CHAPTER III_What to eat and when

CLASSIFICATION OF FOODS

In the previous chapters, we have given the classification of the

elements in foods (foodstuffs) which supply the body needs. In this

chapter the foods commonly used are classified according to the

predominance of these elements.

_CARBONACEOUS FOODS_

While all foods contain a combination of elements, some contain a

greater proportion of carbohydrates and fats, and are classed as

_carbonaceous_.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: Roots and Tubers]

Of the carbohydrates, next in importance to the sugars and to the

starches in their purest form (cornstarch, tapioca, sago, and

arrowroot), come the roots and tubers, such as potatoes, sweet

potatoes, beets, parsnips, turnips, and onions.

The following table shows the proportion of various foodstuffs in these

vegetables. The skins of the vegetables are included.

TABLE I

ROOTS AND TUBERS

——————————————+—————————+—————————+—————————+—————————+—————+——————————

Sweet Potatoes| 69.4 | 1.5 | 0.3 | 26.2 | 2.6 | 440

White Potatoes| 75.0 | 2.1 | 0.2 | 22.0 | 0.7 | 295

Parsnips | 64.4 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 10.8 | 1.1 | 230

Onions | 86.0 | 1.9 | 0.1 | 11.3 | 0.7 | 225

Beets | 87.0 | 1.4 | 0.1 | 7.3 | 0.7 | 160

Carrots | 88.2 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 8.2 | 6.0 | 210

Turnips | 92.7 | 0.9 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 120

_Potatoes._ It will be noted from the table given above that sweet

potatoes contain a larger percentage of carbohydrates, hence they

produce more heat and energy than any other vegetable; next to the

sweet potato comes the Irish or white potato.

While the white potato contains two per cent. of protein, this is

almost all located in a very thin layer immediately beneath the skin,

so that when the potato is peeled in the ordinary way, the protein is

removed. This is true of many vegetables. They lose their distinctive

flavor, as well as their value as tissue-building foods, when the skins

are removed, especially before cooking. Many vegetables may be peeled

after being cooked and their value in nutrition is thus increased.

All tubers gain in dietetic value if they are cooked in their skins,

the thin outer covering being removed after the cooking process is

completed. The ordinary cook, however, is unwilling to take the trouble

to prepare them in this way.

In vegetables as usually prepared for the table the proportion of

carbohydrates is increased and the proportion of protein is diminished.

The skins render many of the foods unsightly, hence they are discarded

in the preparation for cooking.

When a potato is baked the outer skin is readily separated from the

less perceptible layer containing the protein. Potatoes boiled in their

skins retain the protein.

In the white potato, of the twenty-two per cent. of carbohydrates,

three and two-tenths per cent. is sugar and eighteen and eight-tenths

per cent. is starch. In the sweet potato ten and two-tenths per cent.

is sugar and sixteen per cent. is starch.

Since sugar digests more quickly than starch, the sweet potato digests

more quickly than the white. Because of the large percentage of

carbohydrates in each, it is a mistake to eat these two vegetables at

the same meal, unless the quantity of each is lessened. For the same

reason, bread and potatoes, or rice and potatoes, should not be eaten

to any extent at the same meal, unless by one who is doing heavy manual

labor, requiring much energy.

_Onions._ Only about four per cent. of the onion represents

nourishment; the eleven and three-tenths per cent. of carbohydrates

is made up of two and eight-tenths per cent. sugar and the rest of

extractives. Of the extractives the volatile oil, which causes the eyes

to water when onions are peeled, is the most important.

The onion is not, therefore, so important for its actual nourishing

qualities as for its relish and flavor, and for this it is to be

commended.

It is a diuretic, encouraging a free action of the kidneys. Because of

its diuretic value it is commonly called a healthful food. An onion and

lettuce sandwich stimulates the action of the kidneys and is a nerve

sedative.

The volatile oil makes the raw onion difficult for some to digest and,

in that case, should be omitted from the diet.

_Beets._ There is no starch in beets, their seven and three-tenths

per cent. of carbohydrates being sugar. They possess, therefore, more

nutritive value than onions, and they are easily digested. It will be

noted that it takes many beets to make a pound of sugar.

There are no more delicate or nutritious greens than the stem and leaf

of the beet. These greens contain much iron and are valuable aids in

building up the iron in the blood, thus aiding in the correction of

anemia.

_Carrots._ Carrots are valuable as food chiefly on account of their

sugar. They are somewhat more difficult of digestion than beets and

they contain more waste. They make a good side dish, boiled and served

with butter or cream.

_Turnips._ Turnips have little value as a food. Their nutriment is

in the sugar they contain. For those who enjoy the flavor they are

a relish, serving as an appetizer, and, like the onion, are to be

recommended as a side dish for this purpose.

_Parsnips._ Like carrots, parsnips are chiefly valuable for their sugar

and for the extractives which act as appetizers.

Since turnips, carrots, onions, and parsnips owe a part of their

nutritive value to the extractives which whet the appetite for other

foods, it follows that, if one does not enjoy their flavor or their

odor, these vegetables lose in value to that individual as a food.

If one does enjoy the flavor, it adds to their food value, therefore

_taste for the flavors of all foods should be cultivated_.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: Green Vegetables]

The question may be asked with reason: “Why do we eat green

vegetables?” They contain only about four per cent. nutriment, as

will be seen in Table II, and are mostly made up of water and pulp.

It will be noted that they are distinctly lacking in protein and in

carbohydrates; hence, they have little food value.

Some of them, however, contain acids which tend to increase the

alkalinity of the blood, and salts which are needed by the system.

Their merit lies in the fact that they have distinct flavors and thus

whet the appetite. Another reason why green vegetables are thoroughly

enjoyed is because they come in the spring, when the appetite is a

little surfeited with the winter foods.

They are diuretic, helping the kidneys and the skin to rid the system

of waste.

Because of their bulk of waste they are useful in constipation as

they act as a stimulus to the peristaltic action of the bowels; thus

they are more laxative to the intestines than the root vegetables,

partly because of the salts which they contain and partly because of

the undigested vegetable fiber. This vegetable fiber, being coarse,

assists in cleansing the mucous lining of the stomach and intestines.

They are diuretic and, if for no other reason than for this cleansing

of the kidneys, and to make the stomach and intestines more efficient,

the use of green vegetables is to be commended, and it is well to eat

freely of them.

TABLE II

GREEN VEGETABLES

—————————+—————+—————————+—————+—————————+———————+—————————+—————————

—————————+—————+—————————+—————+—————————+———————+—————————+—————————

Cabbage |89.6 | 1.80 | 0.4 | 5.8 | 1.3 | 1.1 | 165

Spinach |90.6 | 2.50 | 0.5 | 3.8 | 1.7 | 0.9 | 120

Marrow |94.8 | 0.06 | 0.2 | 2.6 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 120

Tomatoes |91.9 | 1.30 | 0.2 | 5.0 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 105

Lettuce |94.1 | 1.40 | 0.4 | 2.6 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 105

Celery |93.4 | 1.40 | 0.1 | 3.8 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 85

Rhubarb |94.6 | 0.70 | 0.7 | 2.3 | 0.6 | 1.1 | 105

Cress |93.1 | 0.70 | 0.5 | 8.7 | 1.3 | 0.1 | 110

Cucumbers|95.9 | 0.80 | 0.1 | 2.1 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 10

Asparagus|91.7 | 2.20 | 0.2 | 2.9 | 0.9 | 2.1 | 110

Sprouts |93.7 | 1.50 | 0.1 | 3.4 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 95

(string)| 8.92| 2.3 | 0.3 | 7.4 | 0.8 | 7.0 | 195

(dried) |12.6 | 22.5 | 1.8 | 59.6 | 3.5 | 0.0 | 1605

shelled)|74.6 | 7.0 | 0.5 | 16.9 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 465

—————————+—————+—————————+—————+—————————+———————+—————————+—————————

In larger cities, fresh vegetables are in the markets the year around,

but if they are raised in greenhouses, or in any way forced, they lack

the flavor which comes with natural maturity and they also lack the

full amount of iron given by the rays of the sun. If raised in the

south and shipped from a distance, they are not fresh and they do not

have as good an effect on the system as when fresh and fully matured by

the sun.

_Greens_, as spinach, chard, dandelions, and beet tops, as previously

stated, contain iron and build red blood corpuscles.

_Cabbage_, of which there are many varieties, contains much sulphur. If

fermentation exists in the intestines the sulphur unites with hydrogen

causing gas of an unpleasant odor.

They promote the formation of calcium oxalate in the urine and should

be avoided as a food by any one inclined to gout, rheumatism, or

gall-stones.

Cabbage is usually not well digested by invalids.

Eaten raw, because of its bulk, it is laxative. Some dyspeptics, who

cannot digest cooked cabbage, digest raw cabbage readily.

_Celery_ is wholesome when cooked, because of the milk and butter in

which it is prepared. Eaten raw the fiber is hard for the digestive

juices to dissolve and should be thoroughly masticated. It has little

nutritive value save for its appetizing flavor.

Because of the salts, largely sulphates and phosphates, which it

contains, celery has been called a nerve food, but the proportion of

these is so small that their food value is negligible.

_Tomatoes_ are easily digested and are refreshing. They are not well

borne by some and on account of the oxalic acid they contain should not

be used by those having an excess of uric acid.

_Asparagus_, because of its delicate flavor and appearance early in

spring, is a vegetable universally liked. It is easily digested and may

be eaten by invalids; they usually greatly relish it. Its particular

food value lies in its sulphur and in its value as an appetizer.

_Rhubarb_ is one of the most wholesome of vegetables and is being much

more widely used. Thoroughly cooked it is digestible and a natural

laxative.

Its tart flavor and appearance in early spring render it a pleasant

change from the ordinary diet. Eaten in excess, like cabbage, it

produces calcium oxalate in the urine and should not be eaten in large

amounts by those inclined to gout.

All fresh vegetables should be masticated to almost a fluid

consistency; otherwise, they are difficult of digestion, containing, as

they do, so much fiber.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: Fruits]

Technically speaking, fruits include all plant products which bear

or contain a seed. They are valuable for their acids and organic

salts—citrates, malates, or tartrates of potassium, sodium, magnesium,

and calcium.

They are composed for the most part of starch, sugar, water, and

various organic acids, cellulose, and pectin. (Pectin is the substance

which jellies under heat.) Fruits which do not contain pectin must be

combined with others which do, or with gelatin, if jelly from them is

desired.

The organic acids in fruits are readily split up in the body, and

form alkalis. For this reason acid fruits are useful in certain acid

conditions of the stomach, because they combine with the stomach acids,

liberating substances which cause an alkaline reaction.

The citrus fruits—oranges, lemons, grapefruit and limes—are rich in

citric acid.

Malic acid is found in gooseberries, peaches, pears, apples, currants,

and apricots.

Tartaric acid is prominent in grapes.

The value of fruits as a food depends largely on the amount of starch

and sugar they contain, though their agreeable odor and taste, by

furnishing variety in the diet, render them, also, of great value as

appetizers.

As a rule they contain too much water to be of great food value if

eaten alone.

The organic acids and salts contained in fruits are of value as they

stimulate the activity of the kidneys and lessen the acidity of the

urine. The urine may even be rendered alkaline by them; hence, when

a test shows evidence of too much uric acid, acid fruits are used to

neutralize the acids in the tissues, particularly the acids of the

citrus fruits.

The fruit juices are readily absorbed and the potassium calcium,

sodium, and magnesium they contain are liberated with the formation of

alkaline carbonates.

These alkalis are largely eliminated through the kidneys, which

accounts for the diuretic effect of fruits, their acids and salts

stimulating the activity of the kidneys.

The seeds in the small fruits are not digested, but they serve the

purpose of increasing intestinal peristalsis and of assisting the

movement of the contents of the intestines. The skin and the fiber of

fruits also assist the intestines in this way, just as the fiber in

vegetables does.

