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Title: The Food Question - Health and Economy
Author: Various
Language: English
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THE FOOD QUESTION
[Illustration: _Letter from Dr. Ray Lyman Wilbur, president of
Stanford University, and first assistant to Herbert Hoover, in Food
Administration, to the chairman of the Pacific Press Publishing
Committee, after reading the proofs of this book._]
_The_
FOOD QUESTION
Health and Economy
BY EIGHT SPECIALISTS
[Illustration]
"Eat ye that which is good."
"That thou mayest prosper and be in health."
"Eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness."
"Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost."
Copyright 1917 by
Pacific Press Publishing Association
Mountain View, California
Kansas City, Missouri Portland, Oregon Brookfield, Illinois
Calgary, Alberta, Canada Cristobal, Canal Zone
CONTENTS
FRONTISPIECE 2
_Letter from Dr. Ray Lyman Wilbur_
PUBLISHERS' FOREWORD 5
HOOVER AND WHAT HE AND WILSON SAY 6
FOOD ECONOMY 7-15
_By E. A. Sutherland, M. D._
LOAF OF WAR BREAD ON FIELD OF GETTYSBURG 16
FOOD ELEMENTS AND SIMPLICITY OF DIET 17-34
_By E. H. Risley, M. D._
FOOD TABLES--Cereals, Legumes, Fruits, Nuts,
Vegetables, Miscellaneous 23-27
NECESSARY KNOWLEDGE TO CAREFUL PLANNING 34
_Ladies' Home Journal_
VITAMINES AND CALORIES 35-46
_By D. D. Comstock, M. D._
A WORD OF ADVICE TO WOMEN 46
_By Lord Northcliffe_
FRUITS AND THEIR DIETETIC VALUE 47-52
_By George A. Thomason, M. D.,
L. R. C. S., L. R. C. P._
TEN REASONS FOR A FLESHLESS DIET 53-66
_By A. W. Truman, M. D._
PHYSICAL BENEFITS OF JOY 66
_By George A. Thomason, M. D._
STIMULANTS AND CONDIMENTS 67-72
_By Arthur N. Donaldson, M. D._
SIMPLE MENUS AND RECIPES 73-92
_By H. S. Anderson, Food Expert_
THE USE OF LEFT-OVERS 93-96
_By Lavina Baxter-Herzer, M. D._
THE CALL TO YOU 96
_By Dr. Anna Howard Shaw_
Publishers' Foreword
This book was planned before Food Conservation was by the mass
considered seriously. The writers of the various articles are
thoroughly qualified to speak where they have spoken. They are
practical, conscientious, Christian, and have at heart the best in
the needs of humanity. Every one strikes a major chord in the song
of healthful, economical living. The recipes are from the author
of "Food and Cookery," who has had a score of years' experience in
every station and phase of the preparation of food, under French,
English, German, and Spanish chefs. He has been second cook in the
Calumet Club of Chicago, the California Club, Los Angeles, and in many
leading hotels in various cities. For ten years, he has given his best
thought and study to the preparation of the best in food, scientific,
palatable, wholesome, and economic, most of this time in the Sanitarium
and College of Medical Missionaries, Loma Linda, California. Special
attention is called to the valuable tables of Food Elements, and to the
newly demonstrated values of vitamines and the substances which destroy
them.
We are grateful for the kind word spoken by Dr. Ray Lyman Wilbur,
president of Stanford University, and first assistant to Mr. Hoover
in the Federal Food Administration Department; also for the help and
suggestions of Dr. Newton Evans, president of the College of Medical
Evangelists, of Loma Linda, California.
The little book will, we believe, not only meet present needs, but be a
safe counselor in the years to come.
_Hoover says_--
"Let the American woman stop, before anything is thrown away;
and let her ask herself, 'Can it be used in my home, in some other
home, or in the production of further food supply by feeding it to
animals used also for food?'
"Let her order her meals so that there will be plenty--for there
is plenty--but not too much.
[Illustration:
© _International Film_]
"The intelligent woman of America must make a proper study of food
ratios, so that the most nutritious foods will appear in their proper
proportions on the home table.
"The man who complains at the result of his wife's efforts to conserve
food is doing her an inexcusable injury. He should never hesitate to
coöperate in her wise conservation plans."
_Wilson says_--
"In no direction can they [the women of America] so greatly assist as
by enlisting in the service of the food administration and cheerfully
accepting its direction and advice. By so doing, they will increase
the surplus of food available for our own army and for exports to
the allies. To provide adequate supplies for the coming year is of
absolutely vital importance to the conduct of the war; and without a
very conscientious elimination of waste and very strict economy in our
food consumption, we cannot hope to fulfill this primary duty."
[Illustration]
FOOD ECONOMY
_by E. A. SUTHERLAND, A. B., M. D._
of the State Bureau of Food Conservation of Tennessee
From the days of ancient Egypt, when Joseph, who stood at the head of
the great food conservation movement of the time, called the attention
of the world to the need of food economy, down through history to the
present time, the human race has passed through numerous crises when
the questions of food production and food economy have been vital. That
Hebrew, promoted to the first place in the Egyptian empire because
of his wonderful grasp of a world problem and his executive ability,
enabled that kingdom to feed the world. America to-day, as Egypt of
old, is an international granary, and is asked to feed the nations;
and her population--every man, woman, and child--must coöperate with
America's Joseph to-day in meeting the situation by proper production,
proper conservation, and strict economy. "This war is a food war even
more than it is a gun war." Let us fight to save lives. That is the
battle to be won through food economy.
It was when the Roman world was running riot that, on the shores of
the Sea of Galilee, Christ gave His wonderful lesson on the subject
of food conservation. We call it a miracle when with five thousand
men, besides the women and the children, seated about Him, He fed the
multitudes. That same power is to-day, and always has been, feeding
the men of earth. From a basket of seed, each recurring harvest puts
thousands of loaves of bread into the hands of the world's hungry; the
two small fishes continue to multiply; rich and poor alike are fed by
the great Provider. And now as then, after human wants are met, the
mandate goes forth, "Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing
be lost." Economy is again being preached as it was once taught on the
shores of Galilee. There has been started a great educational movement
for increased food production. But that is only a part of the message.
"Gather up the fragments," prevent waste, utilize the scraps, the
gospel of a clean plate,--these are all familiar phrases in the great
conservation movement of to-day. By many, food conservation and food
economy are deemed not only national problems, but a part of the divine
message taught by Christ and His disciples.
The great world war which began in 1914 has compelled every nation to
halt and consider its national habits.
Undoubtedly the United States is the most prodigal of nations.
Approximately sixty per cent of its population is now urban. Simple
rural life is practically gone; and those artificial and extravagant
standards of the city which destroy body, mind, and soul have taken
its place. "Fullness of bread and abundance of idleness," two of the
reasons assigned by the Scriptures for the downfall of Sodom, are
conditions which to-day are ruining American civilization. No other
nation has ever indulged such extravagance and prodigality as has the
United States. We search the world over for table delicacies. American
inventive genius has made it possible to have foods from all parts of
the world, both in season and out of season. The arts of canning and
preserving and the making of factory foods have loaded our cupboard
shelves with eatables of which our fathers never dreamed.
While this interchange has its advantages, and we should appreciate
the privilege of eating the wholesome products of other countries,
yet when easy methods of transportation lead people to limit their
productions to money crops, forsaking the raising of their own food,
a wrong principle has been introduced. The benefit to be derived from
this variety of imported food is neutralized by the extravagant habits
and tastes thus cultivated.
_Economy of Food Elements_
Man is made from the dust of the earth; and by divine law, his body
continues to build and rebuild from chemically organized soil. To be
intelligent, food economists require a knowledge of the four food
elements,--proteins, carbohydrates, fats, and minerals,--and the
relation each sustains to the human body. Later chapters contain
valuable instruction in these respects.
It is poor economy to allow valuable mineral salts to be removed from
flour by milling, from rice by polishing, and from vegetables by wrong
methods of cooking. These minerals are necessary for the development of
the child, for the preservation of teeth and bones, for high efficiency
in the nervous system, and for a proper functioning of the various
organs in the body. There is no economy in buying denatured grain, even
though it is put up in cartons, at ten times the price of the natural
grain.
"Put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite." Stop
the immense waste of strength, energy, money, and time due to mere
gratification of appetite. Stop preparing food that is intended simply
to coax the appetite to the point where eating becomes gluttony. In the
words of an eminent authority, "Most men would attain better health and
greater efficiency if they would reduce their rations by twenty-five
per cent or more." The celebrated Dr. Osler tells us that "we eat
too much after forty years of age," and he advises every wise man to
restrict his eating as he grows older, "and at last descend out of life
as he ascended into it, even into a child's diet."
_Overeating_
Food economy is not a call to a starvation diet, but to a balanced
ration of wholesome, well prepared food. Overeating of even the best
food produces poisons that injure the tissues, overwork the organs
of digestion, and in time may bring the body to actual starvation
conditions.
A man's appetite is not always a safe guide. Artificial surroundings
in childhood make the normal appetite the exception rather than the
rule. Few children are taught, by parents, teachers, or preachers,
the importance of restricting the appetite. The seeds of intemperance
sown by those who prepare food for the family table bring a larger
harvest than does the work of all the devil's agencies in saloons and
tobacco shops combined. Millions of dollars are worse than wasted
by the conversion of food materials into strong drinks to satisfy
appetites perverted by wrong habits of eating. Why are our schools and
churches more interested in the maintenance of a worn-out, traditional
educational system, and an abstract, impractical religion, than in some
of these vital teachings? We look to legislation to cure degenerate
appetites for which we are largely responsible through false education
in home and school and church. Starving ones of earth are deprived
of food when we convert it into strong drink; the process requires
the time and strength of a great army of workers; and transportation
facilities now used for carrying whisky, tobacco, and other body- and
mind-destroying substances, might be used in transporting the foods we
waste. It is estimated that we waste enough in our kitchens to feed ten
million people. "Blessed art thou, O land, when ... thy princes eat in
due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness!"
_Some Economies_
Dr. Osler has said that "pie north of the Mason and Dixon line, and hot
bread south of it, have done more harm than alcohol." The best breads
contain the whole grain; they are well baked, require considerable
chewing, resist the pressure of the teeth, and save dental bills.
Thorough mastication neutralizes an abnormal appetite.
Rich pastries, harmful condiments, tea and coffee,--narcotics
recognized as extravagant, harmful, and useless beverages,--are being
discarded for the sake of both health and economy. Remove the cream and
the sugar from tea and coffee, and they have no food value.
Use the coffee mill to grind wheat, rye, and corn, that you may enjoy
the vitamines, the mineral salts, and other elements often removed by
the manufacturer.
Many people prominent in social circles are eliminating all lunches
served between regular meals and eaten for merely social purposes.
Such lunches impose a burden on the body and the purse. Wealthy and
influential women are setting a good example by going to market in
person, in order to make intelligent and economical purchases for their
tables, and by carrying their supplies home, in order to save the added
cost of the delivery system. People are beginning to realize that by
such economical methods, they can serve their country, the world, and
themselves.
Some have thought it necessary to eat from three to five meals a day.
The war is helping them to appreciate a physiological truth taught for
years by a few reformers,--that two meals a day are better even than
three.
Many countries, for economy's sake, now prohibit the use, for food,
of young and undeveloped animals. They discourage the extensive use
of immature plant foods. The world war is terrible, yet there is some
compensation in the fact that present conditions are making minds more
susceptible to the principles of right living. For years, some earnest
men and women have been teaching that God intended that man should
live on a meatless diet. To-day, not only are nations asking that men
eat less meat, but they are having their meatless days. Because of
the impossibility of securing flesh foods in some countries, millions
of earth's inhabitants have learned that the body can be kept in
splendid condition without the use of animal proteins and fats. No
strong arguments are necessary to convince people that flesh foods are
expensive when it is known that ten pounds of grain suitable for human
food are required to produce in the animal one pound of flesh food.
_Meat Substitutes_
The high cost of flesh foods is turning attention to meat substitutes.
Proteins and fats of the vegetable world are not only cheaper, but they
are more wholesome than flesh. For example: The soy bean, recently
introduced to the American table, contains, pound for pound, and at
one fifth the cost, almost twice as much available protein and fat as
the best beefsteak. Besides that, it offers the eater a good supply of
starch.
"We have got to learn to buy wisely, cook wisely, eat wisely, and waste
nothing." The great countries of Europe are utilizing the best talent
of their statesmen and scientists in teaching the people these ideas.
This should be a most impressive lesson to home, to church, and to
school, since these agencies have so far forgotten their mission that
it is necessary for this great war to arouse us.
Let religious and educational leaders redeem the time. Let them
coöperate with national economists who now are urging the people--
To use more home-ground flour and meal.
To use the natural rice with its vitamines instead of the polished
product.
To substitute vegetable oils for dairy butter in cooking.
To have a simpler variety of food at each meal.
To serve a dessert, when one is deemed necessary, for its food value
and as a part of a balanced ration.
To bake or boil potatoes in the skins, in order to preserve the mineral
salts.
To utilize for soups and gravies the water in which vegetables,
macaroni, and rice are boiled.
To serve only one food of high protein value at a meal.
To feed to animals nothing that can be utilized by the human body.
To allow vegetables, grains, and legumes to ripen, that their full food
value may be obtained, and that the expense of canning may be avoided.
To can or dry all fruits and vegetables that cannot be preserved in any
other way.
To substitute other cereals for wheat, which can be shipped abroad.
A wheatless meal every day will drive many to appreciate the value
of other grains, whose use heretofore has been largely perverted.
Corn, rye, barley, and oats are not appreciated as they should be.
They have been used largely in the manufacture of intoxicating drinks
and for feeding animals to procure meat. It has been said that the
Revolutionary War was won by men fed on hasty pudding--in other words,
corn meal mush. Learn to eat bread made from corn, rye, or oats, or a
mixture of these grains. Form the habit of eating these more economical
breads; then continue the practice. Such breads are far superior to the
ordinary denatured white bread. If a dog is fed only white bread, death
will result sooner than if it is fed nothing.
_The Call of the Country_
Land in Europe that for centuries was used to gratify the abnormal
tastes of plutocrats and the aristocracy, is now being made to produce
wholesome food to meet the world's needs. In America, people are still
deprived of their divine right to a simple home, because millions of
acres of land are held in a similar manner.
Schools and churches should encourage the cultivation of vacant city
lots. City people may thus learn the secret of intensive farming. It
may give some courage to make a home on a few acres of land and to
raise the food for their own tables. Every turn in a congested center
calls for an outlay of means. Modern methods of living are unnatural
and extravagant. In the city, every article of food costs in proportion
to its distance from the base of supplies. Transportation must be added
to the original cost of production; the jobber, the wholesaler, the
commission merchant, the retailer, the delivery man, and the baker must
all have their profits.
Get out of the cities; get onto the land! Why not preach this part of
the gospel? Help people to understand that the unnatural appetites and
the desires for artificial food are penalties paid very largely by
those who seek to maintain themselves by their wits. One mighty step
has been taken toward the prevention of waste and in economy's favor
when men learn to earn their bread in the sweat of their face while
tilling the soil.
Late hours, business worry, nerve-wrecking noises, the hurry, the wear
and tear of living in a crowd, the dust and filth of the city air,
the struggle of competition,--these would be replaced by purer, saner
surroundings if parents settled in some country place where children
are born with a heritage of fresh air, grassy playgrounds, wholesome
daily tasks in the house and out of doors, and are fed in a simple
manner befitting their surroundings. But do not transfer the evils of
the city to some country site. Not much need to urge "the gospel of the
clean plate" to the healthy country child! A good appetite is the best
seasoning for plain food.
_Permanent Reforms_
The world has been roughly awakened, and forcibly compelled to study
food economy. This upheaval should result in permanent good to every
individual. We have not fully appreciated the fact that our sinful
indulgence and our careless waste of time, money, and food is a
violation of the great commandment, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as
thyself." By our extravagant ways, multitudes have been robbed of
the necessities of life. But our horizon is broadening. We begin to
understand why we should eat and drink to the glory of God. Provision
is now being made for the bread we save to reach the hungry in distant
parts of the earth. We can now prove that he who gives even a cup of
cold water shall in no wise lose his reward. To-day, as truly as on the
shores of Galilee, the great Master is saying, "Gather up the fragments
that remain, that nothing be lost." And if we enter whole-heartedly
into this food conservation movement, we may expect the blessing of the
Lord to rest so greatly upon the fragments saved that the wide world
will be fed.
[Illustration:
© _Underwood, N. Y._
_A ten-pound loaf of war bread baked on the old Gettysburg battle
field. This bread keeps in good condition three weeks._]
[Illustration]
FOOD ELEMENTS _and_ SIMPLICITY of DIET
_by E. H. RISLEY, M.D._
Chair of Chemistry, College of Medical Evangelists, Loma Linda,
California
"Food is any substance that, being taken into the body of animal or
plant, serves, through organic action, to build up normal structure or
supply waste of tissue."
Food principles or elements are commonly grouped into the following
classes:
1. Proteins
2. Fats
3. Carbohydrates
4. Inorganic salts
5. Vitamines
6. Water
A brief discussion of these food elements will help our readers to
select their food supply more intelligently.
_Proteins_
The first class of food substances mentioned above are of very great
importance to the body. The term "protein" really means, "of first
importance." These compounds are represented by such foods as
the white of egg, lean meat, gluten of wheat, and casein of milk.
