing to be
neglected and despised; that it was a clog to the soul. The teachings
of dogma and the life of the hermit and the ascetic glorified the
mortification of the body and the elevation of the soul.
The study of the functions of life and the manner in which those
functions are upheld and vivified—the development of the sciences of
Biology and Physiology—have placed the relations of the body and its
inhabitant the soul on a more consistent and rational basis. It is
coming to be recognized that the mind cannot function to its highest
efficiency in a body below par; that in order to work harmoniously
and to accomplish the most for humanity, the sound mind must dwell
in a sound body, with all of its functions active, its organs in
vigorous condition, kept so by a thorough assimilation and a forceful
circulation. These are to be secured by means of daily exercise,
abundance of fresh air, and healthful, happy, constructive thoughts.
It has been well said that the distinguishing feature between man
and other animals is the fact that he is a cooking animal. Until he
discovered fire man’s subsistence was little more than that of the
brute. Out of his discovery of the varied uses of this element came
modern civilization. Much of this advance was made possible through the
added strength of mind that was given man by a more varied diet. His
limited raw diet gave little scope to his inventive faculties. From the
discovery of the possibilities in cooked food his mind was stimulated
to research in other directions. With the lessened need for vigorous
mastication, however, the degeneration of man’s teeth began and we
are slowly learning now that exercise for the teeth and gums is as
necessary for their health as it is for the rest of the body.
Much has been written on this subject by medical men for the medical
profession, in language too technical for the layman. It is believed
that in this book the layman will find a fund of information hitherto
not available to him, in language stripped of technicalities, plain and
easily understood. I have tried to make it logical and interesting.
When the American people become convinced that a thing is needed they
generally “go after” it, and sooner or later the desired thing is
attained. When they arouse themselves to see that the food they eat is
pure, well prepared, and taken into digestive systems vigorous by means
of proper exercise and fresh air, a new and far more virile race will
be the outcome.
The tables of Food Values and the classification of foods are kindly
furnished by Dr. Hall and used by the courtesy of his publishers,
while a few of the recipes are generously furnished by Miss Pattee.
Recognition is also made of the good work of Miss Helen Hammel, former
dietitian in Wesley Hospital, Chicago, in the preparation of some of
the recipes.
THE AUTHOR.
INTRODUCTION
The problem of proper nutrition for the body is as vital as any study
affecting the morals, health, and consequent power of a nation, since
on the quality and quantity of food they assimilate, depend the
sustenance, health, and strength of its citizens.
Money can be expended for no object which will yield the nation, or the
individual, greater returns than in the acquisition of a knowledge of
how to keep well. Health specialists, in the future, will direct their
work more to the prevention than to the cure of diseases.
The strongest powers are those which most fully guard the health of
their citizens. The endurance of an army lies in the strength of the
individual soldier.
The human race spends more time in providing nourishment for the body
than in any other line of activity. Yet we are wasteful; we have not
studied to make the food yield its greatest nourishment and the body
its greatest efficiency.
That one may thoroughly enjoy life in the freedom which comes from
perfect activity of bodily functions, it is necessary that proper
_habits_ be formed, then the energy of thought is not constantly
engaged in deciding what is best. Habit calls for no conscious
expenditure of energy.
The study of nutrition in its full sense, therefore, must embrace not
only foods, but anatomy and physiology (particularly of the digestive
system). A knowledge of chemistry is also necessary that we may know
the changes foods undergo in being converted into tissue, heat, and
energy.[1] This science is known as Dietetics.
Many habitually eat too much and take too little fluid, though, due to
a greater spread of knowledge, overeating is becoming less common.
When one does not eat sufficient food or the proper kind and variety,
the tissues of the digestive organs are undernourished and do their
work imperfectly.
The undernourished are usually those who work at high tension, those
who worry, or those who do not get bodily exercise proportionate to the
mental.
Too many, if not the majority of those concerned with the purchase
and preparation of food, understand but little of food values and
the importance of their proper combination. No matter how simple the
menu, it should embrace the elements the system needs for its complete
sustenance.
We should not be satisfied with anything less than perfect health and
we are beginning to realize that this perfect health is a possibility
for almost every individual.
It forms brain cells and creates mental force with which to control the
organism.
It keeps in repair the nerves, which are the telegraph wires connecting
the brain with all parts of the body.
It converts the potential energy in the food into heat with which to
keep itself warm.
About one-third of the food eaten goes to maintain the life of the
body in its incessant work of repairing and rebuilding, the remaining
two-thirds being held in reserve for other activities.
One of the most remarkable and the least understood of any of the
assimilative and absorptive functions, is the ability shown by one part
of the body to appropriate from the foods the elements necessary for
its own rebuilding, while the same elements pass through other organs
untouched. The body has the power, also, not only to make use of the
foods, but to use up the blood tissue itself. Just how this is done is
also a mystery.
There is surely a great lesson in industry here, and one of the most
profound studies in economics, physics, and chemistry.
Habitual worriers use up force and become thin more quickly than those
whose work is muscular. Those who spend their lives fretting over
existing conditions, or worrying over things which never happen, use up
much brain force and create disagreeable conditions within, resulting
in digestive ills. These again react on the body and continue the
process of impoverishment of the tissues.
“The priest with liver trouble and the parishioner with indigestion, do
not evidence that skilled Christian living so essential to the higher
life.”
Man has become so engrossed and hedged about with the complex demands
of social, civic, and, domestic life, all of which call for undue
energy and annoyance and lead him into careless or extravagant habits
of eating and living, that he forgets to apply the intelligence which
he puts into his business to the care of the machine which does the
work. Yet the simple laws of nature in the care of the body are plainer
and easier to follow than the complex habits which he forms.
The “simple life” embraces the habits of eating as well as the habits
of doing and of thinking.
FOOTNOTES:
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
PURPOSES OF FOOD
PAGE
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER III
CLASSIFICATION OF FOODS
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER VI
The liver, the muscles, the nerves, the kidneys, the skin,
the intestines, the blood, summary of work of
organs and tissues; season and climate; habit and
regularity of eating; frequency of meals; exercise
and breathing; ventilation; fatigue; sleep; influence
of thought; the circulation; gum chewing;
tobacco and alcohol 151-184
CHAPTER VII
COOKING
CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER IX
DIETS
CHAPTER X
CHAPTER XI
CHAPTER XII
INFANT FEEDING
APPENDIX
INDEX 361-366
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
PURPOSES OF FOOD
To supply the material out of which the body may rebuild the tissues.
Every effort of the brain in the process of thinking, every motion, and
every muscular movement requires energy which the food must supply.
The new cells constantly being formed, increase in size and in so doing
push the worn-out, dying, and dead cells out of the way. The process of
building and eliminating continues within the body and on its surface
every instant of life.
An idea of the number of dead cells constantly being thrown off from
every part of the body may be gained by noticing the amount of dead
skin cast off. The fine scales of “scarf” or “dead” skin, which we
easily rub off in a friction bath, are composed of these dead cells
which have been crowded out by the hosts of vital cells constantly
forming beneath. The process is the same in every tissue and organ. The
dead or worn-out matter within the body is burned by oxygen and put in
condition to be carried by the blood to the organs of elimination, the
kidneys, intestines, lungs, and skin.
(1) to build and maintain the cell until its work is done;
(2) to furnish the heat necessary to decompose the food into its
elements, and to produce the energy by which all the body processes are
carried on.
That the food may be appropriated by the body it must be not only
proper in kind and quantity, but the body must also be in condition to
digest, absorb, and assimilate it and to eliminate the waste, otherwise
the body needs are not met.
Before it is fit to supply the needs of the body, the raw material must
undergo a chemical change.
While the body needs carbon, it cannot use coal; it needs nitrogen,
yet it cannot appropriate it to rebuilding bone and muscle, until, by
chemical action with other elements, it has been converted into complex
substances called proteins.
The brain, the nerves, and the bones contain the largest proportion of
phosphorus compounds.
Yet, while the brain contains phosphorus, and the tissues nitrogen,
the brain cannot be built up by eating elementary phosphorus, nor the
muscles by pure nitrogen, but compounds rich in phosphorus or nitrogen
may be utilized.
Plants use the simple compounds of the earth, air, and soil, and,
within their own cells, build them up into such complex substances as
starch, sugar, protein, fat, and salts, putting them in condition for
man and other animals to appropriate to their use.
All plant life is compounded from the elements in the soil, air, and
water, by the action of the sun’s rays. The rays of heat and light
store something of their power in latent heat and energy in these plant
compounds.
All organic matter is thus formed by the action of the sun’s rays on
inorganic matter.
The starch of wheat and other grains is from carbon which the plant
has taken from the soil and combined with other substances.
All meats are largely derived from plants which have appropriated
the elements from the soil, water, and air. The chemical processes
of the animal convert the energy latent in the plant foods into the
more concentrated form of meat. The animal thus performs a part of
the chemical work for man—the digestive organs of one animal convert
the food contained in certain plants, into a substance more easily
assimilated by another animal.
Most domestic animals take their food elements from air and water, as
well as from the compounds which the plants have formed, while wild
animals and some domestic ones, such as hogs and chickens, make use of
meat as well.
When the muscles are exercised constantly they use up their protein and
must have it resupplied, or the muscle substance will waste. When the
muscles are exercised freely, as in the laborer, or the athlete, they
need more building material.
The elements which supply heat and keep up muscular activity are
_starches, fats, and sugars_.
The day laborer, though he may do more muscular work than an athlete in
training, expends scarcely any nervous energy. Therefore he needs less
protein in his diet than one does who expends both nervous and muscular
activity, as does the athlete.
CHAPTER II
Foods may contain elements, not foodstuffs, and not used by the body,
but cast out as waste. Certain foods, such as sugar, corn-starch, olive
oil, and egg albumin, contain only one foodstuff, as will be noted
in the following classification, in which the foodstuffs are grouped
according to the body uses.
It will be remembered that the chief uses of foods are to produce heat
and energy, to build the tissue of the growing child, and to repair
the tissues in the child and the adult.
Nitrogenous foods:
Lean meat
Eggs
Gluten
Carbonaceous foods:
Sugars
Starches
Root and tuberous vegetables
Green vegetables
Fruits
Fats
Carbo-nitrogenous foods:
Cereals
Legumes
Nuts
Milk
Lean meats, with the exception of shellfish, contain no starch, but all
meats contain protein, fat, and water.
{ Water { Corn-Starch
{ Inorganic { Salts Starches { Sago
{ { Tapioca
{
{ Carbonaceous { Glucose
{ (producing { Sugars { Cane Sugar
{ heat & energy) { { Syrups
{ { { Honey
Foodstuffs { {
{ { { Lard
{ Organic { Fats { Olive Oil
{ { { Butter
{ {
{ { { Egg Albumin
{ Nitrogenous { Proteins { Gluten
{ (for growth { Lean Meat
{ and repair)
Glucose, cane sugar, syrups, and honey are almost pure sugar;
Butter, lard, and olive oil are nearly all pure fat;
Egg albumin, gluten of flour, and lean meat are almost pure protein.
Worn-out body tissue is constantly being torn down and eliminated and
the protein in the foods must daily furnish material for repair, as
well as for building new tissue.
Nitrogenous foods are more concentrated and contain less waste; thus a
smaller bulk is required than of vegetables and fruits. According to
recent experiments, the average adult requires from two to four ounces
of nitrogenous foods a day, to repair the waste. Happily, when more is
consumed, the system has the power up to a certain limit (depending on
the physical condition and the daily activity), to eliminate an excess.
The proteins, of which meat is the principal member, are classified as:
If protein material is taken into the body in excess of its needs the
excess is used as fuel. While vastly more expensive, an excess of
protein is worth no more as fuel than starch is; 1 gram of protein
produces 4.1 calories of heat, no more than 1 gram of starch.
The proteins produce heat and energy when the supply of sugars,
starches, and fats is exhausted, but proteins alone form muscle and
the larger part of blood and sinew. They are, in this sense, the most
important of foods; they are also the most costly.
_CARBONACEOUS FOODSTUFFS_
The carbonaceous foods are those used by the body for heat and energy
and are so named because they contain a large proportion of carbon—the
heat-producing element.
It is the carbon in wood, which, uniting with oxygen, produces heat and
light.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Carbohydrates]
The carbohydrates embrace the _sugars_ and _starches_ and include such
substance as the starches of vegetables and grains (notably corn, rice,
wheat, and the root vegetables), and the sugar of milk, of fruits,
vegetables, and the sap of trees. Their chief office is to create
energy.
The starches are converted into sugar, so they are together given the
one name of carbohydrate. The name means that carbon and hydrogen are
contained in them in such a proportion that when oxygen unites with
the hydrogen, water is produced and the carbon is liberated. In this
chemical process heat is produced. One gram of carbohydrate produces
4.1 calories of heat.
They are almost entirely absent from meat and eggs, the animal having
converted them into fats.
Few realize that after the starches and fats have been consumed in heat
and energy the tissues are consumed.
_SUGAR_
There are many varieties of sugar. Those commonly used as foods are,
cane sugar (sucrose), fruit sugar (levulose), sugar of milk (lactose),
sugar of malt (maltose), sugar of grapes or corn (glucose), maple
sugar, honey, and saccharin—a coal-tar product. They are derived from
plants, from trees, and from tubers or other vegetables.
_Cane sugar_ (sucrose) is derived from the juice of the sugar cane and
from beets. One-third of the world’s supply of sugar is derived from
the sugar cane and two-thirds from beets. From two to ten per cent. of
sucrose may be obtained from the maple tree. It is also found in the
sugar pea.
_Maple sugar_ is obtained by boiling down the sap of the maple tree.
It is often adulterated with other sugars or with glucose from
corn, because they are cheaper. This adulteration does not make it
unwholesome, but causes it to lose its distinct maple taste.
_Glucose_ was formerly derived almost entirely from grapes. Later the
process was discovered by which the starch in corn was converted into
glucose. It is produced so much more cheaply from corn that this is now
the chief source of supply.
Candy is often made from glucose instead of from molasses or cane sugar.
Before sugar can be used by the system, it is changed into the easily
absorbed form of the sugar in grapes, by a ferment in the small
intestine. Hence digested sugar in the body is called grape sugar.
_Milk sugar_ needs less chemical change than other sugars and is taken
almost at once into the circulation. It is contained in the natural
food for the infant.
The digested sugar (grape sugar) is further changed in the body into
glycogen. When an excess of sugar or starch is consumed, it is stored
within the body as glycogen, until required.
When much sugar is eaten the starches and fats in the food should be
lessened to avoid overloading the system.
The sweet taste in all fruits and vegetables is due to the presence of
sugar. Sweet potatoes, beets, carrots, parsnips, turnips, grapes, figs,
and dates are especially rich in sugar, and when these are furnished
with a meal, in any appreciable quantity, the starches should be
restricted—notably bread, Irish potatoes, and rice.
Those who do hard work in the open air, because of the increased
oxidation, can consume larger quantities of sugar in pie or other
pastry, which ordinarily would be difficult to digest. One who lives an
indoor life should refrain from an undue indulgence in such foods.
On account of their latent heat and energy, sugars are more desirable
in cold weather than in warm. For this reason Nature supplies them more
abundantly in the root vegetables, eaten more freely in cold weather.
More puddings and heavier desserts may be eaten in cold weather.
The desire of the child for sweets is a natural one, because the child
uses much energy, and sugar supplies this energy with less tax of the
digestive system. When the child begins to eat more solid foods, if
sugar is used in abundance for sweetening, he is no longer attracted by
the mild sweetness of fresh milk, and it is well not to sweeten cereals
or other foods, also to limit other sweets, when the child turns
against milk, in order to restore the taste for this valuable food.
Many authorities state that a child, up to its third year, should not
be allowed to taste artificial sweets, in order that the appetite may
not be perverted from the natural sweets of milk.
Sweet fruits, fully ripened, contain much sugar and should be freely
given to the child.
[Sidenote: Starch]
Starch lacks flavor and for this reason all starchy foods are seasoned
with salt. Salt increases the activity of the saliva and pancreatic
juices.
All starches must undergo much chemical change by action of the saliva
and the intestinal juices, before they can be used by the body.
Starch is not acted on by the gastric juice but passes unchanged into
the intestines, where it is converted, by the pancreatic juice, into
dextrin, maltose, and glucose. It is thus absorbed into the blood.
After the digested starch passes into the blood it is taken to the
liver and is there changed into glycogen and is stored in reserve.
When the system needs to produce energy it is first furnished by the
glycogen. When this is exhausted the fats and proteins are used.
The _starches_ and _sugars_ then are really the energy “reserves” of
the body, any excess over the daily needs being stored until required.
Starchy foods should not be given to any one in whom, from disease or
derangement, the starch-converting ferments, ptyalin in the saliva and
pancreatin in the pancreatic juice, are lacking.
Potatoes or bananas which the child does not masticate, should not be
given him under the age of two years.
[Sidenote: Fat]
The average fat person does not breathe deeply and does not take in
sufficient oxygen to cause a combustion of the fat and produce energy.
He is thus inclined to be lethargic.
A pound of fat has about three times as much fuel value as a pound of
wheat flour, which consists largely of starch.
Common examples of fat are butter, cream, the fat of meat and of
nuts, and the oil of grains and seeds—notably the cocoanut, olive, and
oatmeal.
Fat forms about twenty per cent. of the weight of the normal body.
The body cannot remain in health for long unless a proper amount of
fatty food is eaten. Muscular and nerve action, and the formation of
the digestive secretions are all dependent on the energy derived from
the combustion of fat. Its use in this way spares the tissues from
destruction in the chemical processes necessary to life.
Fats are not digested in the stomach. The connective tissue about
the fat is dissolved here, and the fat is passed on into the small
intestine, where it is acted on by the bile and the intestinal juices.
These first change the fat into an emulsion and then into the form of
soap and glycerin. In this saponified form, it is in condition to be
absorbed and carried to the tissues, where it is assimilated and used
in energy. The commercial production of soap from oil is similar to the
chemical change in the body of fat into soap.
The supply of fat stored in the body depends on the quantity consumed
with the food, on the quantity used up in heat and energy in muscular
or mental exercise. The quantity assimilated depends somewhat on the
condition of the nerves. If the nerves are weak, they do not strongly
direct digestion and assimilation and less fat is used in the digestive
and assimilative processes; thus, in case of weak nerves more fat is
often stored in the tissues. An excess of fat often indicates sluggish
nerve activity.
Manual laborers require more fat for energy than do people whose habits
are sedentary. School-children, or children who play hard, should have
sufficient fat and sugar.
* * * * *
_Butter and Cream._ The fat present in milk, depends of course, on the
quality of the milk. There is as much butter-fat in a glass of fresh
Jersey milk as in a glass of cream from the milk of some cows. The
cream from some Jersey cows is eighty per cent. butter-fat.
Skimmed milk contains very little fat. If milk is drunk by the adult,
as a means of storing up more fat within the body, the cream, if
assimilated, should be stirred into it.
_The Fat of Meat._ This should be thoroughly cooked. All meats in the
process of baking or frying should be covered, in order to retain the
moisture. The fat in well-roasted beef is nutritious, but _to make fat
easily digestible it should be well masticated so as to break up the
tissue fibers which surround it_.
While fried foods are difficult of digestion (see page 192) because the
surface albumin is coagulated and the hot fat forms a coating around
it, making it difficult for the digestive juices to reach the tissue,
the fat of bacon is more easily dissolved because of the delicacy
of the fibers surrounding the fat cells. If thinly sliced and fully
immersed in its own grease in the process of frying, bacon is an easily
digested fat. The process of smoking the bacon renders it easier of
digestion.
The Eskimos extensively use both whale and seal oil as a food.
Olive oil, in moderation, is a good food when much heat and energy
are required, but if one’s occupation is sedentary, much fat is not
necessary.
_Nut Oils_ are good, but, with the exception of peanut butter, are
not often used. English walnuts, hickory nuts, pecans, cocoanuts, and
Brazil nuts contain much oil. Nut oils are not well borne by some,
hence nuts must be sparingly used by them. If taken they should be used
with salt, and be thoroughly masticated.
Almond oil and olive oil are used in cooking, to some extent.
* * * * *
_WATER_
No food element is more important for the needs of the body than water.
It is composed of oxygen and hydrogen. It forms the large part of the
blood and lymph.
The body will subsist for weeks on the food stored in its tissues; it
will even consume the tissues themselves, but it would soon burn itself
up without water, and the thirst after a few days without it almost
drives one insane.
It has been estimated that from four to five pints of water are
excreted each day by the body and therefore a similar amount should be
consumed daily. The average individual at normal exercise, requires
about seventy one and one half ounces of water daily, which equals
about nine glasses (one glass of water weighs one-half pound). Some of
this may be obtained from the food.
In order that the body may do efficient work in digestion and in the
distribution of the nutrient elements of the foods, and that the
evaporation from the body may be maintained, the water in the foods,
together with the beverages drunk, should consist of about seventy-five
per cent. liquid to twenty-five per cent. nutrient elements, or about
three times as much in weight as proteins, fats, and carbohydrates
combined.
Much of the water taken passes through the system without chemical
change and is constantly being thrown off by the skin, lungs, kidneys,
and intestines.
Some of the water is split up into hydrogen and oxygen to unite with
other substances in the chemical changes carried on during the process
of digestion, and some water is obtained from the food by the union of
hydrogen and oxygen liberated by the action of the digestive juices.
Water is the heat regulator of the body, and the more energy used,
either in work or in play which results in more heat and evaporation,
the more water is required. An animal, if warm, immediately seeks water.
It increases the flow of saliva and of the digestive juices and aids
these juices in reaching every particle of food.
It dissolves the foods, and helps in the distribution of food materials
throughout the body, carrying them in the blood and the lymph from the
digestive organs to the tissues, where they are assimilated.
The blood carries the water to the various secreting and excreting
glands and its increased pressure aids both the secreting and excreting
activity. The digestive organs secrete their juices more freely,
digestion is aided, more nutriment is rendered absorbable, more carbon
dioxid is liberated, and more oxygen is taken into the blood which
thereby is made richer and more life-giving.
_To maintain the equilibrium of the body forces, water drinking should
be established as a permanent habit and be firmly adhered to as a part
of the daily program._
Many claim that one’s thirst, as in the desire for food, is the only
safe guide to the amount and time of drinking, but these desires are
largely matters of habit, and tastes are often perverted. Unless the
condition is abnormal or the mind becomes so intensely active that one
fails to listen to the call of Nature, _the system calls for what it
has been in the habit of receiving_ and at the stated times it has been
in the habit of receiving it. It does not always call for what is good
for it.
Plants thrive after a shower because the falling water brings down
the impurities in the air which constitute plant food. Rain-water for
household use, therefore, should never be collected during the early
part of a shower or rain storm.
The health of the body depends to a large degree on the purity of the
water. Contaminated water is a menace to health.
The kidneys are especially the great eliminators of water and aid in
maintaining the equilibrium of the blood. Except in conditions in which
they need rest, water should be freely drunk in order to stimulate them
to activity and to assist them in throwing off the body waste held in
solution.
One cannot form a better habit than that of drinking two or three
glasses of water on first arising and then exercising the stomach and
intestines by a series of movements which alternately contract and
relax the walls of those organs, causing their thorough cleansing.
When cool water in the morning seems to chill one, a glass of hot water
may be followed by a glass of cool.
The free drinking of water aids the activity of the skin, keeping the
tissues moist and the glands active.
Effervescing waters are usually drunk for their cooling and refreshing
effect. They should not be drunk to excess as they are usually combined
with syrups or sugar and will thus occasion derangement of digestion,
flatulence, and in some cases palpitation from the excess of gas which
presses on the diaphragm and impedes the action of the heart.
Mineral waters are drunk for the action of the salts which they contain
and are used for their laxative or their medicinal effect. Kissengen,
Hunyadi Janos, Epsom, Carlsbad, and our own Saratoga are examples of
laxative waters. These all contain sodium and magnesium sulphates and
are known as “bitter” waters.
Table waters, as Apollinaris, Vichy, or others containing carbon dioxid
are refreshing and wholesome and may be used in nausea and vomiting for
their quieting effect. Those who are unable to take milk will often
find its digestion will be aided if the milk be mixed with Vichy or
seltzer water.
Cold water should be thoroughly cooled, but not iced. Water is best
cooled by placing the receptacle on ice rather than by putting ice in
the water. Impure or contaminated ice will contaminate water.
The theory has long been held that water drinking at meals is
injurious, the objection being that the food is not so thoroughly
masticated if washed down with water, and that it dilutes the digestive
juices. But this theory is now rejected by the best authorities.
It is singular that the use of water at meals has long been considered
unwise when the free use of milk, which is about seven-eighths water,
has been recommended.
The copious drinking of cool water from a half hour to an hour before
a meal will cleanse the stomach and incite the flow of saliva and
gastric juice, thus aiding digestion.
Moreover, the digestive cells secrete their juices more freely and the
sucking villi absorb more readily when the stomach and intestines are
moderately full, either of food or water, and to fill the stomach with
food requires too much digestive and eliminative activity.
Water taken before meals passes through the stomach before the food,
washes away any mucus that may have collected over the mouths of the
gastric glands, stimulates them to activity, and prepares the stomach
to receive the food.
Drinking at meals, therefore, has many more arguments in its favor than
against it.
All who have a tendency to the deposit of uric acid in the tissues, as
in gout, should drink freely of water to lessen the deposit of salts
from the blood which must maintain its proportion of fluid.
More water should be drunk if the meal consists largely of protein. The
nitrogen it contains is eliminated in a short time by the kidneys, the
amount of urine is increased, and more water must be drunk to make up
the loss.
The patient is often too ill to ask for water or will forget to ask
for it. Constipation may result from this cause. It must be a part of
the nurse’s duty to see that a sufficient amount is taken. An excess
of cold water, if hastily taken, may cause cramps. If slowly sipped it
will do no harm.
_There is no tonic like water, exercise, and fresh air._ The safe
method is not to allow the habit of drinking water with regularity to
be broken, unless for some necessary purpose, and then the habit should
be reinstated as soon as possible.
_SALTS_
The uses of some of these substances are not thoroughly understood, but
if deprived of them, the nutrition of the body suffers.
Lime (calcium) is necessary for the bones and teeth and to preserve the
coagulability of the blood.
Other salts are also needed to carry on the chemical reactions in the
digestive system.
Cereals, all vegetables, fruits, and nuts furnish both calcium salts
and sodium, potassium, and magnesium, which are the salts in the blood
and lymph. Minerals are also abundant in dried legumes (beans and peas).
Fruits and nuts contain the least amount of these salts, and meats,
vegetables, and cereals follow in the order named, cereals, that
is the whole of the grain—not the white flour—containing the most.
Any diet, therefore, which recommends the use of fruits and nuts to
the exclusion of other foods, depletes the system of some of the
body-building elements. The system may seem to thrive for a time on
such food because, perhaps, of the rest given to overworked organs,
but eventually the body lack will manifest itself; anemia may appear
or malnutrition become evident.
Milk furnishes salts in proper proportion for building the bones and
teeth of the baby; because of the lime which it contains it is a good
food for the growing child. After the child is one year old, eggs may
be added to the diet. During the first year the albumin and fats in the
egg are not well digested. It is especially essential that children
be furnished milk and eggs that they may be assured of the proper
proportion and quantity of calcium salts for growth.
_Phosphorus_ and sulphur are obtained by the body from eggs and milk
and from such vegetables as corn, cauliflower, asparagus, and turnips.
FOOTNOTES:
[2] For the process of digestion and the action of the digestive juices
on the various food elements, see _Let’s Be Healthy_, by Susanna
Cocroft.
[3] PUBLISHER’S NOTE: The conversion in the body of starch and sugar
into grape sugar, then into dextrose, then into glycogen, the glycogen
being again broken up into grape sugar, is fully explained in Susanna
Cocroft’s book _Let’s Be Healthy_.
CHAPTER III
CLASSIFICATION OF FOODS
_CARBONACEOUS FOODS_
While all foods contain a combination of elements, some contain a
greater proportion of carbohydrates and fats, and are classed as
_carbonaceous_.
