Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1880-11-03
Kinds of Food.

All,kinds of food consist chiefly
of four elements, called Aganogens
oxygen, nitrigen, by drogen, and
carbon. The varieties Of food, ami
NAL and vegetal, are caused by the
various proportions in which these
elements are combined. Animals
and vegetals have nearly the same
constituents, They both answer
the same general purposes. They
furnish nourishment to the various
tissues, and then they furnish the
means of generating heat. In warm
air, less head is needed to be gener-
ated in the body. In cold, more
heat is needed than in warm.
Food is divided into tissue-forming
and heat-forming. Carbon is the
chief element used for warming the
animal body: so articles containing
much carbon are called carbonace-
Gus articles of food,or heat-forming,
as the tat of butter, oils,sugars and
molasses. Aud lean meat has less
carbon than vegetals. Health de-
mands that we regulate the amount
Of carbon food given. Too much
may do harm, if the organs that
have the power do not remove it.
Nitrogen is largely found in flesh.
No animal can long live if it does
not get nitrogen in its food. Ami
nal flesh yieds it in abundance, and
wheat, rye, oats, potatoes, and 9TH
er vegetals contain some nitrogen,
but a much smaller per cent. than
animal food. So animal and vege-
tai food supply all the means need
ed for promoting bodily health and
growth. The great difference be-
tween and vegetable 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 fasNr than is normal. AMI
NAL flesh contains large per cent.
ofnitrogen, and so is the most slim
ulating food we eat. Stimulating is
not necessarily nutritious, Nutri-
tious food contains, in a given
weight, the largest amount of The
clements that nourish and warm the
body. Beans have more nourish-
ment in given weight than any
other ordinary food, Wheat and
rye have more nourishment in a
given weight than beef Or any other
meat. The lean flesh of animals
has only twenty-five per cent. OF
solid matter, aid seventy-fye of
water, but bread has seventy
five per cent, OF solidmatter and
twenty-five of water
yegetal food digests quicker than
animal. Bean soap, 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 pota-
toes, as the Irish, others have lived
almost entirely on vegetals, as 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 moi
a matter of choice, but of necessity
that meat is more nutritious and
more stimulating than vegetals,
The two kinds of food, animal and
vegctal, in certain proportions COM
bined to suit different conditions Of
men, are best fitted to produce
health, strength, and activity. A
certain bulk in food aids digestion,
So that highly concentrated food is
often not easy to digest. Conccn-
trated food needs, to render it easy
of digesiiOn,a large per cent. in bulk
OF innutritious food. Vegetals in
crease the bulk and stimulate the
inner organs, as the stomach and
intestines. to greater activity. PO-
tatoes, turnips, and other vegetals
contain but a small amount of nour,
ishment and still they are very
useful articles Of food by way of di
luting meat. Unbolted meal has
more munitions substance, more