The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1899-08-31
LIGHT FOOD FOR SUMMER.
Various Articles of Diet That Are
Suitable for Warm Weather
Consumption.

We are advised by all who make
study of health to partake of light food
in summertime. But what precisely is
Eight food?" Without going into te-
dious details of chemical proportions,
which to the ordinary housewife are be-
wildering and unmeaning, we might
briefly state this fact, one easily under
stood of all-nameiy, that the kind OF
nourishment which taxes the digestive
organs the least is light food. Fish is
of this order. so are veal and lamb; the
reason why fish is especially good diet
for brain-workers is not that it contains
larger proportion of phosphates-th's
theory was exploded long ago-but that
being easily digested it nourishes bet
ter those who from want of exercise
have feebler forces to set at the work of
digestion.
All summer vegetables are light" in
comparison with those which belong to
the autumn and winter season; that is,
they contain larger proportion of wa
ter to solid matter, and fluids are nat
urally more easily assimilated than sol
ids. AS more fluid is required by the
system at this season we find vegetables
and fruits absolutely indispensable to
wholesome diet.
Zwieback, or twice-baked bread, IS
twice as digestible as that of ordinary
baking, and toast can be eaten by those
who turn against a slice of bread from
loaf. The reason of this is that twice
baked or toasted bread is already half
digested and the remainder of the proc
ess is thus greatly facilitated.
Cream and butter fulfill a necessary
part in summer diet, fat in some degree
being required by the system equally
as much as in winter, and in these two
we meet with it in its very purest forms.
Cream is better antidote to the acidity
OF fruit than sugar; with ripe fruit
morsel of dry bread will be found to
correct the acidity best of all, and chill
dren ought to be taught to eat bread
with ripe fruit.
Well-cooked oats and wheaton foods
are light and suitable diet for summer,
particularly so if cooked fruits be eaten
with Them these foods are not so heat
ing as they are commonly supposed to
be. Emphasis must, however, be laid
on their being thoroughly well cooked
and made entirely with water, not with
milk. The reason why cereal foods are
found to be difficult of digestion with
many persons is the too common prac-
tice of eating sugar with them. Sugar
hardenS the starch globule and turns
the food into clogging mass. If the
fruit was sweetened at the time of it's
cooking, and cream or milk eaten with
the oats, no evil effect would be felt
after either.
Soft-cooked eggs are light food, and
good, ripe cheese also; mushrooms are
an excellent article of diet now, as they
are nourishing, light and savory. We
lay particular stress, however, upon
clear soup and broths as occupying a
first place in our summer diet, for they
convey just the kind of nourishment
/ most needed by the system, in form
most readily assimilated, while they re-
fresh. Needless to say we do not class
rich meat and thickened soups in this
category, nor yet vegetable PURGE.
These we reserve for their own proper
time and place, the winter season.
London Telegraph.