A Handbook of Health Part 4

Corn Meal. Corn meal is one of the richest meals in nutritive value for its price, as it has an abundance of starch and a small amount of fat. It is, however, poor in nitrogen, and like the other grains, in countries where wheat will grow, it is chiefly valuable for furnishing cakes, fritters, and mushes to give variety to the diet, and help to regulate the bowels.

Oatmeal. Oatmeal comes the nearest to wheat in the amount of nitrogen or protein, but the digestible part of this is much smaller than in wheat, and the indigestible portion is decidedly irritating to the bowels, so that if used in excess of about one-fifth of our total starch-food required, it is likely to upset the digestion.

Rye. Rye also contains a considerable amount of gluten, but is much poorer in starch than wheat is; and the bread made out of its flour--the so-called "black bread" of France and Germany--is dark, sticky, and inclined to sour readily. Most of the "rye" bread sold in the shops, or served on our tables, is made of wheat flour with a moderate mixture of rye to give the sour taste.

Rice. Rice consists chiefly of starch, and makes nutritious puddings or cakes, and may be used as a vegetable, in the place of potatoes, with meat and fish. It is, however, lacking in flavor, and when properly cooked, contains so much water that it has to be eaten in very large amounts to furnish much nutrition.

Potatoes. The only important starchy food outside of the grains is potatoes. These contain considerable amounts of starch, but mixed with a good deal of cellulose, or vegetable fibre, and water, so that, like rice, large amounts of them must be eaten in order to furnish a good fuel supply. They, however, make a very necessary article of diet in connection with meats, fish, and other vegetables.

As a rough ill.u.s.tration of the fuel value of the different starch foods, it may be said that in order to get the amount of nourishment contained in an ordinary pound loaf of wheat or white bread, it would be necessary to eat about seven pounds of cooked rice, as it comes on the table; about twelve pounds of boiled potatoes; or a bowl of oatmeal porridge about the size of a wash-basin.

SUGARS

Where Sugar is Obtained. The other great member of the starch, or carbohydrate, group of foods is sugar. This is a scarcer and more expensive food than starch because, instead of being found in solid ma.s.ses in grains and roots like starch, it is scattered, very thinly, through the fruits, stems, and roots of a hundred different plants, seldom being present in greater amounts than two or three per cent. It is, however, so valuable a food, with so high a fuel value, and is so rapidly digested and absorbed, that man has always had a very keen desire for it, or, as we say, a "sweet tooth," and has literally searched the whole vegetable kingdom the world over to discover plants from which it could be secured in larger amounts. During the last two hundred years it has been obtained chiefly from two great sources: the juicy stem of a tall, coa.r.s.e reed, or cane, the sugar-cane, growing in the tropics; and (within the last fifty years) the sweet juice of the large root of a turnip-like plant, the beet. Another source of sugar, in the earlier days of this country, was the juice or sap of the sugar maple, which is still greatly relished as a luxury, chiefly in the form of syrup.

Honey is nearly pure sugar together with certain ferments and flavoring extracts, derived in part from the flowers from which it is gathered, and in part from the stomach, or crop, of the bee.

The Food Value of Sugar. In the early days of its use, sugar, on account of its expensiveness, was looked upon solely as a luxury, and used sparingly--either as a flavoring for less attractive foods, or as a special treat; and like most new foods, it was declared to be unwholesome and dangerous. But sugar is now recognized as one of our most useful and valuable foods. In fuel value, it is the equal, indeed the superior, weight for weight, of starch; and as all starch has to be changed into it before it can be used by the body, it is evident that sugar is more easily digested and absorbed than starch, and furnishes practically a ready-made fuel for our muscles.

How We should Use Sugar. The drawbacks of sugar are that, on account of its exceedingly attractive taste, we may eat too much of it; and that, because it is so satisfying, if we do eat too much of it either between meals or at the beginning of meals, our appet.i.tes will be "killed" before we have really eaten a sufficient supply of nourishing food. But all we have to do to avoid these dangers is to use common sense and a little self-control, without which any one of our appet.i.tes may lead us into trouble.