All acid fruits—particularly lemons, limes, grapefruit, and

oranges—stimulate the action of the skin as well as the kidneys and

whenever the kidneys and skin are not sufficiently active, these fruits

should be eaten freely.

In case of an excess of hydrochloric acid in the stomach, lemon juice

or citrus fruits are valuable about half an hour _before_ a meal,

as when taken on an empty stomach they decrease the secretion of

hydrochloric acid.

When the secretion of hydrochloric acid is limited, acids are given

_after_ a meal to supplement the deficiency, or stimulate the glands to

activity.

_Sweet_ or _bland_ fruits are those containing a lesser percentage

of acids. Among these are pears, raspberries, grapes, bananas,

blackberries, blueberries, melons, and some peaches, apples, and plums.

Of this class of fruits, dates, figs, prunes, and grapes (raisins),

furnish most nutriment, because, as will be noted by Table III, these

fruits contain a large amount of carbohydrates in the form of sugar.

The protein in these sweet fruits is largely in the seeds and, as the

seeds are not digested, they have no real food value for the individual.

Figs and prunes, peaches, apples, and berries are laxative—probably the

laxative action of figs and berries is due to the seeds, and of the

others to the salts and acids they contain, and to the cellulose or

fibrous material which furnishes bulk.

TABLE III

FRUITS

———————————————+—————+———————+———————+————————+—————+—————————+—————

MATERIALS |per |per |Extract|hydrates|per |per cent.|per

———————————————+—————+———————+———————+————————+—————+—————————+—————

Apples |82.50| 0.40 | 0.5 | 12.5 | 0.4 | 2.7 | 1.0

Apricots |85.00| 1.10 | 0.6 | 12.4 | 0.5 | 3.1 | 1.0

Peaches |88.80| 0.50 | 0.2 | 5.8 | 0.6 | 3.4 | 0.7

Plums |78.40| 1.00 | 0.2 | 14.8 | 0.5 | 4.3 | 1.0

Cherries |84.00| 0.80 | 0.8 | 10.0 | 0.6 | 3.8 | 1.0

Gooseberries |86.00| 0.40 | 0.8 | 8.9 | 0.5 | 2.7 | 1.5

Currants |85.20| 0.40 | 0.8 | 7.9 | 0.5 | 4.6 | 1.4

Strawberries |89.10| 1.00 | 0.5 | 6.3 | 0.7 | 2.2 | 1.0

Whortleberries |76.30| 0.70 | 3.0 | 5.8 | 0.4 | 12.2 | 1.6

Cranberries |86.50| 0.50 | 0.7 | 3.9 | 0.2 | 6.2 | 2.2

Oranges |86.70| 0.90 | 0.6 | 8.7 | 0.6 | 1.5 | 1.8

Lemons |89.3 | 1.00 | 0.9 | 8.3 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 1.8

Pineapples |89.3 | 0.04 | 0.3 | 9.7 | 0.3 | 1.5 | 7.0

Pears |83.90| 0.40 | 0.6 | 11.5 | 0.4 | 3.1 | 0.1

Blackberries |88.90| 0.90 | 2.1 | 2.3 | 0.6 | 5.2 | 1.6

Raspberries |84.40| 1.00 | 2.1 | 5.2 | 0.6 | 7.4 | 1.4

Mulberries |84.70| 0.30 | 0.7 | 11.4 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 1.8

Grapes |79.00| 1.00 | 1.0 | 15.5 | 0.5 | 2.5 | 0.5

Watermelons |92.90| 0.30 | 0.1 | 6.5 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 0.5

Bananas |74.00| 1.50 | 0.7 | 22.9 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 0.5

Dates, dried | 2.08| 4.40 | 2.1 | 65.1 | 1.5 | 5.5 | 7.0

Figs, dried | 2.00| 5.50 | 0.9 | 62.8 | 2.3 | 7.3 | 1.2

Prunes, dried | 2.64| 2.40 | 0.8 | 66.2 | 1.5 | 7.3 | 2.7

Raisins |10.60| 2.50 | 4.7 | 74.7 | 3.1 | 1.7 | 2.7

———————————————+—————+———————+———————+————————+—————+—————————+—————

The astringent and acid taste of unripe fruits is due to the tannin

and the acids. Oxygen is necessary to ripen fruits and the slow

natural maturing of the fruit on the tree enables the oxygen to enter

into combination with these substances, lessening their reaction and

altering the starch into glucose or levulose.

Fruits ripened artificially lack this chemical action of sun and

oxygen, hence the decreased palatability and digestibility of fruits

so ripened. If underripe fruits are freely eaten they ferment in the

alimentary tract and this fermentation causes the colic, vomiting, and

diarrhea so often experienced. Overripe fruit, from the decomposition

products which have already begun to form and which are further

released in the stomach or bowels, may produce the same results.

Care should therefore be exercised to select thoroughly ripe fruits

which have not begun to decay.

In order to reach their destination in fair condition, outwardly, many

fruits are picked before they are ripe. Bananas are commonly picked

green, because they decay so quickly that if they were picked ripe they

would spoil before reaching the northern markets.

One test of a naturally ripened apple is to cut it with a steel

knife—if the blade turns black, or if the cut surface of the apple

turns brown in a few minutes, it should not be eaten, for it indicates

an excess of tannin. It is this tannin which gives the small boy

excruciating pains from his green apples.

It will be recalled that the tannin from the bark of trees toughens the

skin of animals and forms leather. The effect on the membrane of the

stomach and intestines, from the tannin in food, is not so pronounced,

because of the activity and resistance of living matter.

The juice of lemons and oranges is most valuable in seasickness and

scurvy, and is of benefit in nausea. A slice of lemon will often clear

a coated tongue and give a refreshing sense of cleanliness to the

mouth, especially in feverish conditions. Sour lemonade is one of the

best drinks in summer because of its thirst-allaying qualities.

Table III shows that _bananas_ contain nearly twenty-three per cent.

of carbohydrates, which, in an immature state, are largely starches.

The natural ripening process changes the starch to sugar, thus making

them more easily digested. The starch globules, when not matured on the

tree, are not easily broken and are thus difficult of digestion.

Bananas should not be given to children under two years of age because

before this age the ptyalin and pancreatin are not sufficiently

developed to digest the starch.

Many of the inhabitants of the tropics use bananas almost to the

exclusion of other food and appear well nourished. They obtain them

from the tree when the fruit has thoroughly ripened, the starch having

been transformed by Nature into an easily digested product.

The reason many find they cannot digest bananas, as purchased in our

markets, is due to the fact that the fruit is immature and unripe.

The banana meal or flour is usually thoroughly digestible, is

nourishing, and has an agreeable taste. Invalids can often take banana

meal in the form of gruel; it makes an appreciated addition to a

limited diet. Made into a porridge and eaten with cream it is valuable

in conditions of inflammation of the gastro-intestinal tract. The

addition of a few drops of lemon juice renders it palatable to those

who like an acid flavor. Children enjoy it as a variation from cereals.

It is relished by typhoid fever patients as a change from milk.

It must be carefully cooked and well prepared as, like oatmeal, it

can be spoiled by insufficient or poor cooking. Owing to the limited

demand it is not obtainable in all markets, as it has not yet become

popularized.

_Grapes_, because of their wholesome qualities, are useful to the

system, as they contain sodium, iron, magnesium, potassium, and

calcium. Because of their appetizing flavor they are universally

enjoyed, and because they are cheap are universally used. The skins and

seeds are indigestible and, if swallowed, may cause severe irritation

or obstruction of the intestines. Grapes are rich in sugar, and on this

account must not be eaten by diabetics.

Grape juice, when unfermented, is a valuable drink, in health, or for

the convalescent. It is agreeable in taste and is mildly laxative.

Added to other fruit juices, as lemon or orange, it allays thirst and

furnishes a pleasant flavor, but on account of its high percentage of

sugar does not allay thirst when used alone.

_Apples_, so universally used, are easily digestible when ripe, and may

be prepared in so many ways that they constitute a valuable addition

to the diet. Their laxative qualities, when taken on an empty stomach,

as before breakfast, or just before retiring, are well known. They are

thus valuable in constipation, and in some forms of dyspepsia may, with

benefit, be eaten raw.

Apples should be thoroughly masticated.

The apple peel contains potassium salts and should be eaten with the

fruit.

Most invalids digest apples better if they are cooked, especially

baked. Stewed apples may have the beaten white of eggs whipped into

them and invalids who revolt against eggs can take them thus prepared.

Because of the sugar necessary in cooking them they should be avoided

by diabetics, and in conditions in which there is irritation of the

gastro-intestinal tract.

_Quinces_ are indigestible when raw, but well baked and eaten with

cream are appetizing and nourishing.

_Pineapples_, if thoroughly ripe, contain a ferment which will digest

protein, rapidly softening and disintegrating the tissue of meat. Like

the pancreatic ferment it acts in both alkaline and acid mediums.

Pineapple juice, therefore, is exceedingly valuable as an addition to

the diet. The coarse fibers also have a laxative action. Care must be

taken, however, to use this fruit only when it is well ripened, as when

green, it is indigestible.

The juice of pineapple, because of the action of the ferment in

dissolving tissue, is valuable in many forms of sore throat,

particularly when accompanied by an ulcerous condition. The effort

should be made to hold it in the mouth, allowing it to trickle down the

throat by degrees.

_Dried fruits_ are less palatable than fresh. Many of them, as prunes

and raisins, are nourishing, but others, as citron, are indigestible,

and should be finely chopped if used as flavoring.

Dried or evaporated fruits, through the action of heat, either

artificial or from the rays of the sun, have lost the water they

contained, and are preserved by their own sugar.

Dried grapes, or raisins, because of their sugar, soon satiate the

appetite if eaten raw, but if cooked or added to cereals, puddings,

or breads, enhance the palatability and nourishing qualities of these

foods.

Dates and figs used in the same way, in cereals or puddings, are

equally valuable.

Dried currants are the most indigestible of the dried fruits, owing to

their large amount of skin in proportion to the nutriment.

_NITROGENOUS FOODS_

As previously stated, in a mixed diet, meat and eggs are the chief

sources of nitrogenous foods. Next to these come the legumes.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: Meat]

Meat is composed largely of muscle fiber and contains connective tissue

and fat. It has been estimated that beef contains one-third nutritive

material, the other two-thirds being water and bone. Fat meat contains

less nitrogenous material and less water than lean meat.

Lean meat is almost entirely digested in the stomach by the gastric

juice, which changes it into peptone. It is needless to say that it

should be thoroughly masticated, that the gastric juice may promptly

act on it. If any part passes into the intestine undigested, the

process is continued by the trypsin of the pancreatic juice.

The peptone is absorbed and carried by the blood and lymph to all

tissues of the body, where it is used for growth and repair. As stated

under “Heat and Energy,” any excess of protein above that needed

for growth and repair is oxidized if sufficient oxygen is breathed,

yielding energy and heat, and the waste is eliminated through the

kidneys and the bile.

For purposes of comparison, one pound of beef has been said to equal

in nutritive value, two and one-half pints or five glasses of milk,

one-half pound (two-thirds of an ordinary baker’s loaf) of bread, and

three eggs. However, these values vary.

