Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1868-01-15
Amount of Daily Food Necessary

From the recent book by DR.. Bellows, on
the Philosophy of Eating, we extract the fol-
lowing
Experience sustains fully the chemical and
physiological deductions of the preceding
chapters. Animals have been fed on pure
starch, or sugar, or fat alone, and they
gradually pined away and died and the nj
trates in all the fine flour bread which the
animal can eat will not sustain life beyond
fifty days but others, fed on unbolted flour
bread, would continue to thrive for an indeti-
mite period. 1t is immaterial whether the
general quantity of food he reduced too low g,
OF whether either of the musclemaking
or heat producing principles be withdrawn
while the other is fully supplied. In either
case the effect will be the same. The animal
will become weak. dwindle away, and die
sooner or later. according to the deficiency
and if food is eaten that is deficient in either
principle, the appetite will demand it in
quantity till the deficient element is supplied.
All the food, therefore, beyond the amount
necessary to supply the principle that is not
deficient. is not only wasted, but burdens the
system with efforts to dispose of it. Food,
therefore, containing the right proportion OF
heaters and muscle-makers is not only best
but most economical.
To make this statement plain, suppose we
have meal composed of roast beef, rare
with potatoes and dish gravy, and as much
| of unbolted wheat bread, or rye and Indian
and fruits, and cheese, and perhaps, if the
beef be lean, or with green vegetables, but
ter or fat pork, to give them their heating
principles Of such a meal the appetite
would be satisfied with just the amount OF
iood necessary to supply either the heating
or the muscle-making principles, and they
would be taken in right proportions.
Pm instead tried IN satisfy
the appetite with meal composed of fried
fat pork and potatoes, fine wheat bread and
butter, griddle-cakes and syrup-articles al
most destitute of food for muscle or brain
! When the stomach was filled with these ar
/ ticles there would still be demand for the
nitrates or phosphates, and we should still
crave some article to supply the deficiency
| and all the carbonates above those which the
system required would be wasted.
/ On the other hand, if we ate only lear
meat. or fish, and green vegetables and fruits
which are deficient in carbonates, we shoule
require quantity of these articles in pro
/ portion to that deficiency or the lungs woulC
not be supplied with fuel sufficient to s. rur
| the machine Bnt in Boston, and probably
\ in all American cities, large part of th
expenses of the table are for butter, superfn
| -four, and sugar, neither of which contain
enough of the muscle or brain feeding ele
ment to sustain life over fifty DAYS. as ha.
/ been proved ty experiment with -four, whil
butter and sugar would not sustain life {
single month without other food.
/ As far as We have articles of food deficien
IN carbonates, we can use, without loss, but
ter or sugar to supply the deficiency; bu
most of our natural food, both animal anC
vegetable, contains due proportion, and i
with them we use butter sugar, they can
not be appropriated by the system, and are
| therefore lost.
All meats, fat and lean together, all grain
and milk. contain all the carbonates that ar
needed or can be used to furnish heat in mode
rate weather. All the butter or sugar, there
fore, that is added to either of these common
articles of food. as they are used in making
cakes. custards, pies etc, are not only lost
but by adding too much fuel, increase the
tendency to infammations, embarrass the
stomach, and induce dyspepsia, congestion
distractions, etc.
With beefsteak, any lean meats, or fish
or potatoes, any green vegetables, or drie'
beans or peas, some oily substance seems t.
be needed, as all these articles are defcien
in carbon, and in common use we have tn
choice between lard, sweet oil, or butter, o
perhaps fat pork, all of which are precisel
alike in chemical construction, and that on
is most wholesome which is best relished.
Sugar also is needed with the acid fruit
and berries, and especially with apples
which in New England are the most valuabl
of all fruits, either with without cooking
and which. with sugar, furnish excellent food
, especially in winter and spring, when othe
fruit cannot be had. But to find a good US
for superfne -four, out of which has bee
taken nine-tenths of its food for muscle G
brains is exceedingly difficult, indeed. i'm
possible in health and it can only be usefu
1 in disease where the irritabilty Of the stom
ach or bowels forbids the use of their natura
e stimulant, just as inflammation Of the ey
makes it necessary to exclude the light.