Chemically, proteins are very complex, more so than any other class
of food materials. They have in their structure the chemical elements
carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, often sulphur and phosphorus,
and, less commonly, iron. The nitrogenous element seems to be the
most important, since the others mentioned can be obtained from other
classes of food; but as these classes of food cannot take the place of
protein, it seems clear that the nitrogen is the important constituent.
Most proteins coagulate on heating. An illustration of this property
is the coagulation of the white of an egg when the egg is cooked. The
proteins all undergo decomposition quite easily. This is evidenced by
the ease with which eggs and meat spoil.
Protein molecules are made up of smaller molecules called amino acids.
These are the "building stones" from which the working tissues of the
body are formed. There are on the average about fifteen different kinds
of these amino acids in the proteins, which are especially valuable in
supplying building material for the tissues of the human body. These
amino acids are united in long chains to form the protein molecule,
and in this respect can be compared to cars in a train. By the work of
digestion, the proteins are broken down into these comparatively simple
building stones, which, when absorbed into the circulation, are used by
the body in building working tissues as they are needed.
There are a number of classes of proteins; but since the classification
is rather complicated, it will not be given here. To group the various
foods as to their relative amounts of protein is often of interest. For
example, foods very rich in protein, such as the gluten preparations,
lean beef, and white of egg, may be regarded as the first class; a
second class might be formed of those which are moderately high in
protein, such as peas, beans, lentils, and walnuts; a third class
having a moderate amount of protein, represented by the cereals
and breads; and still a fourth class very low in protein, such as
vegetables and fruits.
Protein is the tissue builder of the body; but the actual amount of
tissue built new each day is very small, therefore the need for a
large supply of protein for this purpose is not apparent. Protein not
only supplies tissue-building material, but it can also supply heat
and energy in a manner similar to the other classes of food elements,
carbohydrate and fat, one ounce of the protein yielding one hundred
sixteen calories of energy. The excess taken in may be used in this
way, as there is no storage of this material in the body. However, to
use this kind of fuel takes more work on the part of the body as a
whole, as the nitrogenous wastes must be eliminated by the kidneys.
One can see, then, that a certain amount of protein is needed to keep
the tissues in good repair, but that it is better to get most of the
heat and energy from the food elements specially designed for that
purpose; that is, carbohydrate and fat.
The Chittenden standard of diet gives ten per cent of the total fuel
value in the form of protein. On the basis of two thousand five hundred
total calories a day, two hundred fifty calories of protein would
be required. This is equal to two and one seventh ounces actual dry
protein. This amount is thought by some to be low, but experimental
evidence seems clearly to prove its adequacy in keeping up nutrition.
_Fats_
The second group of food elements in our classification are substances
having a greasy feeling and taste. They are lighter than water, leave
a grease spot upon paper, are insoluble in water, and soluble in such
chemicals as gasoline and ether.
Fats have in their molecules the chemical elements carbon, hydrogen,
and oxygen. These elements are put together into two groups,
or compounds, glycerin and fatty acids, which, when chemically
united, form a fat. When fats are exposed to the open air, and thus
contaminated with bacteria, they are likely to become rancid; that is,
some of the glycerin and fatty acids are set free from each other.
If butter is the fat so decomposed, it becomes very disagreeable, on
account of the volatile butyric acid that is set free.
Fatty bodies are usually grouped under a general heading called lipins,
but the consideration of the other classes is not essential in this
study.
The vegetable kingdom offers a large list of products containing fats,
many of which are suitable for food. Following are a few examples, with
the percentage of fat in each case: coconuts, sixty-eight per cent;
olives, fifty-six per cent; peanuts, forty-one per cent; cotton seed,
twenty per cent; oatmeal, six per cent; corn, four per cent.
The animal kingdom is also rich in fat products, illustrated by the
following substances used as foods: butter, eighty-five per cent;
bacon, sixty-five per cent; cheese, thirty per cent; eggs, eleven per
cent; cow's milk, four per cent.
The function of fat in the body is to yield heat and energy primarily.
Each ounce of fat yields two hundred sixty-four calories of heat,
making the group two and one fourth times as active as either protein
or carbohydrate in this respect.
Fats ordinarily supply from twenty-five to thirty per cent of the total
calories of a well balanced dietary. On the basis of two thousand five
hundred total calories a day, about seven hundred fifty should be fat.
At two hundred sixty-four calories to an ounce, we have about three
ounces as our daily need of this food element.
Fats are also stored in the body as a reserve of energy. Every one has
more or less of this sort of reserve, unless he has been starving for
some time, or is suffering from a wasting disease. This reserve of fat
also acts as a protection, and gives shape and symmetry to the body.
Recently methods have been devised for changing the unstable vegetable
oils into stable, lardlike, solid fats. This process is called
hydrogenation, so named because the process is really one of adding
hydrogen until the fat becomes saturated and less likely to undergo
decomposition into fatty acid and glycerin. The fats thus formed seem
to be equal to the animal fats so far as digestion and utilization are
concerned, and hence are of considerable economic value at the present
time.
Certain fats, including those of butter and milk, are rich in the
so-called vitamines, and have been shown, by recent experiments upon
animals, to be efficient growth stimulants.
_Carbohydrates_
The carbohydrates are made up of the chemical elements carbon,
hydrogen, and oxygen. By noticing the name, one readily sees that the
first part stands for the carbon. The latter half, "hydrate," indicates
that water might be present; and in fact, nearly all of these bodies
have hydrogen and oxygen present in the proportion to form water, that
is, two parts hydrogen to one of oxygen. Carbohydrates ordinarily make
up about sixty to sixty-five per cent of the total number of calories
of our diet. Most carbohydrates, when pure, are either white powders
or white crystalline solids. Many of them are sweet to the taste. The
starches and the celluloses are not soluble in cold water, but the
sugars are readily soluble.
The classification of the carbohydrates is comparatively simple; and
part of it is given here, as it will help in our discussion of the
properties of the group:
/ 1. Cellulose
/ 1. Starch Group | 2. Starch
| \ 3. Dextrin
| / 1. Cane Sugar
Carbohydrates | 2. Cane Sugar Group | 2. Malt Sugar
| \ 3. Milk Sugar
| / 1. Glucose
\ 3. Glucose Group | 2. Levulose
\ 3. Invert Sugar
_Cellulose_ is the coarse woody fiber found in the stems of all plants
and in the outer coating of the various grains. Unless cellulose is
very young and tender, it is not digested by the human digestive
system. However, some forms of it are of value, as they give bulk
to the food residue in the digestive tract, and thus stimulate the
activity of the intestinal muscle. In this way, cellulose acts as a
natural laxative, and in some cases is a very desirable substance to
have in the food eaten. The bran of wheat and other cereals is an
especially valuable form to use.
_Starch_ is found in all cereals, in many vegetables, in some fruits,
and in nuts. It occurs in these different foods in the form of a white,
granular substance. The granules have characteristic forms for the
different grains, fruits, etc., which can be recognized by the aid of
the microscope. Raw starch is insoluble in cold water; hence to be most
readily digested, it should be cooked. The cooking process ruptures the
granules, and makes the starch itself partially soluble; and in this
form, it is more easily attacked by the digestive juices.
_Dextrin_ is formed by heating starch to about 350° F., as in an oven.
This degree of heat changes the starch chemically to dextrin. In this
dextrin form, it is soluble, and is in reality one step along in the
process of digestion.
TABLE A--CEREALS AND LEGUMES
A. Per cent Water
B. Per cent Protein
C. Per cent Fat
D. Per cent Carbohydrate
E. Per cent Ash
F. Calories per oz. Protein
G. Calories per oz. Fat
H. Calories per oz. Carbohydrate
I. Calories per oz. Total
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOD A B C D E F G H I
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Beans, baked 68.9 6.9 2.5 19.6 2.1 8.0 6.6 22.7 37.3
Bread, white 35.3 9.2 1.3 53.1 1.1 10.7 3.4 61.6 75.7
Bread, whole wheat 38.4 9.7 .9 49.7 1.3 11.3 2.4 57.7 71.4
Corn bread 38.9 7.9 4.7 46.3 2.2 9.2 12.4 53.7 75.3
Corn flakes 8.5 9.3 .5 78.7 2.6 10.8 1.3 91.3 103.4
Hominy, cooked 79.3 2.2 .2 17.8 .5 2.6 .5 20.6 23.7
Macaroni, cooked 78.4 3.0 1.5 15.8 1.3 3.5 4.0 18.3 25.8
Oatmeal, boiled 84.5 2.8 .5 11.5 .7 3.2 1.3 13.3 17.8
Peas, green, cooked 73.8 6.7 3.4 14.6 1.5 7.8 9.0 16.9 33.7
Rice, boiled 72.5 2.8 .1 24.4 .2 3.2 .3 28.3 31.8
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
TABLE B--FRUITS
A. Per cent Water
B. Per cent Protein
C. Per cent Fat
D. Per cent Carbohydrate
E. Per cent Ash
F. Calories per oz. Protein
G. Calories per oz. Fat
H. Calories per oz. Carbohydrate
I. Calories per oz. Total
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOD A B C D E F G H I
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Apples 84.6 .4 .5 14.2 .3 .5 1.3 16.5 18.3
Bananas 75.3 1.3 .6 22.0 .8 1.5 1.6 25.6 28.7
Blackberries 86.3 1.3 1.0 10.9 .5 1.5 2.6 12.6 16.7
Dates 15.4 2.1 2.8 78.4 1.3 2.4 7.4 90.9 100.7
Figs 18.8 4.3 .3 74.2 2.4 5.0 .8 86.1 91.9
Grapes 77.4 1.3 1.6 19.2 .5 1.5 4.2 22.3 28.0
Oranges 86.9 .8 .2 11.6 .5 .9 .5 13.5 14.9
Peaches 89.4 .7 .1 9.4 .4 .8 .3 10.9 12.0
Raisins 14.6 2.6 3.3 76.1 3.4 3.0 8.7 88.3 100.0
Strawberries 90.4 1.0 .6 7.4 .6 1.2 1.6 8.6 11.4
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
TABLE C--NUTS
A. Per cent Water
B. Per cent Protein
C. Per cent Fat
D. Per cent Carbohydrate
E. Per cent Ash
F. Calories per oz. Protein
G. Calories per oz. Fat
H. Calories per oz. Carbohydrate
I. Calories per oz. Total
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOD A B C D E F G H I
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Almonds 4.8 21.0 54.9 17.4 2.0 24.4 144.9 20.2 189.5
Brazil nuts 5.3 17.0 66.8 7.0 3.9 19.7 176.4 8.1 204.2
Chestnuts 5.9 10.7 7.0 74.2 2.2 12.4 18.5 86.1 117.0
Coconuts 14.1 5.7 50.6 27.9 1.7 6.5 133.6 32.4 172.5
Hickory nuts 3.7 15.4 67.4 11.4 2.1 17.9 177.9 13.2 209.0
Peanuts 9.2 25.8 38.6 24.4 2.0 29.9 101.9 28.3 160.1
Pecans 3.0 11.0 71.2 13.3 1.5 12.8 188.0 15.4 216.2
Pine nuts 6.4 33.9 49.4 6.9 3.4 39.3 130.4 8.0 177.7
Walnuts, black 2.5 27.6 56.3 11.7 1.9 32.0 149.6 13.6 195.2
Walnuts, English 2.5 16.6 63.4 16.1 1.4 19.3 167.4 18.7 205.4
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
TABLE D--VEGETABLES
A. Per cent Water
B. Per cent Protein
C. Per cent Fat
D. Per cent Carbohydrate
E. Per cent Ash
F. Calories per oz. Protein
G. Calories per oz. Fat
H. Calories per oz. Carbohydrate
I. Calories per oz. Total
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOD A B C D E F G H I
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Asparagus, cooked 91.6 2.1 3.3 2.2 .8 2.4 8.7 2.6 13.7
Beets, cooked 88.6 2.3 .1 7.4 1.6 2.7 .3 8.6 11.6
Cabbage 91.5 1.6 .3 5.6 1.0 1.9 .8 6.5 9.2
Carrots 88.2 1.1 .4 9.3 1.0 1.3 1.1 10.8 13.2
Lettuce 94.7 1.2 .3 2.9 .9 1.4 .8 7.7 9.9
Onions 87.6 1.6 .3 9.9 .6 1.9 .8 11.5 14.2
Potatoes, boiled 75.5 2.5 .1 20.9 1.0 2.9 .3 24.2 27.4
Spinach, cooked 89.8 2.1 4.1 2.6 1.4 2.4 4.8 3.0 10.2
Tomatoes 94.3 .9 .4 3.9 .5 1.0 1.1 4.5 6.6
Turnips 89.6 1.3 .2 8.1 .8 1.5 .5 9.4 11.4
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
TABLE E--MISCELLANEOUS FOODS
A. Per cent Water
B. Per cent Protein
C. Per cent Fat
D. Per cent Carbohydrate
E. Per cent Ash
F. Calories per oz. Protein
G. Calories per oz. Fat
H. Calories per oz. Carbohydrate
I. Calories per oz. Total
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOD A B C D E F G H I
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Butter 11.0 1.0 85.0 3.0 1.2 224.4 225.6
Cane sugar 100.0 116.0 116.0
Cream 74.0 2.5 18.5 4.5 .5 2.9 48.8 5.2 56.9
Cottage cheese 72.0 20.9 1.0 4.3 1.8 24.2 2.6 5.0 31.8
Eggs 73.7 13.4 10.5 1.0 15.5 27.7 43.2
Honey 18.2 .4 81.2 .2 .5 94.2 94.7
Milk 87.0 3.3 4.0 5.0 .7 3.8 10.6 5.8 20.2
Milk, condensed 68.2 9.6 9.3 11.2 1.7 11.1 24.6 13.0 48.7
Milk, skimmed 90.5 3.4 .3 5.1 .7 3.9 .8 5.9 10.6
Olives, ripe 64.7 1.7 25.0 4.3 3.4 2.0 66.0 5.0 73.0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Thoroughly toasted bread is quite well dextrinized. It is more easily
digested, has a sweeter taste than ordinary bread, and in some cases,
is more desirable.
_Sugar Group_
_Cane sugar_ is probably the most important member of the sugar
groups. It is obtained from the sugar cane and the sugar beet, the two
forms being identical chemically. It can be obtained in a high state
of purity, often up to ninety-nine and eight tenths per cent. The
English-speaking races use the largest amount of this sugar, in some
countries averaging as high as eighty-five pounds per capita a year.
Cane sugar is white, crystalline, soluble in water, and has a very
sweet taste.
_Malt sugar_ is obtained from grains, such as barley or wheat, by
allowing them to sprout. During the sprouting process, there is
developed in the grain a ferment that is capable of changing starch to
malt sugar. After the malt diastase, as the ferment is called, has had
a chance to convert the starch to malt sugar, the sugar is extracted
with water, and the resulting solution evaporated to a sirup. This
sirup can be evaporated further and the malt sugar or maltose taken out
as a solid; but it is usually used in the form of a sirup. This maltose
is a natural product to the body, as it is formed by the saliva and the
pancreatic juice when they act upon starch.
_Milk sugar_ is found to the extent of about five per cent in cow's
milk. It is obtained as a by-product in the manufacture of cheese. The
whey, or watery fluid left after the removal of the curd, is evaporated
and purified until a fine, white, rather gritty powder, or in some
cases a crystalline solid, is obtained. This milk sugar, or lactose,
is soluble in water, and has a fairly sweet taste. Lactose is one of
the essential food elements for the normal growth of a child or a young
animal. Hence one can see why children cannot be reared easily without
milk.
_Glucose_ is the most important sugar in the third group of
carbohydrates as given above. It is found naturally in many fruits,
and is here called grape sugar. It is the normal sugar of human blood,
and in this connection, is usually called dextrose. Glucose is made
commercially by boiling starch, most frequently cornstarch, in water,
to which sulphuric acid has been added up to one to one and one half
per cent. After sufficient boiling, the acid is neutralized with lime,
and the sugar separated by chemical methods. If the process is carried
out carefully, and reasonably pure reagents are used in the process,
the result will be a sirup of fair purity and one of value as a food.
Impure and poorly made samples of glucose have given this otherwise
wholesome sugar a bad name.
Glucose can also be obtained in solid form by continuing the process
of purification a few steps beyond the sirup stage. But let it not be
forgotten that any of the sugars, taken in large amounts, may overload
the digestive system and the liver, and hence they should be used in
reasonable amounts.
_Levulose_, called also fruit sugar, is found in some of the sweet
fruits and in bees' honey. The chief sugar of honey is called invert
sugar, and is really made up of equal parts of dextrose and levulose.
It is present up to seventy-five per cent in good samples of honey.
These sugars, properly used, are excellent foods.
_Importance of Carbohydrates_
The carbohydrates are our chief source of heat and energy, and as
previously stated, furnish sixty to sixty-five per cent of the total
fuel value of our food. Each ounce of pure carbohydrate yields one
hundred sixteen calories of heat when burned. In caloric yield, they
are equal to the proteins gram for gram, but yield less than one half
that of the fats. If two thousand five hundred calories are again taken
as our standard, then sixty per cent would make one thousand five
hundred calories to be furnished by the carbohydrates. At one hundred
sixteen calories an ounce, we find that it would require thirteen
ounces of pure carbohydrate a day to balance this part of our diet.
