The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1880-12-23
Kinds Of Food.

y
gen, nitrogen, hydrogen and carbon
The varieties OF food. animal and vege
tai, are caused by the various proper
tons in which these elements are com.
bined. Animals and vegetals have
nearly the same constituents They
both answer the same general purposes
They furnish nourishment TO the vari
Gus tissues, and then they furnish the
means Of generating heat. In warm
air. less heat is needed to be generated
in the body In cold, more heat is needed
than in warm. Food is devided int
tissue-forming and heat-forming. Car
bon is the chief element used for warm
inc the animal body; so articles con
tanning much carbon are called carbona
ceous articles of food, or heat-fOrming
as the fat of butter, oils, sugars and
molasses. But lean meat has less car
bon than vegetables. Health demands
that we regulate the amount of carbon
food given. Too much may do harm
if the organs that have the power dc
not remove it. Nitrogen is largely found
il flesh. No animal can long live if il
does not get nitrogen in its food. Ami
NAL flesh Yields it in abundance, and
wheat, rye, oats, potatoes, and other
vegetals contain some nitrogen, but a
much smaller per cent. than animal
food. So animal and vegetal food supply
all the means needed for promoting bOdi-
ly health and growth. The great differ
ence between animal and vegetal food is
that the former is more concentrated
than the latter Observation shows that
articles containing nitrogen have a
stimulating quality. They excite and
hasten the action of the heart and so
compel all the organs to act faster than
is normal. Animal lesh contains large
per cent. of nitrogen and so is the most
stimulating food we eat. Stimulating
is not ne Sarily nutritious. Nutritious
food contains in given weight, the
largest amount of the elements that
nourish and warm the body. Beans
have more nourishment in a given
weight than any other ordinary food.
Wheat and rye have more nourishment
in given weight than beat, or any
other meat. The lean flesh of animals
has only twenty-five per cent. of solid
matter and seventy-tive per cent. of
water. bat bread has seventy per cent
of solid matter and twenty-five of water.
Vegetal food digests quicker than ami
NAL Bean soup. boiled rice, potatoes,
etc, digest sooner than any kind OF
meat Laborers are compelled to live
chiefly on vegetal food, because it is
much cheaper. Some nations live
chiefly on potatoes, as the Irish, others
have lived almost entirely on vegetals,
rs the Arabs and Spartans. SiXty-siX
per cent. of mankind never have animal
food. Still it may be truly said that
they often could not get meat, that
their abstinence was not a matter of
choice, but of necessity-that meat is
more nutritious and more stimulating
than verctals. The two kinds of food,
animal and vegetal, in certain proper
tons combined to suit different condi-
tons OF men, are best fitted to produce
health, strength and activity. A GER
tain bulk ia food aids in digestion. So
that highly concentrated food is often
not easy to digest, Concentrated food
needs, 10 render it easy of digestion, a
large per cent. in bulk of innutritiOus
food. Negetals increase the bulk ana
stimulate The inner organs, as the stom-
ach and inteStineS. to greater activity
Potatoes. urnipS aud other vegetals
contain but small amount of nOuriSh-
ment and still they are very useful ar
ticlcS of food by way of diluting meat.
UnbOi,ed meal has more injurious sub
stance, more bulk than fine flour The
more infinitely any food is divided, the
easier the gastric lujd comes in contact
II, 10, ,,.,~s1.-
is dircs,ed. The value of food does not
depend upon the amount of nOuriShment
it actually contains but upon the amount
of nouriShment that il so soluble that it
can be- absorbed and enter the veins.
The most digestible kinds of meat or
vegeia'- are .he most nutritious.
The proportions of the tissue making
food and the heat making food must de-
pend upon the peculiar condition of
each person. and very much more upon
the occupation and the kind and amount
of exercise, but most of all upon tenn
perature. In hot temperatures the body
does not need to generate much if any
heat. Hot air is diluted air, and so con-
tains less oxygen to burn the waste, or
carbon in the various capillarieS. So
we should avoid oil, sugar. fat and 9th
er carbon food ali consume chiefly
cooling and mild food. Heat stimulates
the orraus of digestion and ultimately
exhaust, them We all feel weak and
exhausted in hot days and prefer fruit
to meat We insuuctively avoid meat
and seek bread, vegetals and fruits.
These latter articles OF diet are sulfi-
cientl, nutritious. but not so stimula-
ting aS to hasten the organic action of
the system. In winter and cold seasons
of the year. in frigid climates, men
prefer. and have a strong desire, and
real necessity. for meat, that NAV rouse
the organs of digestion to greater activ-'
ity and force. So we clearly see that
health and strength require that our
food should vary with the temperature
in wHi:h we live. The same general
principle appears in young children.
They are sensitive and eXcitable. Con-
st,niar meat makes them more so,
therefore thev should avoid it and be
limited TO bread and milk. vegetables
and fruits. The same general principle
also appears in all. young aud old. who
have an easily excited nervous system.
They have better health, longer life,
are more agreeable companions and
useful members of society, when they
avoid meat and live on vegetais and
grains.
The food we need depends also on
the condition of the digestive organs.
If they be. weak meatand concentrated
food does no easily digest and gradu
ally induce still greater weakness and
ultimately soma disease. as consumption
or an palia. The caIsc of these mala-