On account of this satisfying property, sugar is best eaten at, or near, the close of a meal; and taken at that time, there is no objection to its use nearly pure, as in the form of sweet-meats, or good wholesome candy. Its alleged injurious effects upon the teeth are largely imaginary and no greater than those of the starchy foods. The teeth of various tropical races which live almost entirely on sugar-cane during certain seasons of the year are among the finest in the world; and any danger may be entirely avoided by proper brushing and cleaning of the teeth and gums after eating.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CANDY, LIKE OTHER FOODS, SHOULD BE CLEAN.

Candy sold on the street is always questionable. It should never be bought from a cart or stand that is not covered with gla.s.s.]

If eaten in excess, sugar quickly gives rise to fermentation in the stomach and bowels; but so do the starches and the fats, if over-indulged in. Its real value as a food may be judged from the fact that the German army has made it a part of its field ration in the shape of cakes of chocolate, and that the United States Government buys pure candy by the ton, for the use of its soldiers.

FOOTNOTES:

[7] On this account, they are often spoken of as carbohydrates, or "carbon-water stuffs."

[8] See page 11.

CHAPTER VI

THE COAL FOODS (_Continued_)

ANIMAL FATS

The Digestibility of Fats. We have now come to the last group of the real Coal foods, namely, the fats. Fats are the "hottest" and most concentrated fuel that we possess, and might be described as the "anthracites," or "hard coals" of our Coal foods. They are, also, as might be expected from their "strength" or concentration, among the slowest to digest of all our foods, so that, as a rule, we can eat them only in very moderate amounts, seldom exceeding one-tenth to one-sixth of our total food-fuel. It is not, however, quite correct to say that fats are hard to digest, because, although from their solid, oily character, they take a longer time to become digested and absorbed by the body than most other foods, yet they are as perfectly and as completely digested, with the healthy person, as any other kind of food.

Indeed, it is this slowness of digestion which gives them their well-known staying-power as a food.

Their Place in our Diet. The wholesomeness of fats is well shown by our appet.i.te for them, which is very keen for small amounts of them--witness, for instance, how quickly we notice and how keenly we object to the absence of b.u.t.ter on our bread or potatoes. To have our "bread well-b.u.t.tered" is a well known expression for comfort and good fortune; yet a very little excess will turn our enjoyment into disgust.

Fat, and particularly the cold fat of meat, "gags" us if we try to eat too much of it.

Fortunately, most of these fat-foods are quite expensive, pound for pound, and hence we are not often tempted to eat them in excess. Within proper limits, then, fats are an exceedingly important and useful food--a valuable member of the great family of Coal foods.

The Advantages of Fat as a Ration. The high fuel value and the small bulk of fats give them a very great practical advantage whenever supplies of food have to be carried for long distances, or for considerable lengths of time, as in sea voyages and hunting and exploring trips. So that in provisioning ships for a long voyage, or fitting out an expedition for the Arctic regions, fats, in the shape of bacon or pork, pemmican,[9] or the richer dried fishes, like salmon, mackerel, and herring, will be found to play an important part. Fats also have the great advantage, like the starches, of keeping well for long periods, especially after they have been melted and sterilized by boiling, or "rendering," as in the case of lard, or have had moderate amounts of salt added to them, as in b.u.t.ter.

If you were obliged to pick out a ration which would keep you alive, give you working power, and fit into the smallest possible bulk, you would take a protein, a sugar, and a fat in about equal amounts. Indeed, the German emergency field-ration, intended to keep soldiers in the field for three or four days without their baggage-wagons, or cook-trains, is made up of bacon, pea-meal, and chocolate. A small packet of these, which weighs only a little over two pounds, and which can be slipped into the knapsack, will, with plenty of water, keep a soldier in fighting trim for three days.

b.u.t.ter. The most useful and wholesome single fat is the one which is in greatest demand--b.u.t.ter. This, as we have seen, is the churned and concentrated fat of milk, to which a little salt has been added to keep the milk-acid (_lactic acid_) which cannot be entirely washed out of it, from "turning it sour" or rancid. The rancid, offensive taste of bad or "strong" b.u.t.ter is due to the formation of another acid call _butyric_ ("b.u.t.tery") _acid_.

b.u.t.ter is the best and most wholesome of our common fats because it is most easily digested, most readily absorbed, and least likely to give rise to this butyric acid fermentation. We should be particularly careful, even more so almost than with other foods, to see that it is perfectly sweet and good, because when we swallow rancid b.u.t.ter, we are simply swallowing a ready-made attack of indigestion. Most people's stomachs are strong enough to deal with small amounts of rancid b.u.t.ter without discomfort; but it is a strain on them that ought to be avoided, especially when good b.u.t.ter is simply a matter of strict cleanliness and care in handling and churning the cream, and of keeping the b.u.t.ter cool after it has been made.