_Other Essential Elements_
The inorganic salts or ash of food are just as essential to the body
as the other groups of food elements. These essential salts consist
of the most common chemical elements, such as soda, potash, lime,
magnesia, iron, phosphorus, sulphur, etc. One might expect to find
some rare elements in a piece of mechanism as complicated as the human
body, but such is not the case. The body salts are of the most common
kinds. These salts are found in proper amounts in foods as produced by
nature. We cannot take these salts as they are found in the chemical
laboratory and use them to good advantage, but we should make sure that
we are taking foods that will supply them in the proper amounts. Our
best sources of supply are the grains, the fruits, and the vegetables.
It is interesting to note that these mineral elements are generally
found most abundantly, in the grains at least, in or near the outer
coating, and that our high-grade flours are partially robbed of them
when the bran and the middlings are removed. The same seems to be true
of potatoes. In peeling, a large part of these salts is removed, and
thus the real value of this splendid food product is lessened. This is
one of the strong arguments for the use of whole wheat flours and other
whole grain products. These inorganic salts are needed in the body
to keep the various tissues up to their normal in composition. For
example, the blood constantly needs some iron to build the red cells.
Though the actual amount needed is very small, yet that small amount is
exceedingly important to have at hand.
As some of these salts are constantly being eliminated from the body,
there must be a constant supply to keep the tissues in equilibrium.
_Vitamines_
Vitamines are elsewhere considered in this booklet, hence only a very
brief summary here. The chemistry of these products is very little
understood at present. They were so named by Funk because of their
nitrogen content and similarity to ammonia, the name really meaning
_vital ammonias_. The term "vital" carries with it the idea of their
importance to life. Some persons have questioned this name; but up to
the present, it seems to be the best suggested.
The importance of the vitamines in nutrition has been very clearly
demonstrated in experiments upon animals, and these experiments have
been repeated a sufficient number of times to be conclusive. Animals
have been fed upon pure protein, fat, carbohydrate, and salts, but with
vitamine removed or destroyed; and although receiving calories enough,
they fail to keep up their nutrition. With a simple change of dietary
to include a small amount of food containing the vitamine, without any
change in the total calories eaten, their nutrition improves quickly,
and they come back to a normal state.
Foods rich in vitamine are represented by milk, fresh vegetables, fresh
fruits, and whole grain products. Foods poor in these substances are
represented by sterilized and preserved milks, dried fruits, dried
vegetables, white flour, and polished rice.
Vitamines are reduced or lost by the following processes in the
preparation of foods: taking off the coating of grain, overheating,
washing out in cooking, and drying.
_Importance of Water_
Water, although not a food in the sense of yielding fuel value to the
body, is a most important agent in all the various chemical processes
taking place in the tissues.
Water is the universal solvent; and because of this property, it
carries both food and waste to and from the tissues. The average person
needs from three to five quarts a day, a part of which is taken as a
portion of the food eaten. This leaves from three to five pints to be
taken as a drink. Good drinking water should be colorless, odorless,
and of an agreeable taste; should be free from organic matter,
poisonous metals, and the bacteria of disease; and should be low in
nonpoisonous mineral salts--that is, should be reasonably soft.
There are three common classes of water that are used for drinking
purposes; namely, rain water, surface water, and ground water. Rain
water is the purest if properly collected. Surface water--water from
lakes, streams, etc.--is most likely to be contaminated with organic
matter and bacteria. Ground water--that is, water from springs and
wells--is likely to be the hardest, but is usually free from bacteria
of disease unless there is some contamination from the surface. To take
a fairly good quantity of water between meals is better than to drink
too freely at the meal hour.
Great care should be taken in selecting the supply of drinking water,
as when contaminated, it is a very fruitful means for the transmission
of diseases, particularly such diseases as typhoid fever. If not
certain of the purity of a water supply, one can be sure to destroy
all the disease-producing bacteria by boiling the water for a few
minutes, then cooling, and drinking as usual.
_Simple Dietetic Principles_
1. Food should be pleasant to the sight and the taste.
2. Eat slowly. Masticate thoroughly.
3. Do not wash down your food with water or any kind of beverage.
4. Cheerfulness is an important aid to digestion. The mind should be
free from care, and the surroundings pleasant.
5. Avoid overeating.
6. There should be between five and six hours' interval between
meals, and no food should be taken during this interval.
7. Make your list of foods balance up with about ten per cent
protein, twenty-five to thirty per cent fat, and sixty to sixty-five
per cent carbohydrate.
8. Eat few kinds of food at a meal, but vary the menu from day to
day.
9. Food should be properly cooked to get the best results.
10. Do not eat late at night. The evening meal should be the lightest.
11. Eat green vegetables frequently in season.
12. Fresh fruits are very helpful in the diet.
13. Combine fruits, grains, and nuts.
14. Fruits and coarse vegetables are not a good combination.
15. It is better not to take large quantities of cane sugar and milk
together.
16. Do not eat rich and complicated mixtures of food.
17. Flesh meats are expensive, they make the protein high, and are
second-hand foods. Their place may easily be supplied by other foods.
18. Avoid excessive amounts of salt.
19. Do not use pepper or other irritating condiments and spices in
seasoning your food.
20. Tea and coffee are not foods, and should be entirely dispensed
with.
21. Alcohol is a poison, and should be entirely eliminated from the
menu.
[Illustration]
Necessary Knowledge to Careful Planning
To thousands of home-keepers the requirements are new: a correct
knowledge of proteids, of carbohydrates, of calories is unfamiliar
to them. They cannot grasp what is asked of them, in a day or a week
or a month. Suddenly has housekeeping been transformed from a daily
round to a science and a business.... It all calls for intelligent
study and the most careful planning. It is not a small "bit," it is a
full-sized job: never has the American woman faced a bigger job. As she
does it or fails of doing it, will this great country win or lose the
war.--_Ladies' Home Journal._
[Illustration]
VITAMINES _and_ CALORIES
_by_
_D. D. COMSTOCK, M.D._
for years Medical Superintendent of Glendale
Sanitarium, Glendale, California
The body is a machine, intricate, complicated, "fearfully and
wonderfully" constructed. In one way, it is simple in its operations;
but in another, so ultrascientific in the detail of its automatic
control, and so deep in the mysteries of its chemical processes, that
the investigation of ages has not been able to fathom its greater
scientific depths, and bring to the surface a knowledge of its ultimate
structure and its wonderful workings. The Master Designer of the living
machine so adjusted its mechanism that in its original environment and
relationship, its care would be easy, and the laws of its preservation
few and exceedingly simple.
Like most machines, the human machine requires the impartation of
energy. Similarly, also, this is supplied by the combustion of certain
carbonaceous substances. It needs constant repair. These and its other
needs are all furnished in the daily food supply.
The life of this machine can be greatly lengthened by intelligent care,
or shortened by neglect and abuse. Its efficiency may be similarly
affected. While one cannot hear the pounding of the engine or the
rattling of the machinery, yet the machine is damaged if run under too
high a pressure and at too great speed.
There are seven classes of the essential elemental food
substances,--proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamines, salts,
cellulose, and water. The ideal diet is one in which these seven
elements are regularly supplied to the body in the amounts required
to meet its daily needs. A person living close to nature, receiving
his food first-handed, direct from nature's health food factory, and
eating it with only the cooking and seasoning necessary, and with a
reasonable variety, would probably find his diet sufficient, and the
elements in about the proper proportions; and with an honest appetite,
steadied by a little temperate-in-all-things ballast, he probably
would not go far astray as to the proper amounts. But unfortunately,
the average individual is not living close to nature. Much that is
artificial has come in. Our appetites are capricious, deceitful, and
unreasonable. Our foods come to us processed, cartonned, and tinned,
often embalmed, devitalized, or adulterated. They are often served to
us so disguised that we cannot tell whether their nutritive substance
has been concentrated or diluted, or indeed whether or not the body
will recognize it as having any nutritive value at all, despite its
pleasing flavor. Therefore, in order that the ideal may be approximated
to a reasonable and practical degree, we must have some knowledge not
only of the needs of the body, but also of these food elements, and how
their values may be estimated in the various food substances.
The foods that enter into the make-up of the body and supply its heat
and energy are three,--protein, fat, and carbohydrate. While the salts
to a certain extent enter into the body structure, they have but little
to do with heat and energy production. The remaining food classes are
adjuncts, their use being simply to make possible the utilization,
by the body, of the tissue and fuel foods. The cellulose assists
mechanically in digestion; the water furnishes the necessary fluid; and
the vitamines provide the battery, as it were, which sets the whole
apparatus in motion.
_The Heat Unit_
Of the many persons who, for economical or hygienic reasons, have tried
to adjust their diet better, some have undertaken the task without a
fundamental knowledge of the physiological and caloric value of foods,
their composition, or the nutritional needs of the body, and have done
themselves more harm than good. It is possible for us to measure the
value of our foods, and to express it in terms of heat units; and with
a knowledge of the bodily needs, we may supply ourselves with foods in
approximately the amounts needed, and in the best combinations. Food
oxidized in the body produces the same amount of heat as that burned
outside the body, and the instrument by which the heat value of any
substance is determined is called a calorimeter. The unit of measure of
heat is called the calorie or heat unit.
The calorimeter consists of a double chamber, the outer one containing
a given quantity of water. The inner chamber is thus surrounded by a
water jacket. In it is placed a definite amount of pure, water-free
food to be tested; for example, an ounce of sugar. By means of an
electric connection, the sugar is ignited and burned, and the heat
produced thereby is imparted to the water in the outer chamber. When
the process is complete, the difference in the temperature of the water
is noted, and the amount of heat generated is computed. The calorie
is the amount of heat necessary to raise the temperature of one pound
of water four degrees F., or one kilogram one degree C. In this way,
the heat values of pure protein, fat, starch, and sugar have been
determined. In the laboratories of the United States government, the
composition and caloric value of practically every food substance known
has been worked out. Any person can have access to these tables of food
values by applying to the government, or by purchasing from almost any
bookstore any one of the several books on food values, that are on the
market. (See pages 23-27 of this book.)
The heat value of a gram of pure, water-free protein--for example, the
casein of milk, egg albumen, or fiber of meat--is a trifle more than
four calories. That of pure starch or sugar is also four calories.
Fat is more than double this value, one gram yielding nine and three
tenths calories. Since an ounce equals about thirty grams, the number
of calories to an ounce is determined by multiplying the above figures
by thirty. Different kinds of food vary greatly in the proportion of
the food elements and also of the water and cellulose they contain.
(Cellulose has no fuel value in the human body.) We therefore find
a great variation as to their caloric values also. For example, one
heaping tablespoonful of home-baked beans will weigh about fifty grams,
thirty of which is water and cellulose. Its total caloric value is one
hundred, divided among protein fifteen, fat forty (the fat has largely
been added), and carbohydrate forty-five. Contrast with this the same
quantity of mashed turnips. One heaping tablespoonful will weigh about
seventy grams, of which sixty-five is water and cellulose. Its total
fuel value is three calories.
By a little study, one may very readily become familiar with the
approximate values of the more common foods, and be able to arrive at
some conclusion in regard to the correctness of one's daily food ration
as to amount and proportions. Many would be surprised to see how far
short their diet comes of the ideal.
It is easy to remember that an ordinary slice of bread--about three and
one half inches square--contains approximately one hundred calories; an
average egg, sixty-five; a glass of milk, one hundred fifty; an average
potato, one hundred twenty-five; a tablespoonful of gravity cream,
fifty; the usual serving of cooked cereal, seventy-five to one hundred;
vegetables, except potatoes, an ordinary serving, twenty-five to fifty,
depending on the amount of fat or milk added as seasoning; legumes,
average serving, one hundred to one hundred fifty. Desserts are usually
high in value, ranging from one hundred twenty-five calories in the
usual serving of simple custard or junket to three hundred fifty or
more in the usual one sixth of some pies, or the ordinary piece of cake.
Housewives who wish to go into the question of foods thoroughly, and
combine the science with the art of cookery, may arrange a table of the
staples and raw food that ordinarily enter into their various recipes,
somewhat after the following, the items of which have been taken at
random from such a list or table already prepared and in use:
A. _Food_
B. _Measure_
C. _Weight_
D. _Protein_
E. _Fat_
F. _Carbohydrate_
G. _Total_
A B C D E F G
Flour 1 cup 5 oz. 80 25 419 524
Eggs, average each 1½ oz. 23 40 0 63
Milk, whole 1 cup 8 oz. 30 88 46 164
Sugar, granulated 1 cup 7½ oz. 0 0 840 840
Butter 1 cup 8 oz. 0 1,744 0 1,744
Butter 1 tablespoon ½ oz. 0 109 0 109
If the housewife desires to know the food value of a cake, for instance,
that she is about to bake, whose recipe calls for two cups flour, one
and one half cups sugar, one half cup butter, four eggs, she can very
easily find out by consulting her table; as:
A. _Protein_
B. _Fat_
C. _Carbohydrate_
D. _Total_
A B C D
2 cups flour = 160 50 838 1,048
1½ cups sugar = 0 0 1,260 1,260
½ cup butter = 0 872 0 872
4 eggs = 92 160 0 252
------------------------------
Totals 252 1,082 2,098 3,432
If the cake is cut into twelve servings, the value of each may be
determined by dividing each of these sums by twelve. Thus each piece
will represent in value, protein, twenty-one calories; fat, ninety
calories; carbohydrate, one hundred seventy-five calories; total, two
hundred eighty-six calories.
The number of calories needed by the individual varies with height,
age, sex, climate, and state of muscular activity; but for the average
person, two thousand calories daily may be taken as a working basis.
If one is engaged in active muscular labor, the requirement may be
three thousand or more. Many persons of sedentary habits do better
on less than two thousand. Other things being equal, men need about
ten per cent more than women. Children need about ten per cent more
than adults. An obese individual, or one suffering from the results
of imperfect oxidation, as manifested in rheumatism, neuralgia, and
myalgia, may do well for a time on as low an allowance as one thousand
one hundred to one thousand two hundred food units daily, experiencing
marked relief from symptoms, and if obese, a reduction in weight of
from one to four pounds a week.
It should be kept in mind that the amount of protein needed is quite
constant, and does not vary with one's state of activity, as does the
demand for the fats and the carbohydrates. From two hundred to two
hundred fifty calories of this element are needed daily, even though
the total ration be low. If one does well on the low ration suggested
above, the protein should not be lowered proportionately, as would be
the tendency. This is the repair substance, which the body, not being
able to store up, must have supplied to it in regular daily amounts.
Excess in eating is often due to the use of certain concentrated foods.
A teaspoonful of olive oil contains forty calories; the ordinary pat
of butter (one fourth ounce), fifty calories; a heaping teaspoonful
of sugar, forty calories; one English walnut, thirty-three calories;
a fair sized olive, twenty calories. While these are good foods, they
should be eaten with due regard for their high energy value, that
the proper food balance be not disturbed. After eating a good square
meal, the average individual calls for the dessert, which, with its
accompaniments, actually constitutes a second meal; as, for example, a
serving of pie, three hundred fifty calories; its cheese accompaniment,
another one hundred calories; a few stuffed dates, another one hundred
calories; a few nuts and raisins and a cup of chocolate bringing the
total value of this second meal forced upon the body up to seven
hundred or eight hundred calories.
Vegetables of themselves are low in caloric value, their importance
being due to the cellulose, salts, and vitamines they contain. But
they are usually prepared with so much butter or cream that as served
they have a high caloric value in fat. Lean meat is practically pure
protein, and the tendency of the meat eater is to get an excess of
this element. The vegetarian often goes to the other extreme, his
diet showing a deficiency in protein, with an excess of fats and
carbohydrates. That the protein balance be kept normal is an important
matter, for a person may at one and the same time be suffering from the
results of a deficient diet and also from the effects of overeating.
The protein needed daily is from ten to thirteen per cent of the total
ration. If the total daily ration is but one thousand five hundred
calories, the protein should still be two hundred calories, and
therefore thirteen per cent of the total. Thus if a person is living
on foods containing less than ten per cent, there is danger of not
getting enough of this important element. Much of the food eaten is
less than ten per cent protein, because of the addition to it of fat
and sugar in large amounts.
So-called meat substitutes should be high in the percentage of protein,
in order to make up for the butter, sugar, oils, olives, desserts,
fruits, and other very low protein foods that enter so largely into
one's dietary. The question has been asked, Why object to the addition
of fat to a meat substance, since it does not actually reduce the
quantity of protein, though it does relatively? In reply, it may be
said that the relative reduction makes necessary an excess of the
nonnitrogenous foods, to get enough protein; and even though one's
capacity should receive it comfortably, still the objection to the
excess aliment remains.
A study of food composition and values will enable the housewife so to
plan her meals that the various elements may be served to her family
in the proper proportions. A knowledge of calories, and an intelligent
application of the principles involved in these questions of nutrition,
will enable any housewife to reduce the cost of feeding her family
from twenty-five to fifty per cent, which would be worth while from
an economical standpoint, not to mention the advantage to be realized
healthwise.
_Vitamines_
Says Lusk, "It has thus far been shown that nutrition means fuel for
the machinery, new parts with which to repair the machine, and minute
quantities of vitamines, which produce a harmonious interaction between
the materials in the food and their host."
In the words of another investigator, "The study of dietetics from
the standpoint of the vitamines has only just begun." Sufficient has
been learned and demonstrated about them, however, to show that they
play a most important part in nutrition and in vital tissue processes.
