Maintaining Health (Formerly Health and Efficiency) Part 16

_Corn bread_: Two cups corn meal; one-half cup wheat flour; one tablespoonful sugar; one-half teaspoonful salt; two teaspoonfuls baking powder; two eggs; one and three-fourths cups milk. Sift corn meal, flour, baking powder, salt and sugar together four or five times; add eggs and milk; stir well, pour into a hot b.u.t.tered pan; smooth the top with a little melted b.u.t.ter to crisp the crust. Bake a good brown in hot oven.

Another recipe for corn bread is: To one cup of wheat flour, add two cups of corn flour; two eggs; one heaping teaspoonful b.u.t.ter or cottolene; one heaping teaspoonful baking powder; one pinch soda, a scant fourth teaspoonful; one-half teaspoonful salt. Prepare and make into batter with milk and bake as directed in first recipe.

_Corn mush_: Cook corn meal in plain water until it is done. It may be cooked over the fire, in a fireless cooker or in a double boiler. Serve with rich milk; add a little salt if desired.

_Oatmeal_: Put into a double boiler and let it cook until it is very tender. It can also be cooked in a fireless cooker over night. It requires several hours cooking before it is fit to eat. All foods of this nature should be thoroughly cooked, and they may all be made into porridge, which is better.

The objection to all mushy foods is that they are hardly ever properly masticated. The result is that they ferment in the alimentary tract, especially when they are eaten with sugar, as they generally are. It is best to take the mushy foods with milk and a little salt or with b.u.t.ter. Eaten in this way there is not such tendency to overeat as when sugar is used. Children especially eat more of these foods than is good for them if they are allowed to take them with sweets. Porridge is more diluted than the mushes and hence the danger of overeating is not so great.

_Boiled rice_: The best way to cook it is in a double boiler or a fireless cooker. Every grain should be tender. Cook it in plan water. It is not necessary to stir, but if the rice becomes dry add some more water. If rice and milk are desired, warm the milk and add when the rice is done. Serve like oatmeal. Putting sugar on cereals is nonsense. They are very rich in starch and sugar is about the same as starch. Sugar stimulates the appet.i.te, and consequently people who use it on cereals overeat of this concentrated food.

_Rice and raisins_: This is prepared the same as boiled rice, except that raisins are added to the rice and water when first put on to cook.

With milk this makes a good breakfast or lunch.

COMBINATIONS.

Starches of the cereal order may be eaten in combination with fats, such as cream, b.u.t.ter, olive oil and other vegetable oils.

They combine well with all the dairy products, such as milk and cheese.

Starches combine well with nuts. Take a piece of whole wheat zwieback and some pecans, chew both the bread and the nuts well and you will find this an excellent meal.

There is nothing incompatible about eating cereals with flesh, but it generally leads to trouble, for people eat enough meat for a meal, and then they eat enough starch for a full meal. This overeating is injurious. Besides, starch digestion and meat digestion are different and carried on in different parts of the alimentary tract, so it is best to eat starchy foods and meats at different meals. Those who eat in moderation may eat starch and flesh in the same meal without getting into trouble.

In winter it is all right to take starch with the sweet fruits.

It is best to avoid mixing acid fruits and cereals. Even healthy people find that a breakfast of oranges and bread does not agree as well as one of milk and bread. The saliva, which contains ptyalin, is secreted in the mouth. The ptyalin starts starch digestion, but it does not work in the presence of acid. Eating acid fruits makes the mouth acid temporarily, and consequently the starch does not receive the benefit it should from mouth digestion. The result is an increased liability to fermentation in the alimentary tract.

To get the best results it is absolutely necessary to masticate all starchy foods well. If this is not done it is merely a question of time until there is indigestion, generally accompanied by much acidity and gas production. This condition is a builder of many ills.

Recipes for pies and cakes are not given in this book. The less these compounds are used the better. They are very popular and can be made according to directions in conventional cook books. Pies should be made with thin crusts, which should be baked crisp both on bottom and top.

The best cakes are the plain ones.

When desserts are eaten, less should be taken of other foods. Most people make the mistake of eating more than enough of staple foods and then they add insult to injury by partaking of dessert.

CHAPTER XV.

TUBERS.

==================================================================== Pro- Carbohy- Calories Water tein Fat drates Ash per lb.

-------------------------------------------------------------------- Potato............ 78.3 2.2 0.1 18.0 1.0 375 Sweet potato...... 51.9 3.0 2.1 42.1 .9 925 Jerusalem artichoke. 78.7 2.5 0.2 17.5 1.1

The two tubers that are of chief interest are the Irish potato and the sweet potato. The former is easily and cheaply grown on vast areas of land and therefore forms a large part of the food of many people.

Properly prepared it is easily digested and very nourishing.

The sweet potato is a richer food than the Irish potato, but on account of its high sugar contents people soon weary of it. The southern negroes are very fond of this food.

Like all other starches, potatoes must be thoroughly masticated, or they will disagree in time. Potatoes are of such consistency that they are easily bolted without proper mouth preparation. In time the digestive organs object.