Plenty of sweet b.u.t.ter is one of the most important and necessary elements in our diet, especially in childhood. And if children are allowed to eat pretty nearly as much as they want of it on their bread or potatoes, and plenty of its liquid form, cream, on their berries and puddings, it will save the necessity of many a dose of cod-liver oil, or bitter physic. Cream is far superior to either cod-liver or castor oil for keeping us in health.

Oleomargarine. On account of the expensiveness of b.u.t.ter, there are a number of subst.i.tutes sold, which go under the name of _oleomargarine_.

These are made of the fat, or suet, of beef or mutton, mixed with a certain amount of cream and real b.u.t.ter, to give them an agreeable flavor. They are wholesome and useful fats, and for cooking purposes may very largely be subst.i.tuted for b.u.t.ter. Owing to the fact that their fat is freer from the milk acids, they keep better than b.u.t.ter; and sweet, sound oleomargarine is to be preferred to rank, rancid b.u.t.ter.

But it is not so readily digestible as b.u.t.ter is; is more liable to give rise to the butyric acid fermentations in the stomach; is not nearly so appetizing; and its sale as, and under the name of, _b.u.t.ter_ is a fraud which the law rightly forbids and punishes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A SMALL STORE, CLEANLY AND HONEST

The milk is well kept, the bread and candies are under gla.s.s, and "b.u.t.terine" is not sold as b.u.t.ter.]

Lard. The next most useful and generally used pure fat is lard--the rendered, or boiled-down, fat of pork. It is a useful subst.i.tute for b.u.t.ter in cooking, where b.u.t.ter is scarce. But, even in pastry or cakes, it has neither the flavor nor the digestibility of b.u.t.ter, and the latter should always be used when it can be had.

Bacon and Ham. The most useful and digestible fat meats are bacon and ham, as the dried, salted, and usually smoked, meat of the pig is called. Like all other fats, they can be eaten only in moderate amounts; but thus eaten, they are both appetizing, digestible, and very nutritious. One good slice of breakfast bacon, for instance, contains as much fuel value as two large saucers of mush or breakfast food, or two eggs, or two large slices of bread, or three oranges, or two small gla.s.ses of milk, or a quart of berries.

NUTS

How Nuts should be Used. Another form of fat is the "meat" of different nuts--walnuts, pecans, almonds, etc. These are quite rich in fats, and also contain a fair amount of proteins, and are, in small quant.i.ties, like other fats, appetizing and useful articles of food. But they should not be depended upon to furnish more than a small amount of the whole food supply, or even of its necessary fat, because nearly all nuts contain pungent or bitter aromatic oils and ferments, which give them their flavors, but which are likely to upset the digestion. This is particularly true of the peanut, which is not a true nut at all, but is, as its name indicates, a kind of pea grown underground. Peanuts, on account of their large amount of these irritating substances, are among the most indigestible and undesirable articles of diet in common use. A certain amount of these irritating substances present in nuts may be destroyed by careful roasting and salting; but this must be most carefully done, and it shrinks them in bulk so that the finished product is far more expensive than b.u.t.ter or fat meat of the same nutritive value. Good salted almonds, for instance, cost fifty to eighty cents a pound.

The proper place for nuts is where they usually come on our tables--at the end of a meal. Those who attempt to cure themselves of dyspepsia by a nut diet are simply making permanent their disease.

FOOTNOTES:

[9] Pemmican is a sort of "canned beef" made originally out of the best parts of venison and buffalo-meat. This is boiled, and packed into skin bags; then melted fat is poured in, so as to fill up all the c.h.i.n.ks and form a thick layer over the surface. It is now made of beef packed in canvas bags, and is much used by polar expeditions and Alaskan miners.

CHAPTER VII

KINDLING AND PAPER FOODS--FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

The Special Uses of Fruits and Vegetables. We come now to the very much larger but much less important cla.s.s of foods--the Kindling foods, which help the Coal foods to burn, and supply certain stuffs and elements which the body needs and which the coal foods do not contain.