* * * * *
TABLE I
——————————————+—————————+—————————+—————————+—————————+—————+——————————
| Water | Protein | Fat |Carbo- | Ash |Food Value
FOOD MATERIALS|per cent.|per cent.|per cent. hydrates |per |per pound
| | | |per cent.|cent.| Calories
——————————————+—————————+—————————+—————————+—————————+—————+——————————
Sweet Potatoes| 69.4 | 1.5 | 0.3 | 26.2 | 2.6 | 440
White Potatoes| 75.0 | 2.1 | 0.2 | 22.0 | 0.7 | 295
Parsnips | 64.4 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 10.8 | 1.1 | 230
Onions | 86.0 | 1.9 | 0.1 | 11.3 | 0.7 | 225
Beets | 87.0 | 1.4 | 0.1 | 7.3 | 0.7 | 160
Carrots | 88.2 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 8.2 | 6.0 | 210
Turnips | 92.7 | 0.9 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 120
——————————————+—————————+—————————+—————————+—————————+—————+——————————
_Potatoes._ It will be noted from the table given above that sweet
potatoes contain a larger percentage of carbohydrates, hence they
produce more heat and energy than any other vegetable; next to the
sweet potato comes the Irish or white potato.
While the white potato contains two per cent. of protein, this is
almost all located in a very thin layer immediately beneath the skin,
so that when the potato is peeled in the ordinary way, the protein is
removed. This is true of many vegetables. They lose their distinctive
flavor, as well as their value as tissue-building foods, when the skins
are removed, especially before cooking. Many vegetables may be peeled
after being cooked and their value in nutrition is thus increased.
All tubers gain in dietetic value if they are cooked in their skins,
the thin outer covering being removed after the cooking process is
completed. The ordinary cook, however, is unwilling to take the trouble
to prepare them in this way.
When a potato is baked the outer skin is readily separated from the
less perceptible layer containing the protein. Potatoes boiled in their
skins retain the protein.
Since sugar digests more quickly than starch, the sweet potato digests
more quickly than the white. Because of the large percentage of
carbohydrates in each, it is a mistake to eat these two vegetables at
the same meal, unless the quantity of each is lessened. For the same
reason, bread and potatoes, or rice and potatoes, should not be eaten
to any extent at the same meal, unless by one who is doing heavy manual
labor, requiring much energy.
The volatile oil makes the raw onion difficult for some to digest and,
in that case, should be omitted from the diet.
There are no more delicate or nutritious greens than the stem and leaf
of the beet. These greens contain much iron and are valuable aids in
building up the iron in the blood, thus aiding in the correction of
anemia.
_Parsnips._ Like carrots, parsnips are chiefly valuable for their sugar
and for the extractives which act as appetizers.
* * * * *
Their merit lies in the fact that they have distinct flavors and thus
whet the appetite. Another reason why green vegetables are thoroughly
enjoyed is because they come in the spring, when the appetite is a
little surfeited with the winter foods.
They are diuretic, helping the kidneys and the skin to rid the system
of waste.
TABLE II
GREEN VEGETABLES
—————————+—————+—————————+—————+—————————+———————+—————————+—————————
|Water|Nitro- | Fat |Carbo- |Mineral|Cellulose| Fuel
FOOD | per |genous | per |hydrates |Matter |per cent.|Value per
MATERIALS|cent.|Matter |cent.|per cent.| per | | pound
| |per cent.| | | cent. | |Calories
—————————+—————+—————————+—————+—————————+———————+—————————+—————————
Cabbage |89.6 | 1.80 | 0.4 | 5.8 | 1.3 | 1.1 | 165
Spinach |90.6 | 2.50 | 0.5 | 3.8 | 1.7 | 0.9 | 120
Vegetable| | | | | | |
Marrow |94.8 | 0.06 | 0.2 | 2.6 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 120
Tomatoes |91.9 | 1.30 | 0.2 | 5.0 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 105
Lettuce |94.1 | 1.40 | 0.4 | 2.6 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 105
Celery |93.4 | 1.40 | 0.1 | 3.8 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 85
Rhubarb |94.6 | 0.70 | 0.7 | 2.3 | 0.6 | 1.1 | 105
Water | | | | | | |
Cress |93.1 | 0.70 | 0.5 | 8.7 | 1.3 | 0.1 | 110
Cucumbers|95.9 | 0.80 | 0.1 | 2.1 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 10
Asparagus|91.7 | 2.20 | 0.2 | 2.9 | 0.9 | 2.1 | 110
Brussels | | | | | | |
Sprouts |93.7 | 1.50 | 0.1 | 3.4 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 95
Beans | | | | | | |
(string)| 8.92| 2.3 | 0.3 | 7.4 | 0.8 | 7.0 | 195
Beans | | | | | | |
(dried) |12.6 | 22.5 | 1.8 | 59.6 | 3.5 | 0.0 | 1605
Peas | | | | | | |
(green, | | | | | | |
shelled)|74.6 | 7.0 | 0.5 | 16.9 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 465
—————————+—————+—————————+—————+—————————+———————+—————————+—————————
In larger cities, fresh vegetables are in the markets the year around,
but if they are raised in greenhouses, or in any way forced, they lack
the flavor which comes with natural maturity and they also lack the
full amount of iron given by the rays of the sun. If raised in the
south and shipped from a distance, they are not fresh and they do not
have as good an effect on the system as when fresh and fully matured by
the sun.
They promote the formation of calcium oxalate in the urine and should
be avoided as a food by any one inclined to gout, rheumatism, or
gall-stones.
_Tomatoes_ are easily digested and are refreshing. They are not well
borne by some and on account of the oxalic acid they contain should not
be used by those having an excess of uric acid.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Fruits]
They are composed for the most part of starch, sugar, water, and
various organic acids, cellulose, and pectin. (Pectin is the substance
which jellies under heat.) Fruits which do not contain pectin must be
combined with others which do, or with gelatin, if jelly from them is
desired.
The organic acids in fruits are readily split up in the body, and
form alkalis. For this reason acid fruits are useful in certain acid
conditions of the stomach, because they combine with the stomach acids,
liberating substances which cause an alkaline reaction.
The organic acids and salts contained in fruits are of value as they
stimulate the activity of the kidneys and lessen the acidity of the
urine. The urine may even be rendered alkaline by them; hence, when
a test shows evidence of too much uric acid, acid fruits are used to
neutralize the acids in the tissues, particularly the acids of the
citrus fruits.
The fruit juices are readily absorbed and the potassium calcium,
sodium, and magnesium they contain are liberated with the formation of
alkaline carbonates.
The seeds in the small fruits are not digested, but they serve the
purpose of increasing intestinal peristalsis and of assisting the
movement of the contents of the intestines. The skin and the fiber of
fruits also assist the intestines in this way, just as the fiber in
vegetables does.
The protein in these sweet fruits is largely in the seeds and, as the
seeds are not digested, they have no real food value for the individual.
Figs and prunes, peaches, apples, and berries are laxative—probably the
laxative action of figs and berries is due to the seeds, and of the
others to the salts and acids they contain, and to the cellulose or
fibrous material which furnishes bulk.
TABLE III
FRUITS
———————————————+—————+———————+———————+————————+—————+—————————+—————
FOOD |Water|Protein|Ether |Carbo- |Ash |Cellulose|Acids
MATERIALS |per |per |Extract|hydrates|per |per cent.|per
|cent.|cent. |per |per |cent.| |cent.
| | |cent. |cent. | | |
———————————————+—————+———————+———————+————————+—————+—————————+—————
Apples |82.50| 0.40 | 0.5 | 12.5 | 0.4 | 2.7 | 1.0
Apricots |85.00| 1.10 | 0.6 | 12.4 | 0.5 | 3.1 | 1.0
Peaches |88.80| 0.50 | 0.2 | 5.8 | 0.6 | 3.4 | 0.7
Plums |78.40| 1.00 | 0.2 | 14.8 | 0.5 | 4.3 | 1.0
Cherries |84.00| 0.80 | 0.8 | 10.0 | 0.6 | 3.8 | 1.0
Gooseberries |86.00| 0.40 | 0.8 | 8.9 | 0.5 | 2.7 | 1.5
Currants |85.20| 0.40 | 0.8 | 7.9 | 0.5 | 4.6 | 1.4
Strawberries |89.10| 1.00 | 0.5 | 6.3 | 0.7 | 2.2 | 1.0
Whortleberries |76.30| 0.70 | 3.0 | 5.8 | 0.4 | 12.2 | 1.6
Cranberries |86.50| 0.50 | 0.7 | 3.9 | 0.2 | 6.2 | 2.2
Oranges |86.70| 0.90 | 0.6 | 8.7 | 0.6 | 1.5 | 1.8
Lemons |89.3 | 1.00 | 0.9 | 8.3 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 1.8
Pineapples |89.3 | 0.04 | 0.3 | 9.7 | 0.3 | 1.5 | 7.0
Pears |83.90| 0.40 | 0.6 | 11.5 | 0.4 | 3.1 | 0.1
Blackberries |88.90| 0.90 | 2.1 | 2.3 | 0.6 | 5.2 | 1.6
Raspberries |84.40| 1.00 | 2.1 | 5.2 | 0.6 | 7.4 | 1.4
Mulberries |84.70| 0.30 | 0.7 | 11.4 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 1.8
Grapes |79.00| 1.00 | 1.0 | 15.5 | 0.5 | 2.5 | 0.5
Watermelons |92.90| 0.30 | 0.1 | 6.5 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 0.5
Bananas |74.00| 1.50 | 0.7 | 22.9 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 0.5
The astringent and acid taste of unripe fruits is due to the tannin
and the acids. Oxygen is necessary to ripen fruits and the slow
natural maturing of the fruit on the tree enables the oxygen to enter
into combination with these substances, lessening their reaction and
altering the starch into glucose or levulose.
It will be recalled that the tannin from the bark of trees toughens the
skin of animals and forms leather. The effect on the membrane of the
stomach and intestines, from the tannin in food, is not so pronounced,
because of the activity and resistance of living matter.
Table III shows that _bananas_ contain nearly twenty-three per cent.
of carbohydrates, which, in an immature state, are largely starches.
The natural ripening process changes the starch to sugar, thus making
them more easily digested. The starch globules, when not matured on the
tree, are not easily broken and are thus difficult of digestion.
Bananas should not be given to children under two years of age because
before this age the ptyalin and pancreatin are not sufficiently
developed to digest the starch.
The reason many find they cannot digest bananas, as purchased in our
markets, is due to the fact that the fruit is immature and unripe.
_Apples_, so universally used, are easily digestible when ripe, and may
be prepared in so many ways that they constitute a valuable addition
to the diet. Their laxative qualities, when taken on an empty stomach,
as before breakfast, or just before retiring, are well known. They are
thus valuable in constipation, and in some forms of dyspepsia may, with
benefit, be eaten raw.
The apple peel contains potassium salts and should be eaten with the
fruit.
_Quinces_ are indigestible when raw, but well baked and eaten with
cream are appetizing and nourishing.
_Dried fruits_ are less palatable than fresh. Many of them, as prunes
and raisins, are nourishing, but others, as citron, are indigestible,
and should be finely chopped if used as flavoring.
Dates and figs used in the same way, in cereals or puddings, are
equally valuable.
Dried currants are the most indigestible of the dried fruits, owing to
their large amount of skin in proportion to the nutriment.
_NITROGENOUS FOODS_
As previously stated, in a mixed diet, meat and eggs are the chief
sources of nitrogenous foods. Next to these come the legumes.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Meat]
For purposes of comparison, one pound of beef has been said to equal
in nutritive value, two and one-half pints or five glasses of milk,
one-half pound (two-thirds of an ordinary baker’s loaf) of bread, and
three eggs. However, these values vary.
TABLE IV
ANIMAL FOODS
——————————————————+—————+———————+—————+—————————+—————+——————————
FOOD MATERIALS |Water|Protein|Fat |Carbo- |Ash |Fuel Value
|per |per |per |hydrates |per |per pound
|cent.|cent. |cent.|per cent.|cent.|Calories
——————————————————+—————+———————+—————+—————————+—————+——————————
Beef, Fresh | 54.0| 17.0 | 19.0| .... | 0.7 | 1105
Flank | 54.0| 17.0 | 19.0| .... | 0.7 | 1105
Porterhouse | 52.4| 19.1 | 17.9| .... | 0.8 | 1100
Sirloin steak | 54.0| 16.5 | 16.1| .... | 0.9 | 975
Round | 60.7| 19.0 | 12.8| .... | 1.0 | 890
Rump | 45.0| 13.8 | 20.2| .... | 0.7 | 1090
Corned beef | 49.2| 14.3 | 23.8| .... | 4.6 | 1245
| | | | | |
Veal: | | | | | |
Leg cutlets | 68.3| 20.1 | 7.5| .... | 1.0 | 695
Fore quarter | 54.2| 15.1 | 6.0| .... | 0.7 | 535
| | | | | |
Mutton: | | | | | |
Leg, hind | 51.2| 15.1 | 14.7| .... | 0.8 | 890
Loin chops | 42.0| 13.5 | 28.3| .... | 0.7 | 1415
Lamb | 49.2| 15.6 | 16.3| .... | 0.85| 967
| | | | | |
Ham: | | | | | |
Loin chops | 41.8| 13.4 | 24.2| .... | 0.8 | 1245
Ham, smoked | 34.8| 14.2 | 33.4| .... | 4.2 | 1635
| | | | | |
Sausage: | | | | | |
Frankfurter | 57.2| 19.6 | 18.6| 1.1 | 3.4 | 1155
| | | | | |
Poultry: | | | | | |
Fowls | 47.1| 13.7 | 12.3| .... | 0.7 | 765
Goose | 38.5| 13.4 | 29.8| .... | 0.7 | 1475
Turkey | 42.4| 16.1 | 18.4| .... | 0.8 | 1060
| | | | | |
Animal Viscera: | | | | | |
Liver (sheep) | 61.2| 23.1 | 9.0| 5.0 | ....| ....
Sweetbreads | 70.9| 16.8 | 12.1| .... | 1.6 | ....
Tongue, smoked | | | | | |
and salted | 35.7| 24.3 | 31.6| .... | 8.5 | ....
| | | | | |
Brain: | 80.6| 8.8 | 9.3| .... | 1.1 | ....
| | | | | |
Fresh Fish: | | | | | |
Bass large- | | | | | |
mouthed| | | | | |
Black, dressed | 41.9| 10.3 | 0.5| .... | 0.6 | 215
Cod steaks | 72.4| 16.9 | 0.5| .... | 1.0 | 335
Shad roe | 71.2| 23.4 | 3.8| .... | 1.6 | 595
Whitefish, | 46.1| 10.2 | 1.3| .... | 0.7 | 245
dressed | | | | | |
Preserved Fish: | | | | | |
Halibut, salted, | | | | | |
smoked and dried | 46.0| 19.1 | 14.0| .... | 1.9 | 945
Sardines, canned | 53.6| 24.0 | 12.1| .... | 5.3 | 955
Salmon, canned | 59.3| 19.3 | 15.3| .... | 1.2 | 1005
| | | | | |
Mollusks: | | | | | |
Oysters, solid | 88.3| 6.1 | 1.4| 3.3 | 0.9 | 235
Round clams | | | | | |
removed from | 80.8| 10.6 | 1.1| 5.1 | 2.3 | 340
shell | | | | | |
Mussels | 42.7| 4.4 | 0.5| 2.1 | 1.0 | 140
| | | | | |
Crustaceans: | | | | | |
Lobster, in shell| 31.1| 5.5 | 0.7| .... | 0.6 | 130
Crab, in shell | 34.1| 7.3 | 0.9| 0.5 | 1.4 | 185
Shrimp, canned | 70.8| 25.4 | 1.0| 0.2 | 2.6 | 520
Terrapin, turtle,| 17.4| 4.2 | 0.7| .... | 0.2 | 105
etc. | | | | | |
——————————————————+—————+———————+—————+—————————+—————+——————————
The amount of fat in meat varies from two to forty per cent., according
to the animal and to its condition at the time of killing.
The best meats are from young animals which have been kept fat and have
not been subjected to any work to toughen the muscles.
The compounds contained in animal foods are much like those of the
body, therefore they require comparatively little digestion to prepare
them for assimilation—this work having been done by the animal—while
the vegetable compounds require much change by the digestive system
before they can be used in the body.
The _albuminoids_ of meat include the meat tissue, or the muscle cells.
These constitute by far the greater part of the meat.
The _gelatinoids_ are derived from the connective tissue forming the
sheath of the muscle and of bundles of muscles, the skin, tendons,
and the casing of bone. Gelatins are made from these and, if pure and
prepared in a cleanly manner, they are wholesome.
The _extractives_ are found most abundantly in the flesh of animals and
birds noted for their muscular activity, as in game. Some of them exert
a stimulant action on the nervous system and others are appetizers,
giving to cooked meats, broths, etc., their pleasing flavor. In case
of anemia, in which it is necessary to build red blood corpuscles, the
blood of beef, the thought of which is usually repellent, may be made
very palatable if it is heated sufficiently to bring out the flavor of
the extractives, and then seasoned.
Unless the beef extracts on the market contain the blood tissue, in
addition to the extractives, they are not particularly nourishing and
are only valuable in soups, etc., as appetizers.
One reason why meat soups should constitute the first course at dinner
is because the extractives stimulate the appetite and start the flow of
gastric juices. Bouillons contain no nourishment, but they may be used
as stimulant restoratives to the muscles, or as a basis for vegetables,
rice, or barley to give them flavor.
Roasted young chicken and veal are tender, easily masticated, and
easily and rapidly digested in the stomach. This is one reason why the
white meats are considered a good diet for the invalid, though veal is
usually avoided in cases of dyspepsia, as, if too young, it may cause
diarrhea; if too old, it is less digestible than beef.
Fat meats remain in the stomach a much longer time than lean meats;
thus, gastric digestion of pork, which usually contains much fat, is
especially difficult, requiring from three and one-half to four hours
(see page 22).
Preserved and canned meats should be eaten with the utmost caution,
care being taken to know that they are put up by firms which use
extreme care in their preparation. Inferior meat is sometimes used in
the preparation of these foods. If meats are not fresh and the canning
not carefully done, they may become putrid after being put up.
_Fish_ and _sea foods_ are, many of them, rich in protein, as noted in
Table IV. They should never be used unless absolutely fresh.
_Oysters_, raw, are easier to digest than when cooked. Oysters should
not be eaten during the spawning season from May to September.
_Mussels_ are nutritious when well prepared and are rapidly gaining in
popularity.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Eggs]
Eggs are excellent articles of food for nutrition and for tissue
building. They have practically the same value in the diet as meat, and
make a very good substitute for meat. Egg yolk in abundance is often
prescribed when it is necessary to supply a very nutritious and easily
assimilated diet.
Eggs consist chiefly of two nutrients—protein and fat (ten per cent.).
Because they contain so large a proportion of protein they are
classified as nitrogenous foods.
One reason why eggs disagree with some is because too much fat is eaten
at the same time. Egg yolk contains fat and if much extra fat is eaten
indigestion and fermentation in the intestine may result. This is
particularly true in those who digest fat with difficulty.
When eggs seem to disagree or the system does not assimilate them well
on account of the fat in the yolk, and eggs are desirable to supply the
protein in the diet, the whites, which contain practically no fat, may
be used. They should be well beaten and if digestion is weak they may
be mixed with fruit juices.
The citric acid in lemons and oranges partially digests the egg, the
gastric juice quickly changing it to peptone.
Another method of cooking the yolk evenly with the white is to put the
egg in cold water, let the water come to a boil, and again immerse the
egg in cold water. The immersing in cold water after boiling makes
hard-boiled eggs peel readily.
_CARBO-NITROGENOUS FOODS_
Under this class come cereals, legumes, nuts, milk, and milk products.
In these foods the nitrogenous and carbonaceous elements are more
evenly proportioned than in either the carbonaceous or nitrogenous
groups. The different food elements in this group are so evenly divided
that one could live for a considerable length of time on any one food.
Some animals build flesh from nuts alone, while the herbivorous animals
live on cereals and plants.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Cereals]
Under cereals, used by man for food, come wheat, oats, rye, barley,
rice, and corn. As will be noted by Table V, cereals contain a large
proportion of starch and are therefore used largely for heat and
energy. Rice contains the largest proportion and next to rice, wheat
flour.
TABLE V
CEREALS
—————————————————+—————+———————+—————+—————————+—————————+——————
| | | | _Carbohydrates_ |
| | | +—————————+—————————+
FOOD MATERIALS |Water|Protein|Fat |Starch, |Crude | Ash
|per |per |per | etc. |fiber | per
|cent.|cent. |cent.|per cent.|per cent.| cent.
—————————————————+—————+———————+—————+—————————+—————————+——————
Wheat |10.4 | 12.1 | 2.1| 71.6 | 1.8 | 1.9
Rice |12.4 | 7.4 | 0.4| 79.2 | 0.2 | 0.4
Oats |11.0 | 11.8 | 5.0| 59.7 | 9.5 | 3.0
Rye |11.6 | 10.6 | 1.7| 72.0 | 1.7 | 1.9
Breads and | | | | | |
Crackers: | | | | | |
Wheat bread |32.5 | 8.8 | 1.9| 55.8 | .... | 1.0
Graham bread |34.2 | 9.5 | 1.4| 53.3 | .... | 1.6
Rye bread |30.0 | 3.4 | 0.5| 59.7 | .... | 1.4
Soda crackers | 8.0 | 10.3 | 9.4| 70.5 | .... | 1.8
Graham crackers | 5.0 | 9.8 | 13.5| 69.7 | .... | 2.0
Oatmeal crackers| 4.9 | 10.4 | 13.7| 69.6 | .... | 1.4
Oyster crackers | 3.8 | 11.3 | 4.8| 77.5 | .... | 2.6
Macaroni |13.1 | 9.0 | 0.3| 76.8 | .... | 0.8
Flours and Meals:| | | | | |
Flour, wheat |12.5 | 11.0 | 1.0| 74.9 | .... | 0.5
Corn Meal |15.0 | 9.2 | 3.8| 70.6 | .... | 1.4
Oatmeal | 7.6 | 15.1 | 7.1| 68.2 | .... | 2.0
—————————————————+—————+———————+—————+—————————+—————————+——————
The values as given in the table refer to the whole of the grain. When
the outer coverings are removed, as in the white flour and the outer
covering of rice, the proportion of carbohydrates is increased and the
protein and ash are almost entirely eliminated.
There is no part of the world, except the Arctic regions, where cereals
are not extensively cultivated. From the oats and rye of the north, to
the rice of the hot countries, grains of some kind are staple foods.
If one’s work calls for extreme muscular exertion, the cereals may be
eaten freely, but if one’s habits are sedentary, and the cereals are
used in excess, there is danger of clogging the system with too much
starch. Indeed, for one whose occupation is indoors and requires little
muscular activity, a very little cereal food, such as bread, cake,
etc., will suffice; the carbohydrates will be supplied, in sufficient
quantity, in vegetables.
Cereals and legumes supply nutrients at less price than any class of
foods; therefore a vegetarian diet involves less expense than the
mixed diet. An entirely vegetarian diet, however, gradually induces a
condition of muscular weakness in many people, resulting in a loss of
strength. A well-proportioned mixed diet is best to give strength and
activity of both body and mind.
Meat, eggs, and milk, which usually supply the proteins, are the most
expensive foods, and when these, for any cause, are eliminated, a large
proportion of proteins should be supplied by the legumes.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Wheat]
In the modern process of crushing the wheat between steel rollers, the
white flour of to-day contains more of the protein from the inner coat
of the bran than the white flour of the old process; hence, it is more
nutritious.
_Bran._ Objection is sometimes made to bran because the cellulose
shell is not digested, but bran contains much protein and mineral
matter and even though it is crude fiber, as previously stated, this
fiber has a value as a cleanser for the lining of the stomach and
intestines, and for increasing peristalsis, thus encouraging the flow
of digestive juices and the elimination of waste. In bread or breakfast
foods, it is desirable to retain it for its laxative effect.
Bran has three coats—the tough, glossy outside, within this a coat
containing most of the coloring matter, and a third coat, containing
a special kind of protein, known as cerealin. The two outer layers
contain phosphorus compounds, lime, and iron. All three coats contain
gluten.
_Whole wheat_ flour does not contain the whole of the wheat, as the
name implies; it, however, does contain all the proteins of the
endosperm and the gluten and oil of the germ, together with all of the
starch. As a flour, therefore, it is a more balanced food than the
white flour, because it contains more nitrogenous elements.
_Graham flour_ is made from the entire wheat kernel with the exception
of the outermost scale of the bran. It contains the starch, gluten
phosphorus compounds, iron, and lime. It is the most desirable of
the flours because, containing the bran, it assists in digestion and
elimination, and the phosphorus, iron, and lime, are valuable body
builders.
_Nutri meal_ is much the same as Graham flour, the chief difference
being that the bran is ground finer. The wheat is ground between hot
rollers, the heat bringing out the nutty flavor of the bran. Bread made
from it is not only nutritious, but delicious in flavor. It contains
all of the nutrition of the wheat.
Perhaps no form of prepared food has been longer in vogue than bread.
It has been known since history began. When the entire wheat kernel is
used it probably maintains and supports life and strength better than
any single food, but bread is not the “staff of life” unless the entire
kernel is in the flour.
The more porous the bread the more easily it digests. When full of
pores, it is more readily mixed with the digestive juices.
The pores in bread are produced by the effort of the gas, released
by the yeast, to escape. When mixed with water, the flour forms a
tenacious body which, when warm, expands under the pressure of the gas
from the yeast, until the dough is full of gas-filled holes. The walls
of gluten do not allow the gas to escape, and thus the dough is made
light and porous. The more gluten the flour holds, the more water the
dough will take up and the greater will be the yield of bread; hence,
the more gluten, the more valuable the flour. If the bread is not
porous, the fermentation is not complete, and the bread is heavy.
The best flour for bread is that made from the spring wheat, grown in
cooler climates, because it is richer in gluten than the winter wheat.
The winter wheat flour is used more for cakes and pastries.
Bread made with milk, is, of course, richer and more nutritious than
that made with water, and bread made with potato water contains more
starch; both of these retain their moisture longer than bread made
without them.
_Mold_, which sometimes forms on bread, is, like the yeast, a minute
plant. It is floating about everywhere in the air, ready to settle down
wherever it finds a suitable home. Moisture and heat favor its growth;
hence bread should be thoroughly cooled before it is put into a jar or
bread box. The bread box should be ventilated and kept in a cool place.
_Rye bread_ contains a little more starch and less protein than wheat
bread. It contains more water and holds its moisture longer.
_Biscuits._ The objection to eating hot bread does not hold for baking
powder or soda biscuits, if well cooked, because these cool more
rapidly and they do not contain the yeast plant; hence, they do not
ferment as does the bread.
Breads made with pure baking powder are wholesome and, when light, are
digestible. When made with cheap baking powder, however, in which alum
or ammonia is employed, the stomach may be irritated by the chemical
substances contained.
The reason that the cook attempts to bake her biscuits, or anything
made with baking powder, as quickly as possible after the baking powder
comes in contact with the moisture, is that the dough may have the full
effect of the expansion of the gas. If the room in which she mixes
her dough is cool, or if her biscuit dough is left in a cool place,
this is not important, as heat and moisture are both required for full
combustion. Enough baking powder biscuit dough may be mixed at one
time to provide biscuits every morning for a week, if buried in flour
immediately after mixing so that it is kept cool and from the air. A
portion may be cut off each morning and the remainder again buried in
the flour.
_Macaroni_ and _spaghetti_ are made from a special wheat flour known
as Durum. They contain about seventy-seven per cent. of starch, little
fat, and little protein. They may take the place of bread, rice, or
potato at a meal.
The polished rice commonly used, is almost pure starch, and, like white
flour, lacks the nutritive qualities contained in the husk or covering.
_Wild rice_ is used by the North American Indians. The seeds are
longer, thinner, and darker, than the cultivated rice. It is coming
into favor as a side dish but it is served more particularly at hotels
in soup and with game.
While these substances were discovered while working with rice, they
have since come to include other substances which affect the nutritive
value of food. The term “vitamin” has since been given to other
apparently necessary elements in foods which seem to determine their
nutritive value to the system. These necessary elements, “vitamins,”
may be the spices and flavors used in the food, and sometimes, perhaps,
may be the flavors resulting from the action of benign bacteria, as
those which give the delicious flavor to butter and cheese.
Dishes unskillfully prepared are not relished. Some chemical change has
occurred which the senses detect and these dishes are rendered less
wholesome, lacking the necessary “vitamin.” Distaste, loss of appetite,
and even nausea and vomiting may occur.