Since they are so little understood, a complete definition is not yet
possible. The pure vitamine, it seems, cannot be isolated, so their
exact chemical nature is not known. The chemical process necessary to
free it is no sooner begun than the vitamine is apparently decomposed,
and all trace of it is lost. One is reminded of the efforts of some
early investigators to submit living protoplasm to a chemical analysis,
they hoping thereby to reveal the mysteries of physical life itself;
but at the first intrusion, this subtle something flees, taking its
secrets with it, and leaving us only the empty shell of dead protein
matter. While the activities and manifestations of life are seen on
every hand in animal and plant, we are but little the wiser as to what
life really is.
Vitamines seem to stand closely related to the living process in the
tissue cells. Some investigators have thought them to be the mother
substances of the various bodily ferments and internal secretions,
any disturbance of which produces serious constitutional troubles.
Therefore the continuous use of a diet lacking in any of these mother
substances would of necessity lead to a deficiency of these absolutely
essential vital secretions and ferments.
_Vitamines and Disease_
Years were spent in investigation before it was found out that
beriberi, a disease of the Orient, could be cured and prevented by the
addition, to the diet, of certain nutritive elements in the covering
of the rice, that are ordinarily removed in the polishing process,
and thrown away. Just what these nutritive elements were, was not
understood; but the fact remained that a diet of polished rice resulted
in symptoms of beriberi, while a diet of the unpolished grain was
sufficient to prevent any manifestations of the disease. In Java,
where the people lived largely on whole rice, beriberi was unknown.
For years, the fact had been recognized, that sailors living on canned
and preserved foods sooner or later developed scurvy, which could
be quickly cured by an addition of fresh vegetables or the juice of
fruits, especially lemons and oranges, to the diet. In 1535, when all
but three of Cartier's one hundred ten sailors had scurvy, he cured
them all by giving them a decoction of fresh pine needles. Babies fed
on Pasteurized milk often develop infantile scurvy.
_Convincing Experiments_
Vitamines are made only in nature's laboratory. The body cannot make
them, therefore mother's milk is deficient in vitamine if her diet is.
This is demonstrated in a decided way in the Philippine Islands, where
the diet is deficient in the vitamine preventing beriberi. Among the
Filipinos, one half the deaths take place before the end of the first
year of age; and in these infants, one half the deaths are due to
beriberi. Pellagra, a disease of obscure ætiology, or cause, manifests
itself principally among a class of people who live on a monotonous
diet of corn bread, bacon, soda biscuit, and sirup. Some authorities
are quite convinced that it is a "deficiency" disease. Also rickets,
eczema, pyorrhea, and a number of other diseases of obscure cause
are beginning to be regarded as being, in part at least, deficiency
diseases. A predisposition to tuberculosis and other infections may
be of similar cause. There are probably a number, possibly many,
of these vitamine substances. At least two have been quite fully
demonstrated,--the one preventing scurvy, and the one preventing
beriberi.
The experiments of Cosimir Funk, a Russian, are convincing. He was
able to produce experimental beriberi in pigeons by feeding them for
three weeks on polished rice, then readily to cure them of the disease
by feeding the polishings from the same rice, showing that in the
rice polishings are certain elements absolutely essential to life. He
finally isolated what appeared to be this substance, one pound of the
polishings yielding about three grains of the material. Injecting under
the skin of pigeons dying of beriberi one third of a grain of this
crystalline substance, he was able not only to make them perfectly well
in a few hours, but to keep them in health for three weeks with but the
one dose, even though they were continued on a diet of polished rice.
Funk named this wonderful life-giving substance vitamine, because its
effects were life-giving, and chemically it seemed to belong to the
amines.
_Where Found_
Vitamines are found in plants, and especially in their seeds. Fresh
meat and raw milk contain them, although animals seem incapable
of making them. In summer, milk is richer in them than in winter,
because of the difference in feed for the cattle. They are contained
also in yolks of eggs, whole grains, potatoes, carrots, beans, peas,
lentils--in fact, practically all green garden vegetables, and fruit.
In the grains, they are found in the dark layer near the outer surface
or branny layer, and in the germ. In potatoes and other vegetables,
they lie immediately under the skin. Yeast bread contains more than
baking powder breads.
Vitamines are lost by the processing of grains; that is, by the removal
of the outer layers, which contain most of these substances. Hence the
whole grain should be included in the flour. They are also destroyed by
the subjection of foods to too high a temperature. It is therefore best
to cook cereals at a low temperature, as in a fireless cooker. The
vitamines are sacrificed in the drying of foods, and in the paring of
vegetables. If potatoes are boiled, there is great advantage in boiling
them in their "jackets," in which case the vitamines and the salts are
not lost. If they are pared before they are boiled, the potato water
should not be thrown away, as it is rich in vitamines, salts, and
protein. Parboiling of other vegetables is objectionable for the same
reason. Soda and baking powder and similar chemicals seem to destroy
the vitamines. This is one reason why yeast breads are better than
baking powder breads. Furthermore, in yeast fermentation, the vitamine
preventing beriberi is actually formed, but not the vitamine preventing
scurvy. The natural foods that require cooking to make them edible and
wholesome contain vitamines which are not destroyed thereby if the
cooking is done in the most wholesome and hygienic way.
A Word of Advice to Women
Stay at home and work. Do not rush into some romantic and
picturesque bit of action to the detriment of your home duties.
Work in your homes, and do whatever you can outside; the humbler
and more inconspicuous your accomplishment is, the more it may
be needed. There are enough women who will snatch at what is
accompanied by the limelight. Make your contribution of personal
service without thought of self, and keep on to the end.--_Lord
Northcliffe._
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
FRUITS AND THEIR DIETETIC VALUE
_by
GEORGE A. THOMASON, M.D., L.R.C.S., L.R.C.P._
No other class of foods more delightfully or deliciously contribute
to the needs of the body than fruit. Fresh from the lap of Nature,
lavishly supplied, and delightful to the eye, fruit makes most
satisfying appeal to the appetite of every one, from the quite
indifferent to the most discriminating epicure. Most easy of digestion,
in fact, practically predigested, fruit is most appropriate for all
people both in sickness and in health, and at all periods of life, from
babyhood to extreme age.
Fruit is made up of water, sugar, acids, some proteid, and organic
salts. Water is by far the largest constituent of fruit, being
seventy-five to eighty-five per cent. The water of fruit is of the
greatest possible purity, being doubly distilled, first as rain, then
as sap, drawn and filtered through the tree.
The sugar of fruit is one of the most easily digested forms, that of
levulose. The starch of the unripe fruit is converted into sugar in
the ripening process, or in the cooking of partially ripened fruit.
Sugar is present in varying amounts in fruits, averaging from five to
ten per cent. A well ripened banana contains twenty-one per cent of
sugar, dates about fifty per cent, while grapes contain from fourteen
to twenty per cent.
The outward appearance of the fruit is often a fairly reliable
indication of the amount of sugar. Trielle has observed that fruits
with yellow skins contain much sugar, and have a very penetrating odor.
Fruits with red skins contain a medium amount of sugar, and have a
pleasant, delicate perfume. Fruits with a reddish brown skin usually
contain much sugar, and have very little perfume.
As showing its perfectly digested state, demonstrations have proved
that fruit sugar may be injected directly into the blood, from which
it will be utilized in nourishing the body. This is in marked contrast
with ordinary cane sugar, which, if injected directly into the blood,
is expelled through the kidneys, the body being unable to appropriate
it as such from the blood.
Fruit sugar may be eaten in practically unlimited quantities. It
supplies the body with heat and energy in the most available form.
For this reason, fruit when eaten will quickly relieve the sense of
exhaustion.
_Fruit Acids_
The acids of fruits give to them their delightful and appetizing
flavors. Fruits in the unripe state contain tannic acid, a marked
astringent. The gastric and peristaltic woes of the small boy the night
following the green apple episode are due to the tannic acid the unripe
fruit contains. The three chief acids of fruit are citric acid, found
in oranges, lemons, and grapefruit; malic acid, as found in apples,
pears, peaches, and similar fruits; and tartaric acid, as found in
grapes. These are organic acids, recognized and readily digested by the
body.
The acids of fruits are remarkable peptogens; that is, they stimulate
the appetite and promote the flow of the digestive juices. Fruit acids
are most efficient disinfectants. Some years ago, an eminent medical
authority of this country, in a representative medical gathering,
said, "We are as yet without a satisfactory medicinal intestinal
disinfectant." In fruit acids, we possess such an agent in a most
desirable form. No germ, disease-producing or otherwise, can live in
the presence of fruit acid. Fruit acids can be taken practically _ad
libitum_. Fruit acids taken freely by mouth or diluted and injected
into the bowel, most efficiently asepticize the intestinal canal. Three
or four pints of water to which the juice of one lemon has been added,
injected into the bowel following a cleansing enema, will thoroughly
destroy disease-producing bacteria in the colon. Flushing the bowel
frequently with such a solution is one of the most efficient known
means of successfully combating the fetid summer diarrheas of children.
The proteid or nitrogenous element of fruits, as well as their fatty
element, may be passed over with little consideration. Fruit contains
little proteid; and aside from the olive, there is almost no fat in
fruit. The fat of the ripe olive, however, is one of the most delicious
and digestible forms of fat. Ripe olives contain about fifty per cent
fat. Olive oil can be mixed with water; therefore it readily mixes with
the intestinal juices, and is most easily digested.
_Fruit Salts_
The salts of fruit are most desirable, being so essential in tissue
building. Some of the most important of these salts are potash, lime,
phosphoric acid, and iron. Deficiency of the lime salts in the bones
of children produces conditions of bone softening, or rickets. This can
be largely prevented by adding fruit to the diet of these afflicted
children, using especially grapes, oranges, lemons, and grapefruit,
which contain high percentages of lime salts.
The condition of anæmia is a lack of iron in the blood. This cannot
be replaced by medicinal or metallic iron, as the body is unable to
appropriate these inorganic substances; but the iron in fruit is
perfectly adapted to the body needs. Plums, cherries, and especially
strawberries and currants contain considerable iron, and are most
helpful in the treatment of anæmic conditions.
It is perfectly apparent that fruits possess qualities and constituents
that make them of the greatest value as an essential part of the
daily ration to nourish and energize the body, and to promote vital
activities in the maintenance of strength and healthful vigor. Fruit
is also an exceedingly important and efficient factor in restoring to
normal function tissues and organs that have become vitiated and are
functionating abnormally.
In spite of the widespread opinion to the contrary, it can be
positively asserted that fruit is of great service in the prevention as
well as in the treatment of rheumatism and gout. The prejudice against
the use of fruit in rheumatism originated with the idea that the acids
of fruit tend to acidify the body. Quite the reverse is true. The acids
of fruit, when taken into the body, are promptly converted into the
alkali carbonates, thus increasing the alkalinity of the blood, tending
greatly to benefit and cure the rheumatic condition, as well as to
lessen the general tendency to the formation of various calculi, or
stones, in the kidneys, the urinary bladder, and the gall bladder.
_Fruit and Obesity_
A fruit diet is of great value in obesity. An exclusive fruit diet may
be taken to the greatest possible advantage by the too corpulent who
wish to reduce in weight. For this purpose, fruit has the advantage
of satisfying the appetite while at the same time contributing very
little nutrition to the body. The free use of fruit is the method par
excellence for overcoming constipation. The eating of a half dozen
raw prunes before breakfast, or the taking of the juice of one or two
oranges, will in the majority of cases be all that is necessary to
maintain regular bowel activity.
For an overworked liver, the so-called "bilious" state, fruit is
the best of all means of relief. Auto-intoxication due to an excess
of poisons circulating in the blood, is treated most naturally and
efficiently by a fruit diet.
The natural diuretic properties of fruit are very well known. Nearly
all fruits stimulate the kidneys to greater activity, but watermelon is
of particular service in this respect.
Fruit and fruit juices greatly aid in successfully combating
alcoholism. The acid of the fruit juices help materially in quenching
the abnormal thirst.
There are but few individuals who would not be benefited by an
occasional exclusive fruit meal; and in many cases, this can be
maintained with greatest benefit for even several days. This is a very
popular method of treatment in Europe, particularly in Switzerland,
where the "grape cure" is utilized. Patients are placed upon a diet
of grapes alone for several weeks, consuming from seven to ten pounds
of grapes a day. Wonderful results are recorded at these resorts in
the treatment of rheumatism, gout, obesity, constipation, intestinal
catarrh, liver and kidney disorders, high blood pressure, arterial
sclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, and many more physical
disabilities.
Certain fruits, especially tart apples, are of great value in the
treatment of diabetes, lessening the toxæmia of this condition, as
well as mitigating the abnormal thirst that is so frequent and often
distressing an accompaniment of this condition.
In the eating of fruit, some care must be exercised not to swallow
large seeds or fruit pits. While the danger of appendicitis from fruit
seeds' becoming lodged in the appendix has been greatly exaggerated,
yet fruit seeds have occasionally been found in the appendix, and
proved the exciting cause of the inflammation which followed. Cases are
on record of children who have swallowed considerable quantities of
grape seeds, suffering for months of colic, and being only relieved by
discharging quantities of these seeds during energetic purgation.
It has been said that fruit is "gold in the morning, silver at
noon, and lead at night." But fruit is golden all the time. This
wonderful gift, one of the greatest and best physical gifts of an
all-wise Providence, cannot be prized to highly; for it is considered
sufficiently valuable to endure for both time and eternity. Of the
first man and woman, it was said that they might eat of the fruit of
the trees of the garden; and it is said of the inhabitants of the
renewed earth, during eternity, that "they shall plant vineyards, and
eat the fruit of them."
Too much good food makes one auto-toxic. Too muck fun makes one
asinine. But keep sunny. A cheerful disposition, a happy
temperament, is the master key that unlocks more secrets, more
riches, more success, than anything else. A sunny temper is an
"aroma whose fragrance fills the air with an odor of Paradise."
Bury everything that makes you unhappy and discordant, everything
that cramps your freedom and worries you. Bury it before it buries
you. Adopt the sundial's motto, "I record none but hours of
sunshine."--_Thomason._
[Illustration]
TEN REASONS FOR A FLESHLESS DIET
_by
A. W. TRUMAN, A.B., M.D._
Superintendent of Loma Linda Sanitarium, Loma
Linda, California; Professor of Neurology, Loma
Linda College
_1. The Strength Delusion_
Every movement we make, every thought we think, and every heart throb,
involves waste and the expenditure of energy. There is a constant
breaking down of our tissues; and the food ingested is the source of
the material for repair. By its oxidation, digestion, and assimilation,
energy is liberated for life's varied activities.
The primary object of taking food is, in the words of the wise man,
"for strength, and not for drunkenness." Any one who makes the pleasure
of eating the chief requisite will some day find, by a disordered
stomach and a clogged liver, that eating has ceased to be a pleasure.
The idea has long been current that superior qualities of body and
mind come from eating flesh food; but the verdict of science, after
long observation and careful investigation and various experiments, is
rapidly reversing this opinion.
The experiments of Prof. Russell H. Chittenden, president of the
American Physiological Society, and director of the Sheffield
Scientific School at Yale, are convincing. His elaborate
investigations, extending over long periods of time, prove that
persons of widely varying habits of life, temperament, occupation, and
constitution, can maintain and even heighten their mental and physical
vigor while subsisting upon a diet containing but one half the usual
amount of protein, and in which the flesh is reduced to a minimum or is
entirely absent.
The subjects of the first experiment were three physicians, three
professors, and a clerk,--men of sedentary and chiefly of mental
occupation. For a period of six months, they were required to reduce
the amount of meat and other protein food about one half. "Their
weight remained stationary; but they improved in general health, and
experienced a quite remarkable increase of mental clearness and energy."
_Chittenden's Researches_
For his next experiment, Professor Chittenden used a detachment of
twenty soldiers from the hospital corps of the United States army,
"representing a great variety of types of different ages, nationality,
temperament, and degrees of intelligence." For a period of six months,
these men lived upon a ration in which the proteid was reduced to
one third the usual amount, and the flesh to five sixths of an ounce
daily. There was a slight gain in weight, "the general health was well
maintained, and with suggestions of improvement that are frequently
so marked as to challenge attention." "Most conspicuous, however,"
remarks Professor Chittenden, "was the effect observed on the muscular
strength of the various subjects.... Without exception, we note a
phenomenal gain in strength which demands explanation." There was an
average gain in strength for each subject of about fifty per cent.
For the third experiment, Professor Chittenden secured as subjects a
group of eight leading athletes of Yale, all in training trim. For
five months, they subsisted upon a diet comprising from one half to
one third the quantity of protein food they had been in the habit of
eating. "Gymnasium tests showed in every man a truly remarkable gain in
strength and endurance."
_Fisher's Experiments_
Dr. Irving Fisher, professor of political economy of Yale University,
concluded a series of experiments testing the endurance of forty-nine
persons, about thirty of the number being flesh abstainers. The first
endurance test was that of "holding the arms horizontally." The flesh
eaters averaged ten minutes. The flesh abstainers averaged forty-nine
minutes. The longest time for a flesh eater was twenty-two minutes.
The maximum time for a flesh abstainer was two hundred minutes. The
second endurance test was that of "deep knee bending." The flesh eaters
averaged three hundred eighty-three times, the flesh abstainers eight
hundred thirty-three times. Professor Fisher explains the results on
the basis that "flesh foods contain in themselves fatigue poisons of
various kinds, which naturally aggravate the action of the fatigue
poisons produced in the body."
Dr. J. Ioteyko, head of the laboratory at the University of
Brussels, compared the endurance of seventeen vegetarians with that
of twenty-five carnivores, students of the University of Brussels.