A new tuber is receiving considerable attention. It is the dasheen. It is said to be of very agreeable flavor, mealy after cooking, and produces tops that can be used in the same manner as asparagus. The dasheen requires a rather warm climate for its growth.

PREPARATION.

_Baking_: All the tubers may be baked. Clean and place in the oven; bake until tender. A medium sized potato will bake in about an hour. If the potatoes are soggy after being baked they are not well flavored. To remedy this, run a fork into them after they have been in the oven for a while; this allows some of the steam to escape and the potatoes become mealy. When a fork can easily be run into the potato, it is well enough done.

If the potatoes are well cleaned, there is no objection to eating a part of the jacket after they are baked. The finest flavoring is right under the jacket. This part contains a large portion of the salts.

_Boiling_: All tubers may be boiled. It is best to keep the jacket on, otherwise a great deal of both the salts and the nourishment is lost. If the potatoes boiled in the jacket seem too highly flavored, cut off one of the ends before placing them in the water. It takes about thirty or forty minutes to boil a medium sized Irish potato. Test with a fork, the same as baked potato, to find if done.

Potatoes should never be peeled and soaked. If they are to be boiled without the jacket, they should be cooked immediately after being peeled.

Steamed potatoes are good.

There is no objection to mashing potatoes and adding milk, cream or b.u.t.ter, provided they are thoroughly masticated when eaten. If the potatoes are mashed, this should be so thoroughly done that not a lump is to be found.

Potatoes cooked in grease are an abomination. The grease ruins a part of the potato and makes the rest more difficult to digest. Potato chips, French fried potatoes and German fried potatoes are too hard to digest for people who live mostly indoors. They should be used very seldom.

COMBINATIONS.

Potatoes are best eaten in combinations such as given for cereals. They are commonly taken with meat and bread. This combination is one of the causes of overeating. Occasionally they may be eaten with flesh, but this should not be a habit. Take them as the main part of the meal.

Baked potatoes and b.u.t.ter with a gla.s.s of milk make a very satisfying meal. A good dinner can be made of potatoes with cooked succulent vegetables and one or two of the raw salad vegetables, with the usual dressings. It is best not to eat potatoes and acid fruits in the same meal.

In selecting food it is well to remember that as a general rule but one heavy, concentrated food should be eaten at a meal, for when two, three or even four concentrated foods are partaken of, the appet.i.te is so tempted and stimulated by each new dish that before one is aware of it an excessive amount of food has been ingested.

CHAPTER XVI.

FRUITS.

==================================================================== Pro- Etherial Carbohy- Calories Water tein Extracts drates Ash per lb.

-------------------------------------------------------------------- Apples........... 84.6 0.4 0.5 14.2 0.3 290 Bananas.......... 75.3 1.3 0.6 22.0 0.8 460 Figs, fresh...... 79.1 1.5 ... 18.8 0.6 380 Lemons........... 89.3 1.0 0.7 8.5 0.5 205 Muskmelons....... 89.5 0.6 ... 9.3 0.6 185 Oranges.......... 86.9 0.8 0.2 11.6 0.5 240 Peaches.......... 89.4 0.7 0.1 9.4 0.4 190 Pears............ 80.9 1.0 0.5 17.2 0.4 ...

Persimmons....... 66.1 0.8 0.7 31.5 0.9 630 Rhubarb, stalk... 94.4 0.6 0.7 3.6 0.7 105 Strawberries..... 90.4 1.0 0.6 7.4 0.6 180 Watermelon....... 92.4 0.4 0.2 6.7 0.3 140

_Dried Fruits_:

Apples........... 26.1 1.6 2.2 68.1 2.0 1350 Apricots......... 29.4 4.7 1.0 62.5 2.4 1290 Citrons.......... 19.0 0.5 1.5 78.1 0.9 1525 Dates............ 15.4 2.1 2.8 78.4 1.3 1615 Figs............. 18.8 4.3 0.3 74.2 2.4 1475 Prunes........... 22.3 2.1 ... 73.3 2.3 1400 Raisins.......... 14.6 2.6 3.3 76.1 3.4 1605 Currants......... 17.2 2.4 1.7 74.2 4.5 1495 --------------------------------------------------------------------

Apricots, avocados, blackberries, cherries, cranberries, currants, gooseberries, grapes, huckleberries, mulberries, nectarines, olives, pineapples, plums, raspberries and whortleberries are some of the other juicy fruits. They are much like the apple in composition, containing much water and generally from 6 to 15 per cent of carbohydrates (sugar).

Olives and avocados are rich in oil.

You may cla.s.sify rhubarb, watermelons and muskmelons as vegetables, if you wish. On the table they seem more like fruit, which is the reason they are given here. Melons are fine hot weather food. They are mostly water, which is pure. During hot weather it is all right to make a meal of melons and nothing else, at any time. The melons are so watery that they dilute the gastric juice very much. The result is that when eaten with concentrated foods they are liable to repeat, which indicates indigestion.