Jasper County Democrat, Volume 12, Number 81, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 January 1910 — Home Course In Domestic Science [ARTICLE]

Home Course In Domestic Science

ll.—Selection of Food.

By EDITH G, CHARLTON.

In Charge of Domestic Economy, 16wa State College Copyright. 1910, by American Pm. Association THE wise selection of food, to suit the Individual needs of each member of the family, requires the consideration of at least these three questions: 1. Is the food nutritious? 2. Is the food comparatively easy to digest? 8. Is the food reasonable in cost? The subject is so important that it. should engage the heart and head as well as the band of the woman who presides over a family. It' is sufficiently important, too, to demand some thought from every individual who values bis good 'Health and general well being, it has been frequently stated by physicians and philantbro pists that three-fourths of the sickness in the world, one-half the drunkenness and a large percentage of the crime have bad their beginning and their cause in poor food and bad cooking. This being the case, can there be any topic of greater value for our lesson this week than the very old question, '“What shall we eat?” First 1 should like to impress upon my readers that "we eat to live” rather than “live to eat;” that, while there should be genuine pleasure in the simple act of eating, this pleasure ought to be experienced when the food is of simple variety. The pleasure is a certainty when the food has been carefully and appetizingly prepared and when hunger is a companion at the meal. The appetite which relishes only expensive foods and foods out of season Is abnormal and is certain to bring disaster to its possessor. This disaster may be an attack of rheuma tisni or some form of dyspepsia, or it may be a depleted bank account. What Food Is. In order to fulfill Its office food must either build and repair tissue or it must give heat and energy to the body, and it should do these things at as lit tie unnecessary expense of physical energy as possible. According to Its function all kinds of food are divided into five classes. These are the tissue building foods, the fat foods, starches and sugars, mineral matter and water. Each one of these classes has its particular duty to perform for the body and therefore has its especial place on the dally bill of fare. Amy food material, no matter bow simple and well known or how rare, contains two or more of these five classes. A few of the standard materials contain ail five classes. • . - For instance, what do we find in a loaf of bread? A great deal of starch and some gluten from the flour, a little fat from the flour and more if it has been added In the making, some mineral matter and about 35 per cent of water. Meat also has fat, mineral matter and a substance found In the lean part which Is called proteld and which is the tissue building property of the meat. The elements which compose these different classes of food cor respond with the elements In the body; hence their necessity. It is chiefly from the food which we eat that we obtain those elements which are nec essary for the support of life and the functions of the body. Ths Duty of ths Five Classes. Now that we have seen what an important place tn life our daily food occupies let us endeavor to learn to which class or classes certain com monly used foods belong. The tissue building foods, or the pfoteid foods, are not numerous, but. so important are they that life cannot be sustained for any length of time without them * This class of food has been given the name proteld. a word meaning "first’ or “pre-eminent.” because It Alone of the five classes Is nble to build tissue and to repair the dally waste of the cells of the body.. The proteids alone contain nitrogen, and nitrogen is one of the elements necessary to life. The following table classifies some' of our commou foods according to their prin clpal constituents, also gives their source and use in the body: SOURCE AND USE OF THE CHIEF FOOD CONSTITUENTS. Meats Uss Is ths Fish Bonv. ' Build PROTEIDS Tiaooea Peas Repair Daily Gluten In Flour Tisane Fatal Meats FATS Cheese and Energy OU In Nuts Produce Olive OU Fat • Cane ' [Sugar. ■ Give CARBO- Sugar of Milk and HY- Sugar In Fruit Energy DRATES Fl™? ProBtaeoh MTNERAt, J rrnit Acids | Aid In Formation BAbTB ( Vegetables I UtofuMn the Blood (hr All Carries Food to WATER < , . I the Blood wsiMt | J QyrimOff Wasyi The sugars and starches have been grouped under one name, carbohydrates, because both these foods contain a considerable amount of carbon, also two gases, hydrogen and oxygen, which are always predent in the right proportion to form water. The special