Sternberg calls attention anew to the fact that the science of cooking
is a complicated one and is a matter of taste in the widest sense of
the term, that vitamins may largely be produced in the preparation of
the food.
_Corn_ (maize) is a native of America and has been one of the most
extensively used cereals.
The chief products of corn are hominy, corn meal, cracked corn, samp,
glucose, corn-starch and laundry starch. Alcohol is also made from it.
Corn bread and corn-meal mush were important foods with the early
settlers, partly because they are nutritious and partly because the
corn meal was easily prepared at the mill and was cheap.
The germ of the corn is larger in proportion than the germs of other
grains, and it contains much fat; therefore it is heating. For this
reason, it is strange that corn bread is so largely used by inhabitants
of the southern states. It is a more appropriate food for winter in
cold climates.
Because of the fat in the germ, corn meal readily turns rancid, and,
on this account, the germ is separated and omitted from many corn-meal
preparations.
_Green sweet corn_ does not contain the same proportion of starch as
corn meal, it being, in its tender state, mostly water. It is laxative,
because it is eaten with the coarse hull, which causes more rapid
peristalsis of the intestines. It should be well masticated to break
the covering of the husk; the digestive juices cannot penetrate the
hard covering.
* * * * *
The grains commonly used for breakfast foods are corn, oats, rice, and
wheat. Barley, and wild rice, millet and buckwheat are used in some
sections, but not enough to warrant discussion here.
Barley is used chiefly for making malt and in the form of pearled
barley is used in soups.
Table VI, from one of the bulletins published by the United States
Department of Agriculture, is interesting from an economical standpoint.
TABLE VI
——————————————————————+—————+——————————+—————————+
| | |Cost of |
|Price|Cost of |1000 |
FOOD MATERIALS |per |one pound |calories |
|pound|of protein|of energy|
| | | |
——————————————————————+—————+——————————+—————————+
Oat preparations: | | | |
Oatmeal, raw | 3 | 0.24 | 1.7 |
” | 4 | 0.32 | 2.3 |
Rolled oats, steam | | | |
cooked | 6 | 0.48 | 3.4 |
| | | |
Wheat preparations: | | | |
Flour, Graham | 4 | 0.40 | 2.6 |
Flour, entire-wheat | 5 | 0.46 | 3.1 |
Flour, patent | 3.5| 0.35 | 2.1 |
Farina | 10 | 1.12 | 6.2 |
Flaked | 15 | 1.69 | 9.3 |
Shredded | 12.5| 1.62 | 8.2 |
Parched & ground | 7.5| 0.88 | 4.9 |
Malted, cooked and | | | |
crushed | 13 | 1.43 | 8.5 |
Flaked and malted | 11 | 1.21 | 7.2 |
| | | |
Barley preparations: | | | |
Pearled barley | 7 | 1.06 | 4.6 |
Flaked, steam | | | |
cooked | 15 | 1.83 | 9.6 |
| | | |
Corn preparations: | | | |
Corn meal, granular | 3 | 0.44 | 1.8 |
Hominy | 4 | 0.62 | 2.4 |
Samp | 5 | 0.78 | 3.0 |
Flaked & parched | 13 | 1.73 | 7.5 |
| | | |
Rice preparations: | | | |
Rice, polished | 8 | 1.48 | 4.7 |
Flaked, steam | | | |
cooked | 15 | 2.31 | 9.8 |
| | | |
Miscellaneous foods | | | |
for comparison: | | | |
Bread, white | 6 | 0.74 | 5.0 |
” | 5 | 0.62 | 4.2 |
Crackers | 10 | 1.10 | 5.3 |
Macaroni | 12.5| 1.08 | 7.5 |
Beans, dried | 5 | 0.28 | 3.5 |
Peas, dried | 5 | 0.26 | 3.4 |
Milk | 3 | 0.94 | 9.7 |
” | 3.5| 1.09 | 11.3 |
Sugar | 5 | ... | 2.8 |
” | 6 | ... | 3.4 |
——————————————————————+—————+——————————+—————————+
——————————————————————+————————————————————————————————————————
| Amount for 10 cents
|—————————+———————+—————+————————+———————
FOOD MATERIALS |Total |Protein|Fat |Carbo- | Energy
|weight of| | |hydrates|
|material | | | |
——————————————————————+—————————+———————+—————+————————+———————
Oat preparations: | | | | |
Oatmeal, raw | 3.33 | 0.42 | 0.22| 2.18 | 5884
” | 2.50 | 0.31 | 0.16| 1.64 | 4418
Rolled oats, steam | | | | |
cooked | 1.67 | 0.21 | 0.11| 1.08 | 2938
| | | | |
Wheat preparations: | | | | |
Flour, Graham | 2.50 | 0.25 | 0.01| 1.61 | 3790
Flour, entire-wheat | 2.00 | 0.22 | 0.03| 1.36 | 3188
Flour, patent | 2.86 | 0.29 | 0.03| 2.10 | 4700
Farina | 1.00 | 0.09 | 0.01| 0.73 | 1609
Flaked | 0.67 | 0.06 | 0.01| 0.46 | 1005
Shredded | 0.80 | 0.06 | 0.01| 0.57 | 1217
Parched & ground | 1.33 | 0.11 | 0.02| 0.94 | 2050
Malted, cooked and | | | | |
crushed | 0.77 | 0.07 | 0.01| 0.53 | 1175
Flaked and malted | 0.91 | 0.08 | 0.01| 0.62 | 1389
| | | | |
Barley preparations: | | | | |
Pearled barley | 1.43 | 0.09 | 0.01| 1.04 | 2165
Flaked, steam | | | | |
cooked | 0.67 | 0.05 | ... | 0.50 | 1051
| | | | |
Corn preparations: | | | | |
Corn meal, granular | 3.33 | 0.23 | 0.06| 2.48 | 5534
Hominy | 2.50 | 0.16 | 0.01| 1.97 | 4178
Samp | 2.00 | 0.13 | 0.01| 1.57 | 3342
Flaked & parched | 0.77 | 0.06 | 0.01| 0.60 | 1335
| | | | |
Rice preparations: | | | | |
Rice, polished | 1.25 | 0.07 | ... | 0.94 | 1855
Flaked, steam | | | | |
cooked | 0.67 | 0.04 | ... | 0.51 | 1026
| | | | |
Miscellaneous foods | | | | |
for comparison: | | | | |
Bread, white | 1.67 | 0.14 | 0.02| 0.87 | 2009
” | 2.00 | 0.16 | 0.02| 1.04 | 2406
Crackers | 1.00 | 0.09 | 0.08| 0.71 | 1905
Macaroni | 0.80 | 0.09 | 0.01| 0.58 | 1328
Beans, dried | 2.00 | 0.35 | 0.03| 1.16 | 2868
Peas, dried | 2.00 | 0.38 | 0.02| 1.20 | 2974
Milk | 3.33 | 0.11 | 0.13| 0.17 | 1030
” | 2.86 | 0.09 | 0.11| 0.14 | 885
Sugar | 2.00 | ... | ... | 2.00 | 3515
” | 1.67 | ... | ... | 1.67 | 2940
——————————————————————+—————————+———————+—————+————————+———————
The less expensive breakfast foods, such as oatmeal and corn meal,
are as economical as flour, and, as they supply heat and energy in
abundance, as shown by Table VI, they should be supplied in the diet
in proportion to the energy required. They are easily prepared for
porridge, requiring simply to be boiled in water, with a little salt.
_Oatmeal_ is the most nutritious cereal. The oat contains more fat
than other grains and a larger proportion of protein. It, therefore,
contains the proportion of nutrient elements best adapted to sustain
life.
On account of the fat, oats are especially well adapted for a breakfast
food in winter. Another advantage oatmeal, or rolled oats, have as a
breakfast food is in their laxative tendency, due to the coarse shell
of the kernel.
Oat breakfast foods keep longer than the foods made from wheat and rice.
_Rolled oats_ consist of the whole berry of the oat, ground into
a coarse meal, either between millstones, or, in the case of the
so-called “steel cut” oatmeal, cut with sharp steel knives across the
sections of the whole oat groat.
Both Rolled Oats and Quaker Oats are now partially cooked in their
preparation, but the starch cells must be thoroughly broken and they
should be cooked at least forty-five minutes in a double boiler; or, a
good way to prepare the porridge is to bring it to the boiling point at
night, let it stand covered over night and then cook it from twenty to
thirty minutes in the morning. Another method of cooking is to bring
the porridge to the boiling point and then place it in a fireless
cooker over night.
_Puffed Rice_ is made from a good quality of finished rice. The process
is a peculiar one, the outer covering or bran, is removed and then
the product is literally “shot from guns”; that is, a quantity of
the rice is placed in metal retorts, revolved slowly in an oven, at
high temperature, until the pressure of steam, as shown by a gauge on
the gun, indicates that the steam, generated slowly by the moisture
within the grain itself, has thoroughly softened the starch cells. The
gun retort is pointed into a wire cage and the cap which closes one
end is removed, permitting an inrush of cold air. This cold air, on
striking the hot steam, causes expansion, which amounts practically to
an explosion. The expansion of steam within each starch cell completely
shatters the cell, causing the grain to expand to eight times its
original size. It rushes out of the gun and into the cage with great
force, after which it is screened to remove all scorched or imperfectly
puffed grains.
Both Puffed Rice and Puffed Wheat are more digestible than in the
original grain state. They are valuable foods for invalids.
_Stale Bread._ A food which tastes much like a prepared breakfast food,
but is cheaper, may be made by dipping stale bread into molasses and
water, drying it in the oven for several hours, and then crushing it.
It is then ready to serve with cream. This is a palatable way to use up
stale bread.
_Crackers and Milk or Bread and Milk._ As noted by Table VI, crackers
are similar to breakfast food in nutrient elements, and with milk make
a good food for breakfast, or a good luncheon. Business men, and
others who eat hurriedly and return immediately to work, will do well
to substitute crackers and milk, or bread and milk, for the piece of
pie which often constitutes a busy man’s lunch.
Another argument against predigested foods lies in the fact that the
chewing of coarse food is necessary to keep the teeth strong. For this
strengthening of the teeth, children should be given dry crackers or
dry toast each day.
Dogs and wild animals which chew bones and hard substances do not have
pyorrhea, but lap-dogs and animals in the zoos, fed on bread and meat
without bones, suffer from this disease.
_Malt_ is a ferment made from some grain, usually from barley, the
grain being allowed to germinate until the ferment diastase is
developed.
* * * * *
TABLE VII
———————————————————————————————+—————+———————+————+————————+—————————
|Water|Protein|Fat |Carbo- |Fuel
KIND OF BEVERAGE | | | |hydrates|Value per
| | | | |pound
———————————————————————————————+—————+———————+————+————————+—————————
Commercial cereal coffee (0.5 | | | | |
ounce to 1 pint water) | 98.2| 0.2 | ...| 1.4 | 30
| | | | |
Parched corn coffee (1.6 | | | | |
ounces to 1 pint water) | 99.5| 0.2 | ...| 0.5 | 13
| | | | |
Oatmeal water (1 ounce to 1 | | | | |
pint water) | 99.7| 0.3 | ...| 0.3 | 11
| | | | |
Coffee (1 ounce to 1 pint | | | | |
water) | 98.9| 0.2 | ...| 0.7 | 16
| | | | |
Tea (0.5 ounce to 1 pint water)| 99.5| 0.2 | ...| 0.6 | 15
| | | | |
Chocolate (0.5 ounce to 1 pint | | | | |
milk) | 84.5| 3.8 | 4.7| 6.0 | 365
| | | | |
Cocoa (0.5 ounce to 1 pint | | | | |
water) | 97.1| 0.6 | 0.9| 1.1 | 65
| | | | |
Skimmed milk | 88.8| 4.0 | 1.8| 5.4 | 170
———————————————————————————————+—————+———————+————+————————+—————————
By reference to Table VII it will be seen that cocoa and skimmed milk
contain much more nutrition than any of the coffees. The chief value of
cereal coffees is that they furnish a _warm_ drink with the meal. They
should not be too hot.
Barley or wheat, mixed with a little molasses, parched in the oven, and
then ground, makes a mixture similar to the cereal coffee.
Barley water and oat water, made by boiling the ground kernel
thoroughly and then straining, are nourishing foods for invalids
and children. They are often used as drinks by athletes and manual
laborers, as they have the advantage of both quenching thirst and
supplying energy.
Gruels are made in the same way, only strained through a sieve. This
process allows more of the starch to pass with the water.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Legumes]
The legumes are the seeds of peas, beans, lentils, and peanuts.
TABLE VIII
LEGUMES
——————————————————————+—————+———————+—————+—————————+—————+——————————
FOOD MATERIALS |Water|Protein|Fat |Carbo- |Ash |Fuel Value
|per |per |per |hydrates |per |per pound
|cent.|cent. |cent.|per cent.|cent.|Calories
——————————————————————+—————+———————+—————+—————————+—————+——————————
Dried Legumes: | | | | | |
Navy beans | 12.6| 22.5 | 1.8| 59.6 | 3.5 | 1605
Dried peas | 9.5| 24.6 | 1.0| 62.0 | 2.9 | 1655
Lentils | 8.4| 25.7 | 1.0| 59.2 | 5.7 | 1620
Lima beans | 10.4| 18.1 | 1.5| 65.9 | 4.1 | 1625
Peanuts | 9.2| 25.8 | 38.6| 24.4 | 2.0 | 2560
Peanut butter | 2.1| 29.3 | 46.5| 17.1 | 5.0 | 2825
| | | | | |
Fresh Legumes: | | | | | |
Canned peas | 85.3| 3.6 | 0.2| 9.8 | 1.1 | 255
Canned lima beans | 79.5| 4.0 | 0.3| 14.6 | 1.6 | 360
Canned string beans | 93.7| 1.1 | 0.1| 3.8 | 1.3 | 95
Canned baked beans | 68.9| 6.9 | 2.5| 19.6 | 2.1 | 600
String beans | 89.2| 2.3 | 0.3| 7.4 | 0.8 | 195
Shelled peas | 74.6| 7.0 | 0.5| 16.9 | 1.0 | 465
——————————————————————+—————+———————+—————+—————————+—————+——————————
Like the cereals, they are seeds, yet they contain a very much larger
proportion of protein and may be substituted for meat or eggs in a
diet. In all vegetarian diets, under normal conditions, the legumes
should be used freely to replace meats.
The protein of the legumes is of the same nature as the casein of milk.
It has been called vegetable casein.
Like other legumes, they require cooking. They are roasted because this
develops the flavor.
The habit of eating peanuts between meals and then eating a hearty meal
is likely to overload the digestive organs.
Both peanuts and peanut butter contain over twenty-five per cent. of
protein and about thirty-nine per cent. of fat; therefore they yield
much heat and energy.
Peanuts have been made into a flour; they are also to be had in the
form of grits which are cooked like oatmeal. When nuts or peanuts are
used as an after-dinner relish the quantity of meat should be cut down.
_Peanut Butter._ While peanut butter contains 46.5 per cent. fat, it
contains only seventeen per cent. carbohydrates. Since sugars and
starches are protections to fat, being used for energy before the
fats are consumed, if these sugars and starches are not supplied in
other food, the fats in the peanut butter are consumed for energy. If
starches _are_ consumed in other foods, it is clear that one who wishes
to reduce in flesh should avoid peanut butter, as well as other fats.
Peanut butter is more easily digested than the roasted peanut, unless
the latter is chewed to a pulp. It can be made at home by grinding the
peanuts in a meat grinder, and then further mashing with a rolling pin
or a wooden potato masher. A little lemon juice mixed with the peanut
butter makes it not only more palatable, but more easily digested. A
peanut butter sandwich is quite as nourishing as a meat sandwich.
_Shelled Peas._ Shelled peas were used in Europe as far back as in the
Middle Ages, and there, to-day, the dried or “split” pea is used quite
as extensively as the dried bean. In America, peas are used almost
entirely in the green stage, fresh, or canned.
As seen by Table VIII, the green, shelled pea contains seven per cent.
of protein and sixteen per cent. of sugar and starch, while the dry
or “split” pea contains over 24.5 per cent. of protein and sixty-two
per cent. of sugar and starch, the difference being in the amount of
water contained in the shelled peas. Canned peas contain even a larger
percentage of water.
A variety of the pea is now being cultivated, in which, like the string
bean, the pod is used as a food. They are sweet and delicious.
_Beans._ Baked navy beans may well be substituted on a menu for meat,
containing, as they do, 22.5 per cent. of protein. It is needless to
state that beans and lean meat or eggs should not be served at the
same meal. Beans have the advantage of being cheaper than meat, yet,
as stated above, the protein in the legumes is less easily digested
than the protein of meat or eggs. They must be thoroughly cooked and
thoroughly masticated.
There is but a small percentage of fat in dried beans; for this reason
they are usually baked with a piece of pork. They make a very complete,
perhaps the most complete food, containing nutrient elements in about
the proper proportions.
Like all green vegetables they stimulate the action of the kidneys. All
green vegetables are particularly valuable to those who drink little
water.
The dried _Lima_ bean, used during the winter, may be boiled or baked.
If old, they are practically indigestible.
_Kidney Beans_ contain much water but are more nutritious than the
string bean.
_Soy Bean._ In China and Japan this bean is used extensively. Being
rich in protein, used with rice it makes a well-balanced diet.
The soy bean is made into various preparations, one of the most
important being _shoyo_, which has been introduced into other
countries. To make it, the soy bean is cooked and mixed with roasted
wheat flour and salt; into this is put a special ferment. It is then
allowed to stand for an extended time in casks. The result is a thick,
brown liquid with a pungent, agreeable taste. It is very nourishing.
A kind of cheese is also made by boiling the soy bean for several
hours, wrapping the hot mass in bundles of straw, and putting it in a
tightly closed cellar for twenty-four hours.
_Lentils_ are not commonly used in this country, but they were one of
the earliest vegetables to be cultivated in Asia and the Mediterranean
countries. They are usually imported and may be obtained in the
markets. They are used like dried peas and are fully as nourishing, but
the flavor of the lentil is pronounced and they are not so agreeable to
the average person as peas or beans.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Nuts]
Nuts are classed with the carbo-nitrogenous foods, because of the more
nearly equal proportion of proteins and carbonaceous substances.
TABLE IX
NUTS
——————————————————+—————+———————+—————+—————————+——————+——————————
FOOD MATERIALS |Water|Protein|Fat |Carbohy- | Ash |Fuel Value
|per |per |per | drates | per |per pound
|cent.|cent. |cent.|per cent.| cent.| Calories.
——————————————————+—————+———————+—————+—————————+——————+——————————
Almonds | 4.8 | 21.0 |54.90| 17.3 | 2.0 | 3030
Brazil nuts | 5.3 | 17.0 |66.80| 7.0 | 3.9 | 3329
Filberts | 3.7 | 15.6 |65.30| 13.0 | 2.4 | 3342
Hickory nuts | 3.7 | 15.4 |67.40| 11.4 | 2.1 | 3495
Pecans | 3.0 | 16.7 |71.20| 13.3 | 1.5 | 3633
English walnuts | 2.8 | 16.7 |64.40| 14.8 | 1.3 | 3305
Chestnuts, fresh |45.0 | 6.2 | 5.40| 42.1 | 1.3 | 1125
Walnuts, black | 2.5 | 27.6 |56.30| 11.7 | 1.9 | 3105
Cocoanut, shredded| 3.5 | 6.3 |57.30| 31.6 | 1.3 | 3125
Peanuts, roasted | 1.6 | 30.5 |49.20| 16.2 | 2.5 | 3177
——————————————————+—————+———————+—————+—————————+——————+——————————
Peanuts are classed here with nuts because of their similar use in the
diet. Their comparative richness in protein will be noted.
Nuts are a valuable food, but they should be made a part of a meal and
may well take the place of meat rather than eaten as a dessert, because
of the large percentage of protein. They are too rich to be eaten as a
relish at the end of a meal, if one has eaten as much other food as the
system requires.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Milk]
Milk is a perfect food for the infant because it contains the elements
in proper proportions to sustain life and growth, though, alone, it
is insufficient for the nourishment of healthy adults. The adult, in
order to get sufficient nutriment, would be compelled to take a larger
proportion of water than necessary, the proportion of water required
by the system being about sixty-seven per cent., while milk contains
eighty-seven per cent.
TABLE X
———————————————+———————+—————————+——————+———————+———————+————————————
FOOD MATERIALS | Water | Protein | Fats | Sugar | Salts | Lactic Acid
———————————————+———————+—————————+——————+———————+———————+————————————
Milk | 86.8 | 4.0 | 3.7 | 4.8 | 0.7 | ....
Skimmed milk | 88.0 | 4.0 | 1.8 | 5.4 | 0.8 | ....
Buttermilk | 90.6 | 3.8 | 1.2 | 3.3 | 0.6 | 0.3
Cream | 66.0 | 2.7 | 26.7 | 2.8 | 1.8 | ....
Cheese | 36.8 | 33.5 | 24.3 | .... | 5.4 | ....
Butter | 6.0 | 0.3 | 91.0 | .... | 2.7 | ....
———————————————+———————+—————————+——————+———————+———————+————————————
The milk of the cow is not perfectly adapted for the young child—it is
lacking in the proper proportion of sugar, and when fed to the infant
it must be modified. Mother’s milk is not only richer in sugar than
cow’s milk, but it contains about half as much casein. The calf needs
more albumin than the baby does because it grows faster. Human milk is
also richer in fat.
A milk and cream diet of about three quarts milk and one quart cream
with the addition of one to two eggs a day will keep up the strength of
one in bed, but is not sufficient for one who is active.
Young babies on mother’s milk are almost always fat, because of the
larger proportion of sugar and fat in the mother’s milk.
Reference to Table X shows that the thirteen per cent. of solids are
about equally divided between fat, sugar, and protein. The sugar is
lactose. It supplies heat to the infant before it can exercise its
muscles vigorously. The protein is casein.
The best method for the housewife to follow is to keep the milk clean,
cool, and away from other foods, as milk will absorb a bad odor or
flavor from any stale food or odorous vegetables, from fresh paint, or
other substances.
Fats 8.75
Proteins 16.35
Dextrin 18.80
Lactose and Maltose 49.15
(Total Soluble Carbohydrates) 67.95
Inorganic Salts 3.86
Moisture 3.06
Malted milk is free from germs. The starches and sugars are converted
in the process of manufacture into maltose, dextrin, and lactose. The
fats are in an absorbable condition, and it contains a high percentage
of proteins derived from both the milk and the grains, as well as a
marked percentage of mineral salts. It is readily soluble in water and
is easily digested.
* * * * *
The salts of milk, to a large extent, the water, and perhaps a portion
of the sugar are absorbed in the stomach.
When the fat (cream) is removed milk digests more readily, so that in
cases in which the stomach is delicate, _skimmed milk, clabbered milk,
or buttermilk_ are often prescribed instead of sweet milk.
Milk is often better assimilated if other food is not too suddenly cut
off. When the diet is radically changed the digestive system is apt
to show derangement. Therefore when for any cause an all-milk diet is
desired, it is unwise to begin it at once, by feeding from eighteen to
twenty glasses of milk a day. This amount may be approximated within
a week’s time. The change in diet should be begun by cutting down all
meats and legumes and gradually eliminating starches. In changing
from a milk diet to a diet including more hearty foods, the transition
should also be gradual.
When from two to three glasses of milk at a meal are taken, less solid
food is needed, because the required nutriment is partially supplied
by the milk. One reason why milk seems to disagree with many people,
is because they lose sight of the fact that milk is an actual food,
as well as a beverage, and they eat the usual quantity of food in
addition to the milk. As one pint, or two glasses of milk, contains
approximately the same amount of nutrition as one-third of a pound
of beef, the amount of food to be taken in addition may be readily
calculated.
The chief reason for the lessened activity of the bowels on a milk diet
is because the nourishment in milk is practically all absorbed—there
is very little residue and milk gives little rough surface to excite
peristaltic action and stimulate the walls of the intestine to activity.
Barley water or oatmeal water added to milk also prevents the formation
of large curds.
As noted in the preceding pages, orange and lemon juice will encourage
greater activity of the stomach and bowels.
The monotony of a milk diet tends to create a distaste for milk and
the mental revolt may upset digestion and result in constipation. This
should be kept in mind and various ways of modifying the milk be used
to create variety; mental aversion and antagonism should be corrected.
When its taste is not relished milk may be made acceptable and the
stomach induced to retain it by using a variety of flavors. A drop
or two of vanilla, a trifle of cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and pepper,
chocolate, or any other flavor that is liked may be used, varying them
so as to keep from monotony.
If milk seems to produce gas in the stomach with distress and the
milk is retained too long in the stomach from the interference with
its movements caused by the gas, a teaspoonful of malt extract may be
added to each glass of milk. If the malt extract is not at hand, four
teaspoonfuls of malted milk to each glass may be used.
Equal parts of cream and hot water to which has been added a third of a
teaspoon of soda may be used, for the same purpose.
_It must be remembered that milk must be sipped slowly and be well
mixed with saliva before it is swallowed._
Milk can be soured and taken separated as a variation, the curds and
whey being relished by many when properly prepared. A little sugar and
cinnamon or nutmeg sprinkled on curds or mixed with the whey make a
palatable mixture. Buttermilk or kumyss offer still other variations.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Cheese]
This is the casein (protein) which has been separated from milk by the
action of rennet. It is highly nutritious and many varieties are on the
market. In Europe it is largely used to take the place of meat. Cheese
contains almost as much again protein as is contained in the same
quantity of meat.
In this country more highly flavored cheeses are in demand, and when
eaten in moderate quantities they aid digestion. They are highly
concentrated food and but a small quantity should be eaten at a meal,
particularly if meat has constituted a part of the meal.
The cheeses poor in fat are more difficult to digest as they are harder
and not so easily masticated.
One should use judgment, in eating any highly concentrated food, not to
eat too large a quantity.
_Whey_ is the watery portion of milk from which the casein has been
removed in the process of making cheese. It is a palatable drink and
may be flavored with a little nutmeg and sugar or salt. Invalids
usually relish it. Beef tea or egg yolk may be added to it.
_Junket._ The tablets used in making junket are the essence of rennet.
Milk coagulated by rennin has not the sour taste of milk coagulated by
acid. It is an admirable article of diet in many weakened conditions of
the digestive tract.
FOOTNOTES:
CHAPTER IV
BEVERAGES
Beverages are used primarily to relieve thirst; they may also contain
food elements; they may be used for their effect in heat and cold,
for their flavor, which helps to increase the appetite, or for their
stimulating properties.
They are used to aid digestion and the elimination of waste, to promote
sweating, to soothe inflamed air passages or digestive membranes. They
furnish extra nutrition, stimulate nerve action, quench thirst in
fevers, warm the body when it is cold or cool it when it is hot. They
are used in health or disease, from the snows of the arctics to the
palms of the tropics. They may be alkaline or acid, mineral, medicated
or mucilaginous, effervescing or plain. The question of their utility
and preparation is important in any discussion of foods and food
products, though in themselves they are not foods.
Those who decry this craving when it takes the form of alcohol are
often themselves addicted to excessive drinking of non-alcoholic
stimulants.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Tea]
Green tea differs from black in the mode of its preparation. In green
tea the leaves are steamed before they are dried.
The amount of tannin in green tea is greater than in black, hence green
tea is regarded as not so wholesome a drink as black tea.
The best way to make tea is to pour on boiling water and serve within
five minutes.
The ease of its preparation and the quickness of its effect tends to
produce the “tea habit.” When drunk to excess with meals, it causes
the precipitation of the ferments in the digestive juices, retards
digestion, and may cause constipation, particularly if taken after long
infusion.
Habitual users often take from ten to twenty cups of strong tea daily;
in these the evil effects of the tea habit are easily noted.
Americans, or any people whose nerves are highly stimulated, from the
stress of life, or from habitual nerve tension, should particularly
avoid all stimulating beverages.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Coffee]
Coffee is prepared from the seeds of the coffee tree. The best known
brands come from the Island of Java, Mocha, Rio de Janeiro, and Mexico.
Coffee stimulates the action of the heart and for this reason it is
used in collapse to restore heart action.
The only use of coffee as a food is that its pleasant aroma stimulates
the flow of gastric juice.
Strong coffee, particularly that which has been boiled for a long time,
retards digestion, and, if much is drunk, it will produce the same
symptoms of over stimulation of the nervous system as are manifest in
the tea habit. Heartburn, constipation, dyspepsia, and insomnia may
result.