"Comparing the two sets of subjects on the basis of mechanical work, it
is found that the vegetarians surpassed the carnivores on the average
by fifty-three per cent."
Professor Fisher remarks, "These investigations, with those of Combe
of Lausanne, Metchnikoff, and Tisier of Paris, as well as Herter and
others in the United States, seem gradually to be demonstrating that
the fancied strength from meat is like the fancied strength from
alcohol, an illusion."
_Tests in Germany_
Professor Rubner, of Berlin, "one of the world's foremost students of
hygiene," read a paper before the recent International Congress of
Hygiene and Demography on the "Nutrition of the People," in which he
said: "It is a fact that the diet of the well-to-do is not in itself
physiologically justified; it is not even healthful; for on account of
the false notions of the strengthening effect of meat, too much meat is
used by young and old, and this is harmful."
In the long distance races in Germany, the flesh abstainers have
invariably been easy victors. Upon this point, Professor Von Norden,
in his monumental work on "Metabolism and Practical Medicine," says:
"In Germany at least, in these competitive races, the vegetarian is
ahead of the meat eater. The non-vegetarian cannot compete with the
vegetarian in the matter of endurance in these long distance walks. The
vegetarian is ahead in the matter of rapid pedestrian feats."
A few years ago, a well-known athlete, Dr. Deighton, walked from the
southernmost point of England to the northernmost point of Scotland,
a distance of almost a thousand miles, in twenty-four days and four
hours. His chief subsistence en route was a much advertised meat juice.
Mr. George Allen, who for a number of years had subsisted upon a strict
non-flesh diet, undertook the same task, which he accomplished in a
little less than seventeen days, that is, in seven days less time.
As in the heat engine, energy for light, heat, or power does not come
from burning copper, lead, or iron filings, but from carbonaceous
materials, as coal, coke, fuel oils, etc., so in the human body, energy
for warmth and muscular effort comes not from oxidizing the metal
repair foods, the proteins, but from those foods which are rich in
carbon, the starches and the sugars, called the carbohydrates.
_2. Flesh Food a Stimulant_
Whence then come these "illusions," these "false notions of the
strengthening effect of meat"? They come from the fact that foods of
this class are stimulating. A stimulant is a counterfeit for strength.
It is a physical deceiver. It makes a person believe he is strong
because he "feels" strong, when it is not true at all. That which is
interpreted as strength is only nervous excitement. A stimulant never
builds up; it only stirs up. While pretending to contribute energy, it
actually robs the body of strength. The resort to stimulants to whip
up the flagging energies of the body is an effort to trick nature in
playing the game of life. It is like borrowing money. Some day the
principal must be returned with interest to a relentless creditor.
Beef tea contains less than one per cent nourishment, but one can get
the same kind of exhilaration from a cup of beef tea as from a cup of
brandy. This is due to the drug effect of the beef tea, which is a
solution of the waste products, the poisonous extractives, of the meat.
Every animal organism is constantly throwing off these extractives,
such as urea, uric acid, creatinine, etc. The kidneys have no other
function than the removal of poisons. If an animal is deprived of the
use of its kidneys, it will die of self-poisoning in a few days. When
an animal is slaughtered and the blood ceases to circulate, this stream
of urinary products on its way to the kidneys for excretion stops in
the tissues, and is devoured by the consumer with the flesh.
Friedenwald and Ruhrah, in their book "Diet in Health and Disease,"
say: "The extractives are probably of no value either as a source of
energy or in the formation of tissues. They act as stimulants and
appetizers, and it has been stated that the craving some individuals
have for meat is in reality a desire for the extractives."
Armand Gautier, the eminent French dietitian, says on this point, "Like
the opium smoker, the individual who accustoms himself to meat, feels
that he misses it when he does not take the usual excess."
If the poisonous waste products be removed from meat, it is insipid,
and is no more stimulating than the same amount of bread.
_3. Ptomaine Poisoning_
The seeds of death and decay are in every animal organism; and just
as soon as the heart ceases to throb, and the arteries cease to
pulsate, and the spark of life leaves the animal, decomposition begins.
These putrefactive changes often result in the formation of violent
poisons, called ptomaines. The word "ptomaine" comes from a Greek word
meaning _carcass_, or _cadaver_; and the poisons are variously called
putrefactive alkaloid, animal alkaloid, etc. The presence of fatal
amounts of these poisons in flesh may not be betrayed by any change in
appearance, odor, or taste. The common practice of keeping meat until
it becomes tender, or "ripens," is simply waiting for decomposition
to advance until the meat fiber is softened by the process of decay.
Canned meats are especially liable to contain the poisonous ptomaine.
_4. Unbalances the Diet_
It is of primary importance that one should guard against consuming
excessive quantities of any kind of food material, but there is a
difference. Should we take an excess of starches or sugars, provision
has been made for storing a certain amount in the form of fat, or as
glycogen in the liver and the muscles; but no provision is found for
storing an excess of protein. An excess of this food element is of
particular injury to the body. The extensive experiments of Professors
Chittenden, Fisher, and other scientific workers, have shown that
for efficient nutrition, we require that only one tenth of the daily
intake of food should be of the structure-building, tissue-repairing
protein. In the laboratory of nature, the food elements have been so
combined by the plants, that the protein element is very low; and thus
a diet selected from the natural products of the earth is not only free
from uric acid and other waste products, but is already balanced. The
addition of flesh food--which does not contain any starch--to the menu,
at once raises the protein constituent too high.
_5. Bright's Disease and High Blood Pressure_
The waste products in the blood arising from excess of protein are a
leading cause of Bright's disease, auto-intoxication, arteriosclerosis,
and high blood pressure. These maladies are often associated in the
same individual, and frequently have a common origin. Sir William
Osler, in his "Principle and Practice of Medicine," writes: "I am more
and more impressed with the part played by overeating in inducing
arteriosclerosis." "There are many cases in which there is no other
factor." Dr. Alexander Haig, of London, states that uric acid makes the
blood "collaemic" or viscous, and then the heart has difficulty to pump
it through the capillaries. Hence the blood pressure increases. Isaac
Ott, in his textbook on physiology, says on this point, "Burton-Opitz
has shown that hunger reduces viscosity, and meat diet raises it to a
great height, whilst carbohydrates and fat diet give average values to
it."
In the colon, flesh foods rapidly undergo decomposition, giving rise
to numerous poisons, which are absorbed into the blood, and are toxic
to the nervous system, and cast an additional burden upon the liver
and the kidneys. These are a sort of dietetic clinkers, which throw
nature's delicate machinery out of adjustment, and produce various
symptoms of auto-intoxication. Bouchard found that the fecal and
urinary excrement of carnivorous animals is twice as poisonous when
injected into rabbits as that from a herbivorous animal. The former
also emits a strong odor, and the fecal discharges are offensively
repulsive. Dr. Haig, before quoted, also asserts that "Bright's disease
is the result of our meat-eating and tea-drinking habits; and as these
habits are common, so also is the disease."
_6. Tuberculosis, Ulcer, Cancer, and Appendicitis_
While it is true that tuberculosis is more frequently contracted
through the use of tuberculous milk than from tuberculous meat, the
latter source of infection cannot be ignored. Numerous cases of
tuberculosis have been reported where the infection could be directly
traced to the flesh of tuberculous animals.
Dr. E. C. Shroeder, of the Bureau of Animal Industry of the United
States Department of Agriculture, says: "That ten per cent of the dairy
cattle in the United States are affected with tuberculosis impresses me
as a very conservative estimate. In New York State, about thirty-three
per cent of all cattle tested were found to be tuberculous." Dr. Julius
Rosenberg, of New York City, writes: "Cattle tuberculosis is rapidly
increasing. There is scarcely a dairy herd without a number of infected
animals. It is an ever growing menace. The health department of Boston
estimates the percentage of tuberculous animals producing the city's
milk supply to be from twenty to twenty-five per cent. Conservative
estimate places the number of cows dying yearly from tuberculosis at
one million, were they permitted to die a natural death; but they are
killed before drawing the last gasp, and served as prime beef." In
one year in the United States, the entire carcasses of thirty-five
thousand one hundred three cattle were condemned because of generalized
tuberculosis. In the same year, a portion of the carcass of ninety-nine
thousand seven hundred thirty-nine more were rejected because of local
tuberculosis.
Professor Ravenal, of the University of Wisconsin, says that of the
thirty-five million hogs killed for food annually in the United States,
seven million are found to be infected with tuberculosis. Some one has
said that meat would sell for a dollar a pound if all the diseased meat
were eliminated.
Ulcer of the stomach is one of our most common diseases. Leading
surgeons have shown that it is ten times as frequent as was formerly
supposed. It is clearly of dietetic origin, and is usually associated
with too high consumption of protein, and especially of meat. Starches,
sugars, and fats are not digested in the stomach, and require no acid.
Proteins, on the other hand, are digested within the stomach, and
require for their digestion a high percentage of hydrochloric acid. The
excessive production of acid within the stomach, stimulated by too much
protein, is probably the chief cause of the formation of ulcers. In
1908, Dr. Fenton B. Turck, of Chicago, said before the American Medical
Association: "Ulcer of the stomach is not found in those countries
where the inhabitants eat rice. It is evidently a meat eater's
disease. The zone of ulcer is in the meat eater's zone."
Cancer is a disease of modern civilization. It is the one major
unsolved problem in the field of medical science to-day. From the
_Journal of the American Medical Association_ of June 14, 1913,
we quote: "That cancer has increased in recent years is perhaps a
commonplace, but the extent of the increase is not generally realized.
Under existing conditions, one in seven women and one in eleven men
die of cancer." In the _Medical Record_, issue of May 15, 1915, Dr.
W. G. Mayo is quoted as saying: "Cancer of the stomach forms nearly
one third of all cancers of the human body.... Is it not possible that
there is something in the habits of civilized man, in the cooking or
other preparation of his food, which acts to produce the precancerous
condition?... Within the last one hundred years, four times as much
meat is taken as before that time. If flesh foods are not fully broken
up, decomposition results, and active poisons are thrown into an organ
not intended for their reception, and which has not had time to adapt
itself to the new function."
Dr. L. Duncan Bulkley, senior physician to the New York Skin and Cancer
Hospital, says on this point, "Analyzing the various data obtained, we
find that cancer has increased in proportion to the consumption of four
articles, meat, coffee, tea, and alcohol."
One is hardly up to date who does not present an abdominal scar caused
by an offending appendix. At the fifteenth International Congress
of Hygiene and Demography held in Washington, D. C., Dr. Henning
contributed a paper dealing with "statistics upon the increase of
appendicitis and its causes." He said: "A meat diet is of great
influence in the development of appendicitis. This diet leads to
constipation. In most instances, too long retention of intestinal
contents in the cæcum causes slight inflammation in that region,
the results of which are to weaken the appendix, and to render it
nonresistant against later infection." When Dr. Lorenz, the celebrated
Vienna surgeon, was in the United States, he called attention to the
relatively greater prevalence of appendicitis in this country as
compared with Europe, and attributed it to the greater consumption
of cold storage meats here, which he said rendered Americans unduly
septic, and especially prone to infection of the appendix. Nicholas
Senn was told by the hospital surgeons in Africa that they had never
seen a case of appendicitis in a vegetable-eating African.
_7. Trichinæ and Tapeworms_
"A story is told of two of the most noted of Germans,--Bismarck,
the statesman, and Virchow, the scientist. The latter had severely
criticized the former in his capacity as chancellor, and was challenged
to fight a duel. The man of science was found by Bismarck's seconds
in his laboratory, hard at work at experiments which had for their
object the discovery of a means of destroying trichinæ, then making
ravages among animals in Germany. 'Ah,' said the doctor, 'a challenge
from Prince Bismarck, eh? Well, well, as I am the challenged party,
I suppose I have the choice of weapons. Here they are.' He held up
two large sausages, which appeared to be exactly alike. 'One of these
sausages,' he said, 'is filled with trichinæ. It is deadly. The other
is perfectly wholesome. Externally, they can't be told apart. Let his
excellency do me the honor to choose whichever of these he wishes and
eat it, and I will eat the other.' No duel was fought, and no one
accused Virchow of cowardice."
The trichina is a small, wormlike parasite found in the flesh of
"measly pork," which, when eaten, burrows in the muscles of the human,
producing an extremely painful and often fatal affection. About two
per cent of hogs, it is estimated, harbor this parasite.
Practically speaking, the human being becomes the host of a tapeworm
only by eating underdone flesh containing the larvæ of the parasite.
(Thoroughly boiled or fried tapeworm is a harmless diet.) The ox, the
hog, and the fish frequently harbor the larvæ of tapeworms.
_8. Poor Economy_
In these days of increased destruction and decreased production
of human foods, it is of great importance to know how to secure a
maximum amount of nutrition from a minimum expenditure of money. The
world is facing a food shortage that in some places has assumed the
proportion of the gaunt specter of famine. In view of this fact, it
is well to remember that flesh is the most costly source of food.
Sixty-two per cent of the best beefsteak is water. Flesh foods contain
but twenty-five per cent nourishment, and seventy-five per cent waste
matter. The grains contain seventy-five per cent nourishment, and but
twenty-five per cent waste. Now it does not require a knowledge of
higher mathematics to determine that since ten pounds of grain, when
fed to an animal, make but one pound of flesh, the latter becomes a
very costly source of our food supply.
_9. The Testimony of Anatomy and Physiology_
Even a kindergarten study of the structure of the human body reveals
the fact that man was not intended to be a carnivorous, a herbivorous,
or an omnivorous animal, but rather a frugivorous creature. He does not
possess the rough, raspy tongue of the cat family, the long, pointed
canine teeth of the lion, the sharp claws of the tiger, or the talons
and hooked beak of the eagle. In the carnivora, the alimentary canal
is very short, being only three times the length of the body. In
herbivora, as the sheep, it is thirty times the length of the body. In
frugivora, such as apes, monkeys, and man, it is twelve times the body
length. Baron Cuvier, a famous anatomist, writes, "The natural food of
man, judging from his structure, appears to consist principally of the
fruits, roots, and other succulent parts of vegetables."
_10. Flesh and Morals_
The menu provided for man in the beginning did not include animal food.
Not until one thousand six hundred fifty-six years of human history
had passed was man permitted to eat flesh, and then only after every
green thing had been destroyed by the Deluge. What we eat exercises a
profound influence upon what we are, how we think, and how we feel.
Let us divide the animal kingdom on the basis of diet and disposition.
On the one hand, we have the lion, the tiger, the wolf, the bear, the
leopard, the panther, etc.; all these are vicious, snarly, crabbed,
ferocious beasts. What comprises their diet? We call them "beasts of
prey." They feast upon the bloody, quivering flesh of their victims.
On the other hand, we might mention the horse, the ox, the deer, the
sheep, the elephant. Think of their dispositions, calm, quiet, pacific,
easily domesticated. May it not be that their diet of cereals and herbs
contributes to their peaceful temperament?
Dr. Curtis, the eminent physician to Mr. Garfield, said, "What parent
is there who has not viewed with alarm how old Adam enters into the
baby along with the first spoonful of chopped beef!" Gautier said,
on this point: "The vegetarian régime, modified by the addition of
milk, of fat of butter, of eggs, has great advantage. It adds to the
alkalinity of the blood, accelerates oxidation, diminishes organic
wastes and toxins. It exposes one much less likely than the ordinary
régime to skin maladies, to arthritis, to congestions of internal
organs. This régime tends to make us pacific beings, and not aggressive
and violent."
To these we may add the testimony of Holy Writ, "Be not among
winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh."
Physical Benefits of Joy
The emotion of joy finds physiologic manifestations exactly opposite
to those of sorrow and grief. There is increase of function in the
muscles, and expansion of the blood vessels. As a result of
increased muscular activity, the joyful person feels light and
springy. Children, when joyful, dance and skip and clap their hands.
The expansion of the blood vessels brings the "flush of joy." This
increase in the circulation causes increased secretion of the
digestive juices, with increased appetite, and increased power of
digestion and absorption. This means increased nourishment. "Laugh
and grow fat" has a physiologic basis. Fat people are not
good-natured because they are fat, but they are fat because they
are good-natured.
Laughter has a wonderfully beneficial influence on bodily
functions--a fact recognized centuries ago when the wise man
said, "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine." Laughter is a
potent stimulant to all the helpful bodily functions. It hastens
digestion, stimulates circulatory reaction, promotes tissue changes,
enhances glandular activity, facilitates elimination, and altogether
radiates a most beneficent influence throughout the body. Laugh, and
the whole body laughs, and counts its work a pleasure.--_Dr. George
A. Thomason._
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
STIMULANTS _and_ CONDIMENTS
_by
ARTHUR N. DONALDSON, A.B., M.D._
of the Faculty of the College of Medical
Evangelists, Loma Linda, California
The Creator intended that the process of eating should be enjoyed. He
has gathered the tasteless, insipid food elements together, and mixing
in mineral and organic accessories, has produced for the tickling of
our palates all the numberless flavors that the combined action of
those highly specialized organs of taste and smell have enabled us
to enjoy. The tasteless starch is bound up in the palatable potato;
the insipid protein, in the pea, the lentil, and the bean; the rather
nauseating fat, in the plump, appetizing olive. To the child not yet
educated to the perverted demands of his father's palate, the thought,
taste, and smell of these aromatic and savory substances produces a
desire to eat. By the time he is twenty, he will not be satisfied with
the natural flavor of his food. The cook must pepper or ginger it up,
and he must further mustard or Worcestershire it to get it down. His
soups are hot, and his salads are hotter. The palatable pleasure in
a meal of his childhood is a lost asset. What has brought about this
change in the appetite of man?