function of this class of food is to give energy. Before energy is evolved t here must be heat, but as heat producers the carbohydrates are not as valuable as fats. The latter are more than three-fourths carbon. This fact at once proves that fat In some form is the food to be eaten when heat is required. It is the food which appeals to the appetite more strongly in winter than in summer and is liked better in cold climates than in waym. If it were Impossible to have both fat and sugar in the diet no great harm would result to the body for some time, because both contain the same elements and both perform the same function—namely. give heat and energy. Not so with the proteids, howev/r, because, being the only class which contains nitrogen, no other can substitute for them. Danger in Overeating. After learning of the importance of proteld foods the first conclusion may be that they should form the greater part of the .diet and should largely compose the daily bill of fare. This is a common mistake and one to be carefully avoided. The intake of food should not be greater than the needs of the body and to preserve its normal equilibrium. Too much food of any kind necessitates too much work on the organs of digestion and elemlna■tion and produces certain irregularities of the body functions. Too much proteid—that is. too liberal an allowance of meat. fish. eggs, cheese, etc., in the meals will clog the system with urea, throw too much work on ihe kidneys in their effort to carry off this final product in the digestion of proteid. Too much proteid in the diet Induces rheumatism and similar disorders. When too much fat. or carbohydrate, is eaten it is stored up in the body as fat. and the individual finds himself putting on adipose tissue*to perhaps an uncomfortable degree. There is more danger in this country from overeating than there is from lack of food. Just as the engine is likely to wear out more quickly because of too hard firing than from lack of fuel. The amount of food required to properly develop the body and keep it in normal condition depends on different conditions, such as the occupation of the individual, the age of the individual, sex, climate apd personal idiosyn crasies. The man or woman engaged in bard physical work requires' qjore of the foods which repair tissues than does the person living a sedentary life. The amount' of fresh air in which the individual lives will also determine largely the rapidity with which food will be oxidized In the body For In stance, the farmer, working in the fields, will require more nourishing foods than the man who sits in his of flee all day. The farmer’s lungs are constantly filled with fresh air; his blood is filled with oxygen. He is per forming work which requires much physical energy; hence bls food is rap idly burned in his body in order to yield the necessary energy, and he is hungry. He has a good appetite for hearty food, and be digests it with ease. The man of sedentary habits finds his stomach rebelling and him self in general discomfort If he at tempts to follow the example of the farmer for any length of time. How Much to Eat. Occasionally we bear the question, “How mtfth should we eat?” Yet, as a rule, the average person does not trouble himself very much on that score and eats what a pampered appetite demands rather than the amount he actually needs. Dietary specialists have found from many experiments that an average man doing average work requires each day about four and a half ounces of proteid, two ounces of fat and sixteen ounces of carbohydrate. An average woman doihg the work of an average housekeeper re quires a little less, probably about three ounces of proteid, one and a half ounces of fat and twelve ounces of carbohydrate. The boy fourteen to sixteen years of age requires four-fifths as much food as his father, and the boy or girl of twelve years should have half as much food as an adult. Recently certain specialists have been able to reduce the amount of proteid still lower than the above standards, which are less than those given ten or twelve years ago. But as long as the present habit of “bolting” food with Insufficient mastication is common in the country It is not safe to reduce the am'ount of proteld to the lowest possible figure. The amount of food constituents which I have suggested can be easily obtained from standard food materials; less of these will be required If the foods are properly cooked. tjust here the housekeeper’s skill is called Into account. No matter how nutritious and easy of digestion foods may be In their uncooked state, they may be almost, if not entirely, ruined as far. as digestion and assimilation are concerned in the process of cooking. A single portion of beefsteak, two eggs and an ounce of cheese, with milk and a little oatmeal, will furnish all the tissue building material the average man will require for one day. A half loaf of bread and a .half pound of potatoes, with ordinary helping of rice and a tablespoonful of sugar will furnish the required amount of carbohydrate, and the required fat is easily obtained from the butter used on the bread, the oils in the cheese and the fat In meat. There Is ipuch more chance of too much fat being eaten with.the ordinary meal than too little. We are likely to underrate the value of water in the diet and use It too sparingly. Water is a food and a very necessary one. Its duties for the body are numerous and Important, it helps to carry food to the blood, assists* In carrying off the waste matters, equalizes the temperature of the.body and acts as a solvent for food. Its benefits to the system arc many.