Each person must decide for himself whether or not coffee or tea is
injurious to him and cease the habit if he finds it is interfering
with the proper functioning of the system, remembering always that the
purpose of food is to resupply body waste and produce heat and energy.
One who knows that coffee disturbs his digestion, and yet cannot break
himself from the habit of drinking it, should have sympathy for the one
who is addicted to liquor and finds it difficult to break the habit of
depending on this _so-called_ stimulant.
* * * * *
Cocoa is from the shell of the bean and chocolate from the kernel. As
shown by Table VII, they are more nutritious than the other beverages.
Cocoa butter is the fat of the cocoa bean. It has a pleasant odor and
does not easily become rancid. Its nutritive value depends on its fat.
Most of the fat has been removed from the cocoa made for the use of
invalids, hence the nutritive value of this cocoa is lessened. The
milk and sugar used in its preparation constitute the most of its
nourishment; the cocoa simply gives a flavor.
Part of the value of chocolate is in the sugar used with it. If well
prepared it is digested with ease and forms a nutritious article of
diet. The habit of using large amounts of chocolate in candy, or as
a beverage, disorders the system because of the gastric disturbances
produced by the excess of sugar.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Lemonade]
_Lemonade_ and other fruit drinks, particularly those made from the
citrus fruits, slake the thirst more quickly than most drinks.
All fruit drinks are diuretic, and, whenever the action of the kidneys
is sluggish, they are especially desirable.
* * * * *
These are made by forcing carbon dioxid, under pressure, into the
bottle. As soon as the cork is removed the escape of the gas causes
effervescence. These drinks are of no special advantage, other than
that they slake the thirst, because the amount of salts of various
minerals they contain is usually small.
When taken in excess they cause flatulence and may lead to gastric
disturbances. The indiscriminate habit of young people drinking
effervescing waters at soda fountains should be discouraged.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Water]
_CONDIMENTS_
Condiments are not foods. They have no nutrition in themselves, but by
their flavor they stimulate the nerves of taste, rendering the food
more appetizing and help to make the diet more varied.
They are of value in the dietary of the invalid whose appetite must
be stimulated and careful variations in flavoring will aid in varying
a diet which otherwise would be monotonous, but the excessive use
of condiments, particularly the various peppers, salt, horseradish,
ginger, vinegar, and spices, as indulged by many, so overstimulates
the gastric and intestinal membranes, as to cause catarrhal disease
and dyspepsia. They tend to weaken digestion by calling for an undue
secretion of digestive juices, which, if prolonged, tires out the
glands.
_Mustard_, so commonly used with cold ham or other meat and in salad
dressing, is sometimes of benefit in stimulating the appetite, but when
used in large quantities, or continuously, it may irritate the stomach.
This irritant quality may be used to advantage, when it is deemed
necessary, as a counter-irritant on the skin, as in the well-known
mustard plaster. A teaspoonful of mustard to a pint of lukewarm water
is an effectual emetic in cases in which it is necessary or advisable
to empty the stomach.
_Capers_, the flower buds of a bush grown in the East, are put up in
vinegar and used in sauces for mutton.
_Vinegar_, used in excess, reduces the alkalinity of the blood and aids
in the destruction of red blood corpuscles. It may thus produce anemia
when used in excess.
The acetic acid contained in _cider vinegar_ aids the softening of the
muscle fiber of meat and thus facilitates its digestion. Because of its
preservative qualities it is used in pickling vegetables and various
kinds of fish.
_PRESERVATION OF FOODS_
Eggs are preserved for a long period by excluding the air, which
otherwise penetrates the shell. A solution of water glass (silicate of
sodium), dry oats or salt are used for this purpose.
Drying, cooking, and sealing from the air will preserve some meats and
fruits, while others require such preservatives as sugar, vinegar, and
salt. The preservative in cider vinegar is acetic acid, in wine vinegar
tartaric acid.
There can be no doubt, that, whenever possible, the best method is for
the housewife to preserve her own food by drying, canning, preserving,
and pickling, with fruits and vegetables which she knows are fresh.
This, however, is not always practicable.
_In the effort to emphasize the importance of pure food in amount and
quality, pure air and pure water must not be overlooked. Much infection
is carried by these two elements._
Sometimes the foods have not advanced to a stage in which the poisonous
products are manifested; but in the intestinal canal the germs
contained in these foods manufacture toxins which are readily absorbed
and produce the severe disturbances noted in cases of ptomain poisoning.
The liver, which has been styled the “watchdog of the body,” has a
special power to destroy many of the toxins contained in the food
material passing through it, and it is due to this fact that many
deleterious substances, taken with the food, are neutralized and their
poisons rendered harmless to the system. When the liver is disordered,
this important function may be hindered, or cease to be active.
Therefore, the importance may be readily seen of keeping the liver in
a vigorous condition by means of exercises which will send an active
circulation through it and keep the nerves controlling it in perfect
functioning order.
Ptomain poisoning results most often from tainted meat, milk, and fish.
Putrefactive processes may have begun in meat, which is thus rendered
“high,” but if it is thoroughly cooked the poisons may be made inert.
Many enjoy the flavor of such meat. The Eskimos, as is well known, will
cache a seal or other animal against a time when food is less plentiful
and after months, perhaps, will eat it with relish and without harm,
though it cannot be touched by people with less hearty appetites. Old
eggs, eaten as a luxury by the Chinese, and the fermented fish used by
other races are familiar examples of tainted foods.
The sale of “bob” veal, or the flesh of very young calves, has been
prohibited because in many people its ready decomposition causes active
diarrhea.
Many fish after being smoked are eaten raw, and if the ptomains have
begun to develop, poisoning follows.
Care must be taken in purchasing fish for the table that the flesh is
firm and the odor absolutely without taint.
Meat or fish may become toxic to the system through substances eaten by
the animal or by its own physical condition at the time it is killed.
Fish and oysters, therefore, are not eaten during the spawning season.
Cow’s milk may be made obnoxious by substances on which the cow feeds.
Wild garlic when eaten by the cow imparts a nauseous taste to the milk.
The flesh from diseased animals slaughtered and sold for food has
occasioned violent sickness. Government inspection, however, has
greatly lessened the dangers from this source.
Rye may have a parasite fungus called ergot and if flour is made
from rye contaminated with this growth, a form of poisoning called
“ergotism” may result. It takes some time and a prolonged use of the
flour to cause untoward symptoms.
Pellagra, which has been giving the southern states so much trouble,
was thought to be caused by the use of spoiled corn meal. It is now
thought to be due to the disturbed nutrition following too monotonous
and unbalanced a diet. The excessive use of corn-meal breads with their
heating qualities and the irritation of the intestinal canal may be an
accessory factor.
Other poisoning may occur by the tin or lead in the inside of cans
being dissolved off by the acids in fruits or vegetables. This is more
likely to occur when the cans of fruit have been kept for a long time.
Housekeepers, who use tin cans, should not put up more fruit than will
supply the family for the season.
Large canners of fruit and vegetables, of the better quality, are now
coating the inside of the can with an insoluble varnish which prevents
the acids from acting on the tin.
To lessen the cost of production, many foods are mixed with various
substances before being marketed in order to increase the profits
of the manufacturer or dealer. The contained substance may not be
deleterious to health, but it may lessen the value of the article as a
food.
Many insist on a highly colored cheese, thinking that the color denotes
greater richness, whereas a little reasoning would show them that
the richest old cheeses are pale in color, the deeper color of the
cheese being due to the addition of coloring matter to the curd. While
the coloring matter is not deleterious, the color is no evidence of
richness.
Highly colored green pickles, beans, and peas, should not be used.
Pickles which are hard and crisp are usually made so by alum.
Fruit jams which are of nondescript color or pale when pure are colored
artificially because the ordinary purchaser demands a pretty product.
Just as any engine requires fuel, water, and air to create the force
necessary to run the machinery, so does the human engine require fuel,
air, and water.
The fuel for an engine consists of coal, wood, or oil. As these are
brought in combination with oxygen, combustion or oxidation takes
place, liberating heat and setting the engine in motion.
The amount of heat and energy generated by the body equals the amount
of latent energy released by the burning of food material during
oxidation.
The body cells are constantly surrounded by the lymph which contains
the food material—the protein, the carbohydrate, and the fat.
The lymph carries all of the food elements, therefore the protein, the
fat, and the carbohydrate reach the tissues at the same time. If the
fat and carbohydrate predominate, their excess serves to keep a portion
of the protein away from the cells. The cells can use carbohydrate more
easily than fat, so the surplus amount of carbohydrate is first used to
produce energy. This spares the protein which is held in reserve for
tissue repair, and the fat, being least readily used, is stored.
When the carbohydrates and fats are not supplied, or when the system
fails for any reason to appropriate those eaten to its use, the protein
is used for heat and energy instead of being used for tissue building.
If the demand, either in mental or physical energy, exceeds the daily
supply for long, the body becomes lean.
If one is cold, the quickest way to get warm is to generate more heat
within by “turning on the draught,” or, in other words, by _breathing
in more oxygen_. If cold, one should depend more on the oxygen within
than on extra clothing. So many people put on more clothing to conserve
the body heat and forget to generate more heat by arousing the fires
within. This is like covering a dying fire, instead of turning on the
draught to create more combustion.
The carbon in the body is burned by being brought into contact with
oxygen in the blood through exercise and full breathing, just as a fire
is fanned to flame by bringing oxygen in contact with the fuel, by
means of a draught of air. Keep all air away from a fire and it “dies
out,” it has exhausted the oxygen and no heat is produced; keep all air
from within the body, by cessation of breathing, and it also dies.
Just as much heat is created when fat is burned in the body as when it
is burned outside of the body.
The heat from “burning” wood is produced by the union of the oxygen
from the air with hydrogen and carbon, forming carbon dioxid and water.
A small portion of the heat of the body is gained from the sun or from
artificial heat, but by far the greater part is generated within the
body.
As mentioned before, the fuel for the body consists of _fats, starches,
and sugars_, which, in combination with oxygen, create force.
From the foregoing, it follows that the fuel value of any food depends
on the amount of fats, starches, and sugars it contains.
The chemical combination of oxygen with food elements and with the
body tissue is known as _oxidation_. It is this chemical action of
the oxygen on the food and on the tissues which produces heat and
energy, either in muscle, gland, or nerve. This energy, in the muscle,
expresses itself in movement; in the gland, in chemical action, and in
the nervous system, by activity of brain or nerve centers. The nervous
energy is closely allied to electrical force.
Nature provides for a reserve of heat and energy, above the immediate
needs, by storing a supply of heat-producing material which is
utilized whenever the daily supply is insufficient or is lacking. Many
hibernating animals store up sufficient fat in summer to provide heat
for the entire winter. This fat would not last throughout the winter,
however, were the animal active. Many individuals carry sufficient fat
to supply all of their needs for months, even though all fat-building
elements were omitted from the diet.
The fact that more oxygen is required for combustion of fat than of
starches and sugars is important for those who wish to call on the fats
stored within the body for daily heat and energy and thus reduce in
weight.
If sufficient starches, sugars, and fats are not consumed in the body
to supply the daily heat and energy released by exercise, the body
calls on the reserve store in the tissues. If much fat or carbohydrates
are consumed in the daily food this will be oxidized before the fat
stored in the muscular tissue is called on.
In warm weather little fat is needed for fuel, and Nature provides
fresh green vegetables to replace the root vegetables of the cold
weather, which, consisting largely of starches and sugars, are readily
converted into heat.
Diuretic foods and beverages, such as water and fruits (melons, lemons,
oranges, grapefruit, etc.), which increase the activity of the skin and
the kidneys, also tend to lower the body temperature.
The best way to increase the evaporation and thus decrease the
temperature of the body is by a tepid shower or a tepid sponge. The
tepid water will not create a strong reaction, and it will cause a
decrease in temperature. Thus, for fever patients or on a warm day,
the tepid shower or sponge is commended; for a cold day, or for the
individual whose circulation is sluggish, the cold bath, followed by
friction, is desirable. When the vitality is low, so that reaction is
slow or chilly feelings persist, the bath must be tempered and greater
friction used.
While the elements of the food are being oxidized, the latent
(potential) energy released by the oxygen creates mental and physical
force and keeps active the metabolic changing of food into tissues and
cells, also the changing of cells and tissues into waste.
Scientists have measured the energy latent in food material, also the
amount of heat given off in the oxidation of a given quantity of waste.
The unit of measurement is the _calorie_—the amount of heat which will
raise one pound of water 4 degrees Fahrenheit.
The fuel value of any food denotes the total number of calories which
may be derived from a pound of that food if it be completely oxidized
in the body.
The calculation has been made, based on experiments, that one who
does no muscular work needs only an amount of food which will produce
2700 calories. One doing light muscular work needs 3000 calories. An
individual doing moderately heavy work should take 3500 calories, while
heavy muscular work takes 4500 calories.
One hundred grams of protein food, however, gives only fifteen per
cent. of the amount of energy required. About 500 grams of carbohydrate
and 50 grams of fat are needed to make up the 3000 calories which must
be furnished by the daily supply of food for one doing light muscular
work.
The brain worker, who is using brain tissue more rapidly than the day
laborer, should have a diet equally as rich in protein, though less fat
and carbohydrates are needed.
It has been estimated that an ordinary man on full diet excretes about
twenty grams (about five-eighths of an ounce) of nitrogen a day. As
protein material contains about sixteen per cent. of nitrogen, such an
individual needs to take about 120 grams of protein a day to supply the
nitrogen needs of the body. Because of its need for protein, the body
does not store it.
A day laborer needs 0.28 of a pound of protein a day with enough fat
and carbohydrate to give a fuel value of 3500 calories. A professional
man requires 0.25 (1/4) of a pound of protein a day. Much more than
this is usually taken. This means from 1/3 to 1/2 a pound of lean meat.
_Nothing is lost in Nature’s distribution of force and energy.
Everything accomplished in life, either in the physical handling
of material, the brain work in planning the constructions, the
mental movements of thought in art, literature, or science, are all
representatives of the heat and energy released from the body, and
every man and woman should endeavor to make the body yield as large an
income as possible in the expression of this energy. In order that it
may do so, it must be used with intelligence, just as any other great
machine must be used intelligently; it must be fed, exercised, and
rested judiciously._
CHAPTER V
They are divided into two groups: the chemical process of building
up complex substances from simple ones is known as _anabolism_; the
chemical process of oxidizing and breaking down the complex substances
into simple ones, so that they are in a state to be excreted, is called
_catabolism_. While the process of oxidation in catabolism is going on,
heat and energy are set free. Many of the chemical changes in the body
are catabolic in character. This work never ceases—even in sleep.
There is also a great lesson here in the law of supply and demand.
When the body is at mental or muscular work, the potential energy
liberated leaves through muscle or brain, as energy, and is expressed
in the result of the work. When the body is at rest, energy leaves it
as heat (excepting such part as is necessary to carry on metabolism,
circulation, etc.).
In its conversion into tissue, heat, energy, and waste, the importance
of the chemical exceeds that of the mechanical action of digestion,
absorption, assimilation, and elimination; yet the chemical changes are
aided by the mechanical.
Without doubt many eat more food than the system requires, and when it
is overloaded they do not take the pains to burn up and eliminate the
excess through exercise and oxygen.
Many others, through mental and physical activity, burn up much fuel
and the result is the body does not store up sufficient fat for a
reserve, or for beauty and comfort. The nerves require a certain amount
of fat for their protection. People of this type should take a more
full and sometimes a more varied diet, particularly more liquid, and
should not fail in daily exercise and deep breathing.
_DIGESTION_
The chances are that the food is right but that the attitude of mind
and the condition of the body are abnormal.
Each individual should learn to like the foods containing the nutrient
elements which experience and blood tests have shown to be lacking in
his case.
When the habit has been formed of discriminating too much in the food,
of discarding this food or that, because at some time it has disagreed,
due to the particular condition at the time, the mind approaches the
table in a pessimistic attitude and the saliva and the gastric juices
are retarded in their flow.
When one is exercising freely, so that the muscular and mucous coats
of the digestive system are strong, the body will handle foods which,
during sedentary habits, it would not digest.
Such an individual needs to know that one of the hardest things for
the members of his family is to live day by day with one who maintains
an attitude of mental depression, and he should stir himself for “his
stomach’s sake,” as well as for the sake of his family, to a cheerful
interest in something. He should let go his grudge and ride a hobby, if
it is a cheerful one, and ride it hard.
* * * * *
The food in the mouth is mixed with saliva, which begins the
dissolution of the starches.
The saliva consists of about 99.5 per cent. water and 0.5 per
cent. solids. The solids consist of ptyalin, sodium chlorid, sodium
carbonate, mucus, and epithelium. Ptyalin, the most important of these,
is the active digestive agent; the mucus lubricates the masticated
food; the sodium carbonate insures the alkalinity of the food, and the
water dissolves the food that the juices may more readily reach and act
on each particle.
The starches are the only foods whose chemical digestion is begun in
the mouth. They are first broken up by the ptyalin into dextrin and
then into the more simple sugar, known as maltose.[6]
The saliva flows into the mouth, more or less, at all times, but more
copiously during mastication.
The movement of the jaws in chewing incites its flow and when starches
are not well digested, gum chewing, in moderation, though not a refined
habit, is beneficial.
The evident purpose of the saliva when food is not present is to keep
the lining of the mouth moist.
The mouth is acid in rheumatism and allied conditions and the saliva
may be thick and ropy so that it does not moisten the food properly.
On the other hand the flow of saliva may be too free, the ptyalin is
then too much diluted to promptly act on the food. This may result from
overstimulation of the salivary glands occasioned by the excessive
chewing of gum, or tobacco. These excesses also carry too much air into
the stomach, resulting in flatulence.
Cool water encourages the flow of saliva and for this reason should
be drunk before meals, particularly when digestion is weak. It may be
taken at rest periods during the meal. (See page 31.)
* * * * *
The relation of the mouth and nasal passages to the digestive processes
is seldom considered by the average individual. Their importance to the
growing child is being recognized by the examination of school children
which is now being made a part of the health program in many of our
cities. Their importance to the adult is no less.
If, from any cause, the saliva becomes acid, dryness of the mouth
results and desire for food is lessened or absent. Diseases of the
salivary glands may render these necessary secretions unfit to perform
their work.
In illness the mouth often drops open from weakness, producing
the same condition of dryness. The mouth, in illness, is too often
neglected by those in charge of the invalid.
The mouth should be properly cleansed, the gums massaged, the teeth
thoroughly brushed, back as well as front, defective teeth repaired or
removed, abnormal growths eliminated, and the secretions kept abundant
and healthy. Food well prepared in the mouth by thorough mastication
satisfies hunger, renders more easy the work of the stomach and
intestines, and aids in the general welfare of the system.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Gum-chewing]
The excess of saliva may render the gastric juice alkaline, inhibiting
its action. Excess of air swallowed with the saliva may cause
flatulence or accumulation of gas in the stomach.
* * * * *
As the food enters the stomach, the gastric juice pours out from the
mucous lining, very much as the saliva pours into the mouth. Like the
saliva, it consists of 99.5 per cent. water and 0.5 per cent. solids.
The solids of the gastric juice are pepsin, rennin, hydrochloric acid,
and mucus.
The _hydrochloric acid_ and the _pepsin_ cause the principal chemical
changes in the food while in the stomach. They act only on the
proteins. The hydrochloric acid must be present before the pepsin can
act, as only in an acid medium can pepsin dissolve the proteins. It is
also of an antiseptic nature and hinders or prevents the decomposition
of food.
Gastric juice begins to flow into the stomach soon after eating,
but normally it is not secreted in sufficient quantity to supersede
salivary digestion for from twenty to forty-five minutes.
If the food has been properly cooked and masticated, gastric digestion
will be completed in from one and one-half to three hours. If not
properly cooked and masticated, the stomach digestion may continue from
one to two hours longer. It should, however, be completed in three
hours.
Animal foods, which are readily digested, remain in the stomach for
a shorter time. Meat, as a rule, is easily digested, because the
digestive juices of the animal have converted the starches and sugars.
The white meat of chicken is digested in a shorter time than the red
or the dark meat.
Corn, beets, peas, beans, etc., take about three and a half hours to
digest; baked potatoes about two and a half hours.
Raw vegetables and fruits remain about the same length of time as
potatoes.
Fluids leave the stomach more rapidly than solids. Seven ounces of
water entirely leaves the stomach in one and one-half hours, seven
ounces of boiled milk in about two hours. Water and buttermilk almost
immediately begin to pass out of the stomach; milk begins to pass out
in about fifteen minutes.
After the food has accumulated, during the progress of a meal, the
stomach begins a series of wave-like movements called peristaltic
waves.[7] These waves propel the food through the length of the stomach
towards its lower opening, known as the pyloric orifice. During this
process the food is thoroughly mixed with the gastric juice.
* * * * *
The food passes from the stomach, through the pylorus into the small
intestine. In this condition of partial digestion it is called chyme.
Fats are almost entirely digested in the small intestine. The presence
of fat stimulates the flow of pancreatic juice, which, in turn,
stimulates the flow of bile. For this reason, in some conditions, if
the liver is sluggish, fatty foods in moderation are desirable. When
bile is not present in sufficient amount the fatty foods ferment and
cause gases and foul odors.
When the food enters the intestine its reaction is acid. Mixed with
the bile, pancreatic and intestinal juices, which are alkaline, its
reaction becomes alkaline.
The pancreatic juice splits up the fats into glycerin and fatty acids
and enables the bile to exert its important emulsifying power. The bile
markedly aids this action of the pancreatic juice though it has no
fat-splitting power in itself.
The sodium in the bile unites with the fatty acid, forming a soap which
coats the tiny particles of fat and emulsifies them. The bile thus aids
in the absorption of the fats. It also lubricates the intestinal mass,
facilitating its passage through the entire length of the intestines.
Thus it is a very potent agent in regulating the bowel movements.
Fat and protein stimulate the activity of the liver, while starches, if
taken in excess, incline to overload it.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Absorption of Food]
The greater part of the food is absorbed through the intestines, yet
some proteins which have been fully digested by the gastric juice, and
certain fats, particularly the fats in milk, which are in a natural
state of emulsion, may be absorbed through the walls of the stomach.
However, the absorption through the stomach is small compared to that
through the small intestine.
The villi are tiny finger-like projections of the mucous lining of the
intestines, which stand out of the lining somewhat as the nap on plush.
They have been called “sucking” villi, because during the movements of
the intestines they seem to suck in the liquid food.
The peptones, sugars, and saponified fats are rapidly absorbed, while
the undigested portion, together with the unabsorbed water, the bile,
mucus, and bacterial products, are passed through the ileocecal valve
into the large intestine.
The mass passes up the ascending colon, on the right side of the
abdomen, across the transverse, and down the descending colon, on
the left side, losing, by absorption, the small amount of foodstuffs
not absorbed in the stomach and small intestine. That the large
intestine is to some extent adapted to absorption is shown by clinical
experiments with patients who cannot retain food in the stomach, the
food in such cases being given through rectal injections.
While water and salt are absorbed in both the stomach and small
intestine, the larger part of the water passes into the large
intestine, that it may assist the passage of the intestinal contents.
Nearly all of the proteins and sugars pass through the mesenteric veins
and the portal veins to the liver. Here the sugars are at once attacked
by the liver cells and built up into glycogen as described on pages 151
and 159. A small portion of the proteins, however, do not go to the
liver, but are passed directly into the lymphatics and thus into the
blood stream, where they are again carried to the liver, and the urea
is separated.
* * * * *
To sum up, the larger part of the sugars, starches, proteins, and fats
is absorbed through the small intestine, a small amount being absorbed
in the stomach and a very little through the large intestine. While
some water and salts are absorbed in the stomach and small intestine,
these are largely absorbed in the large intestine.
* * * * *
The food which furnishes the most tissue-building substance and yields
the most heat and energy, with the least refuse, is the economical
food, provided it is varied enough to meet the psychical needs as well
as the physical.
In the selection of meats, for instance, while beef steak may cost
twice as much as beef stew, it must be borne in mind that beefsteak
contains very little waste, and that it contains a large proportion of
albuminoids, or the tissue-building proteins, while, in beef stew, bone
and connective tissue predominate. A large proportion of the proteins
obtained from the beef stew are gelatinoids and extractives—not the
tissue-building albuminoids. (See page 56.)
In comparing the cheaper and the more expensive cuts in the same kind
of beefsteak, however, the cheaper cuts often yield quite as much
nutriment as the more expensive ones. Round steak is just as nourishing
as porterhouse and cheaper, if one considers the greater number of
helpings derived from a pound of round steak than from a pound of
porterhouse.
For the aged or the invalid, however, the question of preparation will
determine the relative economy.
FOOTNOTES:
[5] For a knowledge of the structure and function of the mucous lining
of the stomach and intestines, and of the tributary glands, such as
the liver and pancreas, which is important to a thorough understanding
of digestion, the reader is referred to _Let’s Be Healthy_, of this
series. In this will be found a study of the secretion of digestive
juices, the conditions favoring normal secretions, etc.
CHAPTER VI
The purpose of this chapter is to show the work of other than the
digestive organs in assimilation, construction, and elimination.
The _liver_ is commonly called the chemical workshop of the body. The
digested food is carried by the blood (portal veins) to the liver as
soon as it is absorbed from the alimentary canal. As the food materials
filter through the blood capillaries, between the liver cells, several
substances are absorbed, particularly sugar, which is changed into the
animal starch called _glycogen_. It is held in the liver for a few
hours in this form and is then redigested and gradually given to the
blood in the form of sugar.
The liver and the spleen also dissolve the pigment or coloring matter
out of the red blood corpuscles. As these become useless, they are
broken up in the liver and the spleen. The iron is retained by the
liver cells and the remainder is thrown off in the bile.
The liver is on guard for all poisons which pass through it in the
blood. The large part of these toxic substances are absorbed through
the alimentary canal with the foodstuffs. Many of them are the result
of the fermentation of foods which are not digested so promptly or so
thoroughly as they should be, on account of an insufficient secretion
of digestive juices, or on account of a failure to secrete them in
normal proportions, due to inactivity of the stomach and intestines.
The _muscles_ play an important part in the use of foods. Most of the
heat is generated in them by the action of the oxygen in the blood
upon the sugar and fats, liberating their latent heat. This heat is
liberated during every moment of the twenty-four hours whether one is
asleep or awake. Of course, more is liberated during exercise, since
the movement of the muscles sets all tissues into activity and the
blood circulates more strongly, bringing a greater supply of oxygen to
them.
One should form the habit of breathing fully and deeply—otherwise the
liberated carbon dioxid will cause an increased pressure throughout
the blood stream, particularly about the heart and in the head. This
pressure is relieved when the excess of carbon dioxid has been thrown
off by the lungs. Much dull headache is due to the retention of carbon
dioxid resulting from shallow breathing.
Nature makes the effort to throw off this excess of carbon dioxid by
forcing one to breathe more rapidly while running or taking unusual
exercise.
The carbon dioxid is carried to the lungs from the tissues through the
venous stream and diffused through the walls of capillaries in the
lungs. The oxygen is absorbed in the thin air sacs in the capillary
walls.
It contains glands which secrete a fluid fat. This keeps the skin
soft and flexible, preventing it from becoming too dry. The skin also
prevents the underlying tissues from injury through abrasions or
contact with foreign substances, as in various industries.
It also contains sweat glands, which throw off body waste in the form
of salts and moisture in the perspiration; this helps to regulate the
body heat and to aid in keeping the skin soft.
The kidneys and the skin are interdependent; if the kidneys are
inactive the skin must throw off a larger quantity of waste and if
the skin is inactive, or if for any reason its pores are closed, the
kidneys become more active.
The skin also throws off carbon dioxid and, to a slight extent, it
absorbs oxygen.
In their work of elimination, they pass off all undigested matter. They
also carry off bile pigment, bile salts, mucus, other decomposition
products—also a little unabsorbed fat.
The intestines also carry off the organic refuse which is produced by
the chemical action of oxygen. This refuse consists of carbon dioxid
and the nitrogenous waste.
This is true in the body—the carbon dioxid not being allowed to pass
off would soon put out the fires of life; it would poison the body
and inhibit the action of the nerves. If the waste is not thrown from
the system we notice it in a feeling of lassitude, both mental and
physical. If the nitrogenous waste (like ashes and cinders) is not
eliminated, one will die in convulsions in a few days.