We all know, from experience, that we handle our food better if we
relish it. This is due largely to the fact that the taste organs
telegraph ahead to the stomach to prepare for work. The stomach
responds by pouring out some digestive juices, and is consequently all
ready to begin business the instant the tourist arrives. But when the
food is bolted, there is a failure on the part of the taste nerves
to telegraph ahead, unless they are stimulated more intensely by the
addition of some readily diffusible sapid substance. Are we thus
fooling nature?--We are not. Primarily, this unnatural stimulation
leads to the most prevalent American dietetic sin; namely, overeating.
We do not know when we have had enough. Dr. Wiggers, of Cornell
University, has shown that overeating results in the surcharging of
the blood stream with elements of digestion; and this, through the
operation of physical laws, ultimately leads to arteriosclerosis and
its chain of disasters. Secondly, with this unnatural stimulation of
the taste nerves, the telegraphic messages to the stomach and the
intestine are unreliable. Normally the tract is informed as to the
nature of the food about to come, and is thus enabled to pour out a
specific juice for a specific kind of food. Obviously this specificity
which characterizes all normal processes is broken down, and the
digestive function is placed under a handicap, when we cover up the
natural taste with condiments.
The idea that condiments and stimulants act favorably in directly
stimulating the production of gastric juice and in increasing gastric
motor activity, and thus facilitating the digestive process, is a
delusion. Professor Carlson, of Chicago University, has shown that
these so-called stomachics and appetizers will have done their bit
ere they enter the misunderstood stomach. And, our savory sauces and
peppers being irritants in the mouth, they are no less irritants to
the lining membrane of the stomach. They are always taboo in mild
dyspeptic disorders, yet we think them just the appetizers for the run
down nervous individual who never enjoys the pangs of hunger. Rather,
he should be advised to oxygenate his impoverished blood by a brisk
walk, to stir up his eliminative organs by vigorous exercise and the
ingestion of water; for these bring no gastric catarrh, no sluggish
liver.
It is recognized by every writer on dietetics, that condiments are
irritating to the organs of elimination. The kidneys suffer, the
ureters suffer, the bladder suffers, and the urethra suffers. We are
very quick to stop the use of these substances when the kidneys give
evidence of disease, and we will with alacrity drop the hot stuff from
our dietary when the bladder and the urethra are inflamed. We do not
like the smarting, burning pain produced by their presence. If they
are detrimental during disease processes, they are just as detrimental
in health. The long continued use of minute quantities of an irritant
will incontrovertibly give ultimate evidence of its harmful nature,
and we may expect such pathology as congestion of the liver, catarrh
of the alimentary tract, hemorrhoids, nephritis, and general nutritive
disturbances to be the possible heritage of our stimulating diet.
It is an interesting scientific fact that the highly soluble substances
which are used as foods or food accessories are always irritating to
the living membranes, particularly to the mucous membranes of the
digestive organs with which they come in contact in the process of
digestion, whether these membranes are healthy or diseased. Among such
substances, we may mention sugar and salt.
Sugar and salt are excellent examples of the sapid, readily diffusible
condiment so essential to our table, yet so invariably used to excess.
We need about two teaspoonfuls of common salt a day--especially
those who enjoy the vegetarian diet. Most vegetables are rich in
potassium. This inorganic substance combines with sodium chloride, and
is eliminated from the body. Consequently, the greater the amount of
potassium in our food, the greater will be the loss of sodium chloride
from the blood and the tissues, where it is an essential element, with
the resultant need of an increased supply in our diet. Where there is
an insufficient use of salt, there is a manifest disinclination to
partake of the large variety of earth's products rich in potassium. But
we are accustomed to the use of far more salt with our food than is
necessary; and in excess, it is positively harmful, and the results of
its use are serious.
Sugar is a pure carbohydrate; yet, by reason of its nature and use,
it must be classed as a condiment. It, too, when used freely, brings
on gastrointestinal catarrh through its direct irritant action, and
affords unexcelled media for the growth of intestinal flora.
_Stimulants_
There are practically four strong stimulants to which civilized people
are addicted; namely, alcohol, tobacco, tea, and coffee. Of the action
of all, it may be said that the fatigue of nerve and brain is soothed
by a spur. That is the work of a stimulant,--to goad the worn system to
added effort, to produce an abnormal, false energy. Thus the individual
is led on to a state of actual exhaustion without a warning note from
his fatigued system. His energy is actually dissipated rather than
increased. The results are shown in his heart, his nervous system, and
his eliminative organs. Admiral Peary, speaking of the use of coffee
in the rations of polar explorers, states that with the added effect
of intense cold, it so stimulates the nerves as to cause the men to
exhaust themselves, and soon wear out, by doing more than they can
endure.
The actual extent of injury from the moderate use of tea and coffee has
not been scientifically determined. The difficulty is, as Irving Fisher
states it, "Sensitive people do not keep moderate." A little unnatural
stimulation calls for a little more, and the tendency is to create a
demand for something stronger. Fisher has truthfully declared that to
abstain is much easier than to be moderate.
The claim that alcoholic beverages give added strength is a fallacy.
The narcotic action of alcohol benumbs the sense of fatigue. From
reliable clinical and laboratory findings, we are warranted in
asserting with authority that alcohol lowers the power of all mental
processes. The muscular efficiency is reduced. The ability of the
body to protect itself against disease is undermined. The policemen
of the body--the white corpuscles--are rendered more or less
inactive--paralyzed; and the formation of other resistive elements of
the blood is restricted. In other words, vital resistance is below
par. Alcohol is furthermore a heart and circulatory depressant, and is
no longer used by competent physicians as a circulatory stimulant. In
short, it lowers mental and physical efficiency, and of course will
naturally give its stamp to the unfortunate offspring.
Tobacco, too, blunts the edge of fatigue and worry. But its effect
is transient, and the stimulation is followed by depression, which
of course calls for more of the stimulant. Statistics tell us that
where the weed is prohibited, efficiency is increased, and morale is
improved.
Among the serious consequences of smoking, we find cancer of lip,
tongue, and mouth, and serious cardiovascular changes. In a series
of one hundred cases of cancer of the tongue and mouth, Dr. Abbe, of
New York, found that ninety were inveterate users of tobacco; and he
gives the stimulant the credit of being the ætiological factor in a
high percentage of all malignant growths in this region. Tobacco not
only directly affects the heart muscle, but its nicotine, through
stimulation of the suprarenal gland, causes the production and throwing
into the blood of an excessive amount of adrenalin, which brings
about a tremendous rise in blood pressure, and of course an increase
in the burden that the heart must carry. The ultimate result is
arteriosclerosis, tobacco heart, nephritis, and very possibly a closing
of the scene with a paralytic stroke.
Professor Fisher very aptly appeals against the introduction of
more poisons into a system already burdened with poisons of its own
elaboration.
We are not at liberty to ignore nature and her laws. Our bodies are not
our own. When the Creator has opened to us of heaven's abundance for
the sustenance of life, and has given us a dietary that answers every
need of palate and body, we are palpably in error before our Maker when
we question His wisdom, and take into our systems those substances
which we know to be destructive to mind, soul, and body.
Our country, however, is blessed with an abundance of foodstuffs;
and if our people will economize in their use of food, providently
confining themselves to the quantities required for the maintenance
of health and strength, if they will eliminate waste, and if they
will make use of those commodities of which we have a surplus, and
thus free for export a larger proportion of those required by the
world now dependent on us, we shall not only be able to accomplish
our obligations to them, but we shall obtain and establish
reasonable prices at home.--_Woodrow Wilson._
[Illustration]
SIMPLE MENUS _and_ RECIPES
_by
Mr. H. S. ANDERSON_
Food Specialist, College of Medical Evangelists and
Loma Linda Sanitarium
The art of planning and combining the food for a meal is of no small
importance to the housewife or the cook. The very best foods may be
served in such combinations as to bring distress to the digestive
organs, and produce weakness instead of strength.
Because human beings differ so much, and their needs are so varied, it
is impossible to lay down any set of rules on diet alike for all. There
are general principles, however, by which all may be guided, and which,
if heeded, can accomplish more for the individual or the family, in
maintaining health, than all doctors' prescriptions. This is made plain
by the fact that it is better to know how to keep well than how to cure
disease.
It is therefore of great importance for those who have the
responsibility of planning for the table, to have a working knowledge
of the principles which guide in making out a balanced menu.
In the planning of a meal, careful study should be given to the
combination of foods. On the one hand, only such foods as digest well
together should be used at one meal. On the other hand, foods should
be chosen that will supply all the needed elements in about the right
proportion.
Because of the woody substances found in vegetables, especially the
coarse or fibrous vegetables, such as carrots, beets, turnips, cabbage,
potatoes, and others, they digest slowly, and consequently remain
a long time in the stomach before they are broken sufficiently for
intestinal digestion. Fruits remain in the stomach a short time, and,
owing to the large amount of saccharine matter they contain, are apt to
ferment if retained too long.
Fruit and vegetables therefore should not be eaten at the same meal.
This has special reference to the coarse and underground vegetables;
while the finer or fruity vegetables, such as green peas, corn, squash,
tomatoes, etc., and some others which also ripen in the sun, may be
used with almost any food.
A safe rule in planning a meal, is to be sure that the _soup_, the
_relishes_ (greens, salads, etc.), and the _dessert_, if used, combine
well together, as these are so generally used by nearly all classes
of people when placed on the menu. Then if fruit is used, in salad,
or as dessert, there should be on the menu at least one of the finer
vegetables, such as tomatoes, corn, or the like, which can be eaten
with the fruit; and if the meal is planned without fruit, any of the
coarser vegetables may be used as desired.
A large variety should not be planned for any one meal. It is a great
additional expense; and besides, when several articles are taken at
one meal, fermentation is likely to occur and the system will not be
so well nourished. Recent research work has shown that the digestive
juices vary both in kind and in quantity with different kinds of food
eaten. This may explain why many persons cannot digest complex mixtures
and extensive variety, and is a mighty argument for simplicity at
meal-time.
A select variety, of only a few kinds of food, at any one meal, with
diversity in the meals from day to day, will prove advantageous to the
individual and the family, both from the standpoint of economy, and
from the health point of view.
An excess of milk and sugar taken together clogs the system, and
should be avoided. Fats are more digestible cold than hot, because
hot fat tends to coat and intimately penetrate the food with which
it is cooked. This is especially true of fried foods, part of the
food being surrounded with a layer of fat, keeping the digestive
juices from acting on the other food elements. When subjected to a
high temperature, fats decompose, and the resulting acids are very
irritating to the mucous membranes of the stomach and the intestines.
The following combinations of food digest well together:
Grains, fruits, and nuts
Grains with milk
Grains with eggs
Grains, vegetables, and nuts
Foods that do not digest well together are:
Milk and sugar taken together, in large quantities
Fruit and vegetables
Foods cooked in fats
A balanced dietary is one that supplies in about the right proportion
all the kinds of food required to nourish the body. From the earliest
impressions of childhood, many persons have received the idea that the
most important article of diet is animal flesh. In most cases, this
idea has been accepted without question or thought, and probably has
never been challenged. A careful study of the subject, however, will
show that with the use of meat, there is great danger of an excess of
protein above the minimum requirements, there being thus placed upon
the liver and the kidneys an amount of work which should not be imposed
on these vitally important organs.
To combine foods in such a way as to supply all the needed elements,
we should choose something from each of the different classes of food
elements. There should also be among these such as supply sufficient
cellulose and mineral. To illustrate this point, a few menus will
be given that are extremely unbalanced, or one-sided, that we may
understand more forcibly, by contrast, what a good meal is:
1. Soy bean soup \
Lentil patties | / Too much building food
Cottage cheese | | Too concentrated
Custard pie | \ Too little bulk
Milk /
2. White rice \
Mashed potato |
Spaghetti | / Too much fuel food
White crackers | | Too little bulk and mineral
Butter | \ Lacks building food (protein)
Cake /
3. Vegetable soup \
Wax beans | / Too little building food
Lettuce | | Too little fuel food
Stewed beets | | Too bulky
Bran biscuit | | Lacking in nourishment
Strawberries / \ Bad combination
In order to make a balanced meal out of the above foods, it would be
necessary to choose something from each of these unbalanced meals, and
it would not be necessary to choose a large variety in order to supply
the needs of the body. Upon examination, we find that bread (entire
wheat) possesses properties which so nearly represent the constituent
parts of the body as to make such bread ideal for the building up and
keeping in repair of the human body. In the matter of building food
(protein), bread contains about ten per cent, or about the recognized
dietary requirement.
Bread is an exceedingly digestible food; and experiments taken as a
whole show nearly ninety-eight per cent of the starch, or carbohydrate
nutrients, and about eighty-eight per cent of the gluten, or protein
constituents, assimilated by the body. See Snyder's "Human Foods," page
179; also table, page 23.
Many other grains, such as corn, oats, rye, barley, and rice, all
contain heat- and energy-producing substances and tissue-forming
elements in about the right proportion to meet the needs of the body.
Exception is made of rice, which is slightly deficient in protein.
Bread of some kind, therefore, is the "backbone" of the meal. Around it
are grouped the various fruits and vegetables for change and variety,
alternating with one of the more solid foods, rich in protein, such
as cottage cheese, eggs, nuts, or any of the various legumes, as
peas, beans, lentils, etc. Of all the legumes, the soy bean takes
the lead for building food, containing nearly twice the per cent of
protein found in round steak. These more hearty foods should be used
with discretion, especially during the summer months, when well baked
breads, fruits, and green garden products constitute the ideal diet.
Potatoes, which are mostly starch, and eggs, which are largely albumen
and fat, may be combined in such a way as to furnish all the needed
elements in the right proportion. As rice is nearly all starch, and
beans are rich in protein, these make an excellent combination.
Nuts, rich in proteins and fats, and fruits, containing sugars and
acids, also make an ideal combination. To a meal composed largely of
rice and potatoes, which are deficient in fats, there may be added a
little cream, a few ripe olives, a few nuts, or an egg, to give a well
balanced ration.
The custom of eating a light lunch at noon, and reserving the heaviest
meal for the close of the day, while actuated to a great extent by
seeming necessities, or convenience, is not, as a rule, found a benefit
to health. As a result of a hearty meal at night, the digestive process
is continued through the sleeping hours; and though the stomach works
constantly, its work is not properly accomplished. The sleep is often
disturbed by unpleasant dreams; and in the morning, the person awakes
unrefreshed, and with little relish for breakfast.
The practice of eating but two meals a day is generally found a benefit
to health; yet under some circumstances, persons may require a third
meal. This should, however, if taken at all, be very light, and of
foods very easily digested, so that when we lie down to rest, the
stomach may have its work all done, and it, as well as the other organs
of the body, may enjoy rest.
In the following menus, some allowance is made for variety. Some
persons will not require everything named on the menu; and each person
will choose such things, and in such amounts, as experience and sound
judgment prove to be best suited to his own necessities.
_MENUS FOR ONE WEEK_
SUNDAY
_Breakfast_
STEAMED NATURAL RICE CREAM PEAS ON TOAST
STRAWBERRIES CORN BREAD MILK VEGETABLE BUTTER
_Dinner_
ENTIRE WHEAT BREAD BEANS WITH NOODLES
LETTUCE CORN ON COB CLUSTER RAISINS BUTTER
_Luncheon_
CREAMED RICE CORN MEAL CRISPS ZWIEBACK
PEACH SAUCE CEREAL COFFEE
_Steamed Rice._--Wash one cup of natural brown rice, and put to cook
in three cups of boiling water. Let boil gently until the water is
absorbed and the rice looks dry; then set on the edge of the stove,
well covered, to steam for fifteen minutes.
_Cream Peas on Toast._--One cup drained green peas, one third cup
water, three tablespoonfuls rich cream, salt. Bring the water and the
peas to a boil, mash through a colander to remove the hulls, and season
with cream and salt. Dip a slice of zwieback into hot milk to soften,
lay on a platter, cover with a spoonful of the cream of peas, and serve.
_Corn Bread._--One and one third cups corn meal, two tablespoonfuls
whole wheat flour, two and one half tablespoonfuls vegetable butter,
two tablespoonfuls brown sugar, one and one fourth teaspoonfuls salt,
one and one third cups boiling water, two eggs. Mix all the dry
ingredients in a bowl. Add the butter, and pour on the boiling water
in a _slow_ stream, stirring while it is being poured in. Add two or
three tablespoonfuls of cold water if needed to make a medium batter.
Separate the eggs, and beat the whites stiff. Beat the yolks, and fold
them into the whites. Add the corn mixture, and mix, using the folding
motion. Pour into an oiled shallow baking pan, and bake in a quick oven.
_Butter Substitutes_
Owing to the great increase in disease among animals, and along with
this, the advance in prices of nearly all foodstuffs, a desire has been
created for some substitute for dairy butter, which would prove both
wholesome and appetizing. The following butter substitutes are now
used to some extent both for cooking and for table use, and are easily
prepared:
_Emulsified Vegetable Oil._--Secure a high grade cottonseed, corn, or
peanut oil. Beat one egg slightly, then add the oil in a very slow
stream at first, beating continuously, and increase as the egg takes up
the oil. Add two teaspoonfuls lemon juice, then more oil, until three
cupfuls have been used, and the mixture is smooth and thick. Salt to
taste, put into a well covered jar, and use the same as butter.