TABLE IV

ANIMAL FOODS

——————————————————+—————+———————+—————+—————————+—————+——————————

|per |per |per |hydrates |per |per pound

——————————————————+—————+———————+—————+—————————+—————+——————————

Beef, Fresh | 54.0| 17.0 | 19.0| .... | 0.7 | 1105

Flank | 54.0| 17.0 | 19.0| .... | 0.7 | 1105

Porterhouse | 52.4| 19.1 | 17.9| .... | 0.8 | 1100

Sirloin steak | 54.0| 16.5 | 16.1| .... | 0.9 | 975

Round | 60.7| 19.0 | 12.8| .... | 1.0 | 890

Rump | 45.0| 13.8 | 20.2| .... | 0.7 | 1090

Corned beef | 49.2| 14.3 | 23.8| .... | 4.6 | 1245

| | | | | |

Leg cutlets | 68.3| 20.1 | 7.5| .... | 1.0 | 695

Fore quarter | 54.2| 15.1 | 6.0| .... | 0.7 | 535

| | | | | |

Leg, hind | 51.2| 15.1 | 14.7| .... | 0.8 | 890

Loin chops | 42.0| 13.5 | 28.3| .... | 0.7 | 1415

Lamb | 49.2| 15.6 | 16.3| .... | 0.85| 967

| | | | | |

Ham: | | | | | |

Loin chops | 41.8| 13.4 | 24.2| .... | 0.8 | 1245

Ham, smoked | 34.8| 14.2 | 33.4| .... | 4.2 | 1635

| | | | | |

Frankfurter | 57.2| 19.6 | 18.6| 1.1 | 3.4 | 1155

| | | | | |

Fowls | 47.1| 13.7 | 12.3| .... | 0.7 | 765

Goose | 38.5| 13.4 | 29.8| .... | 0.7 | 1475

Turkey | 42.4| 16.1 | 18.4| .... | 0.8 | 1060

| | | | | |

Liver (sheep) | 61.2| 23.1 | 9.0| 5.0 | ....| ....

Sweetbreads | 70.9| 16.8 | 12.1| .... | 1.6 | ....

and salted | 35.7| 24.3 | 31.6| .... | 8.5 | ....

| | | | | |

Brain: | 80.6| 8.8 | 9.3| .... | 1.1 | ....

| | | | | |

Black, dressed | 41.9| 10.3 | 0.5| .... | 0.6 | 215

Cod steaks | 72.4| 16.9 | 0.5| .... | 1.0 | 335

Shad roe | 71.2| 23.4 | 3.8| .... | 1.6 | 595

Whitefish, | 46.1| 10.2 | 1.3| .... | 0.7 | 245

smoked and dried | 46.0| 19.1 | 14.0| .... | 1.9 | 945

Sardines, canned | 53.6| 24.0 | 12.1| .... | 5.3 | 955

Salmon, canned | 59.3| 19.3 | 15.3| .... | 1.2 | 1005

| | | | | |

Oysters, solid | 88.3| 6.1 | 1.4| 3.3 | 0.9 | 235

removed from | 80.8| 10.6 | 1.1| 5.1 | 2.3 | 340

Mussels | 42.7| 4.4 | 0.5| 2.1 | 1.0 | 140

| | | | | |

Lobster, in shell| 31.1| 5.5 | 0.7| .... | 0.6 | 130

Crab, in shell | 34.1| 7.3 | 0.9| 0.5 | 1.4 | 185

Shrimp, canned | 70.8| 25.4 | 1.0| 0.2 | 2.6 | 520

Terrapin, turtle,| 17.4| 4.2 | 0.7| .... | 0.2 | 105

etc. | | | | | |

——————————————————+—————+———————+—————+—————————+—————+——————————

The amount of fat in meat varies from two to forty per cent., according

to the animal and to its condition at the time of killing.

The best meats are from young animals which have been kept fat and have

not been subjected to any work to toughen the muscles.

It is possible to combine the fat and the lean of meat so as to meet

the requirements of the body without waste. About ninety-seven per

cent. of meat is assimilated by the system, while a large part of the

vegetable matter consumed is excreted as refuse.

The compounds contained in animal foods are much like those of the

body, therefore they require comparatively little digestion to prepare

them for assimilation—this work having been done by the animal—while

the vegetable compounds require much change by the digestive system

before they can be used in the body.

The proportion of _albuminoids_, _gelatinoids_, and _extractives_ in

meat vary with different meats and with different cuts of the same meat.

The _albuminoids_ of meat include the meat tissue, or the muscle cells.

These constitute by far the greater part of the meat.

The _gelatinoids_ are derived from the connective tissue forming the

sheath of the muscle and of bundles of muscles, the skin, tendons,

and the casing of bone. Gelatins are made from these and, if pure and

prepared in a cleanly manner, they are wholesome.

Gelatin is distinguishable in rich meat soups, which jelly when cool.

The gelatinoids alone have not a large nutritive value; they serve to

spare the albumin from being used, though they cannot replace albumin

in the diet. They also, to some extent, keep the muscles from being

consumed when starches, sugars, and fats are lacking.

The _extractives_ are found most abundantly in the flesh of animals and

birds noted for their muscular activity, as in game. Some of them exert

a stimulant action on the nervous system and others are appetizers,

giving to cooked meats, broths, etc., their pleasing flavor. In case

of anemia, in which it is necessary to build red blood corpuscles, the

blood of beef, the thought of which is usually repellent, may be made

very palatable if it is heated sufficiently to bring out the flavor of

the extractives, and then seasoned.

Unless the beef extracts on the market contain the blood tissue, in

addition to the extractives, they are not particularly nourishing and

are only valuable in soups, etc., as appetizers.

Soups for nourishment should be made by cooking the bones, connective

tissue, and a part of the meat. Bones and connective tissue alone make

an appetizing soup, but it contains little nutriment.

One reason why meat soups should constitute the first course at dinner

is because the extractives stimulate the appetite and start the flow of

gastric juices. Bouillons contain no nourishment, but they may be used

as stimulant restoratives to the muscles, or as a basis for vegetables,

rice, or barley to give them flavor.

Roasted flesh seems to be more completely digested than boiled meat;

raw meat is more easily digested than cooked; rare meat is more easily

digested than that thoroughly cooked.

Roasted young chicken and veal are tender, easily masticated, and

easily and rapidly digested in the stomach. This is one reason why the

white meats are considered a good diet for the invalid, though veal is

usually avoided in cases of dyspepsia, as, if too young, it may cause

diarrhea; if too old, it is less digestible than beef.

Fat meats remain in the stomach a much longer time than lean meats;

thus, gastric digestion of pork, which usually contains much fat, is

especially difficult, requiring from three and one-half to four hours

(see page 22).

Preserved and canned meats should be eaten with the utmost caution,

care being taken to know that they are put up by firms which use

extreme care in their preparation. Inferior meat is sometimes used in

the preparation of these foods. If meats are not fresh and the canning

not carefully done, they may become putrid after being put up.

_Fish_ and _sea foods_ are, many of them, rich in protein, as noted in

Table IV. They should never be used unless absolutely fresh.

The idea is prevalent that fish is a brain food. Fish is easily

digested and builds brain as well as other tissue, but no more readily

than beef does, or any easily digested, absorbed and assimilated food

which contains a goodly proportion of protein.

_Lobsters_ are difficult of digestion and contain little nutrition, so

are not valuable as a food, though they are relished by many on account

of their flavor.

_Oysters_, raw, are easier to digest than when cooked. Oysters should

not be eaten during the spawning season from May to September.

_Mussels_ are nutritious when well prepared and are rapidly gaining in

popularity.

_Clams_ furnish a valuable and nutritious food when prepared in chowder

form. Clam broth will often be retained on an irritable stomach when

other food is rejected by it.

Care should be taken to ascertain the method of their production as

typhoid fever has been contracted from eating shell fish whose feeding

beds were near or in polluted water.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: Eggs]

Eggs are excellent articles of food for nutrition and for tissue

building. They have practically the same value in the diet as meat, and

make a very good substitute for meat. Egg yolk in abundance is often

prescribed when it is necessary to supply a very nutritious and easily

assimilated diet.

Eggs consist chiefly of two nutrients—protein and fat (ten per cent.).

Because they contain so large a proportion of protein they are

classified as nitrogenous foods.

The yolk, which is about one-third fat, contains iron, sulphur,

potassium, calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus. The white contains some

fat and phosphorus. The white and the yolk contain equal quantities of

protein. The white of the egg is almost pure albumin.

The dark stain made by eggs on silver is due to the sulphur.

The iron in the yolk is a valuable assistant in building red blood

corpuscles.

Eggs, in common with other proteins, are changed, mostly in the

stomach, into peptone. That not digested in the stomach, as is the case

with other proteins, is changed in the intestine.

If the egg is old, or if its absorption is delayed in the intestine, it

decomposes, producing gas, and may cause intestinal disorder. For this

reason no stale egg should ever be served, especially to an invalid.

One reason why eggs disagree with some is because too much fat is eaten

at the same time. Egg yolk contains fat and if much extra fat is eaten

indigestion and fermentation in the intestine may result. This is

particularly true in those who digest fat with difficulty.

When eggs seem to disagree or the system does not assimilate them well

on account of the fat in the yolk, and eggs are desirable to supply the

protein in the diet, the whites, which contain practically no fat, may

be used. They should be well beaten and if digestion is weak they may

be mixed with fruit juices.

The citric acid in lemons and oranges partially digests the egg, the

gastric juice quickly changing it to peptone.

One method of preparing eggs, which is especially valuable for those

having delicate stomachs, is in egg lemonade or orangeade. Thoroughly

beat the egg, add the juice of half a lemon or orange, sugar to taste,

and fill the glass with water.

Grape juice, cream, and cocoa, if assimilated, may be used in place of

lemon or orange, in order to give variety when it is necessary to use

eggs freely.

Eggnog is another means of taking raw eggs.

One method of testing the freshness of eggs is to drop them into a

strong, salt brine made by adding two ounces of salt to a pint of

water. A fresh egg will at once sink to the bottom. If the egg is three

days old the surface of the shell will be even with the surface of the

water and an egg two weeks old will float mostly above the surface.

The opinion is prevalent that a hard-boiled egg is difficult of

digestion, but this depends entirely on the mastication. If it is

masticated so that it is a pulp before being swallowed, a hard-boiled

egg is readily digested.

A soft-boiled egg should not be boiled longer than three or four

minutes, or better, should be put into warm water, be allowed to come

to a boil, then set off the fire and the egg be allowed to remain in

the water for ten minutes. This method cooks the egg through more

evenly.

Another method of cooking the yolk evenly with the white is to put the

egg in cold water, let the water come to a boil, and again immerse the

egg in cold water. The immersing in cold water after boiling makes

hard-boiled eggs peel readily.

_CARBO-NITROGENOUS FOODS_

Under this class come cereals, legumes, nuts, milk, and milk products.

In these foods the nitrogenous and carbonaceous elements are more

evenly proportioned than in either the carbonaceous or nitrogenous

groups. The different food elements in this group are so evenly divided

that one could live for a considerable length of time on any one food.

Some animals build flesh from nuts alone, while the herbivorous animals

live on cereals and plants.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: Cereals]

Under cereals, used by man for food, come wheat, oats, rye, barley,

rice, and corn. As will be noted by Table V, cereals contain a large

proportion of starch and are therefore used largely for heat and

energy. Rice contains the largest proportion and next to rice, wheat

flour.

TABLE V

CEREALS

—————————————————+—————+———————+—————+—————————+—————————+——————

| | | +—————————+—————————+

|per |per |per | etc. |fiber | per

—————————————————+—————+———————+—————+—————————+—————————+——————

Wheat |10.4 | 12.1 | 2.1| 71.6 | 1.8 | 1.9

Rice |12.4 | 7.4 | 0.4| 79.2 | 0.2 | 0.4

Oats |11.0 | 11.8 | 5.0| 59.7 | 9.5 | 3.0

Rye |11.6 | 10.6 | 1.7| 72.0 | 1.7 | 1.9

Wheat bread |32.5 | 8.8 | 1.9| 55.8 | .... | 1.0

Graham bread |34.2 | 9.5 | 1.4| 53.3 | .... | 1.6

Rye bread |30.0 | 3.4 | 0.5| 59.7 | .... | 1.4

Soda crackers | 8.0 | 10.3 | 9.4| 70.5 | .... | 1.8

Graham crackers | 5.0 | 9.8 | 13.5| 69.7 | .... | 2.0

Oatmeal crackers| 4.9 | 10.4 | 13.7| 69.6 | .... | 1.4

Oyster crackers | 3.8 | 11.3 | 4.8| 77.5 | .... | 2.6

Macaroni |13.1 | 9.0 | 0.3| 76.8 | .... | 0.8

Flour, wheat |12.5 | 11.0 | 1.0| 74.9 | .... | 0.5

Corn Meal |15.0 | 9.2 | 3.8| 70.6 | .... | 1.4

Oatmeal | 7.6 | 15.1 | 7.1| 68.2 | .... | 2.0

—————————————————+—————+———————+—————+—————————+—————————+——————

The values as given in the table refer to the whole of the grain. When

the outer coverings are removed, as in the white flour and the outer

covering of rice, the proportion of carbohydrates is increased and the

protein and ash are almost entirely eliminated.