The _blood_ carries the digested food and the oxygen to the various
tissues and organs, which select from among the nutrients offered to
them the ones suited to their growth and repair.
It carries carbon dioxid to the lungs and the wastes of the tissues to
the other eliminative organs.
Every organ contributes its share to the work of the blood and every
organ takes from the blood some of its elements. If the blood pressure
is too low, stagnation may occur. If it is too high an abnormal
condition of the system results.
_SUMMARY_
_The Saliva_ begins the digestion of starches and sugars in the mouth,
and continues this digestion for a time in the stomach.
_The Stomach_, when in normal condition, digests the proteins. If any
proteins fail of digestion in the stomach the process is completed in
the intestines. It has little absorptive power.
_The Small Intestine_ digests and absorbs the fats and continues the
digestion of starches, sugars, fats, and proteins, when this digestion
is not completed in the stomach.
The large part of the food is absorbed through the small intestine,
though a small part is absorbed through the walls of the stomach and
through the large intestine.
Fats are almost entirely absorbed in the small intestine. They are
absorbed through the lacteals and are carried into the blood-stream.
The proteins pass through the liver but are not acted on by this organ
until they again return to the liver through the blood stream, after
they have been partly oxidized in the tissues. The liver further
oxidizes them, putting them into condition to be excreted by the
kidneys and intestines.
The liver also breaks up the worn-out red corpuscles putting them into
condition to be eliminated in the bile.
The _Muscles_ oxidize the fats and sugars liberating the latent heat
and energy. They partly oxidize proteins which are further broken up in
the liver.
The _Lungs_ absorb oxygen and throw off carbon dioxid, watery vapor,
and some organic substances.
The _Kidneys_ and the _Skin_ excrete water, carbon dioxid, and
nitrogenous waste.
The _Blood_ carries the vital elements derived from the food to all the
organs and tissues, keeping them alive and actively functioning. It
also carries waste products to the skin, lungs, kidneys, and intestines
for elimination.
* * * * *
If one has no appetite, we have been told in the past to abstain from
food until the system calls for it, or to eat but a very little of the
lightest food at regular meal times. This is right, but it deals with
the effect and not the cause of the lack of appetite.
The chances are that this lack is due to retained waste. Whenever there
is too much waste in the system, the chances are that the digestive
organs will not call for more food, and when the appetite is lacking
the effort should be made to see that the system is thoroughly clean.
Every muscle and tissue must be relieved of the excess of waste. The
correction of the lack of appetite, then, is not only abstinence
from food, but brisk exercise, plenty of fresh air in the lungs,
free drinking of water, and the elimination of the waste through the
intestines, skin, lungs, and kidneys.
One should not be led into forming the habit of irregular eating,
however. The stomach forms habits and the supply of food must be
regular, just as the nursing child must be fed regularly, or digestive
disturbance is sure to result.
Care should be taken not to eat between meals nor to eat candy or
indigestible foods.
But the chief thing to bear in mind is to create the demand for food by
relieving the system of its waste, by calling for more supply to the
muscles through exercise, and by giving the system plenty of oxygen
through deep breathing.
The appetite is partly under control of the will and may be trained. It
is more or less capricious and may be satisfied with little, or it may
demand large amounts of food. Grief or worry will destroy it, as will
foul air, and overfatigue.
Lack of appetite and the taste for highly seasoned food may come from
a monotonous diet or one that does not contain sufficient coarse food
or sufficient water to stimulate peristalsis; the result is stagnation
and constipation, with the disorders that follow in its train. The
monotonous diet, from its effect on the mind, results in lack of desire
for food. Both the condition and the appetite are often stimulated and
changed by a greater variety in the kinds of food.
Care should be taken not to form the habit of using stimulants too
freely, particularly with children.
One should not allow himself to become “finicky” or no food will give
him its best service.
Time, energy, muscular activity, nerve force, and money are spent in
combining, seasoning, and cooking foods in such a manner as often to
render them difficult of digestion.
* * * * *
In travel, when one shifts with more or less rapidity from one
temperature to another, the diet should not be altered too greatly or
too suddenly; the system must be allowed time to accommodate itself to
the change.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Age]
It is quite obvious that the food should vary according to the body
needs. The needs of the adult, the child, and the infant vary. The baby
may not take the food which is required by the child from the age of
three to ten, and the aged, not exercising vigorously, does not need
the hearty food of the growing child or the active adult. The need for
food depends, however, on activity more than on years.
It is more difficult to make those in middle and old age, who are
not active, realize that the body no longer needs so much food, due
to the fact that it is not so actively building tissue, and that an
oversupply causes a serious tax on the digestive system. It brings in
its train ills which might easily be avoided by simpler habits and a
little study of the actual needs of the body.
More food than the activity of the system demands, taken in later or
middle life, causes most of the diseases which afflict this period.
Obesity, arteriosclerosis, liver disease, gastro-intestinal diseases,
biliousness, kidney diseases, gout, and allied conditions, can all be
traced to an overtaxed digestive system, with faulty elimination and
weakened organs. These show the rebellion of Nature at being compelled
to work overtime.
While these diseases are most frequent after forty, the condition of
the system which designates age is not always measured by years.
In the ordinary individual who has allowed himself to sit and become
lazy in his habit of life, certain changes in the system occur and the
body needs less food than is required in more active life. There are
not such heavy calls on reserves for repair, either of nerve force or
of material.
Unless active exercises and interests have been kept up, the muscular
system begins to deteriorate, the heart action is slower, and there is
a lessening of nerve tone. Relaxation of the digestive and intestinal
organs occurs, peristalsis is less vigorous, and the glands become
less active, owing to the lessened call for energy. From this cause,
unless the amount of food is reduced in proportion to the body needs,
constipation and other digestive derangements may result.
If one stops physical and mental activity at any age, the vital forces
recede, muscles and vital organs become weak and inactive, and the
waste of the system is not fully eliminated. Such a man at thirty or
forty is physically and mentally older than the man who is in active
business or is taking daily vigorous exercise, at seventy or eighty.
The latter may follow the same diet which he followed at fifty, while
the former should follow the diet of the old man who has stopped active
work.
Young men who through excessive drafts on their vitality have exhausted
their forces often act and look twice their years. For these the diet
should be simple, easily digested, and nutritious, and often reduced in
quantity.
People have thought too long that age is a matter of years. They
need to be aroused to recognize the fact that the condition of age
is a matter of health of body and mind; that the spirit, which sees
to it that the body which it inhabits is kept vigorous and strong by
healthful and happy thoughts and an active interest in the world’s
affairs, is “young,” no matter what the years number. Optimism and
cheer keep one young; pessimism and habits of mental depression age
one.
One of the encouraging signs of the times is that more and more
people are learning to know that their activities need not be given
up because they have reached a certain age. If the children which
formerly needed care, have grown and gone to homes of their own, the
activities of the mother and father are freed to find vent in other
directions. If children no longer need immediate care, the parents
have time to make better conditions for the children of others less
fortunate. They should interest themselves in public questions that
affect these children and their own, indirectly if not directly. New
life and strength have been found by many by changing their activities
and keeping the thoughts young and the interest vivid. The body will
respond marvelously to the mandates of the inner self.
* * * * *
If a mother feeds her babe every three hours the child will usually
wake and call for food about this period. If she has formed the habit
of nursing the child every two hours, it will call for food in about
two hours, even though all symptoms indicate that the child is overfed.
If one forms the habit of eating a certain amount of food, the stomach
calls for about the same amount, and when one first begins to change
the quantity it protests, whether the change be to eat more or less.
The habit of drinking two glasses of water on first arising, and six or
eight more during the day is an important one.
There is no doubt that a large number of people constantly overload the
digestive organs. This, as well as the bolting of food, insufficiently
masticated, cannot be too strongly denounced. _All food should be
chewed to a pulp before being swallowed._
* * * * *
When two meals a day are eaten, the first meal should be at nine or
ten o’clock in the morning and the second meal at five or six o’clock
in the afternoon; whereas, for the average person who eats two meals
a day, this custom means that he goes without food until the midday
meal and then eats two meals within six hours, with nothing more for
eighteen hours.
The argument in favor of two meals a day has been that the digestive
system is inactive during sleep, and, therefore, it is not ready for
a meal on arising. Pawlow’s experiments, however, show that digestion
continues during sleep, though less actively; and it must be borne
in mind that the average evening meal is eaten about six o’clock and
that there are about four waking hours between this meal and the sleep
period; also, that the average individual is awake and moderately
active an hour before the morning meal. This gives five waking hours
between the evening and the morning meal. About the same time, five
hours, elapses between the morning and the midday meal, and between
the midday and the evening meal, so that three meals a day divide the
digestion periods about evenly. If the amount of food supplied by two
meals seems to be sufficient for the needs of the individual, and it is
not practical to eat at the hours stated, then omit the midday meal.
The reason invalids or those whose digestive organs are delicate should
have the heaviest meal at midday, is because the vigor of the system is
greater at this time than later in the day; the increased temperature
in fever in the late afternoon retards assimilation. Those whose
digestive organs are delicate should not be confined to three meals a
day if less food taken oftener is better borne and assimilated, but the
meals should be at regular times.
* * * * *
Food is stored in the muscles for immediate use when needed. If all of
the food supplied to the muscles is not used for their daily needs, an
excess accumulates unless the muscles are exercised sufficiently to
use up the supply. A constant accumulation results in obesity. This
condition, by overlaying the organs with fat, compresses them and
hampers their activity. If the accumulation continues it ultimately
causes a degeneration of the tissues. Apoplexy occurs in those carrying
an excess of fat due to a weakening of the walls of the arteries of the
brain.
Exercise taken in the proper amount and at proper times uses up the
excess of material, benefits digestion, aids the work of the liver
and intestines, keeps the circulation active, the waste eliminated,
and results in a feeling of vigor and fitness for one’s work whether
physical or mental.
The quantity of oxygen daily consumed should equal the sum of all other
food elements.[8]
Deep breathing aids digestion and assimilation, not only because of the
regular exercise given to the pancreas, the spleen, the stomach, and
the liver by the correct movement of the diaphragm, but also because of
the latent heat which the oxygen liberates within the digestive organs
and out among the tissues.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Ventilation]
It is of the utmost importance that one not only forms the habit of
correct, full breathing, but also sees to it that the air in the home,
or in the place of business, is pure. A window opened at the top and
bottom is essential in any place of business—or at least a draft
through the room.
Teachers find that when they keep their schoolrooms well ventilated
the children are less restless, their minds are more alert, they more
quickly comprehend what is said to them, and that both they and the
children are much less fatigued at the end of the day.
* * * * *
A few minutes of active exercise and deep breathing for the brain
worker, or a half-hour of rest after muscular activity, will equalize
the circulation and restore the blood to the stomach and intestines.
People fail to remember that the amount of blood in the body is a fixed
quantity, and if an excess of it is called to one portion, the supply
is lessened to other portions.
The regular work of the body in keeping up the heart action and the
circulation requires a certain amount of energy produced by a certain
amount of oxidized foodstuffs. The system in normal condition,
with normal breathing, readily furnishes this energy. If more than
the normal amount is used in increased work, greater combustion is
necessary. The extra amount of waste which has been liberated by this
extra work must also be carried away. If combustion does not take
place, the extra energy is not supplied, and that required for the
constant bodily needs is called on.
If the waste is not removed from the system and the energy not
resupplied to the parts doing the extra work, the muscles, nerves, and
tissues are then in the state termed “tired.” They remain so until the
circulation has carried the waste to the eliminating organs and has
brought more foodstuffs to the tissues, thus restoring more energy than
is needed for the work constantly going on in the body.
_The relief, then, from the state of the body we call fatigue is
in equalizing the circulation through exercise or rest, according
to the occupation, and supplying oxygen through full breathing._
This more forceful circulation calls the blood from the unduly
distended capillaries, removes the waste, and brings a new supply of
energy-building foodstuffs.
In mental work, the nerves and the brain call for the surplus energy,
while in muscular work the tissues require it, hence undue work, either
mental or physical, expresses itself in bodily fatigue, until the
demand in all parts of the body is equalized.
The relief from fatigue due to mental activity is in exercise and deep
breathing.
Carbon dioxid dulls the nerves of sensation and the brain action and
may produce more or less stupor. It may be because the circulation in
some part of the body is sluggish (most often the portal circulation
through the liver), so that sufficient oxygen is not carried to that
part.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Sleep]
Blood flow and breathing become slower and the digestive processes
slacken. For this reason, if one goes to bed immediately after eating
a heavy meal, digestion is retarded. This may react on the nerves,
producing fitful or unrestful sleep. Fever or nightmare may result. The
annoying, sleepy feeling which often comes on after a meal indicates
a lack of balance in the system—usually that more food has been eaten
than the body requires. Lessening the amount of food and increasing
the exercise and the oxygen, and cleansing the intestinal tract will
prevent it.
After eating a heavy meal, from three to three and a half hours should
elapse before retiring for sleep.
* * * * *
The state of mind has much to do with regulating the digestive system.
Cheerful thoughts keep the nerves of the entire organism in a normal
state, while disagreeable thoughts cause a tense, unnatural condition.
Among the blood and digestive disturbances which may result from
anxiety, worry, fear, or disagreeable thoughts, are anemia,
neurasthenia, indigestion, constipation, prolapsed viscera, and, in
fact, all diseases which result from faulty nutrition and resultant
weakened tissues.
The nerves control the peristaltic movements of the stomach and the
action of the absorptive cells, as well as the cells which secrete the
digestive juices. Thus it is that a food which one likes is not only
more palatable, but it will also digest more readily, the digestive
juices flowing more freely because of the mental stimulus.
The habit of finishing a meal with some tasty dessert is based on the
scientific principle that its palatability will cause the gastric
juices to flow more freely after the meal, thus aiding in its digestion.
The careful wife and mother, who notes any failure of appetite in
members of her family, should attend carefully to the garnishing of
her dishes and to serving them in a neat, attractive manner; also to
changing her table decorations, so far as may be consistent that the
eye as well as the sense of smell and taste may be pleased and the
effect of the mind on digestion be exerted.
The mind must be relaxed and directed to pleasant themes during a meal
or the condition of the nerves of the digestive organs will not permit
a free secretion of digestive juices. Chronic indigestion is sure to
result from this practice. Dinner, or the hearty meal at night, rather
than at noon, is preferable for the business or professional man or
woman, because the cares of the day are over and the brain force
relaxes. The vital forces are not detracted from the work of digestion.
Foods which are forced down, with a mind arrayed against them, do not
digest so readily, because the dislike hinders the flow of the gastric
juices. Any food fails of prompt digestion when the nerves controlling
the stomach are acting feebly; however, while they digest more slowly
during mental protest, they _do_ nourish the system.
* * * * *
If the blood is poor in quality the digestive organs are not nourished
and the digestive secretions are lessened in quantity and quality.
The blood tissue can only be kept in condition by an adequate but not
excessive amount of good food taken at the proper time, and such active
exercise as will thoroughly aërate the blood by bringing the air to the
smallest air cells in the lungs.
If one would fight to prevent the money used in daily exchange from
being debased, he ought to be much more ready to use every means in
his power to prevent a deterioration of the blood, that medium of
exchange in his body on which such vital issues depend.
* * * * *
The effect tobacco on the stomach is shown by its action on the small
boy with his first cigar. Habituated to its use, the nerves become
blunted and the nicotin narcotizes them. The use of tobacco renders
the sense of taste less delicate, due to the action of the nicotin on
the nerves of the taste buds. Men who use tobacco in excess miss the
pleasures of taste; all food tastes much alike to them.
Tobacco, due to its action on the vagus nerve, many times causes
disorders both of circulation and digestion. The starches are usually
not well digested by those who are habitual users of tobacco.
Because tobacco and alcohol are both poisons, the healthy organism
has no need of them. The diseased or deranged organism can often find
greater benefit from natural remedies than from the artificial stimuli
of these substances.
It is a known fact that far more men than women suffer from dyspepsia.
One reason for this may be found in the prevalent habit of spitting.
Smokers, in whom the irritation of the nicotin causes an excess of
saliva, often suffer from gastric troubles, because they expectorate,
thus wasting this valuable digestive juice.
Aside from the filthiness of the habit, which has caused laws to be
enacted against it, one would think that a little reflection would
cause those addicted to it to consider what it means to their health.
Overstimulation means weakened salivary glands, impaired secretion,
and consequent lessened digestive power. For the sake of their own
health if not from motives of decency, men should abandon the habit of
expectorating.
FOOTNOTES:
CHAPTER VII
COOKING
We must all eat two and three times every day; there are few things
which we do so regularly and which are so vital; yet in the past we
have given this subject less study than any common branch in our
schools. When the dignity of the profession of dietetics is realized,
the servant problem will be largely solved.
In cooking any food, heat and moisture are necessary, the time needed
varying from thirty minutes to several hours. Baked beans, and meats
containing much connective tissue, as boiling and roasting cuts,
require the longest time.
* * * * *
_Soups._ To make meat soups, the connective tissue, bone and muscle
should be put into cold water, brought _slowly_ to the boiling point,
and allowed to simmer for several hours.
It must be remembered that the gelatin from this connective tissue does
not contain the tissue-building elements of the albuminoids. These are
retained in the meat and about the bones of the boiling piece.
While bouillons and prepared cubes contain very little nutriment they
contain the extractives, and the flavors increase the flow of digestive
juices and stimulate the appetite. It is for this reason that soups are
served before a meal; when they are relished, they aid a copious flow
of gastric juice and saliva.
Many mistake the extractives and flavor for nourishment, thinking that
soups are an easy method of taking food, but the best part of the
nutriment remains in the meat or vegetables from which the soup is
made, and unless one desires merely the stimulating effect, bread or
crackers should supply the nourishment.
If soup meat is used in hashes the lost nutritive material in the form
of gelatinoids and extractives may be restored by adding to it a cup of
rich soup stock.
The beef teas made from cubes contain the extractives and are
appetizers, but they contain very little if any nutrition.
The roast should be turned as soon as one side is seared and just
enough water added to prevent it from burning.
Frequent basting of a roast with the fat, juice, and water in the
roasting pan, still further sears the surface so that the juices
do not seep through, and keeps the air in the pan moist; the heated
moisture materially assists in gelatinizing the connective tissue.
Roasting pans are now made which are self-basting.
_Pot Roasts._ For a pot roast, the meat should be well seared in fat,
then a small amount of water added, and the meat cooked _slowly_ at
about 180 F., until done. A fireless cooker is excellent for this as
for any other food needing to be slowly cooked. The juices seep out in
the water and form a rich gravy which should be served with the meat.
Meat containing much connective tissue, such as the neck, chuck, and
rump, is not adapted to broiling, because it takes too long for this
tissue to become gelatinized. It may be pan broiled, a little water
added, and cooked slowly until done. Prepared in this way it is cheap,
nourishing, and palatable.
When broiling meats in a skillet the skillet must be very hot before
the meat is placed on it, and as soon as one surface of the meat is
seared, it should be turned to sear the other side. The skillet should
be kept covered so as to retain the moisture.
Meats used for boiling contain more connective tissue, therefore they
require much longer cooking in order to gelatinize this tissue. They
are not as rich in protein as are steaks.
Stews should be covered and should not be cooked in too much water, as
the juices are weakened and too great an amount of flour is necessary
to thicken them, thus rendering them less digestible. They are cooked
slowly at low temperature (130 to 160 F.) and so do not need much water.
_Baking._ Meats, when baked, are covered with a crust, either of batter
or pastry. This prevents the escape of the volatile matters, and meats
thus cooked are richer, especially if they contain much fat. For this
reason they are seldom suitable for invalids, or for those who have any
form of stomach trouble.
The extreme heat liberates fatty acids which soak into the food and
render it difficult of digestion. It is wise not to employ this method
of cooking unless the food is completely immersed in the hot fat by
means of a wire basket. This facilitates its removal with greater
ease. The surface albumin is coagulated more quickly when the food is
submerged, thus preventing it from soaking up too great an amount of
fat.
Deep-fat cooking requires close watching and for this reason most cooks
use a skillet. Unless the skillet is very hot and the meat is turned
frequently, the meat juices are lost both by evaporation and by the
meat adhering to the pan.
In cooking in deep fat, if not left too long and if the fat is at the
right heat, the meat fibers do not soak up the fat, because the water
in the tissues is so rapidly turned to steam that the fat cannot enter;
the interior thus cooks in its own juices as in roasting or broiling.
Fish or chops fried in deep fat are palatable and of high flavor.
Boiled fish, however, if the water is well salted to prevent too great
softening, is better for invalids, as it is more easily digested.
Fish fried whole in deep fat may have the skin removed after frying.
The fish fibers are thus not brought into contact with the fat.
Special utensils for frying fish in this way may now be obtained.
Such food as fried potatoes, mush, eggs, French toast, and griddle
cakes, cooked by putting a little grease into a frying pan, are
more difficult of digestion than foods cooked by any other means,
particularly when the fat is heated so that it smokes.
* * * * *
One safe rule is to cook most foods too much rather than too little;
overcooking is uncommon and harmless, while _undercooked_ foods are
common and difficult of digestion.
One reason why breakfast foods, such as rolled oats, are partially
cooked by the manufacturer, is because they keep longer.
As has been stated, the nutrients of the grain are found inside the
starch-bearing and other cells, and the walls of these cells are made
of crude fiber, on which the digestive juices have little effect.
Unless the cell walls are broken down, the nutrients can not come under
the influence of the digestive juices until the digestive organs have
expended material and energy in getting at them. Crushing the grain in
mills and making it still finer by thorough mastication breaks many
of the cell walls, and the action of the saliva and other digestive
juices also disintegrates them more or less, but the heat of cooking
accomplishes the object much more thoroughly.
The invisible moisture in the cells expands under the action of heat,
and the cell walls burst. The water added in cooking also plays an
important part in softening and rupturing them. The cellulose or cell
wall is also changed by heat to a more soluble form. Heat makes the
starch in the cells at least partially soluble, especially when water
is present.
The coating of the starch granules with fat prevents them from coming
in contact with liquids. The fat does not furnish sufficient water to
enable the cells to swell and dissolve the cell wall and so coats the
starch granules as to prevent them from absorbing water in mixing, or
saliva in mastication. This coating of fat is not removed until late in
the process of digestion, or until the food reaches the intestines.
* * * * *
The coating of vegetables and cereals with fat prevents the necessary
action of saliva on the starch globules. As previously stated, starch
digestion is begun in the mouth and continued for a short time in
the stomach, while the fats are not emulsified until they reach the
intestine.
Vegetables and fruits of most sorts may be baked and are usually
rendered more digestible by the process.
Vegetables will cook as quickly and more evenly in water kept just at
the boiling point as in water that is boiling hard.
* * * * *
It has been suggested that the European prejudice against raw fruit
may be an unconscious protest against unsanitary methods of marketing
or handling and the recognition of cooking as a practical method of
preventing the spread of disease by fruit soiled with fertilizers or
with street dust. If the cooking is thorough, it insures sterilization.
As with all vegetable foods, the heat of cooking dissolves the fiber
in the cell walls. The moisture causes the cell contents to expand and
rupture the walls. The change in texture occasioned by cooking renders
it softer, more palatable, and more readily acted on by the digestive
juices. This is obviously of more importance with the fruits like the
quince, which is so hard that it is unpalatable raw, than it is with
soft fruits like strawberries.
The idea is quite generally held that cooking fruit changes its acid
content, acid being sometimes increased and sometimes decreased by the
cooking process. Kelhofer showed that when gooseberries were cooked
with sugar, the acid content was not materially changed, these results
being in accord with his conclusions reached in earlier studies with
other fruits. The sweeter taste of the cooked product he believed to
be simply due to the fact that sugar masks the flavor of the acid.
It is often noted that cooked fruits, such as plums, seem much sourer
than the raw fruit, and it has been suggested that either the acid
was increased or the sugar was decreased by the cooking process. This
problem was studied by Sutherst, and, in his opinion, the increased
acid flavor is due to the fact that cooked fruit (gooseberries,
currants, plums, etc.) usually contains the skin, which is commonly
rejected if the fruit is eaten raw. The skin is more acid than the
simpler carbohydrates united to form a complex carbohydrate.
In some fruits, like the apple, where the jelly-yielding material must
be extracted with hot water, the pectin is apparently united with
cellulose as a part of the solid pulp. As shown by the investigations
of Bigelow and Gore at the Bureau of Chemistry, forty per cent. of the
solid material of apple pulp may be thus extracted with hot water, and
consists of two carbohydrates, one of which is closely related to gum
arabic. That such carbohydrates as these should yield a jelly is not
surprising when we remember that they are similar to starch in their
chemical nature, and, as everyone knows, starch, though insoluble in
cold water, yields when cooked with hot water a large proportion of
paste, which jellies on cooling.
When fruits are used for making pies, puddings, etc., the nutritive
value of the dish is, of course, increased by the addition of flour,
sugar, etc., and the dish as a whole may constitute a better balanced
food than the fruit alone.[9]
FOOTNOTES:
CHAPTER VIII
The heat and energy are not alone for muscular activity in exercise
or movement. It must be kept in mind also that the body is a busy
workshop, or chemical laboratory, and heat and energy are needed in the
constant metabolism of tearing down and rebuilding tissue and in the
work of digestion and elimination.
In this chapter, a few points given in the preceding pages are repeated
for emphasis.
The proteins represented in purest form in lean meat build tissue, and
the carbonaceous foods, starches, sugars, and fats, supply the heat and
energy.
An excess of proteins, that is, more than is needed for building and
repair, is also used for heat and energy.
The waste products of the nitrogenous foods are broken down into carbon
dioxid, sulphates, phosphates, and other nitrogenous compounds, and
excreted through the kidneys, skin, and the bile, while the waste
product of carbonaceous foods is largely carbon dioxid and is excreted
mostly through the lungs.
Since the foods richest in protein are the most expensive, those who
wish to keep down the cost of living, should provide, at most, no more
protein than the system requires. Expensive meats may be eliminated and
proteins be supplied by eggs, milk, legumes, and nuts.
The normally healthy individual is more liable to take too much protein
than too little, even though he abstain from meat.
Those who engage in physical labor are much more likely to take
a complete rest for a half-hour, or an hour, after eating. The
_thinkers_ seldom rest, at least after a midday meal, and those who
worry seldom relax the mental force during any waking hour; their
brains are as active as those of mental workers.
In active work, more heat is liberated, thus more fat, starches, and
sugar are required for the resupply. As previously stated, if an excess
of starch (glycogen) is stored in the liver, or an excess of fat in the
tissues, this excess is called on to supply the heat and energy when
the fats and carbohydrates daily consumed are not sufficient for the
day’s demands. This is the principle in reduction of flesh.
Meats, rich in protein, are served with potatoes or with rice, both of
which are rich in starch.
Pork and beans, bread and butter, bread and milk, chicken and rice,
macaroni and cheese, poached eggs on toast, and custards, form balanced
foods.
It has been estimated that the average daily need of the adult is
forty-five ounces of solid food, one-fourth animal and three-fourths
vegetable. Twice as much water as solids should be taken.
The inhabitant of the frigid zone needs much fat; he who lives in the
tropics but little fat.
The old need less food than the growing youth or the hearty adult.
The poor must often take what he can get while the rich eat to satiety.
Yet all these food needs vary with the individual and with the sex and
activity.
It has been computed that the system needs daily three hundred grains
of nitrogen and four thousand eight hundred grains of carbon. To obtain
this amount of nitrogen if bread alone were eaten it would require
four pounds of bread from the whole wheat. The carbon in this amount
of bread largely exceeds that required. If eaten alone, six pounds of
beef would be necessary to supply the proper amount of carbon, and
twenty-three pounds of eggs. The nitrogen in this amount would far
exceed the requirement.
One pint of milk, 2-1/2 ounces of bread, and six ounces of beef are
about equal in nutritive value.
One can see, therefore, why a diet composed of too great a quantity
of one substance gives an overbalance of one and an underbalance of
another.
Therefore, it is more economical to use some fat and sugar in the diet
and less meat. More vegetables, perhaps, and more fluid should be taken
by many.
Others compute that the amount of food weighed dry, needed by the
average person of sedentary habits, is as follows: For breakfast, 8
ounces; for luncheon, 6 ounces; for dinner, 9 ounces, with 48 ounces or
3 glasses of water. These two give extremes.