_Vegetable Butter._--Take three cupfuls of any good coconut product on
the market, such as kokofat or kaola, or a good brand of hydrogenated
vegetable fat, as crisco.[A] Add the juice of half a lemon, salt to
taste, and a few drops of vegetable butter color. Mix with a spoon
until the color of dairy butter. The juice from carrots, grated and
pressed, may be used instead of the lemon juice and the butter color if
desired.
[Footnote A: NOTE.--The presence of a proprietary substance in a recipe
must not be understood as guarantee by the authors. We know very little
regarding the manufacture of the above named products; but we have
reason to believe they are wholesome, and contain no animal products.]
In harmony with the recent food pledge, saying, "Use no butter in
cooking," all the recipes in these menus are prepared without the use
of dairy butter. However, the same recipes may be prepared with dairy
butter instead of the vegetable fats if so desired.
_Beans with Noodles._--Wash one cup navy or Lima beans, add three cups
water and a little salt, and let boil gently until tender. Beat one
egg slightly, with two teaspoonfuls of water or milk and a pinch of
salt. Add one cup of pastry flour, or enough to make a stiff dough.
Knead well, and divide into two pieces. Roll out into thin sheets about
the thickness of paper, having the dough well floured. Let dry a few
minutes, then cut into strips about two inches wide. Lay in tiers, and
shred very fine with a sharp knife. Drain the liquid from the beans,
add to it enough water to make three cups of liquid, and add salt to
taste. Add two teaspoonfuls of vegetable butter, and bring to a boil.
Sprinkle the noodles into the boiling broth, and let cook gently for
fifteen minutes. Add the cooked beans, and shake together, reheat, and
serve. New peas may be substituted for beans when in season.
_Corn on Cob._--Husk full ears of corn, and brush off the silks with
a stiff brush. Wash, and drop into boiling water to which has been
added a little milk or lemon juice. Bring to a good boil; then draw the
saucepan to one side of the stove, and let simmer for twenty minutes.
_Entire Wheat Bread._--Three cups warm water, one half cake compressed
yeast, three tablespoonfuls brown sugar, two tablespoonfuls vegetable
fat, one tablespoonful salt, seven cups entire wheat flour. Dissolve
the yeast in two teaspoonfuls of water, add the liquid, and mix all the
ingredients to a medium _soft_ dough. Turn out on a slightly floured
board, and knead until elastic to the touch; then return to an oiled
bowl, cover, and let stand in a warm room to rise until, when tapped
sharply, it _begins_ to sink (about two hours). Work down well, turn
over in the bowl, and let rest until it begins to rise again (about
fifteen minutes); then mold into loaves, and put into pans for baking.
Brush over the top of each loaf with an oiled brush, and let rise until
half again its original bulk; then bake in a good oven. These coarse
breads must be watched closer during the rising than those made from
white flour, as they get light in much less time.
_Creamed Rice._--Heat some milk in a double boiler, and when it is
hot, add enough cooked rice to have it creamy, but not too soft. Add
a pinch of salt, and a little rich cream, if you have it at hand, and
serve.
_Corn Meal Crisps._--One cup white corn meal, one cup pastry flour,
one half teaspoonful salt, one tablespoonful brown sugar, two
tablespoonfuls vegetable fat, scant one half cup water. Mix all the dry
ingredients, add the oil, and rub between the hands to distribute the
fat through the grain. Add the water, and mix to a dough. Roll out to
a thickness of one fourth of an inch, cut with a biscuit cutter, prick
with a fork, and bake in a hot oven, to a light brown.
_Zwieback._--Cut stale bread into slices about one half inch thick. Lay
these in a baking pan, and put them into the warming oven until the
moisture is evaporated; then put them into a hot oven until they are a
light brown all the way through.
MONDAY
_Breakfast_
CREAM SCRAMBLED EGG WITH NEW TOMATO BUTTER
WHEAT PUFFS STEAMED PEARL BARLEY STEWED PRUNES
_Dinner_
SLICED TOMATO FARMER'S FAVORITE SOUP SPINACH
ROASTED POTATO WITH DRESSING EGG GRAVY BUTTER RYE BREAD
_Luncheon_
BAKED BANANA TOMATO SANDWICHES BLACKBERRIES
RYE BISCUIT MILK CRACKERS
_Steamed Pearl Barley._--Wash one cup pearl barley, and put to cook in
four cups boiling water. Add one fourth teaspoonful salt, and let boil
gently until the water is absorbed and the grain looks dry; then cover,
and set on the edge of the stove to steam for forty minutes. This grain
is preferably cooked on a hot stone in the fireless.
_Scrambled Egg with New Tomato._--Rub a large ripe tomato with the back
of a knife; then remove the skin, and cut the tomato into pieces. Put
it into a small pan, with one teaspoonful vegetable butter and a pinch
of salt, and bring to a boil. Break two eggs slightly with a fork,
put them into a hot oiled frying pan, and stir until they are soft
scrambled. Have the tomato drained, add the pulp to the scrambled eggs,
and mix, being careful not to cook the egg too much. Serve on toast.
_Wheat Puffs._--One and one fourth cups sifted pastry flour, one fourth
cup whole wheat flour, two teaspoonfuls melted vegetable butter, one
fourth teaspoon salt, one cup milk, one egg. Make a batter of the
flour, the salt, the milk, the egg yolk, and the butter, and stir
smooth. Beat the white stiff, and pour the batter into the beaten
white, mixing as it is being poured in, and using the folding motion,
so as not to break down the lightness of the egg. Pour into hot oiled
iron gem pans, and bake in a quick oven.
_Stewed Prunes._--Wash dried prunes thoroughly, and let them soak
overnight. Then bring them to a boil, and let simmer for two hours or
more, and they will need no sweetening.
_Farmer's Favorite Soup._--One half cup rich sour cream, one third cup
macaroni, one small onion, one stalk celery, one small carrot, one
medium sized potato, chopped parsley, salt. Drop the macaroni into
three cupfuls boiling salted water, and cook until thoroughly done.
Have the vegetables cut into small dice. Put the cream into a small
pan, and stir over the fire until the oil separates, and the albumen
turns a light brown color. The degree of browning determines the flavor
of the soup. Add the diced onion, carrot, and celery, and stir for a
few moments. Add three cupfuls water, the diced potato, and a little
salt, and cook until the vegetables are thoroughly done. Add the
macaroni water to the vegetable soup; then lay the macaroni on a board,
cut into small rings, and drop into the soup. Boil up well, add chopped
parsley, and serve.
_Roasted Potato._--Peel eight medium sized potatoes, and boil until
they are about half done; then drain them, and save the water. Lay the
potatoes in an oiled baking pan, brush with oil, sprinkle with salt and
flour, and put into a hot oven to brown.
_Baked Dressing._--Two cups soaked stale bread, one half cup milk,
three tablespoonfuls chopped onion, one and one half tablespoonfuls
vegetable butter, three tablespoonfuls browned flour, a pinch of sage
and marjoram, and salt to taste. Soak the bread in cold water until it
is soft all the way through, then press it out. Put the butter, the
onion, and the savory into a small pan, and let them simmer for a few
moments, to soften the onion, but do not brown. Add the brown flour,
then the milk, and stir smooth. Add the bread, salt to taste, and mix.
Bake in an oiled brick tin, or spread among the roasted potatoes when
they are partly browned, and finish baking them together.
_Egg Gravy._--Two tablespoonfuls vegetable fat, one teaspoonful chopped
onion, three tablespoonfuls flour, one egg, one and one half cups
potato water or almost any vegetable broth. Put the oil into a frying
pan, and when it is quite hot, add the whole egg. Break the yolk with
a fork, turn it over, and stir until brown over the entire surface.
Remove the brown egg from the oil, and chop with a knife. Add the flour
to the oil, and stir until a light brown. Add the onion, and stir;
then the chopped egg and one third of the water, and stir smooth. Add
the balance of the water, and boil up. Let simmer for ten minutes, and
serve. The egg may be omitted, if desired; but without it, the gravy
will have less flavor.
_Spinach._--Wash the greens in several waters. If the spinach is young
and tender, it can be cooked with no additional water beyond that
remaining on the leaves after washing. As the spinach ages, it absorbs
bitter flavor, and should then be cooked in boiling water, with the
_cover off_. When done, drain, cut with a knife, season with salt and a
little vegetable butter, reheat, and serve.
_Rye Bread._--Two cups warm water, one half cake compressed yeast,
one and one half tablespoonfuls vegetable fat, two tablespoonfuls
brown sugar, two teaspoonfuls salt, four cups white bread flour, three
cups rye flour. Dissolve the yeast in two teaspoonfuls water, add the
liquid, and beat in three cups best bread flour to a smooth batter.
Cover, and let stand in a warm room to rise for one and one half hours.
Add the salt, the sugar, and the oil, and beat into the sponge. Mix
in the rye flour and the remaining cup of white flour, to a medium
dough. Knead on a board until elastic to the touch, then return to an
oiled bowl, cover, and let rise the same as for entire wheat bread, in
Sunday's lesson. When ready to mold into loaves, roll out six buns, and
lay on an oiled pie tin, and let rise for _rye biscuit_. Divide the
remaining dough into two parts, and roll out into the shape of ordinary
rye bread loaves. Lay in an oiled baking pan, leaving space between.
Brush with an oiled brush, and cut three gashes across each loaf with a
sharp knife, and let rise until light, then bake in a quick oven.
_Baked Banana._--Select firm, rather ripe bananas, put them into the
oven without removing the skins, and bake until the skins burst. Then
remove from the oven, and serve in a folded napkin.
_Tomato Sandwiches._--Peel ripe tomatoes without scalding, by first
scraping them with the back of a knife; then cut into thin slices. Cut
bread into very thin slices, and spread one slice with butter, and the
opposite slice with mayonnaise or boiled dressing. Lay tomatoes between
the slices, cut in triangles, and serve.
TUESDAY
_Breakfast_
CANTALOUPE SAVORY HASH JELLIED EGG
MILK CORN DODGERS HONEY
_Dinner_
SLICED TOMATO NEW ENGLAND DINNER ENGLISH WALNUTS
ENTIRE WHEAT BREAD BUTTER CREAM RICE PUDDING
_Luncheon_
MILK TOAST RAISIN SANDWICH PEACH SAUCE
UNLEAVENED RYE WAFERS WATERMELON
_Savory Hash._--Two cups cold boiled potatoes cut in dice, three
fourths cup of the baked dressing as given in Monday's lesson, cold,
and cut into small dice, one and one half tablespoonfuls diced onion,
one and one half tablespoonfuls vegetable butter, one tablespoonful
brown flour, a pinch of sage or marjoram, one half cup milk, and salt
to taste. Put the butter, the onion, and the savory into a small pan,
and simmer for a few moments; then add the brown flour and a little of
the milk, and stir smooth. Add the balance of the milk, and boil up.
Salt to taste, and add the diced food. Sprinkle the diced potato with
a little salt, add the gravy mixture, and mix with a fork. Put into an
oiled baking pan, brush over the top with a little cream, and bake in a
hot oven to a nice brown.
_Jellied Egg._--Put one pint of water into a small, narrow saucepan,
and bring to a boil. Drop in one egg with a spoon, and set the saucepan
immediately on the table for from seven to eight minutes; then
serve. If more eggs are added, the amount of water must be increased
proportionately.
_Corn Dodgers._--One cup corn meal (preferably toasted lightly in
the oven), one and one half tablespoonfuls vegetable fat, one half
teaspoonful salt, one tablespoonful brown sugar, one and one half cups
boiling water. Mix all the dry ingredients, add the fat and pour on
the boiling water and stir smooth. A few more tablespoonfuls water may
be added if needed to make a batter of such a consistency as to drop
from a spoon, but not run. Drop from the side of a spoon, onto an oiled
baking pan, and bake in a quick oven.
_Corn Cake._--Use the above recipe, and spread in an oiled baking pan
one fourth inch deep, and bake in a hot oven.
_New England Dinner._--Six medium small potatoes, four small carrots,
four small turnips, six small onions, one half small cabbage, one and
one half tablespoonfuls vegetable butter, and salt to taste. Quarter
the peeled turnips and carrots. Add the onions whole, and put into a
saucepan with water enough to cover the vegetables, and salt, and bring
to a boil. Separate the cabbage leaves, and drop them into another
vessel of boiling water, to blanch them for five minutes; then drain,
and add to the boiling vegetables. Add the potatoes, and let boil
gently until nearly done; then add the vegetable butter, and let simmer
until thoroughly done.
_Cream Rice Pudding._--One half cup uncooked white rice, five cupfuls
milk, scant one third cup sugar, vanilla flavor. Wash the rice
thoroughly, add the milk, and cook in a double boiler for three fourths
of an hour. Add the sugar and the vanilla flavor, and pour into an
oiled baking pan and bake in a moderate oven. As soon as the first
crust forms, stir it down, at the same time stirring the rice. Then
allow the last crust to form and brown, and remove from the oven.
_Milk Toast._--Put a piece of zwieback into a bowl, pour scalding hot
milk over it, and serve.
_Raisin Sandwich._--Chop one half cup seeded raisins fine, and add
one fourth cup ground walnuts. Add one and one half tablespoonfuls
mayonnaise dressing and one teaspoonful lemon juice, and mix well.
Spread between slices of thinly buttered bread, cut in triangles, and
serve.
_Rye Wafers._--One cup rye flour, one cup pastry flour, two and one
half tablespoonfuls vegetable fat, two tablespoonfuls brown sugar, one
half teaspoonful salt, one half cup water, or barely enough to mix to
a stiff dough. Mix all the dry ingredients, add the oil, and rub the
flour between the hands to distribute the oil evenly. Add the water
very slowly, stirring meantime to avoid getting any part of the flour
wet and sticky. Work on the board until mixed, then roll out to one
fourth inch thickness, cut with a biscuit cutter, prick with a fork,
and bake in a hot oven to a light brown.
_Rye Sticks._--Take the above dough, roll out one half inch thick,
cut into long strips about one third inch wide, then crosswise into
three-inch lengths. Lay in a baking pan, leaving a little space
between, and bake to a light brown color.
WEDNESDAY
_Breakfast_
STEWED CHERRIES STEAMED WHEAT PLAIN OMELET
CREAM CORN MEAL PUFFS BUTTER
_Dinner_
VEGETABLE JULIENNE SOUP STRING BEANS MACARONI FAMILY STYLE
BUTTER RAISED CORN BREAD WATERMELON
_Luncheon_
WHEAT GRUEL STEWED PRUNES RYE STICKS ZWIEBACK
GRAPES MILK
_Steamed Wheat._--Pick over one cup of wheat, and wash in several
waters. Let soak overnight; then drain, add four cups boiling water,
and let boil slowly until the water is evaporated and the wheat looks
dry. Cover, and let stand on the edge of the stove to steam for forty
minutes. This grain is best cooked on a hot stone in fireless overnight.
_Plain Omelet._--One egg, one tablespoonful milk, a pinch of salt. Beat
the yolk until thick, add the milk, and mix well. Add a pinch of salt
to the white, and beat stiff. Fold the yolk into the white, and pour
the mixture into a hot oiled fry pan, and set into the oven until just
barely _set_. While still in the pan, turn one half of the omelet over
the other half, by slipping a knife under one side and turning it over
on the other section. Invert on a hot platter, and serve.
_Corn Meal Puffs._--One cup pastry flour, one third cup corn meal, one
half teaspoonful salt, two teaspoonfuls vegetable butter, one scant cup
milk, one egg separated. Make a batter of the milk, the flour, the corn
meal, the salt, the melted fat, and the egg yolk, and stir smooth. Beat
the white stiff, and fold the batter into it. Pour into hot oiled iron
gem pans, and bake in a quick oven.
_Vegetable Julienne Soup._--One medium small potato, one small carrot,
one small turnip, one stalk celery, one half cup cauliflowerlets or
string beans, peas, or any fresh green vegetable, one small tomato, one
teaspoonful vegetable butter, two cups cold water, two cups vegetable
broth, salt to taste. Cut all the coarse vegetables into very thin
shreds, and put into a small pan with the vegetable butter and one
fourth cup water, and let simmer until the moisture is absorbed;
then add the rest of the water, and boil up. Add the cut potato and
tomato and the vegetable broth. Salt to taste, and let cook until the
vegetables are thoroughly done. Add a sprinkle of chopped parsley, and
serve.
_Macaroni Family Style._--One cup macaroni raw, one cup tomato pulp,
one tablespoonful vegetable butter, one tablespoonful chopped onion,
a sprinkle of sage or thyme, one egg, and salt to taste. Break the
macaroni into inch lengths, drop into salted boiling water, and let
cook until thoroughly done; then drain in a colander. Put the butter,
the onion, and the savory into a small pan, and simmer for a few
moments, but do not brown. Add the tomato, bring to a boil, and salt to
taste. Pour the hot sauce into the egg, stirring as it is being poured
in. Add the cooked macaroni, pour all into an oiled baking pan, and
bake to a light brown.
_String Beans._--Select young and tender beans, string them, and break
them into short lengths. Wash, and lift them out of the water; put into
a saucepan with enough boiling water to cover the beans. Add salt, and
let cook gently, having the cover drawn to one side of the saucepan.
When done, add a little vegetable butter and serve. When the beans are
aged, they should be lifted out of the water and put into a covered
vessel containing a little hot vegetable oil, and stirred over the fire
for ten minutes before the water is added to them; and when cooked,
they will be very tender.