There is no part of the world, except the Arctic regions, where cereals

are not extensively cultivated. From the oats and rye of the north, to

the rice of the hot countries, grains of some kind are staple foods.

An idea of the importance of cereal foods in the diet may be gathered

from the following data, based on the results obtained in dietary

studies with a large number of American families: Vegetable foods,

including flour, bread, and other cereal products, furnished 55 per

cent. of the total food, 39 per cent. of the protein, 8 per cent.

of the fat, and 95 per cent. of the carbohydrates of the diet. The

amounts which cereal foods alone supplied were 22 per cent. of the

total food, 31 per cent. of the protein, 7 per cent. of the fat and

55 per cent. of the total carbohydrates—that is, about three-quarters

of the vegetable protein, one-half of the carbohydrates, and

seven-eighths of the vegetable fat were supplied by the cereals. Oat,

rice, and wheat breakfast foods together furnished about 2 per cent.

of the total food in protein, 1 per cent. of the total fat, and 4 per

cent. of the carbohydrates of the ordinary mixed diet, as shown by the

statistics cited. These percentage values are not high in themselves,

but it must be remembered that they represent large quantities when we

consider the food consumed by a family in a year.[4]

If one’s work calls for extreme muscular exertion, the cereals may be

eaten freely, but if one’s habits are sedentary, and the cereals are

used in excess, there is danger of clogging the system with too much

starch. Indeed, for one whose occupation is indoors and requires little

muscular activity, a very little cereal food, such as bread, cake,

etc., will suffice; the carbohydrates will be supplied, in sufficient

quantity, in vegetables.

Mineral matter is supplied in sufficient quantity in almost all classes

of foods.

Cereals and legumes supply nutrients at less price than any class of

foods; therefore a vegetarian diet involves less expense than the

mixed diet. An entirely vegetarian diet, however, gradually induces a

condition of muscular weakness in many people, resulting in a loss of

strength. A well-proportioned mixed diet is best to give strength and

activity of both body and mind.

Meat, eggs, and milk, which usually supply the proteins, are the most

expensive foods, and when these, for any cause, are eliminated, a large

proportion of proteins should be supplied by the legumes.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: Wheat]

Perhaps no food is as commonly used as wheat in its various forms. It

is composed of:

1. The nitrogenous or protein compound, chiefly represented in the

cerealin and the gluten of the bran. This is removed from white flour

and from much of the so-called “whole wheat” flour.

2. The starch—the center or white part of the kernel.

3. The fats, occurring chiefly in the germ of the grain.

4. The phosphorus compounds, iron, and lime, found in the bran.

The kernel of wheat consists of the bran or covering, which surrounds

the white, pulpy mass of starch within. In the lower end of the kernel

is the germ.

_Flour._ In the old-time process of making flour the wheat was

crushed between stones and then sifted, first, through a sieve, which

separated the outer shell of the bran; then through bolting cloth,

which separated the white pulp from the inner bran coating. It was not

ground as fine as in the present process, thus the gluten, phosphorus,

and iron (all valuable substances) were, in the old process, nearly

all left out of the white flour. The second bran coating, left by the

second sifting, was not so coarse as the outer shell but coarser than

the inner. Care was not formerly observed in having the grain clean

before grinding, the bran containing chaff and dirt, so that it was

not used as food but was considered valuable for stock, and was called

“middlings.”

In the modern process of crushing the wheat between steel rollers, the

white flour of to-day contains more of the protein from the inner coat

of the bran than the white flour of the old process; hence, it is more

nutritious.

_Bran._ Objection is sometimes made to bran because the cellulose

shell is not digested, but bran contains much protein and mineral

matter and even though it is crude fiber, as previously stated, this

fiber has a value as a cleanser for the lining of the stomach and

intestines, and for increasing peristalsis, thus encouraging the flow

of digestive juices and the elimination of waste. In bread or breakfast

foods, it is desirable to retain it for its laxative effect.

Bran has three coats—the tough, glossy outside, within this a coat

containing most of the coloring matter, and a third coat, containing

a special kind of protein, known as cerealin. The two outer layers

contain phosphorus compounds, lime, and iron. All three coats contain

gluten.

_Gluten flour_ is made of the gluten of wheat. It is a valuable, easily

digested food, containing a large proportion of protein and little

starch. Gluten bread is used by those who wish to reduce in flesh and

in diabetic cases.

_Whole wheat_ flour does not contain the whole of the wheat, as the

name implies; it, however, does contain all the proteins of the

endosperm and the gluten and oil of the germ, together with all of the

starch. As a flour, therefore, it is a more balanced food than the

white flour, because it contains more nitrogenous elements.

_Graham flour_ is made from the entire wheat kernel with the exception

of the outermost scale of the bran. It contains the starch, gluten

phosphorus compounds, iron, and lime. It is the most desirable of

the flours because, containing the bran, it assists in digestion and

elimination, and the phosphorus, iron, and lime, are valuable body

builders.

_Nutri meal_ is much the same as Graham flour, the chief difference

being that the bran is ground finer. The wheat is ground between hot

rollers, the heat bringing out the nutty flavor of the bran. Bread made

from it is not only nutritious, but delicious in flavor. It contains

all of the nutrition of the wheat.

_Bread._ As must be implied from the foregoing, the nutri meal, or

graham flours are necessary for bread if it is to be used as a complete

food, the “staff of life.” The white bread is made from flour which

is almost pure starch; the lime, phosphorus compounds, and iron are

removed.

Perhaps no form of prepared food has been longer in vogue than bread.

It has been known since history began. When the entire wheat kernel is

used it probably maintains and supports life and strength better than

any single food, but bread is not the “staff of life” unless the entire

kernel is in the flour.

Children should be given Graham bread or Graham crackers containing

the whole of the grain in order to obtain the balanced food and the

nutritive materials which are not obtained in bread made of white

flour. Lime for the teeth and the growing bones is in the bran.

The more porous the bread the more easily it digests. When full of

pores, it is more readily mixed with the digestive juices.

The pores in bread are produced by the effort of the gas, released

by the yeast, to escape. When mixed with water, the flour forms a

tenacious body which, when warm, expands under the pressure of the gas

from the yeast, until the dough is full of gas-filled holes. The walls

of gluten do not allow the gas to escape, and thus the dough is made

light and porous. The more gluten the flour holds, the more water the

dough will take up and the greater will be the yield of bread; hence,

the more gluten, the more valuable the flour. If the bread is not

porous, the fermentation is not complete, and the bread is heavy.

The albumin in the walls of the expanding bubbles causes substances

which contain beaten eggs to be more porous when baked.

_Yeast_ is a plant fungus. In its feeding, the plant consumes sugar,

changing it into alcohol and carbon dioxid. If the bread contains no

sugar the yeast plant will change the starch in the flour into sugar

for its feeding.

Many housewives, realizing that the bread begins to “rise” quicker

if it contains sugar, put a little into the sponge. Unless a large

quantity of sugar is put in, the yeast will consume it and the bread

will not have an unduly sweet taste.

As the yeast causes fermentation, alcohol forms in the dough. This

is driven off in the baking. If the bread is not thoroughly baked,

fermentation continues and the bread turns sour.

Bread is not thoroughly baked until fermentation ceases. It is claimed

that fermentation does not entirely cease with one baking; this is the

basis of the theory, held by some, that bread should be twice baked.

The average housekeeper bakes an ordinary loaf one hour.

Time must be given for the products of fermentation to evaporate,

during the cooling of the bread, before it is eaten.

Hot or insufficiently cooked bread is difficult of digestion, because

it becomes more or less soggy on entering the mouth and the stomach,

and the saliva and gastric juices cannot so readily mix with it.

The best flour for bread is that made from the spring wheat, grown in

cooler climates, because it is richer in gluten than the winter wheat.

The winter wheat flour is used more for cakes and pastries.

Bread made with milk, is, of course, richer and more nutritious than

that made with water, and bread made with potato water contains more

starch; both of these retain their moisture longer than bread made

without them.

_Mold_, which sometimes forms on bread, is, like the yeast, a minute

plant. It is floating about everywhere in the air, ready to settle down

wherever it finds a suitable home. Moisture and heat favor its growth;

hence bread should be thoroughly cooled before it is put into a jar or

bread box. The bread box should be ventilated and kept in a cool place.

_Rye bread_ contains a little more starch and less protein than wheat

bread. It contains more water and holds its moisture longer.

_Biscuits._ The objection to eating hot bread does not hold for baking

powder or soda biscuits, if well cooked, because these cool more

rapidly and they do not contain the yeast plant; hence, they do not

ferment as does the bread.

_Baking powder_ is made from bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) and

cream of tartar. When these are brought in contact with moisture,

carbon dioxid is liberated, and in the effort to escape it causes the

dough to expand and become light.

Breads made with pure baking powder are wholesome and, when light, are

digestible. When made with cheap baking powder, however, in which alum

or ammonia is employed, the stomach may be irritated by the chemical

substances contained.

The reason that the cook attempts to bake her biscuits, or anything

made with baking powder, as quickly as possible after the baking powder

comes in contact with the moisture, is that the dough may have the full

effect of the expansion of the gas. If the room in which she mixes

her dough is cool, or if her biscuit dough is left in a cool place,

this is not important, as heat and moisture are both required for full

combustion. Enough baking powder biscuit dough may be mixed at one

time to provide biscuits every morning for a week, if buried in flour

immediately after mixing so that it is kept cool and from the air. A

portion may be cut off each morning and the remainder again buried in

the flour.

_Macaroni_ and _spaghetti_ are made from a special wheat flour known

as Durum. They contain about seventy-seven per cent. of starch, little

fat, and little protein. They may take the place of bread, rice, or

potato at a meal.

_Rice_ is a staple cereal in all tropical and temperate climates. It

requires special machinery to remove the husk and the dark, outer skin

of the kernel.

The polished rice commonly used, is almost pure starch, and, like white

flour, lacks the nutritive qualities contained in the husk or covering.

It is seldom eaten within three months after harvesting and it is

considered even better after two or three years. It requires thorough

cooking.

_Wild rice_ is used by the North American Indians. The seeds are

longer, thinner, and darker, than the cultivated rice. It is coming

into favor as a side dish but it is served more particularly at hotels

in soup and with game.

As previously stated, rice contains a larger proportion of starch than

any other cereal and the smallest proportion of protein. Next to rice,

in starches, comes wheat flour; yet whole wheat or graham flour contain

half as much again of protein.

Because of the quantity of starch in flour, potatoes, and rice, it is

obvious that one should not eat freely of more than one of these at the

same meal, else the digestive organs will be overworked in converting

the starch into sugar, the liver overworked in converting the sugar

into glycogen and back again into sugar, and be overloaded in storing

it up.

By far the best plan is to eat but one cereal at a meal.

Rice contains no gluten, hence it cannot be raised in bread.

Unhusked rice is called paddy. The “vitamins” of rice are in the

covering.

A German investigator, working to discover the cause of the disorder

of nutrition known as “beriberi” occurring in those who used polished

rice freely, found that in those who used _un_polished rice, from which

the outer husk had not been removed, the disease did not appear. He

gave the name of “vitamin” to the substance in the outer husk, which

prevented the disease.

While these substances were discovered while working with rice, they

have since come to include other substances which affect the nutritive

value of food. The term “vitamin” has since been given to other

apparently necessary elements in foods which seem to determine their

nutritive value to the system. These necessary elements, “vitamins,”

may be the spices and flavors used in the food, and sometimes, perhaps,

may be the flavors resulting from the action of benign bacteria, as

those which give the delicious flavor to butter and cheese.