Dr. W. S. Hall estimates that the average man at light work requires,
Bread 1 lb.
Lean Meat 1/2 ”
Oysters 1/2 ”
Cocoa 1 oz.
Milk 4 ozs.
Sugar 1 oz.
Butter 1/2 ”
It may be well to call attention here to the fact that most of the food
elements, called on for work, are not derived from those foods just
consumed or digested, but from those eaten a day or two previous, which
have been assimilated in the muscular tissues.
TABLE XI
———————————————————————————+—————————+——————+—————————+——————————
| Proteins| | Carbo | Energy
| | Fats |hydrates | in
CONDITIONS +————+————+ +————+————+ Calories
|Low |High| |Low |High|
———————————————————————————+————+————+——————+————+————+——————————
Man at light indoor work | 60 |100 | 60 |390 |450 | 2764
Man at light outdoor work | 60 |100 | 100 |400 |460 | 2940
Man at moderate outdoor | | | | | |
work | 75 |125 | 125 |450 |500 | 3475
Man at hard outdoor work |100 |150 | 150 |500 |550 | 4000
Man at very hard outdoor | | | | |
winter work |125 |180 | 200 |600 |650 | 4592
U. S. Army rations | 64 |106 | 280 |460 |540 | 4896-5032
U. S. Navy rations |... |143 | 292 |557 |... | 5545
Football team (old régime) |... |181 | 292 |557 |... | 5697
College football team (new)|125 |125 | 125 |500 |... | 3675
———————————————————————————+————+————+——————+————+————+——————————
TABLE XII
———————————————————————————+—————————+——————+—————————+——————————
| Proteins| | Carbo- | Energy
VARIATIONS OF | | Fats |hydrates | in
SEX AND AGE +————+————+ +————+————+ Calories
|Low |High| |Low |High|
———————————————————————————+————+————+——————+————+————+——————————
Children, two to six | 36 | 70 | 40 |250 |325 | 1520-1956
Children, six to fifteen | 50 | 75 | 45 |325 |350 | 1923-2123
Women with light exercise | 50 | 80 | 80 |300 |330 | 2272
Women at moderate work | 60 | 92 | 80 |400 |432 | 2720
Aged women | 50 | 80 | 50 |270 |300 | 1870
Aged men | 50 |100 | 400 |300 |350 | 2258
———————————————————————————+————+————+——————+————+————+——————————
Thus according to the food required for the average man at light work
given on page 225:
TABLE XIII
* * * * *
From the fact that only from two to four ounces of nitrogenous food
are required to rebuild daily tissue waste, it is apparent that this
amount can readily be supplied from the vegetable kingdom, since
nuts, legumes, and cereals are rich in proteins; yet there is a
question whether a purely vegetable diet is productive of the highest
physical and mental development. Natives of tropical climates live
on vegetables, fruits, and nuts, and it may be purely accidental, or
be due to climatic or other conditions, that these nations have not
made the greatest progress. Neither have the Eskimos, who live almost
entirely on meat, attained the highest development.
Those who object to eating meat should study carefully to learn if the
proper proportion of protein is supplied with each day’s rations. The
legumes—peas, beans, nuts, and grains—must be supplied. While the wheat
kernel contains twelve per cent. of protein, the white flour does not
contain as large a percentage and it will be noted by reference to
Tables II and III, that the majority of fruits and vegetables contain
little nitrogenous substance.
Unless the whole of the grain and the legumes form a goodly proportion
of the diet the danger is in consuming too large a bulk of waste and
too much starch in a purely vegetable diet.
One can better run short of starch or fat in one day’s rations than
to be short of protein, because if the two or four ounces daily
requirement is not provided the tissues are consumed and the blood is
impoverished. It is a rare condition in which a reserve of glycogen
and fat is not stored in the system. On the other hand, an excess of
nitrogenous foods calls for a very active circulation and plenty of
oxygen in the system.
It has been held that the vegetarian has a clearer brain, and, if this
be true, it may be due to the fact that he is not eating too much and
thus his system is not overloaded.
* * * * *
The invention of the vacuum bottle has solved one need of the traveler.
The invention of the electric heater has solved another.
All fried and greasy food and unripe fruits should be avoided.
One had better lessen the amount of food than suffer the gastric
difficulties occasioned by too much fatty food.
Hard whole wheat crackers with fruit and milk can be had at almost any
eating house. These give a well-balanced meal and are often preferable
to prepared dishes. Fresh fruit, especially the acid fruits, should
form a large part of the diet.
Tablets of soda and also of lime are easily carried and may be used
when soda water or lime water is needed as in nausea or indigestion.
The bowels must be kept active and fresh fruits and water are the best
aids in accomplishing this.
CHAPTER IX
DIETS
_Before giving any diets, let me first of all impress the importance of
eating slowly, of good cheer, of light conversation during a meal, and
of thoroughly masticating the food. Remember it is the food assimilated
which nourishes._
The following diets allow sufficient food for average conditions, when
the vital organs are normal.
The citrus fruits tend to neutralize too high acidity of the blood,
increasing its alkalinity. For this reason, also, they are best before
a meal, particularly before breakfast; they have a more laxative and
cleansing effect if eaten before the other food. The custom has been,
however, to eat fruits after dinner for dessert and they are so given
in the following menus.
Table XIII (page 209) gives the balanced supply for a day of the most
commonly used foods and may be consulted as a basis from which to work
in constructing balanced meals.
Foods which are called acid, that is, they tend to lessen the normal
alkalinity of the blood, are, oats, barley, beef, wheat, eggs, rice,
and maize. When the proportion of acid in the blood is too great the
supply of these foods should be lessened.
Neutral foods are sugar, the vegetable oils, and animal fats.
The following shows the foods which contain mineral salts, in larger
proportions.
In the following menus the effort has been to give a correct balance
of the various food elements with the approximate calories furnished
by each meal. They are suggestive only and may be varied according
to the season of the year, the habits of work, or the tastes of the
individual, care being taken to preserve the relative proportions.
Well-masticated nuts may supply the protein usually served in meat and
are often a welcome change.
When the protein balance of the family meal is provided by meat, if for
any reason one member of the family does not care for meat, the protein
may be supplied by eggs, or by the legumes as shown on pages 232-234.
_Let me repeat that everyone should watch his likes and dislikes in the
matter of food and guard against allowing himself to become finicky; he
should not cultivate a dislike for a food which may disagree with him
at a certain time or the taste of which he does not like, if that food
is wholesome._
Remember that the likes and dislikes for food are largely matters of
cultivation and one misses much enjoyment and much of health which
comes from a well-nourished body by habitually sitting down to a table
in a pessimistic frame of mind because the food served does not suit
the fancy.
_Breakfast_
_Luncheon_
_Dinner_
The cardinal sin of such a diet is in the lack of protein, the great
predominance of starch, and the inadequate supply of fat. An excessive
amount of sugar, however, was taken in the tea. This was taken to
satisfy the taste, not realizing that the system demanded it for energy.
The child was given one egg and one slice of bread for breakfast. Being
a light eater it asked for no more, but her mother wondered why the
child was so pale and suffered from constipation.
* * * * *
The following diet is for one who has attained full growth and who
exercises no more than to walk a few blocks a day. The diet may seem
light, but when one is sitting indoor most of the time, and has little
outdoor exercise, less waste protein is oxidized and less starch, fat,
and sugar are required for heat and energy. If too much carbonaceous
food is consumed, one will store up too much and become too large. If
more protein is consumed than is oxidized and eliminated one is liable
to various derangements of the system.
In nearly all of the following menus coffee and tea have been omitted
because, as before stated, they are not foods but _stimulants_, and
the caffein and thein may overstimulate the nerves and the heart. They
sometimes retard digestion. Some other warm drink should be substituted
when there is digestive disturbance, or when the digestion is weak.
They should never at any time be used strong. They are used simply for
their pleasing flavor, or for warmth.
The following diet is suggested for one of sedentary habit who is not
exercising and does not use up much mental or physical energy.
DIET I
_Breakfast_
Fruit
Cereal coffee or toast coffee
Dry toast (one slice), or one muffin, or one gem
1 slice of crisp bacon
1 egg
_Luncheon_
Fruit
Creamed soup or purée
Meat, cheese or peanut butter sandwich, or two thin slices of
bread and butter
Cup of custard, or one piece of cake, or two cookies
If purée of peas or beans is used the sandwich may be omitted and one
slice of bread is sufficient. If the soup contains much cream or is
made of corn or potato, the cake or cookies may be omitted.
_Dinner_
DIET II
_Breakfast_
_Luncheon_
_Dinner_
Diet III gives approximately the calories required for one taking
moderate exercise.
DIET III
_Breakfast_
_Luncheon_
_Dinner_
* * * * *
The red meats, the yolk of eggs, spinach and all kinds of greens are
important articles of diet at this time, because of the iron which they
contain. They should be supplied freely. Butter and milk are valuable
and _regular exercises with deep breathing are imperative_.
DIET IV
_Breakfast_
Fruit
Oatmeal, shredded wheat biscuit or triscuit, or some other well
cooked cereal with cream and sugar
One egg, boiled or poached (cooked soft), or chipped beef in
cream gravy
Cereal coffee, toast coffee, or hot water with cream and sugar
Buttered toast, gems, or muffins
_Luncheon_
_Dinner_
The growing boy or girl takes from six to eight glasses of water a day.
If one is not hungry at meal time, the chances are that he is not
exercising sufficiently in the fresh air.
One should encourage the habit of eating hard crusts or hard crackers
to exercise the teeth and to insure the swallowing of sufficient saliva.
Very few foods disagree at all times with a normal child and if they
do the cause usually lies in a disordered digestion which needs to be
restored by more careful attention to exercise, deep breathing, and to
elimination of the waste of the system.
* * * * *
The young man active in athletics needs practically the same food as
given in Diet IV, yet more in quantity. He needs to drink water before
his training and at rest periods during the game.
* * * * *
The man engaged in muscular work requires plenty of food; he can digest
foods which the professional or business man, or the man of sedentary
habits, cannot. He will probably be able to drink coffee and tea
without any disturbance to nerves or to digestion. In his muscular work
he liberates the waste freely and needs fats, starches, and sugars to
supply the heat and energy. This is especially true of men who work in
the fresh air; the muscular action liberates waste and heat and the
full breathing freely oxidizes the waste, putting it in condition to be
excreted through lungs, skin, kidneys, and intestines.
He should have more meat, eggs, and nitrogenous foods, and he also
needs more carbonaceous foods to supply heat and energy, as given in
Diet V. Three hearty meals a day are necessary.
His muscular movements keep the circulation forceful and the vital
organs strong so that his diet may be almost as heavy as that of the
football player. Meat or eggs, twice a day, with tea or coffee, and
even _pie_ may be eaten with impunity. He needs a good nourishing
breakfast of bacon and eggs or meat, also potatoes, or a liberal
allowance of bread and butter, corn bread, muffins, etc.
DIET V
_Breakfast_
_Calories_
_Luncheon_
_Dinner_
* * * * *
DIET VI
_Breakfast_
_Dinner_
Bouillon or soup
Meat—small portion
Potato (preferably baked)
One vegetable
Cup custard, or bread, rice, or other light pudding with lemon
cream sauce
_Supper_
Soup
Bread and butter
Stewed fruit
Tea
These individuals need little meat. Tea, if used, should not be strong
and, for reasons given on page 104, should never be allowed to steep.
——————————————————————+——————————————————————+—————————+—————————
FOOD STUFF | Quantity |Calories |Grams of
| |of Energy| Protein
——————————————————————+——————————————————————+—————————+—————————
Milk | 8 oz. 1 glass | 160 | 8.4
Skim milk | 8 oz. 1 glass | 80 | 8.0
Cream | 8 gm. 1 tsp. | 20 | 0.2
Condensed milk | | |
(sweetened) | 20 gm. hp. tsp. | 50 | 1.8
Condensed milk | | |
(unsweetened) | 20 ” ” ” | 40 | 2.0
Chocolate powd. | 10 ” ” ” | 90 | 1.2
Beef juice, beef tea, | | |
bouillon, clear soup| 5 oz. teacup | 5-30 | 1.3
Cream soup | 8 ” soup plate | 100-250 |
Sugar | 10 gm. hp. tsp. | 40 |
Egg (whole) | 50 ” 1 | 70 |
Egg (yolk) | —— 1 | 55 | 2.4
Butter | 10 gm. 1 in. cube | 65 | 0.6
Cheese | ” ” ” ” | 45 | 3.0
Meat and fish (lean) | 50 ” hp. tbsp. | 60 | 12.0
Meat (medium fat) | ” ” ” ” | 100 | 7.0
” (very fat) | ” ” ” ” | 150 | 4.0
Oysters (small) | 8 ” 1 | 3 | 0.5
Oysters (large) | 25 ” 1 | 10 | 1.5
Crackers | 3-10 ” 1 | 12-30 | 3-6
Cereals (cooked) |30-40 ” teacup | 110-150 | 3-5
Cereals (prepared) | 5-7 ” hp. tsp. | 18-25 | 0.5-0.7
Shredded wheat | 30 ” 1 | 100 | 3.0
Triscuit | 15 ” 1 | 50 | 1.5
Peas (fresh or canned)| 35 ” hp. tbsp. | 25 | 2.0
Peas (dried) | 25 ” ” ” | 100 | 6.0
Bean (dried) | 25 ” ” ” | 90 | 5.0
Bean | | |
(fresh or canned) | 30 ” ” ” | 30 | 1.0
Potatoes | | |
(medium size) | 90 ” 1, 3 in. long| 80 | 1.0
Jelly (sweet) | —— teacup | 50-100 | —
Apples | 100 ” 1 | 40 | 0.2
Oranges | 125 ” 1 med. size | 60 | 0.5
Bananas | 50 ” 1 med. size | 45 | 0.7
Dried fruit | | |
(prunes, etc.) | 100 ” 1 saucer | |
| medium | 100-200 | 1-3
——————————————————————+——————————————————————+—————————+—————————
———————————————————————————+——————————————————+———————————+—————————————
| | Wt. of 100| Per cent. of
| “Portion” | Calories |
| Containing +—————+—————+————+———+————
| 100 Food | | | | |Car-
| Units (approx.) |Grams| Oz. |Pro-|Fat|boh-
NAME OF FOOD | | | |teid| |ydr-
| | | | | |ate
———————————————————————————+——————————————————+—————+—————+————+———+————
COOKED MEATS
VEGETABLES
FRUITS (DRIED)
DAIRY PRODUCTS
CEREALS
MISCELLANEOUS
TABLES SHOWING AVERAGE HEIGHT, WEIGHT, SKIN SURFACE, AND FOOD UNITS
REQUIRED DAILY WITH VERY LIGHT EXERCISE
BOYS
————+———————————+———————————+—————————————+————————————
| Height in | Weight in | Surface in | Calories or
Age | Inches | Pounds | Square Feet | Food Units
————+———————————+———————————+—————————————+————————————
5 | 41.57 | 41.09 | 7.9 | 816.2
6 | 43.75 | 45.17 | 8.3 | 855.9
7 | 45.74 | 49.07 | 8.8 | 912.4
8 | 47.76 | 53.92 | 9.4 | 981.1
9 | 49.69 | 59.23 | 9.9 | 1043.7
10 | 51.58 | 65.30 | 10.5 | 1117.5
11 | 53.33 | 70.18 | 11.0 | 1178.2
12 | 55.11 | 76.92 | 11.6 | 1254.8
13 | 57.21 | 84.85 | 12.4 | 1352.6
14 | 59.88 | 94.91 | 13.4 | 1471.3
————+———————————+———————————+—————————————+————————————
GIRLS
————+———————————+———————————+—————————————+————————————
| Height in | Weight in | Surface in | Calories or
Age | Inches | Pounds | Square Feet | Food Units
————+———————————+———————————+—————————————+————————————
5 | 41.29 | 39.66 | 7.7 | 784.5
6 | 43.35 | 43.28 | 8.1 | 831.9
7 | 45.52 | 47.46 | 8.5 | 881.7
8 | 47.58 | 52.04 | 9.2 | 957.1
9 | 49.37 | 57.07 | 9.7 | 1018.5
10 | 51.34 | 62.35 | 10.2 | 1081.0
11 | 53.42 | 68.84 | 10.7 | 1148.5
12 | 55.88 | 78.31 | 11.8 | 1276.8
————+———————————+———————————+—————————————+————————————
MEN
——————————+————————+———————————+————————+—————————+——————————+—————
Height in | Weight | Surface | | Calories|Food Units|
Inches | in | in Square |Proteids| or Fats | Carbo- |Total
| Pounds | Feet | | |hydrates |
——————————+————————+———————————+————————+—————————+——————————+—————
61 | 131 | 15.92 | 197 | 591 | 1182 | 1970
62 | 133 | 16.06 | 200 | 600 | 1200 | 2000
63 | 136 | 16.27 | 204 | 612 | 1224 | 2040
64 | 140 | 16.55 | 210 | 630 | 1260 | 2100
65 | 143 | 16.76 | 215 | 645 | 1290 | 2150
66 | 147 | 17.06 | 221 | 663 | 1326 | 2210
67 | 152 | 17.40 | 228 | 684 | 1368 | 2280
68 | 157 | 17.76 | 236 | 708 | 1416 | 2360
69 | 162 | 18.12 | 243 | 729 | 1458 | 2430
70 | 167 | 18.48 | 251 | 753 | 1506 | 2510
71 | 173 | 18.91 | 260 | 780 | 1560 | 2600
72 | 179 | 19.34 | 269 | 807 | 1614 | 2690
73 | 185 | 19.89 | 278 | 834 | 1668 | 2780
74 | 192 | 20.33 | 288 | 864 | 1728 | 2880
75 | 200 | 20.88 | 300 | 900 | 1800 | 3000
——————————+————————+———————————+————————+—————————+——————————+—————
WOMEN
——————————+————————+———————————+————————+—————————+——————————+—————
Height in | Weight | Surface | | Calories|Food Units|
Inches | in | in Square |Proteids| or Fats | Carbo- |Total
| Pounds | Feet | | |hydrates |
——————————+————————+———————————+————————+—————————+——————————+—————
59 | 119 | 14.82 | 179 | 537 | 1074 | 1790
60 | 122 | 15.03 | 183 | 549 | 1098 | 1830
61 | 124 | 15.29 | 186 | 558 | 1116 | 1860
62 | 127 | 15.50 | 191 | 573 | 1146 | 1910
63 | 131 | 15.92 | 197 | 591 | 1182 | 1970
64 | 134 | 16.13 | 201 | 603 | 1206 | 2010
65 | 139 | 16.48 | 209 | 627 | 1254 | 2090
66 | 143 | 16.76 | 215 | 645 | 1290 | 2150
67 | 147 | 17.06 | 221 | 663 | 1326 | 2210
68 | 151 | 17.34 | 227 | 681 | 1362 | 2270
69 | 155 | 17.64 | 232 | 696 | 1392 | 2320
70 | 159 | 17.92 | 239 | 717 | 1434 | 2390
——————————+————————+———————————+————————+—————————+——————————+—————
————————————————————————+——————————+———————+———————————————+——————
| Proteids | Fats | Carbohydrates | Total
_Breakfast_ +——————————+———————+———————————————+——————
| | | |
Gluten gruel, 5 oz. | 23.5 | 1.0 | 30.0 |
Soft-boiled egg | 26.3 | 41.9 | |
Malt honey, 1 oz. | | | 86.2 |
Creamed potatoes, 5 oz. | 15.0 | 40.0 | 104.0 |
Zwieback, 2 oz. | 22.8 | 52.8 | 171.6 |
Pecans, 3/4 oz. | 8.4 | 141.0 | 13.4 |
Apple, 5 oz. | 2.5 | 6.5 | 83.0 |
| ———— | ————— | ————— | —————
| 98.5 | 283.2 | 488.2 | 869.9
————————————————————————+——————————+———————+———————————————+——————
——————————————+——————————+——————————+——————+———————————————+——————
| Portions | | | |
| in | Proteids | Fats | Carbohydrates | Total
| serving | | | |
_Dinner_ +——————————+——————————+——————+———————————————+——————
| | | | |
French soup | 1/2 | 10 | 20 | 20 |
Nut sauce | 1 | 29 | 55 | 16 |
Macaroni, egg | 1 | 15 | 59 | 26 |
Baked potato | 2 | 22 | 2 | 176 |
Cream gravy | 1/2 | 5 | 33 | 12 |
Biscuit | 1-1/2 | 20 | 2 | 128 |
Butter | 1 | 1 | 99 | |
Honey | 2 | | | 200 |
Celery | 1/4 | 4 | | 21 |
Apple juice | 1/2 | | | 50 |
| —————— | ——— | ——— | ——— | ————
| 10-1/4 | 106 | 270 | 649 | 1025
——————————————+——————————+——————————+——————+———————————————+——————
HOURLY OUTGO IN HEAT AND ENERGY FROM THE HUMAN BODY AS DETERMINED IN
THE RESPIRATION CALORIMETER BY THE U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE
_Average_ (154 lbs.) _Calories_
FOOTNOTES:
CHAPTER X
The diets given here for abnormal conditions are to enable those in
charge of an invalid to gain an intelligent understanding of the needs
of the system and to supply those needs through the proper foods. In
serious cases, however, special diets will be ordered by the medical
attendant to suit the needs of the individual.
A chemical analysis of the blood and the excretions is often the only
method of determining just the diet in the individual case.
If the child stores up too much fat, increase the amount of exercise
and of oxygen consumed, and either cut down the proportion of sweets
and starches or decrease the quantity of food and require more thorough
mastication.
Worry and tensity of thought are among the chief causes in the majority
of cases of lack of flesh and of a very large number of blood and
digestive disorders.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Anemia]
Since the blood is made from the foods assimilated, the point is to
supply food which builds blood tissue. Exercise and deep breathing will
encourage the elimination of waste and promote a forceful circulation
which insures nourishment to the tissues. As stated, it is the food
assimilated, not always the amount eaten, that counts.
The body, during growth, needs increased nutritive material, not only
to replace the waste, but also to meet the demands for new building
material for the various organs, particularly the brain and the
nervous system. Overwork either in school or in industrial occupations,
the hasty eating of meals, or insufficient amounts of food, also aid in
reducing both the quantity and quality of the blood.
When the red blood corpuscles are decreased the oxidation of the fats
is interfered with, because oxygen is necessary to burn the fat. The
non-use of the fatty material causes it to be stored in the tissues
so that the body often appears well nourished and plump. The muscles,
however, are flabby and weak and usually the pallor of the skin shows
the lack of coloring matter in the blood.
The digestive organs are often weak. They must not be overloaded or the
very object of the extra feeding will be defeated. In such cases the
food must be taken in less quantity and more frequently. Also a diet
rich in albumin and iron must be supplied.
The yolks of eggs, the red meats (such as steak, mutton, or the breast
of wild game) and the deeply colored greens (such as spinach, chard,
dandelions, etc.) contain a goodly proportion of iron. The dark leaves
of lettuce, celery, and cabbage contain iron; these vegetables are apt
to be bleached before being marketed.
It is better, in anemia, to take the yolks of two eggs than one whole
egg, as the iron is in the yolk. A good way to take the yolks of eggs
is in egg lemonade or in eggnog, with a little flavoring.
Beef may be scraped and made into sandwiches or used in purées and meat
broth, which may also have a beaten egg in it.
DIET VII
_Breakfast_
Fruit
Eggnog
_Lunch_
Split pea or bean soup with toast and butter, or scraped beef sandwich
with lettuce
Cake
_Middle of Afternoon_
Egg lemonade or eggnog of two eggs beaten in boiling milk with sugar
and spices
_Dinner_
Bouillon
Baked potato
_STOMACH DISORDERS_
* * * * *
The most usual is that the gastric glands are pouring out an
insufficient amount of secretion; almost always there is a deficiency
of hydrochloric acid. In some cases in which the food has irritated and
inflamed the stomach there may be a sufficient secretion of this acid,
but an inflamed stomach throws off more mucus and the extra quantity of
mucus neutralizes the hydrochloric acid.
When the acid is deficient or absent, the proteins are not well
digested and the food may ferment; bacteria may produce putrefactive
changes and the formation of gas. The gas interferes with the movement
of the diaphragm, pressing it against the heart, causing pain and even
palpitation.
A glass of cold water from one-half to an hour before the meal will
cleanse the stomach by washing out the mucus and will promote the
secretion of saliva and the gastric juices.
The diet should be light and laxative, and low in protein. Cream soup,
bread and milk, malted milk, buttermilk, cream, fruits, crackers and
milk, custards, egg lemonade, and gruels, furnish easily digested food.
Tea, coffee, much meat, fried food, highly spiced food, pastry,
candies, pickles, alcohol, and tobacco should be avoided.
When the walls of the stomach are weak and distended or prolapsed,
light food served in small quantities at regular but more frequent
periods is preferable to a hearty meal, which further distends the
stomach walls. The stomach does not secrete sufficient gastric juices
to digest a meal large enough to supply the needs of the system, if
food is taken only three times a day.
After two days begin the nourishment with water and a small portion
of liquid food (not over two ounces) every two hours. Toast tea, made
by pouring hot water over toast, oatmeal, or barley gruel (thoroughly
strained so that no coarse matter may irritate the stomach), limewater
and milk, and egg lemonade are easily digested. Increase the quantity
on the fourth day and lengthen the time between feedings to three
hours. Gradually increase the diet, adding semiliquid food, noted on
pages 237-238, soft-boiled eggs, moistened toast, raw oysters, etc.,
slowly returning to the regular bill of fare.
The pancreatinized milk does not form hard curds and readily passes
through the stomach for digestion in the intestine. The taste is rather
bitter; it may be disguised by flavoring. This may be given for a few
days, followed by milk and limewater, barley and toast water, kumyss,
oatmeal gruel, meat juices, scraped meat (raw, boiled, or roasted),
broths thickened with thoroughly cooked cereals, ice cream, egg
lemonade, gelatins and whipped cream, custards and raw oysters.
Fruit in the morning and just before retiring aid the intestines. Two
prunes chopped up with one fig, or a bunch of grapes, or an apple, just
before retiring may be eaten to assist the action of the intestines and
the kidneys.
Almost all fruits contain acids which increase the peristalsis, and the
resultant flow of gastric juice. Cooked pears, stewed or baked apples,
prunes, and dates are mild fruits which may be used if they agree. The
juice of an orange on arising may be used if relished.
Fats and food cooked in fat must be avoided. Dried beef, lean boiled
ham, and salt fish agree better with some than fresh meats. All sweets
must be forbidden. Starchy foods are apt to produce “sour stomach.”
Avoid meat with tough fiber, too fat meat (pork), sausage, lobster,
salmon, chicken salads, mayonnaise, cucumbers, pickles, cabbage, tea,
coffee, alcohol, pastry, too much sweets, and cheese if it disagrees.
Five to six light meals a day are preferable to three heavy meals.
The same general diet suggested for acute gastritis should be followed.
[Sidenote: Hyperchlorhydria]
The best method is to follow a diet in which the foods have practically
their normal balance—avoiding all irritating foods.
The juice of one-fourth of a lemon taken one-half hour before the meal
will decrease the secretion of hydrochloric acid.
Limewater and milk may be used exclusively for two days; alkaline,
effervescing mineral water may be used and then the diet should follow
the general diet in chronic gastritis.
[Sidenote: Achlorhydria]
Milk may be used, with limewater, if sipped slowly and mixed with
saliva.
Sugar should be used very sparingly, because it ferments readily and
aggravates the distention. If it is evident that fermented products are
in the stomach, it should be washed out with a stomach pump.
Beef juice, any of the better grades of meats, well masticated and
containing no gristle, limewater and milk, soft-cooked eggs, and
well-cooked cereals and vegetables should constitute the diet.
Cold water, taken a swallow at a time at intervals during the day, has
a tonic effect on the relaxed muscles. It also incites the flow of
gastric juice.
After ten days, for the succeeding ten days the nourishment should be
given every two hours and the diet varied by semiliquid foods, such
as gruels, toast water, soft-boiled egg (once a day), beef juice, two
softened crackers (once a day), gelatin, buttermilk, and strained
soups. (See page 313, Semisolid Foods.)
After twenty days the patient, if all is well, may very gradually
resume a normal diet, beginning with baked potatoes, softened toast,
lamb chops, a small piece of steak or white meat of chicken. It is
imperative that all food, liquid or solid, be thoroughly mixed with
saliva and that solids be chewed to a pulp.