_Raised Corn Bread._--In order to incorporate in corn bread enough
moisture so that it will not dry out after baking, a certain proportion
of the liquid used may be poured over the meal boiling hot; thus the
needed moisture is absorbed before making into bread, as follows:
Three cups water, one half cake compressed yeast, four cups best bread
flour, two cups corn meal, one tablespoon salt, three tablespoons
sugar, two tablespoons vegetable fat. Sift the flour into a large bowl,
and leave space at one side of the flour for the sponge. Dissolve the
yeast in two teaspoons water, add one cup warm water, and pour on one
side of the flour. Stir enough flour into this liquid to make a thin,
smooth batter. Cover, and set in a warm room until light (about one
and one half hours). Put the corn meal into a small bowl, and pour on
gradually, in a slow stream, two cups boiling water, stirring as it is
poured in, and let stand one half hour.
When the sponge is sufficiently light, add the salt, the sugar, and the
vegetable fat, and mix well. Add the scalded and warm corn meal, and
mix all into a soft dough. Turn out on a floured board, and knead until
elastic to the touch. Then return to an oiled bowl, cover, let rise,
and finish the same as for entire wheat bread.
_Wheat Gruel._--Take the steamed wheat left over from breakfast, add
water to cover, and let cook gently until well done. Mash through a
strainer, season with salt and a little cream or canned milk, and serve.
_Rye Sticks._--The recipe for rye sticks is given following the recipe
for rye wafers in Tuesday's lesson.
THURSDAY
_Breakfast_
BUTTER BAKED GARBANZOS WITH APPLE SAUCE CREAM
GRANO CEREAL WITH DATES ENTIRE WHEAT BREAD
_Dinner_
SLICED TOMATO NAVY BEAN SOUP ARMY STYLE STEWED CARROTS
NOODLES AU GRATIN RYE BREAD BUTTER STEAMED RAISINS
_Luncheon_
NUT AND JELLY SANDWICHES
BANANA RICE BUCKWHEAT STICKS RHUBARB SAUCE
_Grano Cereal._--Two cups pastry flour, one third cup rolled oats, one
fourth cup corn meal, one fourth teaspoonful salt, large one half cup
water. Mix all the dry ingredients, and add the water slowly, stirring
constantly to a very stiff dough. Knead a few moments, then roll out
one fourth inch thick. Cut into strips about three inches wide, prick
with a fork, lay in a baking pan, and bake in a medium oven until a
very light brown and fairly crisp. When cool, grind through a food
chopper, using a coarse knife. Serve with milk or cream.
_Grano with Dates._--Two cups water, one cup grano cereal, one half cup
washed and pitted dates, a pinch of salt. Bring the water to a boil,
and sprinkle in the grano. Stir until thick, then add the dates, and
serve with cream.
_Baked Garbanzos (chick peas)._--Wash one cup garbanzos, and soak
overnight. Drain, add two cups boiling water, and let boil gently until
thoroughly done, or cook in fireless overnight. Return to the fire, add
salt to taste, and let cook gently until the liquid is reduced; then
put into the oven in a covered dish, and bake until they begin to brown
slightly on the bottom.
_Navy Bean Soup Army Style._--One cup navy beans, seven cups water, two
thirds cup diced carrot, one third cup diced onion, one tablespoonful
vegetable butter, salt to taste. Wash the beans, and cook very slowly
until tender, adding the salt when they are about half done. Put the
butter, the diced carrot, and the onion into a small pan with three
tablespoonfuls water, and stir over the fire until the water is
absorbed; then add to the bean soup, and let boil gently for thirty
minutes or more. Add a sprinkle of chopped parsley, and serve.
_Stewed Carrots._--Two cups sliced young carrots, one and one half
cups hot water, two teaspoonfuls vegetable butter, one teaspoon flour,
salt. Wash and scrape young carrots, and slice quite thin. Add the
hot water, and salt to taste, and let cook gently until the liquid is
reduced to one half cup. Rub the flour and the butter smooth in a small
pan. Add one third of the liquid, and stir smooth. Add the balance of
the liquid, and boil up. Add the carrots, reheat, and serve. A little
rich cream or canned milk may be added if desired.
_Noodles au Gratin._--Roll out and cut noodles the same as given in
recipe for Sunday dinner. Sprinkle into boiling salted water, and cook
the same as macaroni, or about fifteen minutes. Drain well, saving the
liquid for gravies or sauces. Make a cream sauce by rubbing together in
a saucepan two tablespoonfuls vegetable butter and two tablespoonfuls
flour; then add one third cup hot milk, and stir smooth. Add two thirds
cup more milk, boil up, and salt to taste. Add enough of the cream
sauce to the noodles to flavor them and not have them too soft. Pour
into an oiled baking pan, and grate fresh bread crumbs over the top,
pressing them down with a spoon to moisten them. Sprinkle with cream or
bits of butter, and bake to a nice brown.
_Steamed Raisins._--Dip cluster raisins into water, drain, and lay
between two pie tins; put into the oven until hot through; then serve.
_Banana Rice._--Take the recipe for creamed rice as given in the lesson
for Sunday evening luncheon. Slice one large banana, sprinkle with a
little sugar, mix lightly into the hot creamed rice, and serve.
_Nut and Jelly Sandwiches._--Add finely chopped or ground walnuts to
jelly in the proportion to spread nicely on bread. Cut bread into very
thin slices. Spread one slice with butter, and the opposite slice with
the nut mixture. Fold together, cut in triangles, and serve.
_Buckwheat Sticks._--One cup pastry flour, one cup buckwheat flour, one
half teaspoonful salt, two and one half tablespoonfuls vegetable fat,
two tablespoonfuls brown sugar, scant one half cup water, or barely
enough to mix the flour to a stiff dough. Mix all the dry ingredients,
add the fat, and rub between hands to distribute the oil evenly. Add
the water very slowly, stirring meantime; and as soon as the flour can
be worked together by sufficient moisture, lay on the board, and work
for a few moments; then roll out to one third inch thickness. Cut into
strips one third inch in width, then crosswise into sticks three inches
long. Lay in a baking pan, leaving a little space between, and bake to
a very light brown.
_Buckwheat Wafers._--Take the above dough, roll out one fourth inch
thick, cut with a biscuit cutter, prick with a fork, and bake the same
as sticks.
FRIDAY
_Breakfast_
POACHED EGG CORN MEAL WITH RAISINS CANTALOUPE
CREAM BAKED POTATO RYE BREAD BUTTER
_Dinner_
CUCUMBERS CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP STEWED CORN
VEGETABLE LOAF COUNTRY GRAVY BUTTER ENTIRE WHEAT BREAD
_Luncheon_
FRUIT SOUP CORN FLAKES CREAM BUCKWHEAT WAFERS
WATERMELON APPLES ZWIEBACK
_Corn Meal with Raisins._--Wash one half cup raisins, and put them
between two pie tins in the oven until hot through. Put one cup corn
meal into a baking pan, and toast lightly in the oven; then sprinkle it
gradually into three and one half cupfuls of boiling water, with one
fourth teaspoonful salt, and let cook gently for ten minutes. Add the
raisins, let cook for twenty minutes more, and serve.
_Poached Egg._--Bring water to a boil in a saucepan, break the egg
into a separate dish, and drop carefully into the boiling water. Set
immediately to one side of the stove until the egg is firm enough to
remove, and the white will be tender and jellylike.
_Cream of Tomato Soup._--Two cupfuls strained tomato, one cupful water,
two teaspoonfuls vegetable butter, one tablespoonful light brown
flour, one cupful canned milk or rich cream, salt to taste. Bring the
water, the tomato, and the butter to a boil. Thicken with the flour
made smooth with a little cold water. Salt to taste, add canned milk
(unheated), strain, and serve. If cream is used, omit the butter.
_Vegetable Loaf._--One and one half cups soaked stale bread, three
fourths cup cooked and left-over food (brown beans preferred), one and
one half tablespoonfuls vegetable butter, two teaspoonfuls chopped
onion, a sprinkle of sage and marjoram, one tablespoonful brown flour,
one third cup milk, one egg, and salt to taste. Soak the bread in cold
water until soft all the way through; then press out lightly. Put the
butter, the onion, and the savory into a small pan, and simmer for a
few moments. Add the brown flour, then the milk, and stir until smooth.
Mash the beans with a spoon, beat the egg slightly, and mix all the
ingredients. Bake in an oiled baking pan until set, and brown on the
top. Loosen with a knife along the edge, turn out on a platter, and
serve.
_Country Gravy._--Cook down a little sour cream in a pan until the oil
separates and the albumen turns a very light brown color; then add
enough flour (previously browned in the oven) to take up the fat from
the cream. Add a little hot milk, and stir smooth. Add more milk, and
bring to a boil and the thickness of medium thin gravy.
_Stewed Corn._--Take cooked corn cut off the cob, add a little hot
water, and bring to a boil. Season with a little cream or vegetable
butter, reheat, and serve.
_Fruit Soup._--Two cups blackberry or strawberry juice, four
tablespoonfuls sago, two teaspoonfuls lemon juice, two cups water,
sugar to taste. Wash the sago, drain, add to two cups boiling water,
and let cook until clear. Add the fruit juices, and sweeten to taste.
Preferably served cold.
_Buckwheat Wafers._--This recipe follows the recipe given for buckwheat
sticks in Thursday's lesson.
SATURDAY
_Breakfast_
CREAM HOMINY GRAPEFRUIT STEWED PRUNES
SOY TOAST BUTTER RYE BREAD
_Dinner_
LETTUCE WHOLE RICE WITH NEW PEAS COTTAGE CHEESE
SUMMER SQUASH RAISIN PIE ENTIRE WHEAT BREAD
_Luncheon_
FIGS MILK TOAST PEAR SAUCE
CREAM ROLLS CEREAL COFFEE
_Cream Hominy._--Heat a little cream, or a little milk and a small
seasoning of vegetable butter. Add enough lye hominy to make the food
creamy and not too milky. Add a pinch of salt, and serve.
_Soy Toast._--Duplicate the recipe for cream peas on toast, as given in
Sunday's breakfast lesson, substituting thoroughly cooked and mashed
soy beans for the peas, and serve.
_Whole Rice with Peas._--One half cup uncooked natural brown rice, one
and one half cups boiling water, one and one half cups cooked new peas,
one tablespoonful vegetable butter, two teaspoonfuls flour, salt. Wash
the rice thoroughly, put to cook in one and one half cups boiling
water, and let boil steadily until the water is evaporated and the rice
looks dry; then cover, and let stand on the edge of the stove to steam
for fifteen minutes. Add enough hot water to the peas to cover them,
salt to season, and let cook gently until the liquid is reduced to one
half cupful, and the peas are tender. Rub the flour and the butter
together in a saucepan. Add a little of the liquid from the peas, and
stir smooth. Add the balance of the liquid, and boil up. Add the peas
to the rice, pour on the thin sauce, and mix with a fork. Put into a
covered dish, and set into the oven until hot through.
_Summer Squash._--Wash the squash, peel very thinly, remove the seeds
if they are large, and steam the squash until tender. Mash, season with
a little cream or vegetable butter, and serve.
_Raisin Pie._--One and one half cupfuls seedless sultana raisins, two
cupfuls water, one tablespoonful lemon juice, one scant tablespoonful
cornstarch, one third cup sugar, one teaspoonful vegetable butter. Wash
the raisins thoroughly, and soak overnight. Bring to a boil with the
two cupfuls water; then add the sugar mixed with the starch, a pinch
of salt, and let boil for about ten minutes, or until the liquid is
reduced suitably for one pie. Let cool.
_Pie Crust._--One and one fourth cups pastry flour, four tablespoonfuls
solid vegetable fat, one eighth teaspoonful salt, about three
tablespoonfuls water. Add the salt and the shortening to the flour,
and mix with the finger tips. Add the water very slowly, mixing with
a fork, as it runs in, to a soft, light dough. Line the bottom of a
pie tin with crust, being careful to press the crust well down into
the tin; then pour on the stewed raisins. Add the lemon juice and the
vegetable butter; then cover with a perforated top crust, having the
edges wet, so as to stick the crusts together. Brush over the top with
milk, and bake in a quick oven.
_Cream Rolls._--One and one third cups pastry flour, two thirds cup
whole wheat flour, one half teaspoonful salt, one teaspoonful sugar,
one third cup double cream, one fourth cup cold water. Mix the water
and the cream thoroughly. Put all the dry ingredients into a bowl,
and pour on the wetting in a very slow stream, stirring constantly,
so as to get the moisture evenly blended through the flour. Work into
a dough, roll out to about one half inch thickness, and cut into long
strips about one third inch in width. Roll each piece on the board,
and cut into three-inch lengths. Lay in a baking pan, leaving a little
space between, and bake in a medium oven, to a light brown.
[Illustration]
_The_ USE _of_ LEFT-OVERS
_by
Dr. LAVINA BAXTER-HERZER_
Department of Pathology and Bacteriology,
College of Medical Evangelists,
Loma Linda, California
At the present time, when the conservation of food is such a vital
question, the use of left-overs becomes a very important matter for
consideration. The following are a few simple suggestions that may
prove helpful.
First of all, we should plan, as far as possible, to avoid having much
food left. One of the simplest means of accomplishing this is to serve
fewer foods at a meal. Variety may be had at different meals.
By planning beforehand, we can serve such foods at one meal as will
combine nicely when warmed the next day or the next meal.
For example: In all large hotels, when navy bean soup is served army
style, carrots are always served in some way. In order to make the
broth sufficiently rich, more beans are cooked than are served as
soup. The next day, these, with the carrots, are put through a soup
strainer, properly seasoned, and served as puree a la Crecy.
Again, when planning tomato rice soup, cook a little extra rice in the
tomato broth. When serving the soup, use only what rice is necessary.
The thick remainder is very good baked in some acceptable preparation
the next day. A little grated onion or a chopped bell pepper may be
used for seasoning, if desired.
_A Housewife's Test_
After meals, the first thing that should claim the housewife's
attention is the food that remains uneaten. Just here is one of the
tests of her ability to do her part in conserving her family food
supply. It is quicker, perhaps, to scrape everything into the garbage
pail; and it is said that at least twenty per cent of all foods brought
into American kitchens is lost in this way. This loss either decreases
the amount of food the family should have, or raises the cost of living
that much.
If food is to be kept over, it should be put into dishes of proper
size, and put in a cool place, away from the flies and the dust.
The sooner these left-overs are used, the better, as they naturally
deteriorate by standing.
In case of fresh fruit, it may be heated, if there is any doubt as to
its keeping.
Apple peelings and cores make excellent jelly, as most of the pectin
is found near the skin and the seeds. Care should be taken to wash the
apples well before paring, and remove any wormy parts.
All butter scraps should be saved, and may be used for cooking. If the
family is properly taught, however, there will be very little left on
the plates.
Left-over bread may be used for toast, bread pudding, or pressed fruit
pudding, if unbroken. The broken pieces and the crumbs may be dried and
used for dressing, or broken or rolled and served with milk instead of
fresh bread.
Buns, muffins, and gems may be moistened and reheated. A loaf of very
stale bread may be freshened in the same way.
Left-over vegetables may be reheated, and used for salad, or for
flavoring soups, if put through a soup strainer.
Salads do not keep well; and for that reason, care should be taken not
to prepare more than is likely to be eaten. If a little is left, it may
be used for a pick-up lunch, perhaps. Small portions of dessert may be
used in the same way.
Milk or cream that is left may be sterilized and put in a cool place.
Left-over grains may be used for making gruels, which are very good for
lunch; or if only a small amount remains, it may be used for thickening
soup. If there is a sufficient amount, steamed raisins or dates may be
added, and then it may be put into molds to cool. This may be served
with cream or some pudding sauce, making a simple dessert for either
dinner or lunch. Cream of wheat, rolled wheat, farina, and Graham are
especially nice served in this way.
Many housewives cook an extra amount of corn meal in order to have some
left, as it is better warmed up than at the first. It is good mixed
with croutons, rolled in corn flakes, browned, and served with jelly
or maple sirup. To mix with rice or any nut food, season, form into
patties, and serve with tomato sauce, is another method.
When warming potatoes, if the supply is scant, many persons add a slice
of stale bread broken up.
The vegetable loaf given in Mr. Anderson's recipes may be varied, and
any kind of beans or peas used to make it. Served with a good gravy,
it makes a substantial dish for dinner.
By using a choux paste, left-over rice, macaroni, spaghetti, any kind
of beans, peas, or lentils may be made into patties or croquettes. They
may be served with gravy or jelly, and their original form scarcely be
recognized when they appear on the table next time.
To make the choux paste, take one and one half tablespoons of butter,
dairy or vegetable, one tablespoon of chopped onion, and a pinch of
sage. Put in a small saucepan, and stir over the fire a few minutes,
but do not brown. Add three tablespoons of flour, and stir until it
is thoroughly scalded. Then add one third cup of milk, and stir until
smooth. Drop into this mixture the yolk of one egg, and stir until it
is well cooked. It should be a thick, smooth paste when done. Part of
this may be used one day, and the rest saved for another time.
As the housewife seeks to make use of all remnants of food, new
possibilities will gradually open before her, and her efforts will
become a real pleasure rather than a task.
The call is, therefore, to YOU to do your part; and in the doing,
you will bind yourself to the whole army of women who are serving
their country.
--_Dr. Anna Howard Shaw._
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes:
Obvious punctuation and spelling errors repaired.
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