Food, however nutritious, is lessened in its value to the system

unless it appeals to the senses by its mode of preparation, seasoning,

serving, and freshness. Sternberg insists that the senses of smell and

taste determine chemical changes in foods with greater sensitiveness

than chemical tests.

Dishes unskillfully prepared are not relished. Some chemical change has

occurred which the senses detect and these dishes are rendered less

wholesome, lacking the necessary “vitamin.” Distaste, loss of appetite,

and even nausea and vomiting may occur.

Sternberg calls attention anew to the fact that the science of cooking

is a complicated one and is a matter of taste in the widest sense of

the term, that vitamins may largely be produced in the preparation of

the food.

_Corn_ (maize) is a native of America and has been one of the most

extensively used cereals.

The chief products of corn are hominy, corn meal, cracked corn, samp,

glucose, corn-starch and laundry starch. Alcohol is also made from it.

Corn bread and corn-meal mush were important foods with the early

settlers, partly because they are nutritious and partly because the

corn meal was easily prepared at the mill and was cheap.

The germ of the corn is larger in proportion than the germs of other

grains, and it contains much fat; therefore it is heating. For this

reason, it is strange that corn bread is so largely used by inhabitants

of the southern states. It is a more appropriate food for winter in

cold climates.

Because of the fat in the germ, corn meal readily turns rancid, and,

on this account, the germ is separated and omitted from many corn-meal

preparations.

_Hulled corn_, sometimes called lye hominy, is one of the old-fashioned

ways of using corn. In its preparation, the skin is loosened by

steeping the corn in a weak solution of lye, which gives it a peculiar

flavor, pleasing to many.

_Corn-meal mush_ is a valuable breakfast food if eaten with milk. If

fried it should be covered with flour or dry corn meal and fried in

deep fat, so that it does not soak up the fat.

_Popcorn._ The bursting of the shell in popping corn is due to the

expansion of the moisture in the starch, occasioned by the heat.

_Green sweet corn_ does not contain the same proportion of starch as

corn meal, it being, in its tender state, mostly water. It is laxative,

because it is eaten with the coarse hull, which causes more rapid

peristalsis of the intestines. It should be well masticated to break

the covering of the husk; the digestive juices cannot penetrate the

hard covering.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: Breakfast Foods]

The claims made for various advertised breakfast foods would be

amusing if they were not intended to mislead. Nearly all of them have

sufficient merit to sell them if the advertiser confines himself

strictly to the truth, but the ever pertinent desire to excel, which is

one great incentive to progress, leads to exaggeration. For example:

the claim is sometimes made that they contain more nutriment than the

same quantity of beef. Reference to Table V does not bear out such a

statement. They contain more starch but less protein.

It is also claimed by some advertisers that breakfast foods are brain

and nerve foods. The idea that certain foods are brain and nerve foods

is erroneous, except that any tissue-building food (protein) builds

nerve and brain tissue as it builds any other tissue, and the foods

which produce heat and energy for other tissues produce the same for

brain and nerve.

The grains commonly used for breakfast foods are corn, oats, rice, and

wheat. Barley, and wild rice, millet and buckwheat are used in some

sections, but not enough to warrant discussion here.

Barley is used chiefly for making malt and in the form of pearled

barley is used in soups.

Table VI, from one of the bulletins published by the United States

Department of Agriculture, is interesting from an economical standpoint.

TABLE VI

COMPARATIVE COST OF DIGESTIBLE NUTRIENTS AND AVAILABLE ENERGY IN

DIFFERENT CEREAL BREAKFAST FOODS

——————————————————————+—————+——————————+—————————+

| | |Cost of |

|Price|Cost of |1000 |

FOOD MATERIALS |per |one pound |calories |

|pound|of protein|of energy|

| | | |

——————————————————————+—————+——————————+—————————+

Oat preparations: | | | |

Oatmeal, raw | 3 | 0.24 | 1.7 |

” | 4 | 0.32 | 2.3 |

Rolled oats, steam | | | |

cooked | 6 | 0.48 | 3.4 |

| | | |

Wheat preparations: | | | |

Flour, Graham | 4 | 0.40 | 2.6 |

Flour, entire-wheat | 5 | 0.46 | 3.1 |

Flour, patent | 3.5| 0.35 | 2.1 |

Farina | 10 | 1.12 | 6.2 |

Flaked | 15 | 1.69 | 9.3 |

Shredded | 12.5| 1.62 | 8.2 |

Parched & ground | 7.5| 0.88 | 4.9 |

Malted, cooked and | | | |

crushed | 13 | 1.43 | 8.5 |

Flaked and malted | 11 | 1.21 | 7.2 |

| | | |

Barley preparations: | | | |

Pearled barley | 7 | 1.06 | 4.6 |

Flaked, steam | | | |

cooked | 15 | 1.83 | 9.6 |

| | | |

Corn preparations: | | | |

Corn meal, granular | 3 | 0.44 | 1.8 |

Hominy | 4 | 0.62 | 2.4 |

Samp | 5 | 0.78 | 3.0 |

Flaked & parched | 13 | 1.73 | 7.5 |

| | | |

Rice preparations: | | | |

Rice, polished | 8 | 1.48 | 4.7 |

Flaked, steam | | | |

cooked | 15 | 2.31 | 9.8 |

| | | |

Miscellaneous foods | | | |

for comparison: | | | |

Bread, white | 6 | 0.74 | 5.0 |

” | 5 | 0.62 | 4.2 |

Crackers | 10 | 1.10 | 5.3 |

Macaroni | 12.5| 1.08 | 7.5 |

Beans, dried | 5 | 0.28 | 3.5 |

Peas, dried | 5 | 0.26 | 3.4 |

Milk | 3 | 0.94 | 9.7 |

” | 3.5| 1.09 | 11.3 |

Sugar | 5 | ... | 2.8 |

” | 6 | ... | 3.4 |

——————————————————————+—————+——————————+—————————+

——————————————————————+————————————————————————————————————————

| Amount for 10 cents

|—————————+———————+—————+————————+———————

——————————————————————+—————————+———————+—————+————————+———————

Oatmeal, raw | 3.33 | 0.42 | 0.22| 2.18 | 5884

” | 2.50 | 0.31 | 0.16| 1.64 | 4418

cooked | 1.67 | 0.21 | 0.11| 1.08 | 2938

| | | | |

Flour, Graham | 2.50 | 0.25 | 0.01| 1.61 | 3790

Flour, entire-wheat | 2.00 | 0.22 | 0.03| 1.36 | 3188

Flour, patent | 2.86 | 0.29 | 0.03| 2.10 | 4700

Farina | 1.00 | 0.09 | 0.01| 0.73 | 1609

Flaked | 0.67 | 0.06 | 0.01| 0.46 | 1005

Shredded | 0.80 | 0.06 | 0.01| 0.57 | 1217

Parched & ground | 1.33 | 0.11 | 0.02| 0.94 | 2050

crushed | 0.77 | 0.07 | 0.01| 0.53 | 1175

Flaked and malted | 0.91 | 0.08 | 0.01| 0.62 | 1389

| | | | |

Pearled barley | 1.43 | 0.09 | 0.01| 1.04 | 2165

cooked | 0.67 | 0.05 | ... | 0.50 | 1051

| | | | |

Corn meal, granular | 3.33 | 0.23 | 0.06| 2.48 | 5534

Hominy | 2.50 | 0.16 | 0.01| 1.97 | 4178

Samp | 2.00 | 0.13 | 0.01| 1.57 | 3342

Flaked & parched | 0.77 | 0.06 | 0.01| 0.60 | 1335

| | | | |

Rice, polished | 1.25 | 0.07 | ... | 0.94 | 1855

cooked | 0.67 | 0.04 | ... | 0.51 | 1026

| | | | |

Bread, white | 1.67 | 0.14 | 0.02| 0.87 | 2009

” | 2.00 | 0.16 | 0.02| 1.04 | 2406

Crackers | 1.00 | 0.09 | 0.08| 0.71 | 1905

Macaroni | 0.80 | 0.09 | 0.01| 0.58 | 1328

Beans, dried | 2.00 | 0.35 | 0.03| 1.16 | 2868

Peas, dried | 2.00 | 0.38 | 0.02| 1.20 | 2974

Milk | 3.33 | 0.11 | 0.13| 0.17 | 1030

” | 2.86 | 0.09 | 0.11| 0.14 | 885

Sugar | 2.00 | ... | ... | 2.00 | 3515

” | 1.67 | ... | ... | 1.67 | 2940

——————————————————————+—————————+———————+—————+————————+———————

The less expensive breakfast foods, such as oatmeal and corn meal,

are as economical as flour, and, as they supply heat and energy in

abundance, as shown by Table VI, they should be supplied in the diet

in proportion to the energy required. They are easily prepared for

porridge, requiring simply to be boiled in water, with a little salt.

For invalids, children, and old people, breakfast foods prepared in

gruels and porridges are valuable as they are easily digested. All

should be thoroughly cooked so as to break the cell-walls inclosing the

starch granules.

_Oatmeal_ is the most nutritious cereal. The oat contains more fat

than other grains and a larger proportion of protein. It, therefore,

contains the proportion of nutrient elements best adapted to sustain

life.

On account of the fat, oats are especially well adapted for a breakfast

food in winter. Another advantage oatmeal, or rolled oats, have as a

breakfast food is in their laxative tendency, due to the coarse shell

of the kernel.

Oat breakfast foods keep longer than the foods made from wheat and rice.

There are no malts, or any mixtures in the oat preparations.

The difference between the various oatmeal breakfast foods is in their

manner of preparation. They all contain the entire grain, with the

exception of the husk. They are simply the ground or crushed oat. In

preparing the oats before grinding, the outer hull is removed, the

fuzzy coating of the berry itself is scoured off, the ends of the

berry, particularly the end containing the germ, which is usually the

place of deposit for insect eggs, is scoured, and the bitter tip end of

the oat berry is likewise removed.

_Rolled oats_ consist of the whole berry of the oat, ground into

a coarse meal, either between millstones, or, in the case of the

so-called “steel cut” oatmeal, cut with sharp steel knives across the

sections of the whole oat groat.

_Quaker Oats_ consist of the whole groats, which, after steaming in

order to soften, have been passed between hot steel rolls, somewhat

like a mangle in a laundry, and crushed into large, thin, partially

cooked flakes. The oats are then further cooked by an open pan-drying

process. This roasting process insures that all germ life is

exterminated, renders the product capable of quicker preparation for

the table, and causes the oil cells to release their contents, thereby

producing what is termed the “nut flavor,” which is not present in the

old-fashioned type of oat product.

Both Rolled Oats and Quaker Oats are now partially cooked in their

preparation, but the starch cells must be thoroughly broken and they

should be cooked at least forty-five minutes in a double boiler; or, a

good way to prepare the porridge is to bring it to the boiling point at

night, let it stand covered over night and then cook it from twenty to

thirty minutes in the morning. Another method of cooking is to bring

the porridge to the boiling point and then place it in a fireless

cooker over night.

The great fault in the preparation of any breakfast food is in not

cooking it sufficiently to break the starch cells.

_Puffed Rice_ is made from a good quality of finished rice. The process

is a peculiar one, the outer covering or bran, is removed and then

the product is literally “shot from guns”; that is, a quantity of

the rice is placed in metal retorts, revolved slowly in an oven, at

high temperature, until the pressure of steam, as shown by a gauge on

the gun, indicates that the steam, generated slowly by the moisture

within the grain itself, has thoroughly softened the starch cells. The

gun retort is pointed into a wire cage and the cap which closes one

end is removed, permitting an inrush of cold air. This cold air, on

striking the hot steam, causes expansion, which amounts practically to

an explosion. The expansion of steam within each starch cell completely

shatters the cell, causing the grain to expand to eight times its

original size. It rushes out of the gun and into the cage with great

force, after which it is screened to remove all scorched or imperfectly

puffed grains.