Liquids must not be swallowed either hot or cold, but about body
temperature. Cold water may be taken into the mouth when more palatable
than warm and held there until about body temperature before it is
swallowed. All liquids should be sipped, not swallowed in gulps.
When the condition of ulcer has existed for some time complete rest in
bed for from six to ten weeks is advisable. Either the diet suggested
above or, if it is desired to gain in weight, a diet of milk, cream,
and eggs may be followed. All solid food should be avoided.
_INTESTINAL DISORDERS_
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Constipation]
Many chronic cases are due to the pill and drug habit. When one
continues to take pills, the condition brings a result similar to
the feeding of “predigested” food—if the work is done for the organs
they become lazy and rely on artificial aid. _Every part of the body
requires activity for strength._
Too much strong tea, by its astringent action, lessens the secretions
of mucus and causes the mass to become too dry.
Too little water may be taken and the food not sufficiently moistened;
food may be concentrated and leave little residue.
Anxiety and grief or worry may inhibit the action of the nerves and
thus cause a stagnation of movement on the part of the bowels.
The free use of water and such foods as figs and raisins, prunes,
dates, grapes, apples, and rhubarb, which are laxative in effect, are
helpful. These have best effect when eaten just before retiring or when
the stomach is empty.
Oatmeal, or any cereal containing the bran, is laxative. Such are bran
or corn-meal bread, Boston brown bread made with molasses, and Graham
bread.
[Sidenote: Enteritis]
A free drinking of water not only soothes the irritated intestines, but
it cleanses the intestinal tract and assists in eliminating elements
of fermentation; if these are not eliminated, they will be absorbed
into the blood.
A milk diet for two or three weeks may be necessary to rest the bowels.
[Sidenote: Dysentery]
Blackberry brandy and tea made from wild cherry bark tend to check the
inflammation.
It will be recalled that the liver acts not only on the foods,
but it also stands on guard to neutralize poisonous ferments, due
to putrefactions absorbed from the intestines, and to render them
harmless. To a limited extent it also oxidizes alcohol.
After the gorging of a heavy meal, the overloaded blood and liver
express themselves in a sluggishness of the brain and one feels
mentally as well as physically inert.
_It is apparent that the blood must carry its full quota of oxygen to
assist in eliminating both the nitrogenous waste and the poisons._ It
must also be remembered that the liver must oxidize the waste from its
own tissues, as well as from other parts of the system.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Biliousness]
Lemon stimulates the action of the gastric glands and thus tends to
increase the liver activity.
It has been thought that eggs and milk cause sluggish liver action.
There is no physiological reason for this if too much food is not
eaten. The fact is often lost sight of that milk is a food as well as a
beverage and that when milk constitutes an appreciable part of the diet
other foods should be limited accordingly.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Gallstones]
Two glasses of hot water should be taken in the morning and before
retiring. Several glasses of cold water should be drunk through the day.
Sweets and starches should be largely eliminated from the diet; sweet
fruits and root vegetables must be avoided.
Fresh green vegetables and acid fruits may be taken. Potatoes contain
calcium, but because they contain much more potassium, which lessens
the liberation of calcium, they may also be used.
For foods rich in calcium which should be avoided see page 219.
Meat, if taken, must be lean and eaten only once a day. Beef and
chicken are the preferable meats. Fresh fish may be used.
Alcohol must not be taken and coffee and tea must be limited in
strength and quantity.
The person afflicted with gall-stones must not sit too long or in a
cramped position.
Watch the water supply. Hard water which contains lime should be boiled
to precipitate the calcium.
If the fluids are not taken in sufficient amount and much animal food
is eaten, the urine becomes more concentrated and may irritate the
kidneys or the bladder and give rise to calculi (kidney stones) or to
the deposit of uric acid. Watery vegetables, juicy fruits, milk, water,
and most beverages, by increasing the output of urine, lessen its
acidity and density.
Water flushes the kidneys and if the urine increases in amount when
water is given its use may be continued. When the amount of urine is
diminished or the kidneys are not functioning at all, water, or any
fluid or food that gives the kidneys work, must be given only on the
advice of a physician, as serious harm may be done unless the inflamed
kidneys are given as near perfect rest as possible. Sometimes even milk
must be reduced to one pint a day.
In the event that the kidneys do not excrete, the pores of the skin
must be kept freely open by sweat baths to assist in the elimination of
urea.
Dr. Hall recommends a milk and cream diet of from three to seven pints
a day, for a few days, according to the case—two parts of milk to one
of cream. If the urine is scanty, he reduces it to one and one-half
pints a day, taken in four or five installments. After the three to
seven days of milk diet he gradually introduces starches and fats into
the diet.
When for any reason the kidneys have difficulty in eliminating the
nitrogenous waste of the system, the dietitian must eliminate protein
food as closely as may be consistent with the body necessities.
Besides restricting the amount of nitrogenous foods, the kidneys must
be assisted in eliminating the nitrogenous waste and the products of
inflammation by a copious drinking of water, unless the kidneys are so
inflamed that complete rest is indicated.
Hot water and hot drinks are best in the morning, such as toast
water, barley water, cream of tartar, lemon and acid drinks. Unless a
dropsical condition is present one may drink freely of cool water.
In acute cases the patient is put on a diet of from two to three pints
of milk a day, given one-half pint every three or four hours, diluted
with one-third as much hot water. Complete rest is imperative.
If the milk is not well borne, malted milk or predigested milk with
butter and cream may be substituted. If the casein in the milk is not
well digested, cheese must not be used. An egg once or twice a week and
fruit and fresh vegetables may be given, but meat should be omitted.
_DIET_
This diet is tentative only and may be modified to suit the individual.
If improvement is manifest after a month or two of the restricted diet,
steak, roast beef, and eggs may be gradually added. If, when the urine
is examined, the use of meat causes a return of albumin, it must be
dropped.
* * * * *
When the system shows an excess of uric acid, the chances are that
the individual has not been living on a diet containing too large
a proportion of protein, but that he has been eating more than he
requires of all kinds of foodstuffs. His system thus becomes weakened
and he does not breathe deeply nor exercise sufficiently to oxidize and
throw off the waste.
Meats, eggs, and legumes should be eliminated from the diet. A free
drinking of water, milk with limewater, cereals, buttermilk, kumyss,
barley water, toast water, lemonade, orangeade, vegetables, and fruit
should form the diet.
Exercise and free breathing of fresh air are imperative. All food
should be thoroughly masticated.
Uric acid does not render the urine acid but when the acidity of the
urine is increased, due to too much animal food, the tendency of the
uric acid to form a crystalline deposit is increased. This deposit, as
“gravel,” may occasion attacks of renal colic or become the basis, when
mixed with mucus, for kidney stones or stones in the bladder.
Headaches if due to uric acid will often cease when animal food is
lessened.
Too much candy or sweet foods, or too much fat, eaten in connection
with much protein, by deranging the liver function, change the
character of the urine and favor the production of uric acid, causing
such chronic ailments as bronchitis, asthma, severe nerve depression,
gout, and neuralgia.
The skins of fruits contain various acids which favor the alkalinity
of the blood. Therefore it is better, when there is an excess of uric
acid, to eat unpeeled fruits. Apples, eaten raw and unpeeled, because
of the acids, are of benefit. Citrus fruits, such as lemons, oranges,
and grapefruit, are advised. Pears, and other sweet or bland fruits,
because of the lack of acid, are less valuable.
Pea pods when young may be cooked with the peas. String beans, spinach,
celery, and asparagus are of value.
[Sidenote: Gout]
The use of meat and sugars tends to make the urine acid and the use of
vegetables favors its alkalinity, rendering it less acid. Therefore it
becomes necessary to eliminate meat from the diet, to cut down the fats
and carbohydrates, and to eat freely of fruits and vegetables.
In _acute cases_ a diet of bread and milk, or toast and milk, with
light vegetable broths, should be followed for from one to three days.
_Soups._—Vegetable broths.
[Sidenote: Diabetes]
The diet must consist largely of protein and fat. One danger lies in
the tendency of acetic and other acids to accumulate in the blood,
which affects the nervous system.
There is often a distaste for fat, but its use is imperative when it is
well borne, because the weight and general vitality must be maintained.
If all carbohydrates are eliminated from the diet, the system will
often suffer severely. Therefore the dietitian must determine the diet
suited to the individual case, since complicated conditions may exist
and the diet for one patient will work harm to another. The fleshy
patient can stand a rigid diet, eliminating sugars and starches, much
better than one who is thin and emaciated. A thin, weak patient often
cannot endure too rigid a diet.
In beginning a diet, the change must not be too sudden. Potatoes, when
they agree, may be used in small quantities as a substitute for bread.
At least a week’s time should be allowed for the elimination of all
sugar and starch. Begin by eliminating sugars and next bread, cereals,
anything made with flour, and potatoes.
Van Noorden gives the following diet, free from carbohydrates, which
has been in general use in Europe and America.
_Breakfast_
_Lunch_
_Dinner_
Bouillon, 6 ounces.
_Supper, 9 P. M._
[Sidenote: Asthma]
In this affection the free entrance of air into the lungs as well as
its free exit is hampered by a condition of the bronchial muscles, the
mucous membrane of the bronchi, and the muscles of the diaphragm. The
muscles contract spasmodically without due or proper relaxation. This
causes a congestion and swelling of the mucous membrane of the bronchi
which still further hamper the ingress and egress of air.
Hot stuffy rooms increase the disorder and plenty of fresh air should
be secured both by night and by day.
[Sidenote: Tuberculosis]
Growing children crave sweets and as these furnish energy they may be
allowed to tuberculous children, in moderation, if they seem to be well
assimilated. Any interference with digestion, however, must be guarded
against.
Milk, butter, cream, olive oil, bacon, and cod-liver oil furnish the
fat needed by the system in the most easily digested form and should
be taken freely, if there is no irritation in the stomach which will
prevent their assimilation. Variation in their use will often secure
greater tolerance.
The disease causes great wasting, and fats are especially important in
counteracting this tendency. They may be given in alternation or be
omitted from the diet for a day or two to avoid turning the patient
against them.
If one gains in flesh the chances are very strong that the case has
been wrongly diagnosed, or that the disease, if present, is being
overcome.
Milk, when it agrees, should form a large part of the diet. A glass may
be taken with meals and two glasses between meals. The milk should be
sipped slowly; lime water or carbonated water may be added to aid milk
digestion.
Eggs are also important aids in the diet, especially the yolk, because
of the fat and iron it contains. If they disagree they may be taken
with a few drops of lemon juice, orange juice, or grape juice, as these
partially digest the egg.
The beaten and strained whites are very easily digested, and in that
form may be taken in quantity of from six to twelve a day.
Tender, juicy meats, especially beef and mutton, may be taken, also
meat juices and beef soups.
_3 p.m._: Milk and eggs, meat broth and egg, milk and egg
custard, or Graham crackers and milk.
If the tongue becomes coated the mouth should receive the care directed
on page 95.
In all cases of weak lungs and chronic lung trouble, the diet should
consist of easily digested foods. Those that cause flatulence should
be avoided, as the distended stomach presses on the diaphragm and
interferes with proper breathing and with the heart action.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Neurasthenia]
The diet should be light and of easily digested foods, but must be
nutritious and taken regularly and systematically. Each case needs
individual treatment, and the diet must be that most easily assimilated
by the individual.
There is no one food or set of foods which directly affect any nervous
trouble unless this trouble be localized by disturbance in some
particular organ. Then the effort must be to correct the difficulty in
that organ.
Rest is imperative.
[Sidenote: Neuralgia]
These pains occur chiefly in those who take little exercise and use
improper food, which does not give the correct proportion of the needed
elements to the system.
The diet must be nutritious and richer than is ordinarily taken. Milk,
butter, cream, bacon, olive oil, and all fatty food should be freely
used if assimilated. Beefsteak, roast beef, fresh vegetables, and eggs
are valuable. Cocoa or chocolate, a glass of milk with a beaten egg, or
a cup of broth into which an egg has been beaten may be regularly taken
between meals.
Coffee, tea, highly spiced foods, alcohol, fried food, rich pastry, and
much candy or sweet stuffs should be avoided.
Sweets, fried food, rich sauces, pastry, and highly seasoned food
should be avoided.
[Sidenote: Chorea]
Children are especially liable to this malady. They are usually anemic
and care should be exercised that they be not overworked in school and
that they retire early and get from ten to twelve hours’ sleep.
Their eyes must be kept from strain and the nervous system not allowed
to become tense from too much excitement, as teasing by playmates or
the family, etc.
When the waste of the system is not being properly eliminated through
the other excretory organs the skin is required to throw off more than
its normal amount.
Chronic skin troubles are always increased and made more troublesome
when there are errors in the diet, and they are often benefited and in
some cases cured when the dietetic errors are corrected.
Skin troubles often occur when for any reason the nervous system is
run down, because the weakened nerves cause the tissues or organs they
supply to become inactive. The skin thus becomes affected with the rest
of the body and derangements of its function appear. Increasing nerve
tone will result in a disappearance of the skin disorders. This takes
time.
All rich food and highly seasoned preparations, veal, pork, tea,
coffee, pastry, too much sweets and fats, and any fruits and vegetables
that cause flatulence should be avoided.
A diet of fruit, water, and Graham bread for three or four days, every
week or two, daily exercise and deep breathing of pure air will usually
clear the skin.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Urticaria (Hives)]
[Sidenote: Eczema]
The diet may have to be confined to fruit, bread and milk, or crackers
and milk for a few weeks.
Meat, if allowed, should be taken sparingly and not oftener than once
a day—better only every other day. Beef and chicken are the preferable
meats. If no improvement occurs, or if it be slight, meat should be
omitted altogether. Eggs may be substituted for meat. A little fresh
fruit, if thoroughly ripe, may be taken, but all made desserts must
be avoided and very little sweets used. Cracked wheat, or other wheat
cereal, with a little cream, may be eaten.
Oatmeal may provoke an attack because of the amount of fat in it. Foods
may cause an attack in one case that have no detrimental action in
another.
Skin eruptions, eczema-like, often occur if for any reason the diet has
been too limited, as in the semi-starvation seen in poor children. In
these cases a more nutritious diet will often cure.
[Sidenote: Acne]
The rapidly changing system of the growing boy and girl is especially
liable to disorders, due to improper eating, irregular habits, worry,
lack of rest, or improper food. Eruptions, especially on the face,
appear as a result. The sebaceous glands are especially active, and any
alteration in the structure of the blood, due to deranged digestive
processes and defective elimination by the skin, causes too great an
amount of deposit in the fat glands. Their contents become hardened
and infected by germs, with consequent irritation and reddening, and
the condition known as acne is the result.
All candy, and sweets, hot breads, corn bread, pastry, soups with much
fat, rich hashes and sauces, fried food, pork, and veal should be
eliminated from the diet.
Often the infection from one pimple is spread by the hands or by the
wash cloth. Care should be taken to avoid this.
_Exercise directed to the facial muscles and to the liver and digestive
organs, deep breathing, plenty of oxygen by night and day, wholesome
thoughts, plenty of sleep, and simple food, will eliminate or improve
most skin difficulties. Care should be taken, by frequent bathing and
friction baths, to aid the eliminative work of the skin._
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Rheumatism]
Hot sweat baths, a free use of water, and a free use of fruits and
fruit juices, particularly the citrus fruits, such as lemons, oranges,
limes, etc., are desirable in moderation, because they increase
the alkalinity of the blood, and because of their diuretic effect.
Lemonade, orangeade, and all fresh fruits and vegetables are diuretic.
The food must be plain and well cooked, not highly seasoned, and the
amount must be confined to the needs of the system as shown by the
general condition.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Leanness]
No definite diet can be given here for flesh building, because a lack
of sufficient fat to round out the figure is due to faulty digestion or
assimilation.
It may be that the strength of the muscles and nerves of the stomach,
liver, and intestines should be built up by exercises and deep
breathing, and it may be that the habit of nerve relaxation must be
established. When the nerves are tense much nourishment is consumed in
nervous energy and the nerves to the digestive organs and muscles being
disordered, they interfere with digestion and assimilation.
Vinegar and too much spice, pastry, coffee, and tea should be avoided.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Obesity]
The body fat is formed from various elements in foods, and a food which
may cause obesity in one individual may not produce it in another. Fat
meats, alcoholic drinks, or the excessive use of starches and sugars
may cause it. The food at fault in each case must be determined and
largely reduced or eliminated from the diet.
Many obesity cures are in existence, and have had considerable vogue
from time to time. Anti-fat remedies are dangerous, as they lower the
vitality of the system and render it liable to be attacked by disease.
All such remedies act by decreasing the appetite and causing impairment
of the digestion.
The rational method is to limit both the amount of food and the liquid
to be taken, to increase oxidation by deep breathing and exercise.
By restricting the carbohydrates and fats consumed the body calls on
that stored in the tissues. In obesity, unless there is an underlying
condition of disease, the amount of water should be limited while
reducing and none should be drunk with the meals. Soup, milk, and all
juicy fruits and all foods made from cereals should be taken sparingly;
sugar must usually be forbidden and fat in the food limited to a
little butter. One need not starve under this treatment for the diet
may be varied enough to prevent monotony even though restricted.
Fresh green vegetables, fruit, and lean meat should form the main
ingredients of the diet, but if gastric disturbances arise the diet
must be varied to correct them. Meat should be eaten but once a day.
_All diets for obesity must be prescribed for the individual condition.
A diet suited to one person may be entirely unsuited to another. For
this reason, and because of the danger of one following a diet which
may be unsuited to the condition, diets for obesity are not given here._
_If one reduces by diet alone the excess of fat may not come from the
part desired._ One is likely to show the results first in the face and
neck. One should exercise the parts desired to be reduced so as to
oxidize the fat stored about these particular tissues.
One who carries too much fat is much more liable to gout, rheumatism,
apoplexy, high blood pressure, asthma, and bronchial affections.
* * * * *
On the other hand, too much food is often urged on the convalescent
from a mistaken idea that large quantities of food are necessary in
order to rebuild the enfeebled system.
Care must be taken not to return too rapidly to a solid diet when a
liquid diet has been followed for some time. The digestive system
shares in the general weakness and must not be overloaded.
The more easily digested foods, as ice cream, milk, tapioca, crackers
and cream or cream toast, cream soups and meat broths thickened with
bread crumbs rolled from toasted bread, custards, stewed fruits, corn
meal, mush, in some conditions, cornstarch blancmange, boiled rice, and
poached eggs may be given.
Sweetbreads in cream, sponge cake or lady fingers with light cream may
also be allowed.
The face and hands of an invalid should always be bathed before a meal;
the fresh feeling induced is often an aid to the appetite. The mouth
should be carefully cleansed after eating in order that no fermenting
food particles may be carried into the stomach to cause disturbance
there. Swabbing the mouth with cotton dipped in an alkaline wash or
rinsing the mouth with listerine and water or peroxide of hydrogen and
water will add greatly to the comfort of the sick, especially when the
tongue is coated and the mouth bitter.
Great care should be taken not to allow bread crumbs to fall into or
under the bedclothes, as a small bread crumb is often a source of great
discomfort. The skin is especially sensitive and a small bread crumb
may so disturb the mind as to cause a patient, otherwise doing well, to
become restless and disturbed.
The invalid frequently forgets to ask for water and the attendant
should see that a sufficient amount of water is taken. A glass of water
should be placed where it is within easy reach and it should not be
allowed to become warm. Cool water is one of the prime requisites in
the invalid’s dietary.
FOOTNOTES:
CHAPTER XI
Cold water should be thoroughly cooled, but not iced, unless ice water
is sipped very slowly and held in the mouth until the chill is off.
Water is best cooled by placing the receptacle on ice rather than by
putting ice in the water.
_Fruit Juices._ Under fruit juices are: grape juice, apple juice,
currant juice, pineapple juice, orangeade, and lemonade.
They are especially grateful to fever patients and are often used
to stimulate the appetite. They are particularly valuable for the
acids which they contain, which aid the action of the kidneys and the
peristaltic action of the digestive tract; they also increase the
alkalinity of the blood.
Apples contain malic acid, lemons citric acid, and grapes tartaric
acid. The ferment in the ripe pineapple juice aids in the digestion of
proteins.[16]
_Lemonade._ Wash and wipe a lemon. Cut a slice from the middle into
two pieces to be used in the garnish before serving; then squeeze the
juice of the rest of the lemon into a bowl, keeping back the seeds.
Add sugar and boiling water; cover and put on ice to cool; strain and
pour into a glass.
_Fruit Lemonade._ To change and vary the flavor, fresh fruit of all
kinds may be added to strong lemonade, using boiling water as directed
above.
_Bran Lemonade._ Mix one-quarter cup of wheat bran with 2 cups of cold
water. Allow this to stand overnight and in the morning add the juice
of a lemon.
_Mixed Fruit Drink._ Mix one-quarter cup of grated pineapple, the juice
of half a lemon, the juice of half an orange, 1 cup of boiling water,
and sugar to taste. Put on the ice until cool. Strain and add more cold
water and sugar according to taste.
_Lemon Whey._ Heat 1 cup of milk in a small saucepan, over hot water,
or in a double boiler. Add 2 tablespoonfuls of lemon juice; cook
without stirring until the whey separates. Strain through cheesecloth
and add two teaspoonfuls of sugar. Serve hot or cold. Garnish with
small pieces of lemon.
_Wine Whey_ may be made in the same way, using one-quarter cup of
sherry wine to 1 cup of hot milk.
_Grape Juice, Apple Juice, and Currant Juice_ are tonics and make a
dainty variety for the sick room. They should be used according to
their strength, usually about one-third juice to two-thirds water. They
should be kept cold and tightly corked until ready to serve.
LIQUID FOOD
Under this heading such liquids are given as are actual foods.
_Milk._ Milk is a complete food and a perfect food for infants, but not
a perfect food for adults. It may be used as
Whole or skimmed;
Peptonized; boiled;
Sterilized; pasteurized;
Milk with lime water, Vichy or Apollinaris;
With equal parts of farinaceous liquids;
Albuminized milk with white of egg;
Milk with egg yolk, flavored with vanilla, cinnamon, or nutmeg;
Milk flavored with coffee, cocoa, or meat broth;
Milk punch; milk lemonade;
Kumyss; kefir or whey, with lemon juice, as above.
_Milk and Cinnamon._ Boil in one pint of new milk sufficient cinnamon
to flavor it and sweeten with white sugar.
Often the white of egg, dissolved in water or milk, is given when the
yolk cannot be digested because of the amount of fat which it contains.
_Eggnog._ To make eggnog, separate the white and the yolk, beat the
yolk with three-quarters of a tablespoonful of sugar and a speck
of salt until creamy. Add three-quarters of a cup of milk and 1
tablespoonful of brandy. Beat the white until foamy, add to the above
mixture, and serve immediately. A little nutmeg may be substituted for
the brandy. The eggs and milk should be chilled before using. Eggnog
is very nutritious.
This is very delicious made with beef broth, instead of hot milk.
Pineapple juice or coffee may be used.
_Grape Yolk._ Separate the white and the yolk of an egg, beat the
yolk, add the sugar, and let the yolk and sugar stand while the white
of the egg is thoroughly whipped. Add 2 tablespoonfuls of grape juice
to the yolk and pour this on to the beaten white, blending carefully.
Have all ingredients chilled before blending and serve cold.
_Albuminized Milk._ Beat one-half cup of milk and the white of 1 egg
with a few grains of salt. Put into a fruit jar, shake thoroughly
until blended. Strain into a glass and serve cold.
Barley water is an astringent and used to check the bowels when they
are too loose.
_Toast Water._ Toast thin slices of stale bread in the oven; break up
into crumbs; add 1 cup of boiling water and let it stand for an hour.
Rub through a fine strainer, season with a little salt. Milk, or cream
and sugar may be added if desirable. This is valuable in cases of
fever or extreme nausea.
_Sago Soup._ Stew 2 ounces of the best sago in a pint of water until
it is quite tender. Mix with half a pint of good boiling cream and the
yolks of two fresh eggs. Put into it 1 quart of essence of beef. Mix
thoroughly. The beef essence must be heated separately and mixed while
both mixtures are hot. This must be served warm.
_Crust Coffee._ Dry crusts of brown bread in the oven until they are
hard and crisp. Pound or roll them and pour boiling water over. Let
soak for fifteen minutes, then strain carefully through a fine sieve.
_MEAT JUICES_
(1) Broil quickly, or even scorch, a small piece of beef. Squeeze out
the juice with a lemon squeezer, previously dipped in boiling water.
Catch the juice in a hot cup. Season and serve. If desirable to heat it
further, place the cup in hot water.
(2) Broil quickly, cut up and put the small pieces into a glass jar.
Set the covered jar in a pan of cold water. Heat gradually for an
hour, never allowing the water to come to a boil. Strain and press out
the clear, red juice, season, and serve. One pound of beef yields 8
tablespoonfuls of juice.
(3) Grind raw beef and place in a lightly covered jar with 1 gill of
cold water to a pound of beef. Stand it on ice overnight and squeeze
through a bag. Strain, season, and serve.
_Meat Broth._ Meat broth is made from meat and bone, with or without
vegetables. The proportion is a quart of water to a pound of meat.
Cut the meat into small pieces, add the cold water, and simmer until
the quantity is reduced one-half. Strain, skim, and season with salt.
Chicken, veal, mutton, and beef may be used in this way. It may be
seasoned with onions, celery, bay-leaves, cloves, carrots, parsnips,
rice, barley, or tapioca. Stale bread crumbs may be added.
_Broth for the Sick._ To 1 pound of chopped lean meat of any kind,
except pork or veal, add 1 pint of cold water or one pint and a half
on ice. Let stand in a covered glass fruit jar for from four to six
hours, cook for three hours in a closed jar placed in a kettle of
water, strain, cool, skim off the fat, clear with a beaten egg, season
to taste. This may be given warm or cold.
* * * * *
* * * * *
_SEMI-SOLID FOODS_
_Jellies._
_Custards._
(a) Junkets of milk, or milk and egg (rennet curdled), flavored with
nutmeg, etc.
(b) Egg, milk custard, boiled or baked.
_Gruels._ (Farinaceous.)
(1) Cook soup meat (containing gristle and bone) slowly for a long
time in just enough water to cover. Strain and set the liquid away in
a mold to cool and set. If desired, bits of shredded meat may be added
to the liquid before molding.
(1) Of fruit juice and sugar in equal quantities, cooked until it will
set when cooled;
_Custards._ These are made with (1) milk, (2) milk and eggs, (3) milk,
egg, and some farinaceous substances as rice, cornstarch, tapioca. In
the first the coagulum is produced by the addition of rennet, in the
other two by the application of heat.
_Egg-Milk Custard._ When eggs are used for thickening, not less than
four eggs should be used to a quart of milk (more eggs make it richer).
_Snowballs._ Heat 1 pint of milk with sugar to taste. Beat the whites
of 3 eggs stiff, then beat in 1-1/2 tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar.
Drop by spoonfuls into the hot milk, turn in three minutes, and take
out. Beat yolks of the eggs, pour the hot milk over them, and allow to
thicken. Do not boil. Arrange snowballs in dish and pour custard over.
Serve cool.
_Farinaceous Custards._ Make like boiled custard, using one less egg
and adding one-quarter cup of farina, tapioca, cornstarch, arrowroot,
or cooked rice to the hot milk and egg.
_Caramel Custard._ Melt the dry sugar until golden brown, add the hot
milk, and when dissolved proceed as before. Bake.
_Bread Jelly._ Pour boiling water on stale bread and allow it to soak
until soft. Pour off the water, add fresh water to cover, and boil
until stiff and until it becomes jelly-like when it cools. It may be
eaten with milk or cream.
_SOLID FOODS_
_Toasts._
(a) Plain.
(b) Whipped.
(c) Ice cream.
_Oils._
_Cereals._
_Breads._
_Egg Preparations._
_Meats._
_Vegetables._
_Fruits._
_Water Gruel._ If water gruel is desired, let the last cup of liquid
added be water instead of milk.
_Cream Gruel._ A cream gruel may be made by using rich cream instead
of milk or water.
* * * * *
_Water Toast._ Pour over plain or buttered toast enough boiling water
to thoroughly moisten it.
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES:
[16] Many of the recipes given for fruit beverages are adapted from
_Practical Dietetics_ by Alida Frances Pattee, Publisher, Mt. Vernon,
N. Y.
CHAPTER XII
INFANT FEEDING
Every civilized country faces the same problem, largely because the
artificial feeding of infants has become so prevalent.