This process dextrinizes a portion of the starch and also very

materially increases the amount of soluble material as against the

original proportion in the grain.

_Puffed Wheat_ is manufactured from Durum, or macaroni wheat, of the

very highest grade. This is a very hard, glutinous grain. It is pearled

in order to thoroughly clean and take off the outer covering of bran.

It then goes through a puffing process, identical with that of Puffed

Rice. The chemical changes are very similar to those of puffed rice.

Both Puffed Rice and Puffed Wheat are more digestible than in the

original grain state. They are valuable foods for invalids.

_Stale Bread._ A food which tastes much like a prepared breakfast food,

but is cheaper, may be made by dipping stale bread into molasses and

water, drying it in the oven for several hours, and then crushing it.

It is then ready to serve with cream. This is a palatable way to use up

stale bread.

_Crackers and Milk or Bread and Milk._ As noted by Table VI, crackers

are similar to breakfast food in nutrient elements, and with milk make

a good food for breakfast, or a good luncheon. Business men, and

others who eat hurriedly and return immediately to work, will do well

to substitute crackers and milk, or bread and milk, for the piece of

pie which often constitutes a busy man’s lunch.

_Cracked Wheat._ In America wheat is seldom used whole. In England the

whole grain, with the bran left on, is slightly crushed and served as

cracked wheat or wheat grits.

Wheat is also rolled, or flaked, or shredded. The majority of wheat

breakfast foods contain a part of the middlings and many of them bran.

Farina and gluten preparations do not contain these, however.

The preparations of the various breakfast foods are a secret of the

manufacturers. The ready-to-eat brands are cooked, then they are either

rolled or shredded, the shredding requiring special machinery to

tear the steamed kernels; later they are dried, and, finally packed,

sometimes in small biscuits. Many preparations are baked after being

steamed, which turns them darker and makes them more crisp. Some

preparations are steamed, then run through rollers, while still wet,

and pressed into flakes or crackers.

_Predigested Foods._ It is claimed that some foods are “partly digested

and thus valuable for those with weak stomachs,” but breakfast foods

are largely starch and the starch is not digested by the gastric juice.

It is digested by saliva and the ferments in the small intestine. These

change the starch into dextrin and maltose.

Experiments with “predigested” foods do not show a larger proportion

of dextrin (digested starch), however, than would naturally be

produced by the heating of the starch when these foods are cooked at

home. The natural cooking makes starch more or less soluble, or at

least gelatinized. As a result of these experiments therefore, the

“predigested” argument is not of much weight.

Predigested foods, except in cases in which the patient is so weak as

to be under the direction of a physician, are not desirable. Nature

requires every organ to do the work intended for it, in order to keep

up its strength, just as she requires exercise for the arms or legs

to keep them strong. If an organ is weak, the _cause_ must be found

and corrected—perhaps the stomach or intestines need more blood,

which should be supplied through exercise; or perhaps the nerves need

relaxation; or the stomach less food; or food at more regular intervals.

Another argument against predigested foods lies in the fact that the

chewing of coarse food is necessary to keep the teeth strong. For this

strengthening of the teeth, children should be given dry crackers or

dry toast each day.

Dogs and wild animals which chew bones and hard substances do not have

pyorrhea, but lap-dogs and animals in the zoos, fed on bread and meat

without bones, suffer from this disease.

In the so-called “predigested” or “malted” preparations, malt is added

while they are being cooked.

_Malt_ is a ferment made from some grain, usually from barley, the

grain being allowed to germinate until the ferment diastase is

developed.

There is no doubt that a number of foods containing malt are valuable

to assist in converting starch into dextrin or sugar, just as pepsin is

an aid in the digestion of protein; but eaten indiscriminately, there

can be no question that it is more important for the teeth, stomach,

and intestines to perform their natural work and thus keep their

strength through normal exercise.

While they are not “predigested,” as claimed, these foods are, as a

rule, wholesome and nutritious. They are cleanly, and made from good,

sound grain, and they contain no harmful ingredients. Some contain

“middlings,” molasses, glucose, and similar materials, but these are in

no way injurious and have value as foods.

The dry, crisp, ready-to-eat foods are especially advantageous because

of the mastication they require. This insures plenty of saliva being

mixed with them to aid in digestion. A dish of such dry breakfast food,

well masticated, together with an egg, to furnish a larger proportion

of protein, makes a wholesome breakfast.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: Cereal Coffees]

According to investigations made by the United States Agriculture

Experiment Station, cereal coffees are made of parched grains. A few

contain a little true coffee, but for the most part they are made of

parched wheat, barley, etc., or of grain mixed with wheat middlings,

pea hulls, or corn cobs. There is no objection to any of these mixtures

providing they are clean. The cereal coffees, as seen by Table VII,

contain no more nourishment than the true coffee, but they are probably

more easily digested; only a very little of the soluble starch passes

into the water unless the kernel is ground. Coffee and tea are not

taken for their nutrition, but for their stimulating effect on the

nerves; and, if stimulation is desired, the cereal coffees fall short.

TABLE VII

COMPOSITION OF CEREAL-COFFEE INFUSION AND OTHER BEVERAGES

———————————————————————————————+—————+———————+————+————————+—————————

———————————————————————————————+—————+———————+————+————————+—————————

ounce to 1 pint water) | 98.2| 0.2 | ...| 1.4 | 30

| | | | |

ounces to 1 pint water) | 99.5| 0.2 | ...| 0.5 | 13

| | | | |

pint water) | 99.7| 0.3 | ...| 0.3 | 11

| | | | |

water) | 98.9| 0.2 | ...| 0.7 | 16

| | | | |

Tea (0.5 ounce to 1 pint water)| 99.5| 0.2 | ...| 0.6 | 15

| | | | |

milk) | 84.5| 3.8 | 4.7| 6.0 | 365

| | | | |

water) | 97.1| 0.6 | 0.9| 1.1 | 65

| | | | |

Skimmed milk | 88.8| 4.0 | 1.8| 5.4 | 170

———————————————————————————————+—————+———————+————+————————+—————————

By reference to Table VII it will be seen that cocoa and skimmed milk

contain much more nutrition than any of the coffees. The chief value of

cereal coffees is that they furnish a _warm_ drink with the meal. They

should not be too hot.

Barley or wheat, mixed with a little molasses, parched in the oven, and

then ground, makes a mixture similar to the cereal coffee.

The old-fashioned crust coffee is just as nutritious as any of the

coffees and has the advantage of being cheaper.

Barley water and oat water, made by boiling the ground kernel

thoroughly and then straining, are nourishing foods for invalids

and children. They are often used as drinks by athletes and manual

laborers, as they have the advantage of both quenching thirst and

supplying energy.

Gruels are made in the same way, only strained through a sieve. This

process allows more of the starch to pass with the water.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: Legumes]

The legumes are the seeds of peas, beans, lentils, and peanuts.

TABLE VIII

LEGUMES

——————————————————————+—————+———————+—————+—————————+—————+——————————

|per |per |per |hydrates |per |per pound

——————————————————————+—————+———————+—————+—————————+—————+——————————

Navy beans | 12.6| 22.5 | 1.8| 59.6 | 3.5 | 1605

Dried peas | 9.5| 24.6 | 1.0| 62.0 | 2.9 | 1655

Lentils | 8.4| 25.7 | 1.0| 59.2 | 5.7 | 1620

Lima beans | 10.4| 18.1 | 1.5| 65.9 | 4.1 | 1625

Peanuts | 9.2| 25.8 | 38.6| 24.4 | 2.0 | 2560

Peanut butter | 2.1| 29.3 | 46.5| 17.1 | 5.0 | 2825

| | | | | |

Canned peas | 85.3| 3.6 | 0.2| 9.8 | 1.1 | 255

Canned lima beans | 79.5| 4.0 | 0.3| 14.6 | 1.6 | 360

Canned string beans | 93.7| 1.1 | 0.1| 3.8 | 1.3 | 95

Canned baked beans | 68.9| 6.9 | 2.5| 19.6 | 2.1 | 600

String beans | 89.2| 2.3 | 0.3| 7.4 | 0.8 | 195

Shelled peas | 74.6| 7.0 | 0.5| 16.9 | 1.0 | 465

——————————————————————+—————+———————+—————+—————————+—————+——————————

Like the cereals, they are seeds, yet they contain a very much larger

proportion of protein and may be substituted for meat or eggs in a

diet. In all vegetarian diets, under normal conditions, the legumes

should be used freely to replace meats.

All legumes must be thoroughly cooked and thoroughly masticated.

Because the protein in these foods is less digestible than that in

meat or eggs, particularly if they are not thoroughly masticated,

they are better adapted for the use of those who do manual labor.

Soldiers in battle, day laborers, and others whose work calls for hard

physical exercise, can digest legumes more easily than can those whose

occupation is more sedentary.

If not thoroughly masticated legumes usually produce intestinal

fermentation with consequent production of gas. For this reason they

occasion distress in those who partake of them too freely and with

insufficient preparation by cooking.

The protein of the legumes is of the same nature as the casein of milk.

It has been called vegetable casein.

_Peanuts._ While an underground vegetable, grown like potatoes, peanuts

resemble nuts, inasmuch as they contain so much fat. The extracted oil

is used in several commercial products.

Like other legumes, they require cooking. They are roasted because this

develops the flavor.

Because they contain a more balanced proportion of proteins,

carbohydrates, and fats, they will sustain life for some time without

other food, as they provide rebuilding material, energy, and heat. Used

alone, however, there is no counteracting acid, and it is better to add

some fruit, such as apples, or apples and dates. For this reason lemon

juice is mixed with peanut butter.

In eating peanuts it is imperative that they be masticated _until they

are a pulp_, otherwise they are very difficult of digestion. The pain

which many people experience after eating peanuts is probably due to

eating too large a quantity and not fully masticating them, forgetting

that they are a very rich, highly concentrated food.

The habit of eating peanuts between meals and then eating a hearty meal

is likely to overload the digestive organs.

Both peanuts and peanut butter contain over twenty-five per cent. of

protein and about thirty-nine per cent. of fat; therefore they yield

much heat and energy.

Peanuts have been made into a flour; they are also to be had in the

form of grits which are cooked like oatmeal. When nuts or peanuts are

used as an after-dinner relish the quantity of meat should be cut down.

Their popularity is evidenced by the fact that between 4,000,000 and

5,000,000 bushels are raised annually in America.

_Peanut Butter._ While peanut butter contains 46.5 per cent. fat, it

contains only seventeen per cent. carbohydrates. Since sugars and

starches are protections to fat, being used for energy before the

fats are consumed, if these sugars and starches are not supplied in

other food, the fats in the peanut butter are consumed for energy. If

starches _are_ consumed in other foods, it is clear that one who wishes

to reduce in flesh should avoid peanut butter, as well as other fats.

Peanut butter is more easily digested than the roasted peanut, unless

the latter is chewed to a pulp. It can be made at home by grinding the

peanuts in a meat grinder, and then further mashing with a rolling pin

or a wooden potato masher. A little lemon juice mixed with the peanut

butter makes it not only more palatable, but more easily digested. A

peanut butter sandwich is quite as nourishing as a meat sandwich.

_Shelled Peas._ Shelled peas were used in Europe as far back as in the

Middle Ages, and there, to-day, the dried or “split” pea is used quite

as extensively as the dried bean. In America, peas are used almost

entirely in the green stage, fresh, or canned.

As seen by Table VIII, the green, shelled pea contains seven per cent.

of protein and sixteen per cent. of sugar and starch, while the dry

or “split” pea contains over 24.5 per cent. of protein and sixty-two

per cent. of sugar and starch, the difference being in the amount of

water contained in the shelled peas. Canned peas contain even a larger

percentage of water.

A variety of the pea is now being cultivated, in which, like the string

bean, the pod is used as a food. They are sweet and delicious.

Dried peas are used in this country mostly in purées.