Unfortunately, many women who must labor outside of the home must
resort partially, if not entirely, to artificial feeding of their
infants. Usually on account of the inconvenience of breast feeding and
the strain on the mother, the infant is given artificial food, often
improperly prepared. Although infant mortality is high among the poorer
classes, it is marvelous that so many of these infants survive.
The mother should be firm in her decision to nurse her child and be
encouraged to persevere in efforts to secure the proper development of
the breasts before the birth of the child, that the quantity as well as
the quality of the milk may be adequate.
The fact that nearly one-fourth of the civilized race dies during the
first year of life is astounding. This mortality is due directly or
indirectly to nutritional disturbances that could in a great measure be
prevented if the babies were properly nursed at the breast or if the
artificial feeding was carefully regulated.
Proper care of the breasts and of the general health during the
expectant period will usually secure a sufficient flow of milk for the
child’s needs.
The mental attitude of the mother has much to do with the secretion of
milk; therefore she should cultivate the habit of kindly, cheerful,
healthful thoughts. She should keep her circulation and vitality up to
par.
She should take regular exercise and be out in the fresh air daily.
During the first two or three days the child receives little
nourishment from the breast, simply a few ounces daily of a yellowish
substance known as colostrum, which is supposed to have a laxative
effect on its bowels.
When the milk flows freely, the contents of one breast is sufficient
for one nursing, and the breasts should be used alternately, that is
one breast at one feeding and the other at the next.
Nursing should not last longer than from ten to twenty minutes. Too
rapid nursing is apt to cause vomiting. If it is necessary to check the
flow of milk somewhat, it can be done by pressing the breast slightly
between the fingers.
Some women seem unable to nurse their babies for more than two or three
months and it is sometimes thought that it is not worth while for a
woman to nurse her baby unless she can do so for a considerable time.
This, however, is a great mistake, because there is no time in the
baby’s life when it is more important for it to have breast milk than
in the beginning. This is the time when the baby’s digestion is most
easily disturbed and most difficult to correct. Every day or week that
a baby gets breast milk gives it a better start.
* * * * *
If the mother is unable to nurse the child herself and the conditions
are ideal, that is the wet nurse a healthy, happy woman with a thriving
baby of her own, and very particular in the care of her person, this is
better than artificial feeding.
* * * * *
The alimentary tract of the new-born infant differs in many ways from
that of the adult.
As compared with other mammals, the human infant is the most helpless
and undeveloped and therefore the most delicate and easily affected.
It is practically dependent on its mother for nourishment which will
completely supply its needs.
The capacity of the stomach, after careful study, has been placed at
from 1 to 2 ounces at birth, 2 to 3 ounces at the end of the first
month, 6 ounces at the 6th month, and from 9 to 10 ounces at the end
of the first year. This is simply an average guide, as stomachs vary
somewhat in size. Quantities somewhat larger than the foregoing are
sometimes fed, but some of the food has passed beyond the pylorus
before the last of it is taken. Digestion begins as soon as the food
enters the stomach.
The pancreatic ferments which digest starches and sugar are present
in the new-born, although scanty; the sucking movements of the child
when nursing exercise the salivary glands so that saliva is secreted;
but starch digestion is not completed in the mouth, hence starch and a
greater proportion of sugar than is in the mother’s milk are difficult
for the infant to digest.
The intestines, when compared with the length of the body, are
relatively long in infants, but the muscular coat is comparatively
weak; digestion is therefore relatively slow and more subject to
derangement by substances that influence peristalsis.
The fact that infants vomit with comparatively little effort, the food
overflowing from an overloaded stomach, is due to the relatively feeble
closure of the cardiac orifice.
The mother should watch her diet to avoid too much rich food, and foods
that seem difficult to digest, as certain articles of food in the
mother’s diet often causes gastric disturbances in the infant.
She should also carefully watch her thoughts, keeping them well poised
and upon kindness, love, and peace. Worry or unkind thoughts will
affect the mother’s milk and disturb the child’s digestion very quickly.
* * * * *
——————————————————+———————————+——————————————+——————————————
| Number in | Intervals |Night nursing
Age |twenty-four|during the day|between 9 P.M.
| hours | hours | and 7 A.M.
——————————————————+———————————+——————————————+——————————————
1st day | 4 | 6 | 1
2d day | 6 | 4 | 1
3d to 28th day | 10 | 2 | 2
4th to 13th week | 8 | 2-1/2 | 1
3d to 5th month | 7 | 3 | 1
5th to 12th month | 6 | 3 | 0
——————————————————+———————————+——————————————+——————————————
There may be some slight deviations from this if the child is ill
and small for its age. It is a good general rule to feed the child
according to the age with which its weight corresponds.
There can be no regular rule followed for all. Some authorities hold
that fifteen- to twenty-minute feedings at four-hour intervals during
the day, with one feeding at night, are sufficient, but it depends on
the child. Some babies’ stomachs are smaller than others, and some do
not nurse regularly, but play and are inattentive to the nursing. In
either event the child will not get sufficient nourishment at four-hour
intervals. The intelligent mother can determine what is best.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Water]
In breast-feeding, as well as in most of the formulæ for
bottle-feeding, there is an allowance for an amount of fluid that,
under ordinary circumstances, satisfies the baby’s requirements.
Additional water is often necessary, especially during the hot weather
when the body heat is regulated through evaporation from the skin.
The most effective means of promoting perspiration is the giving of
water. This, however, should not be done to excess. Eight ounces
for a 10-pound baby, given in divided doses during the day, will be
sufficient.
It is best to give the water when the stomach is nearly or quite empty.
It should be boiled and cooled and should be given by the bottle as the
child will then take at intervals all that its thirst requires, and the
danger of choking as a result of too hasty swallowing is avoided.
* * * * *
If the mother’s milk is deficient in any way, the child becomes fretful
and loses weight, or the weight remains stationary. In such cases
the physician usually examines the milk to determine its quality and
advises some means of improving it, or in some way adding to the baby’s
food the element in which the mother’s milk is lacking.
While a scanty food supply will diminish the flow of milk, overloading
the stomach at meal time and taking quantities of rich food between
meals, as so many nursing mothers, think is necessary, usually does
little to increase the quantity or improve the quality of the milk, but
often results in an accumulation of superfluous flesh and disturbed
digestion, which quickly affects the child.
When the milk is good, but the quantity deficient, massage of the
breasts three or four times a day for five or ten minutes will increase
the supply. One effective means of increasing the secretion of the
mammary glands is the mechanical stimulus of suction. If a robust baby
can be put to the breast for a time it may develop an ample flow of
milk for a puny infant whose powers of suction are feeble.
A good malt extract with meals sometimes tends to increase the flow
of milk. When the quality and quantity of the milk are deficient, the
physician usually advises a very nourishing diet and a tonic. This
nourishment does not of necessity require an excessive amount of liquid.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Weaning]
After the eighth month and until the age of twelve months, as a general
rule, cow’s milk should be diluted and sweetened by mixing eight
ounces of barley water and thirty-two ounces of milk, adding an ounce
of cane-sugar or milk-sugar, and dividing the whole into five 8-ounce
portions.
Additional food may be given to the healthy child after the eighth
or ninth month. Orange juice or other fruit juice one or twice a
day should be given about an hour before feeding. A teaspoonful may
be given at first and the amount gradually increased to about two
tablespoonfuls a day.
Food should be given only at regular intervals and nothing but water
between feedings.
* * * * *
Farmers have in recent years become more particular about the care of
their cows and cleanliness in milking because the educational campaign
with regard to the danger to human life from tuberculous animals has
caused a greater public demand for good, clean milk.
Manufacturers have taken advantage of the fact that the public has
become a little afraid of cow’s milk and have extensively advertised
their prepared foods, claiming them to be the best substitute for
mother’s milk. However, experiments have proven that these statements
for the most part are misleading, the composition of the foods not
being suited to the actual requirements of the infant. Some prominent
physicians think that infant mortality has been increasing since
prepared foods have been used so extensively.
One leading authority states that “clean, fresh cow’s milk, properly
modified, is the best substitute available. It is to be preferred to
any prepared food, no matter how sweeping may be the manufacturers’
claim for it.”
The most striking thing about the prepared foods is their tremendous
excess of carbohydrates, either cane-sugar or sugar derived from starch
by the process of malting. Condensed milk, in particular, contains much
too large a percentage of cane-sugar for the child.
Another authority states:
[Sidenote: Bacteriology]
The flora which predominate are those peculiar to the infant which is
properly digesting human milk. This accounts for the uniform action of
the bowels in breast-fed infants. As soon as the child gets milk from
the breast, the intestinal flora assume this definite form.
When cow’s milk or any other food is given, the intestinal flora
change. When the change is made too suddenly, these new flora which
live on the digested products of human milk gradually disappear and
the action of the new flora often causes intestinal derangements which
the infant is not strong enough to overcome.
* * * * *
Fat 4%
Sugar 7%
Protein 1.5%
Salt 0.2%
Water 87.3%
When the baby has been fed at the breast for several months, pure cow’s
milk sometimes agrees very well, if overfeeding is avoided.
Most infants under the age of nine months are more or less incapable of
digesting cow’s milk undiluted. If artificial food is resorted to from
the start, practically all physicians agree that the milk should be
diluted or otherwise modified during the first few months at least.
Milk diluted with water is often given, one part of milk to two parts
of water. This reduces the protein to about the amount found in breast
milk.
As cow’s milk leaves the stomach more slowly than mother’s milk, longer
intervals between feeding seem advisable. When the breast-fed infant
receives nourishment every two and one-half to three hours, an infant
given a cow’s-milk preparation would be fed every three and one-half or
four hours.
Milk prepared according to the formula desired by the physician can now
be secured from milk laboratories in all of our larger cities. However,
the milk is apt to spoil in transit, and to secure its freshness when
one is not in or near a large city, it is best to prepare it at home.
Any intelligent mother or nurse can do this very satisfactorily if the
physician gives definite instructions.
Mineral (calcium) and protein are bone and other tissue builders, and
it is a significant fact that cow’s milk contains about twice as much
protein and a little more than twice as much of the mineral as mother’s
milk, indicating that the growth of the human infant is to be slow.
The calf requires about four years for full growth and the human being
twenty-one years. Both human and cow’s milk, however, contain an equal
amount of fat, the heat-producing element, as Nature intended that the
infant should be warm and active.
It seems almost impossible to get milk from the cow as clean and
free from bacteria as it should be and therefore sterilization and
pasteurization are resorted to almost universally. Various substances
such as formaldehyd, boric acid, and salicylic acid are used by dealers
to preserve the milk. These all have a deleterious effect on the child.
Therefore the safety of the child demands that the mother choose a
reliable dairy. The milk may be analyzed occasionally to make sure of
its purity.
[Sidenote: Top-Milk]
Top-milk is that at the top of milk bottles in which milk has been
allowed to stand for five or six hours.
The cream at the top contains the most fat. For instance, in a quart of
milk that has been permitted to stand, the
To remove the top-milk, the first ounce is taken out with a spoon and
the remainder with a Chapin milk dipper which contains one ounce.
TOP-MILK MIXTURE
The cream from Guernsey and Jersey cows is usually too rich for infants
and therefore the best milk for the baby is that from Holstein or grade
cows. The mixed milk from various cows is usually best.
The physician can determine from the stools if the fat ratio is too
high, in which case it is best to use top-milk lower in percentage of
fat, and lengthen the feeding intervals to four hours.
* * * * *
The artificially fed baby does not usually thrive as well as the
breast-fed infant. It does not gain in weight as fast and the teeth are
slower in coming. The general condition of the baby, and a steady, even
if slow gain in weight, will indicate whether the food is agreeing.
* * * * *
They developed a food to meet these requirements to which they gave the
name of “_Eiweissmilch_.” This food is prepared as follows:
* * * * *
Heat one quart of whole milk to 100 F.; add four teaspoonfuls of
essence of pepsin, and stir. Let the mixture stand at 100 F. until the
curd has formed, then strain. Press the mass of curd through a rather
fine sieve two or three times by the means of a wooden mallet or spoon.
Add one pint of water to the curd during this process. The mixture
should now look like milk and the precipitate must be very finely
divided. Add one pint of buttermilk to this mixture.
Fat 2.5%
Sugar 1.5%
Protein 3.0%
Salts 0.5%
They call attention to the low caloric value of this food and to the
necessity of increasing it as soon as possible by the addition of
dextrin-maltose mixtures.
To use a food low in sugar and salts and high in protein in the
fermentative conditions caused by sugar, is rational. In these
conditions the substitution of the dextrin-maltose mixtures for lactose
is also good.
* * * * *
As the water in the pail cools, the milk in the bottles grows warm
until both are at the same temperature. After forty-five minutes, cold
water is turned into the pail to cool the bottles rapidly. They are
then kept on ice until again warmed ready for use.
This is the simplest and best way to pasteurize milk and the expense is
small.
Improvised apparatus may be used, but it requires much more labor and
is not as satisfactory.
The following table shows an analysis of milks and infant foods helpful
in the selection of a food to supply deficiencies indicated by a
chemical analysis of the infant.
———————————————+—————————+—————————+—————————+—————————
| | | |
|Mother’s | Cow’s |Borden’s |Horlick’s
COMPONENTS | Milk | Milk | Malted | Malted
| | | Milk | Milk
| | | |
———————————————+—————————+—————————+—————————+—————————
Protein |14.00 |27.00 |15.10 | 13.83
Fat |31.00 |31.00 | 9.20 | 7.90
Cane-Sugar | None | None | None | None
Other Soluble | | | |
Carbohydrates | | | |
(Lactose, | | | |
Maltose, etc.)|52.00[18]|36.00[18]|69.77[19]| 66.56
Starch | None | None | None | None
Ash (Mineral | | | |
Content) | 2.00 | 5.00 | 3.46 | 3.42
———————————————+—————————+—————————+—————————+—————————
———————————————+—————————+———————————+—————————+—————————
|Borden’s | Nestle’s |Mellin’s | Eskay’s
|Condensed| Food | Food | Food
COMPONENTS | Milk | (Milk | (Milk | (Milk
| (Eagle |Substitute)|Modifier)|Modifier)
| Brand) | | |
———————————————+—————————+———————————+—————————+—————————
Protein | 10.10 | 12.40 | 12.10 | 6.82
Fat | 12.10 | 4.15 | 0.25 | 3.58
Cane-Sugar | 59.1 | 22.10 | None | None
Other Soluble | | | |
Carbohydrates | | | |
(Lactose, | | | |
Maltose, etc.)| 16.0[18]| 35.00[19]|84.00[19]| 56.78[20]
Starch | None | 25.70 | None | 30.42
Ash (Mineral | | | |
Content) | 2.4 | 1.62 | 3.78 | 1.00
———————————————+—————————+———————————+—————————+—————————
The following table from Holt shows at a glance the comparative average
composition of human and cow’s milk:
—————————+————————————+———————————
| Human Milk | Cow’s Milk
—————————+————————————+———————————
Fat | 4% | 4%
Sugar | 7% | 4.5%
Proteins | 1.5% | 3.5%
Salts | 0.2% | 0.75%
Water | 87.30% | 87.25%
—————————+————————————+———————————
Total | 100.00% | 100.00%
—————————+————————————+———————————
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Gruels]
Barley, rice, oatmeal, corn meal and soy-bean flour are generally used.
If the grains of the cereals are used, they must be cooked from three
to four hours.
As a rule, cereal gruels are made by cooking the flour and water for
from fifteen to twenty minutes. Two ounces to the quart is about as
strong as plain gruels can be made.
As the soy bean contains no starch, it does not thicken when cooking.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Vomiting]
Occasional vomiting is sometimes due to too rich food and too frequent
feeding. Lengthening the feeding hours and decreasing the amount of fat
in the mixture will usually eliminate the trouble.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Colic]
* * * * *
* * * * *
The nature of the food, of course, influences the character of the
stools. The examination of the stools is of the greatest aid in
determining whether or not any given food element is properly digested
and assimilated, and, in many diseased conditions, in telling what
element is at fault. This, however, can only be determined by analysis,
but a little information on this subject will be of value to the mother
or nurse.
During the first few weeks or months of life, the breast-fed infant
has three or four stools daily. These are of about the consistency
of thick pea soup and are golden yellow. The number of stools
gradually diminishes to two or three in the twenty-four hours, and the
consistency becomes more salve-like.
It is best not to pay too much attention to the stools if the baby is
gaining in weight and appears well. It is not unusual to find many soft
fine curds and sometimes mucus in the stools of healthy breast-fed
babies.
Infants that are thriving on cow’s milk have, as a general rule, fewer
movements in the twenty-four hours than do breast-fed babies and these
movements are firmer in consistency.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Constipation]
If, however, this does not relieve the trouble, the best plan is to
substitute one of the dextrin-maltose mixtures for milk-sugar or
cane-sugar. The malt itself is not especially laxative but it prevents
the excessive fermentation which usually occurs when the bowels are
very costive.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Diarrhea]
Two, three, or more green and loose evacuations, even though they
may contain whitish particles of undigested fat, are of no great
significance in the breast-fed infant, but should be regarded as danger
signals in bottle-fed babies.
It is best to omit all food for at least twenty-four hours. Plain water
should be given very freely and occasionally barley water, if the baby
is hungry. After that it is best to start with a mixture low in fat.
Skimmed milk or boiled milk free from all fat, diluted with cereal
water, may be given at regular intervals.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Anemia]
The amount of iron in both human milk and cow’s milk is small and is
insufficient for the needs of the growing infant. However, Nature has
deposited enough iron in the liver of the new-born infant to last until
it can digest foods which contain iron in sufficient amounts. The iron
in human milk is apparently more easily retained than that in the milk
of animals.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Rickets]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Scurvy]
Pains and tenderness about the joints, particularly of the legs, are
the usual symptoms, causing the baby to cry when it is lifted or moved
about. The gums sometimes become swollen and bleed. In almost every
case it is found that infants suffering from scurvy have been on a
continuous diet of prepared foods like malted milk, condensed milk, or
boiled milk which Dr. Hall terms “dead food,” presumably on account of
a lack of the life-giving proteins and butter-fat.
When boiled milk has been used, the change should be made to
pasteurized milk or raw milk if it can be secured clean and fresh. If
prepared foods have been given, the amount should be greatly decreased
and replaced by a cow’s-milk preparation in which a small percentage of
the prepared food may be included, or, better still, omitted entirely,
if a cow’s-milk preparation including a good substantial gruel will
agree.
* * * * *
After the baby has reached the age of one year, we often feel that it
is not necessary to be so careful of its diet. However, the number of
deaths due to digestive disturbances caused by improper feeding during
the second year is significant.
After the child is a year old it should be given solid food _very
gradually_ to develop its digestive functions as well as its teeth. A
soft-boiled egg or a little beef juice may be added to the diet. Until
the appearance of the anterior molar teeth, however, the child’s diet
should be confined largely to milk. A thin slice of buttered bread or
a little plain rice or rice pudding, a soda cracker or bread crumbs in
milk may be given. The year-old child may also begin to drink cow’s
milk. One or two glasses a day may be given, until the child is at
least 13 or 14 years old.
Four meals a day, at regular intervals, and nothing but water between
these intervals, is considered the best plan.
Dry toast, zwieback, and crackers may be gradually added to the diet,
also well-cooked cereals, like cream of wheat, rice, and oatmeal. The
oatmeal should be strained the first few months it is given. Very
little sugar should be added to the cereals, as children very quickly
cultivate a desire for sweets, rejecting other more nourishing foods,
and too much sugar is apt to disturb the digestion. It is best during
the first few months that no sugar be added to cereals.
Beef juice (from one to two ounces), mutton broth, chicken broth, and
cereal broths may be given after the age of one year; not more than two
ounces at first, gradually increasing in a few months’ time to four
ounces. This is best given at the beginning of the noon feeding. These
broths have little nutritive value, but usually stimulate the appetite
for other foods.
The child must build muscle, bone, and sinew, and more protein is
required as soon as he begins to walk. Milk, eggs, and cereals will
furnish this. The heavier protein diet is best given at eighteen months
to two years, in eggs, cooked soft. An egg may be given every other
day, soft boiled for about two minutes, or coddled for four minutes. At
the age of two years an egg may be given every day. These soft-cooked
eggs are best when mixed with broken dry toast or broken whole wheat or
Graham crackers, because if dry food is served with them they will be
better masticated, hence more saliva be mixed with them.
Oatmeal, thoroughly cooked, and shredded wheat, with cream and sugar,
ripe fruit, bread and butter, milk, soft-cooked eggs (poached or
boiled), constitute a rational diet at this age.
Bread is better broken in milk because the chewing movements mix the
saliva with the milk and smaller curds are formed as the milk enters
the stomach.
Custard may after two years be added to the diet, also baked or mashed
potato, plain boiled macaroni, also a little butter on the potato,
toast, or bread.
Also after the age of eighteen months, a small quantity of very lean
meat, like scraped or chopped beef or lamb, or finely minced chicken,
may be given once a day.
Also well-cooked and mashed vegetables like peas, spinach, carrots, and
asparagus tips. For the first few months these should be strained.
Some fruit should also be given each day, orange juice, apple sauce, or
the pulp of stewed prunes; the latter especially is valuable when the
bowels are inclined to be constipated.
Tea, coffee, and cocoa are absolutely objectionable, and before the age
of two years no kind of candy should be given.
One of the most important things to teach the child, when it is taking
foods other than milk, is thorough mastication, not only to assist the
proper growth of the teeth, but to prevent the digestive disturbances
that invariably occur from the bolting of food, and children are
especially liable to do this.
Dry toast and zwieback compel mastication and strengthen the gums.
These should be given in the hand, a piece at mealtime and occasionally
between meals, if the child seems hungry. The child will then gradually
get into the habit of chewing other solid foods when they are given.
The growing child craves sweets, but a child should not be given
candy whenever it wants it during the day. Candy or sugar is quickly
converted into heat and is best eaten immediately following a meal.
Sugar may be spread on bread for the four o’clock lunch or a little
candy may be eaten at this time. Two or three pieces of candy an inch
square are sufficient.
FOOTNOTES:
APPENDIX
All dry ingredients, such as flour, meal, powdered sugar, etc., should
be sifted before measuring.
The standard measuring cup contains one-half pint and is divided into
fourths and thirds.
To measure butter, lard, and other solid foods, pack solidly in spoon
or cup and level with a knife.
APOTHECARIES’ WEIGHTS[22]
20 grains = 1 scruple, ℈
3 scruples = 1 drachm, ʒ
8 drachms (or 480 grains) = 1 ounce, ℥
12 ounces = 1 pound, lb.
APOTHECARIES’ MEASURES[22]
APPROXIMATE MEASURES[23]
FOOTNOTES:
INDEX
Achlorhydria, 258
Acne, 295
Age, 165
Diet in, 230
Affecting digestion, 165
Albumin, 10
Alcohol, 184
Alkalies, 45
Almond oil, 25
Apricots, 47
Arrowroot, 20
Asparagus, 43, 44
Asthma, 282
Barley, 74
Beef, 53, 54
Beets, 39, 41
Beverages, 103-109
Bile, 144
Biliousness, 267
Biscuits, 68
Blackberries, 48
Bouillons, 57
Bread, 66
Bread and crackers, 61, 62
Graham bread
Rye bread
Wheat bread
Graham crackers
Oatmeal ”
Oyster ”
Soda ”
Breathing, 3
Brussels sprouts, 43
Butter, 89
Cabbage, 44
Caffein, 106
Calories, 127-129
Candy, 15-16
Carbohydrates, 13
Carbon, 4, 122
Carbon dioxid, 20
Carrots, 39, 41
Casein, 90
Cassava, 20
Celery, 43, 44
Cells, formation of, 1, 2
Cellulose, 45
Cereals, 61-80
Cherries, 47
Chicken, 57
Chlorin, 4
Chocolate, 108
Chorea, 291
Citrates, 45
Citric acid, 45
Clams, 55
Cocoa, 108
Cod-liver oil, 24
Coffee, 106-107
Condiments, 109-111
Capers
Catsup
Cinnamon
Ginger
Horseradish
Mustard
Pepper
Salt
Spices
Tabasco sauce
Worcestershire sauce
Cooking, 185-199
Corn, 71
Cornstarch, 10
Cotton-seed oil, 24
Crabs, 55
Cranberries, 48
Cream, 89
Cucumbers, 43
Currants, 48, 52
Dates, 48
Diabetes, 279
Diets, 216-231
Digestion, 133-150
Intestinal, 143
Salivary, 135
Stomach, 140
Dysentery, 265
Dyspepsia, 250
Eggs, 58
Elimination, 2, 130-133
Enteritis, 264
Epithelium, 136
Exercise, 2
Fatigue, 174
Figs, 48
Food elements, 3, 8, 9
Foodstuffs, 8-10
Fruits, 45-53
Bland, 47
Dates
Figs
Prunes
Raisins
Sweet, 47
Apples
Bananas
Blackberries
Blueberries
Grapes
Peaches
Pears
Plums
Raspberries
Gallstones, 269
Gastritis, 253
Gelatinoids, 12, 56
Gluten, 5, 10
Glycerin, 22
Gooseberries, 47
Gout, 277
Grapefruit, 46
Grapes, 48, 50
Greens, 43
Gum-chewing, 139
Ham, 54
Hives, 293
Honey, 10, 15
Hydrochloric acid, 34, 35, 46, 140
Hydrogen, 4
Hyperchlorhydria, 257
Hypochlorhydria, 257
Ice-cream, 115
Indigestion, 250
Mental effect on, 135
Nervous, 252
Iron, 4, 37, 59
Itching, 295
Kumyss, 98
Lactose, 15
Leanness, 298
Lemons, 46, 48
Lentils, 82
Lettuce, 43
Levulose, 15
Lime, 7
Lime water, 96
Limes, 46
Lobster, 55, 58
Malates, 45
Malic acid, 45
Maple sugar, 15
Metabolism, 1, 130-133
Milk, 308
Albuminized, 309
And milk products, 89-102
Malted, 92-93
Mollusks, 55
Mould, 68
Mouth, 138
Mulberries, 48
Mussels, 58
Mustard, 110
Mutton, 54
Nephritis, 272
Neuralgia, 289
Neurasthenia, 287
Nitrogen, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11
Nut oil, 24
Nuts, 87-88
Oats, 61
Obesity, 299
Onions, 39, 40
Oxygen, 4
Oysters, 55, 58
Pastry, 194
Peaches, 47
Peanuts, 83
Pears, 48
Pectin, 45
Pepsin, 140
Peristalsis, 142
Phosphates, 11
Phosphorus, 4, 36, 59
Pineapples, 48, 52
Plums, 47
Potatoes, 39-40
Poultry, 54
Predigested foods, 78
Prunes, 48
Pruritus, 295
Ptyalin, 136
Pylorus, 142
Pyorrhea, 138
Quinces, 52
Raisins, 48
Raspberries, 48
Rheumatism, 297
Rhubarb, 43, 44
Rice, 61, 69
Rye, 61
Saccharin, 15
Sago, 10, 20
Soup, 311
Saliva, 20
Affecting digestion, 158
Salts, 6, 34-37
Calcium (lime), 34, 36
Iron, 34
Magnesium, 34
Potassium, 36
Sodium, 34, 35, 36
Sausage, 54
Shrimps, 55
Sleep, 177
Soap, 22
Souffles, 318
Soups, 313
Spaghetti, 69
Spinach, 43
Steapsin, 144
Stomach, 158
Strawberries, 48
Sucrose, 14, 15
Sulphates, 11
Syrups, 10
Sweat-baths, 2
Sweetbreads, 54
Tapioca, 10, 20
Tartaric acid, 45
Tartrates, 45
Tea, 104
Terrapin, 55
Theobromin, 108
Toasts, 318
Tobacco, 184
Tomatoes, 43, 44
Trypsin, 141
Tuberculosis, 283
Turnips, 39, 41
Uremia, 275
Uric acid, 46
Excess of, 276
Urticaria, 293
Veal, 54
Vegetable marrow, 43
Ventilation, 174
Villi, 146
Vitamins, 70
Water, 25-34
Watercress, 43
Watermelons, 48
Wheat, 61, 63
Whey, 101
Wheys, 307
Whortleberries, 48
Yeast, 67
Transcriber’s Notes
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