_Beans._ Baked navy beans may well be substituted on a menu for meat,

containing, as they do, 22.5 per cent. of protein. It is needless to

state that beans and lean meat or eggs should not be served at the

same meal. Beans have the advantage of being cheaper than meat, yet,

as stated above, the protein in the legumes is less easily digested

than the protein of meat or eggs. They must be thoroughly cooked and

thoroughly masticated.

There is but a small percentage of fat in dried beans; for this reason

they are usually baked with a piece of pork. They make a very complete,

perhaps the most complete food, containing nutrient elements in about

the proper proportions.

A bean biscuit is used for the sustenance of soldiers on a march; it

gives a complete food in condensed form.

In baking dried beans or peas, soft or distilled water should be

used, as the lime of hard water makes the shell almost indigestible.

Parboiling the beans for fifteen minutes in two quarts of water with

a quarter of a teaspoon of baking soda softens the shell, making them

easier to digest.

_String Beans._ The string bean contains very little nutrition, as

shown by Table VIII. The pod and the bean, at this unripe stage,

contain nearly ninety per cent. water. Their chief value as a food

consists in their appetizing quality to those who are fond of them,

thus stimulating the flow of gastric juice.

Like all green vegetables they stimulate the action of the kidneys. All

green vegetables are particularly valuable to those who drink little

water.

The dried _Lima_ bean, used during the winter, may be boiled or baked.

If old, they are practically indigestible.

_Kidney Beans_ contain much water but are more nutritious than the

string bean.

_Soy Bean._ In China and Japan this bean is used extensively. Being

rich in protein, used with rice it makes a well-balanced diet.

The soy bean is made into various preparations, one of the most

important being _shoyo_, which has been introduced into other

countries. To make it, the soy bean is cooked and mixed with roasted

wheat flour and salt; into this is put a special ferment. It is then

allowed to stand for an extended time in casks. The result is a thick,

brown liquid with a pungent, agreeable taste. It is very nourishing.

A kind of cheese is also made by boiling the soy bean for several

hours, wrapping the hot mass in bundles of straw, and putting it in a

tightly closed cellar for twenty-four hours.

_Lentils_ are not commonly used in this country, but they were one of

the earliest vegetables to be cultivated in Asia and the Mediterranean

countries. They are usually imported and may be obtained in the

markets. They are used like dried peas and are fully as nourishing, but

the flavor of the lentil is pronounced and they are not so agreeable to

the average person as peas or beans.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: Nuts]

Nuts are classed with the carbo-nitrogenous foods, because of the more

nearly equal proportion of proteins and carbonaceous substances.

TABLE IX

NUTS

——————————————————+—————+———————+—————+—————————+——————+——————————

|per |per |per | drates | per |per pound

——————————————————+—————+———————+—————+—————————+——————+——————————

Almonds | 4.8 | 21.0 |54.90| 17.3 | 2.0 | 3030

Brazil nuts | 5.3 | 17.0 |66.80| 7.0 | 3.9 | 3329

Filberts | 3.7 | 15.6 |65.30| 13.0 | 2.4 | 3342

Hickory nuts | 3.7 | 15.4 |67.40| 11.4 | 2.1 | 3495

Pecans | 3.0 | 16.7 |71.20| 13.3 | 1.5 | 3633

English walnuts | 2.8 | 16.7 |64.40| 14.8 | 1.3 | 3305

Chestnuts, fresh |45.0 | 6.2 | 5.40| 42.1 | 1.3 | 1125

Walnuts, black | 2.5 | 27.6 |56.30| 11.7 | 1.9 | 3105

Cocoanut, shredded| 3.5 | 6.3 |57.30| 31.6 | 1.3 | 3125

Peanuts, roasted | 1.6 | 30.5 |49.20| 16.2 | 2.5 | 3177

——————————————————+—————+———————+—————+—————————+——————+——————————

It will be noted, by reference to Table IX that nuts contain a much

larger proportion of fats and less starch than the legumes. Chestnuts

contain the largest amount of starch, and pecans the most fat.

Peanuts are classed here with nuts because of their similar use in the

diet. Their comparative richness in protein will be noted.

Nuts are a valuable food, but they should be made a part of a meal and

may well take the place of meat rather than eaten as a dessert, because

of the large percentage of protein. They are too rich to be eaten as a

relish at the end of a meal, if one has eaten as much other food as the

system requires.

In planning a meal, if the dietary is rich in starches and lacking in

protein, a side dish of nuts may be served.

Too great stress cannot be laid on the importance of the thorough

mastication of nuts; otherwise they are difficult of digestion. When

thoroughly chewed, however, they are as easily digested as cereals or

legumes. If ground fine in a meat grinder or rubbed through a sieve,

they digest more readily, but this grinding does not take the place

of the grinding with the teeth and the mixture with the saliva. They

are best chopped for salads, cake, or croquettes. When ground the oil

extracted makes them pasty and not appetizing in appearance for use in

salads or cake.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: Milk]

Milk is a perfect food for the infant because it contains the elements

in proper proportions to sustain life and growth, though, alone, it

is insufficient for the nourishment of healthy adults. The adult, in

order to get sufficient nutriment, would be compelled to take a larger

proportion of water than necessary, the proportion of water required

by the system being about sixty-seven per cent., while milk contains

eighty-seven per cent.

In many diseases, however, a whole or partial milk diet is desirable,

especially in any inflammatory condition of the gastro-intestinal tract.

TABLE X

MILK AND MILK PRODUCTS

———————————————+———————+—————————+——————+———————+———————+————————————

———————————————+———————+—————————+——————+———————+———————+————————————

Milk | 86.8 | 4.0 | 3.7 | 4.8 | 0.7 | ....

Skimmed milk | 88.0 | 4.0 | 1.8 | 5.4 | 0.8 | ....

Buttermilk | 90.6 | 3.8 | 1.2 | 3.3 | 0.6 | 0.3

Cream | 66.0 | 2.7 | 26.7 | 2.8 | 1.8 | ....

Cheese | 36.8 | 33.5 | 24.3 | .... | 5.4 | ....

Butter | 6.0 | 0.3 | 91.0 | .... | 2.7 | ....

———————————————+———————+—————————+——————+———————+———————+————————————

The milk of the cow is not perfectly adapted for the young child—it is

lacking in the proper proportion of sugar, and when fed to the infant

it must be modified. Mother’s milk is not only richer in sugar than

cow’s milk, but it contains about half as much casein. The calf needs

more albumin than the baby does because it grows faster. Human milk is

also richer in fat.

An all-milk diet may be followed when it is desirable to gain in

weight. Such a diet should be accompanied by exercises for the vital

organs and by deep breathing, but experiments have shown that healthy

digestive organs do their work better when a part of the food is solid.

A milk and cream diet of about three quarts milk and one quart cream

with the addition of one to two eggs a day will keep up the strength of

one in bed, but is not sufficient for one who is active.

In order for an adult to obtain the proper quantity of carbohydrates

and fat, from an all-milk diet, it is necessary for him to drink from

four to five quarts of milk a day (sixteen to twenty glasses). It is

usually said that on an all-milk diet an active person requires as many

quarts as he is feet tall.

Young babies on mother’s milk are almost always fat, because of the

larger proportion of sugar and fat in the mother’s milk.

Reference to Table X shows that the thirteen per cent. of solids are

about equally divided between fat, sugar, and protein. The sugar is

lactose. It supplies heat to the infant before it can exercise its

muscles vigorously. The protein is casein.

There is no starch in milk. The digestive ferment, which acts on

starch, has not developed in the young babe and it cannot digest starch.

The salts promote the growth of bone.

The fat in milk is in small emulsified droplets within a thin

albuminous sheath. When allowed to stand in a cool place it rises to

the top.

Besides casein, milk contains a certain amount of albumin—about

one-seventh of the total amount—called lactalbumin. It maintains the

fat in milk in emulsified form.

In young babes the milk is curdled in the stomach, or the casein

separated from the water and sugar, not by hydrochloric acid, but by

a ferment in the gastric juice, known as rennin. Rennin, or rennet,

from the stomachs of calves, is used in cheese and butter factories to

coagulate the casein. This with other chemicals so hardens the casein

that it is used in the manufacture of buttons.

_Preserving milk._ If milk could be kept free from bacteria, it would

keep sweet almost indefinitely. At the Paris Exposition, milk from

several American dairies was kept sweet for two weeks, without any

preservative except cleanliness and a temperature of about forty

degrees. The United States Bureau of Animal Industry states that milk

may be kept sweet for seven weeks without the use of chemicals.

The importance of absolute cleanliness in the preparation and marketing

of this important article of food is being recognized both by the

producer and the consumer, and careful inspection has done away with

many abuses. In the absence of an efficient health department, the

consumer should ascertain in every case how the milk he uses is handled

at every stage before it reaches him. Care in this regard may safeguard

his family from disease and save him many dollars.

The best method for the housewife to follow is to keep the milk clean,

cool, and away from other foods, as milk will absorb a bad odor or

flavor from any stale food or odorous vegetables, from fresh paint, or

other substances.

Milk must never be left exposed in a sick room or in a refrigerator

unless the waste pipe and the ice chamber are kept scrupulously clean.

_Milk Tests._ In testing the value of milk, or the value of a cow,

butter makers and farmers gauge it by the amount of butter fat in the

milk, while the cheese maker tests the milk for the proportion of

protein (casein). The amount of butter fat depends on the feed and

water, and on the breed. If the total nutrient elements fall below

twelve per cent., it is safe to assume that the milk has been watered.

In cheese and butter there is no sugar; it remains in the buttermilk

and the whey, both of which the farmer takes home from the factories to

fatten his hogs.

_Pasteurized Milk._ In pasteurizing milk the aim is to destroy as many

of the bacteria as possible without causing any chemical changes or

without changing the flavor. One can pasteurize milk at home by placing

it in an air-tight bottle, immersing the bottle to the neck in hot

water, heating the water to 167 F. for twenty minutes, and then quickly

cooling the milk to 50 F. by immersing the bottle in cold water. The

rapid cooling lessens the cooked taste. The best dairies pasteurize the

milk before it is marketed.

_Sterilized Milk._ Milk is sterilized to destroy all bacteria, by

heating it to 212 F. Sterilized milk remains sweet longer than

pasteurized milk, but more chemical changes are produced and the flavor

is changed, resembling that of boiled milk.

Formerly borax, boric acid, salicylic acid, formalin, and saltpeter

were used to keep the milk sweet, but this adulteration is now

forbidden by the pure-food laws.

_Malted milk_ is a dry, soluble food product in powder form, derived

from malted barley, wheat flour (dextrin), and cow’s milk, containing

the full amount of cream.

The process of the extraction from the cereals is conducted at

elevated temperatures so as to allow the active agents (enzymes) of

the barley malt to effect the conversion of the vegetable protein and

starches. The filtered extract, containing the derivatives of the malt,

wheat, and the full-cream cow’s milk, is then evaporated to dryness

_in vacuo_, the temperature being controlled so as to obviate any

alteration of the natural constituents of the ingredients and so as to

preserve their full physiological values. The strictest precautions are

observed to insure the purity of the product. It contains:

Fats 8.75

Proteins 16.35

Dextrin 18.80

Lactose and Maltose 49.15

(Total Soluble Carbohydrates) 67.95

Inorganic Salts 3.86

Moisture 3.06

Malted milk is free from germs. The starches and sugars are converted

in the process of manufacture into maltose, dextrin, and lactose. The

fats are in an absorbable condition, and it contains a high percentage

of proteins derived from both the milk and the grains, as well as a

marked percentage of mineral salts. It is readily soluble in water and

is easily digested.

The hydrochloric acid of the stomach coagulates or curds milk much as

it is curded by many fruit and vegetable acids, such as those in lemons

or tomatoes. Thus the milk forms into curds immediately on entering

the stomach, the casein being at once precipitated by the rennin. This

is the chief reason why it should be drunk slowly, otherwise too large

curds will form, causing distress from pressure.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: Digestion of Milk]

A part of the digestion of the casein is performed by pepsin in the

stomach and a part by the trypsin of the pancreatic juice.

The larger part of the digestion of the milk sugar or lactose, is

performed by the pancreatic juice; although it is partly acted on by

the saliva. Usually, however, the saliva is given little chance to

become mixed with the milk, unless it is taken slowly and mixed with

saliva by chewing movements. This is one reason why children should be

given milk in which bread has been broken, rather than a piece of bread

and a glass of milk. By swallowing the milk slowly, smaller curds are

formed in the stomach and the milk is more thoroughly digested.

The salts of milk, to a large extent, the water, and perhaps a portion

of the sugar are absorbed in the stomach.

When the fat (cream) is removed milk digests more readily, so that in

cases in which the stomach is delicate, _skimmed milk, clabbered milk,

or buttermilk_ are often prescribed instead of sweet milk.

Boiled milk is also more readily digested by some; the lactalbumin is

separated and rises to the top in a crinkly scum. The casein of boiled

milk is also more readily digested, forming in small flakes in the

stomach instead of in curds.

Sterilizing the milk by boiling will prevent the action of bacteria in

producing fermentation and disordered digestion, and, if relished, milk

can thus be treated. Pasteurized milk is more palatable than boiled

milk.

Milk is often better assimilated if other food is not too suddenly cut

off. When the diet is radically changed the digestive system is apt

to show derangement. Therefore when for any cause an all-milk diet is

desired, it is unwise to begin it at once, by feeding from eighteen to

twenty glasses of milk a day. This amount may be approximated within

a week’s time. The change in diet should be begun by cutting down all

meats and legumes and gradually eliminating starches. In changing

from a milk diet to a diet including more hearty foods, the transition

should also be gradual.

If a milk diet is to be followed and the milk seems to disturb the

stomach when taken in quantities, one may begin by taking it in very

small quantities every fifteen minutes for the first hour. If one’s

purpose is to gain in flesh the quantity may be increased to a glass,

and time intervals be lengthened to every hour as the stomach becomes

accustomed to caring for the milk. It should be sipped slowly and

thoroughly mixed with saliva before being swallowed. The mouth should

be carefully rinsed with equal parts of peroxide of hydrogen and water,

or listerine and hot sterile water, each time milk is taken.

Milk, in whatever form it is taken, leaves a coating on the tongue and

teeth. The heat of the mouth, especially if the patient is feverish,

quickly causes changes which give a disagreeable taste and a chance

for bacterial action. These bacterial products are carried into the

stomach and excite digestive changes through which fermentation and gas

formation appear and biliousness may result. This may be avoided if,

after taking the milk, the mouth is carefully washed and, in feverish

conditions, the tongue gently scraped or swabbed with absorbent cotton

dipped in listerine or peroxide of hydrogen. Without such cleansing of

the mouth milk may disagree.

When from two to three glasses of milk at a meal are taken, less solid

food is needed, because the required nutriment is partially supplied

by the milk. One reason why milk seems to disagree with many people,

is because they lose sight of the fact that milk is an actual food,

as well as a beverage, and they eat the usual quantity of food in

addition to the milk. As one pint, or two glasses of milk, contains

approximately the same amount of nutrition as one-third of a pound

of beef, the amount of food to be taken in addition may be readily

calculated.

The chief reason for the lessened activity of the bowels on a milk diet

is because the nourishment in milk is practically all absorbed—there

is very little residue and milk gives little rough surface to excite

peristaltic action and stimulate the walls of the intestine to activity.

The calcium, one of the constituents of milk, tends to lessen the

peristaltic action of the intestines and this is one of the causes of

constipation. Fruit and coarse bread containing much bran, should be

used with a milk diet.

Constipation may also be occasioned by drinking milk rapidly. When

the hydrochloric acid is very active coagulation may take place so

quickly as to cause hard tough curds to form; these enter the intestine

undissolved because the gastric juice can act only on the exterior

portion; the stomach retains the curds in its effort to dissolve them

and fermentation may occur, with irritation and constipation from

irregular action. In this case the constipating effect may be overcome

by taking the milk in small sips or by the addition of one part of

limewater to six parts milk. The limewater causes the curds to be

precipitated in small flakes.

Limewater may be prepared by putting a heaping teaspoon of unslaked

lime with a quart of boiled or distilled water into a corked bottle or

Mason jar. Shake thoroughly two or three times during the first hour;

then allow the lime to settle, and after twenty-four hours pour or

siphon off the clear fluid. Be careful not to allow the lime to be

poured off with the water.

Barley water or oatmeal water added to milk also prevents the formation

of large curds.

Milk may also be taken with any variety of gruel—oatmeal, sago,

arrowroot, or tapioca.

If there is much mucus in the stomach, mucous fermentation may occur in

milk because of the lack of hydrochloric acid. The partially digested

curds are tough, stringy, and slimy and the intestinal walls find no

resistance in the mass. In this case constipation may be followed by

diarrhea.

If the stomach is deficient in hydrochloric acid the juice of half an

orange or a little lemon juice may be taken a half hour before the

glass of milk.

Constipation and, later, diarrhea may also result when stomach

digestion is weak, the curds passing through the stomach and intestines

undissolved.

When there is any tendency to torpidity of the liver, daily exercise

should be directed to the liver, stomach, and intestines or milk

may cause biliousness, because the excess of fat and protein taken

overstimulates the liver, causing an excess of bile. The bile may enter

the stomach and cause nausea and vomiting. Constipation results from

the disordered digestion. This will not often occur if one exercises

daily and cuts down the quantity of solid food as the amount of liquid

is increased.

A glass of hot Vichy or Hunyadi water taken the first thing on rising,

and followed by a glass of cool water will help to relieve any

engorgement of the liver.

In case of biliousness resulting from a milk diet, abstain from all

food for twenty-four hours, cleanse the mouth as indicated above, and

drink freely of water.

When the liver is a little inactive, milk may be diluted with an

aërated water or even plain water. Daily exercise directed toward

securing a greater activity of the liver and gall-bladder should

be followed. Four tablespoonfuls of soda water, Apollinaris, or

carbonic-acid water to the glass may be used.

As noted in the preceding pages, orange and lemon juice will encourage

greater activity of the stomach and bowels.

One-third of a glass of hot Vichy water to each glass of milk renders

it easily digested and most people relish it. Unless the liver is

very inactive milk taken in this way will not constipate and exercise

directed to the liver, as previously mentioned, will help to obviate

this condition.

Skimmed milk, Kumyss, or buttermilk are easily digested and are

valuable when the digestive system is weak.

The monotony of a milk diet tends to create a distaste for milk and

the mental revolt may upset digestion and result in constipation. This

should be kept in mind and various ways of modifying the milk be used

to create variety; mental aversion and antagonism should be corrected.

When its taste is not relished milk may be made acceptable and the

stomach induced to retain it by using a variety of flavors. A drop

or two of vanilla, a trifle of cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and pepper,

chocolate, or any other flavor that is liked may be used, varying them

so as to keep from monotony.

If milk seems to produce gas in the stomach with distress and the

milk is retained too long in the stomach from the interference with

its movements caused by the gas, a teaspoonful of malt extract may be

added to each glass of milk. If the malt extract is not at hand, four

teaspoonfuls of malted milk to each glass may be used.

Equal parts of cream and hot water to which has been added a third of a

teaspoon of soda may be used, for the same purpose.

If milk disagrees because of an excess of hydrochloric acid and the

formation of hard curds, a saltspoon of salt or bicarbonate of soda may

be used, or one part of limewater to six parts of milk.

When milk seems to disagree because digestion is somewhat slow and

the milk does not offer enough bulk to excite peristaltic action, it

remains too long in the stomach and fermentation occurs. A slice of

bread, a couple of crackers, a piece of zweiback, a tablespoonful of

Nestle’s or Mellin’s food or of arrowroot gruel added to each glass, or

eaten with the milk, will give it more body and prevent the formation

of large curds.

When the stomach is excessively weak because of a lack of the digestive

juices and a consequent incomplete action of the stomach, only

predigested milk should be taken until the stomach has been brought

to a normal tone. Pepsin or pancreatin may be used for the partial

digestion. Milk so predigested must be freshly prepared each time

it is used or must be kept on ice until used. The stomach will find

practically no difficulty in assimilating milk thus prepared, and

constipation will be avoided.

_It must be remembered that milk must be sipped slowly and be well

mixed with saliva before it is swallowed._

Milk can be soured and taken separated as a variation, the curds and

whey being relished by many when properly prepared. A little sugar and

cinnamon or nutmeg sprinkled on curds or mixed with the whey make a

palatable mixture. Buttermilk or kumyss offer still other variations.

With all these means of varying the taste, appearance, or condition of

milk it is hardly possible that some way cannot be found whereby milk

may be taken and be well borne by the stomach and the full benefits

from its use be derived.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: Cheese]

This is the casein (protein) which has been separated from milk by the

action of rennet. It is highly nutritious and many varieties are on the

market. In Europe it is largely used to take the place of meat. Cheese

contains almost as much again protein as is contained in the same

quantity of meat.

In this country more highly flavored cheeses are in demand, and when

eaten in moderate quantities they aid digestion. They are highly

concentrated food and but a small quantity should be eaten at a meal,

particularly if meat has constituted a part of the meal.

The cheeses poor in fat are more difficult to digest as they are harder

and not so easily masticated.

Contrary to the prevalent idea, a properly made Welsh rarebit is more

easily digested than uncooked cheese.

One should use judgment, in eating any highly concentrated food, not to

eat too large a quantity.

_Smierkase_, or cottage cheese, is coagulated casein. It contains

thirty-three per cent. of protein, twenty-four per cent. of fat, and

five per cent. of salts.

The thickening of the milk, or the coagulation of the casein, is like

that produced by lactic acid.

_Skimmed milk_, as shown by the table, contains the same amount of

protein as fresh milk, but more sugar and more ash, the difference

consisting almost entirely of less fat, which has been removed in the

cream.

_Buttermilk._ There is less fat, protein, sugar, or ash in buttermilk

than in skimmed milk; it is therefore less nourishing, but it requires

less digestive effort. The sugar has partially fermented and the lactic

acid is freed. It is the free lactic acid which gives the pungent taste.

Buttermilk made by lactone or Bulgarian tablets and fresh milk is as

nourishing and as desirable as that made in the process of butter

making, and it has the advantage of being fresh. When the whole milk is

used it, of course, contains the same amount of fat, protein, sugar,

and ash as the milk. It is of value in cases of poor digestion of

protein and fat, and in chronic stomach trouble. It has been claimed

that the bacilli in buttermilk made from the Bulgarian tablets prevent

putrefaction in the large intestine. This is disputed, however.

_Clabbered Milk._ The casein in clabbered milk coagulates and if kept

in a hot place the coagulation continues until the water, sugar, and

salts are separated. Clabbered or loppered milk is wholesome. It may be

sweetened or salted and flavored to taste.

_Whey_ is the watery portion of milk from which the casein has been

removed in the process of making cheese. It is a palatable drink and

may be flavored with a little nutmeg and sugar or salt. Invalids

usually relish it. Beef tea or egg yolk may be added to it.

_Milk Sugar._ Sugar made from milk is now a commercial product; it is

evaporated and transformed into a fine powder. This powder is used by

physicians and druggists in compounding powders, pills, tablets, etc.

_Junket._ The tablets used in making junket are the essence of rennet.

Milk coagulated by rennin has not the sour taste of milk coagulated by

acid. It is an admirable article of diet in many weakened conditions of

the digestive tract.

_Condensed Milk_ is made by evaporating the water until it is reduced

to about sixty-one per cent. It is then hermetically sealed. It is

convenient for use whenever fresh milk cannot be obtained, but the

process of evaporation changes its flavor so that few care for it as

a drink. It may be substituted for cream in coffee, and diluted with

three times its volume in water the proportions are again the same as

before the water was evaporated.

FOOTNOTES:

[4] Charles D. Woods, Dr. Sc., in _Cereal Breakfast Foods_.