Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-07-19
Table and Kitchen.
Refinement in the Choice Of Food
Elements.

Refinement in the Choice Of Food
Elements.
In such food substances as may be term
ed the luxuries of life We are far richer
than any other nation. This over-indul-
gence of nature has borne the same fruits
that follow the same weakness exhibited
on the part of the too indulgent mothers
who allow their children to crafty their
unsuitable appetites for whatever pleases
Their fancy. Unbridled license in eating
and disregard for hygienic laws generally
has made our food riches more of a curse
than blessing in the past. Now, how
ever, we are studying how to readjust things
so that while the question of feeding her
family Will not, as one woman writer COM
plains. take so much of woman's valuable
time and thought and hold her In bondage
OF drudgery and a slave to her kitchen, 1t
VIII nevertheless receive the intelligent at
tention and direction of the mistress and
be regarded in the true light of it's impor-
lance Not as a means to crafty the mere
desire and pleasures the animal feels In
feeding on its own particular kind of food
but as the true basis upon which we must
depend in order to make these human
bodies mt temples wherein the higher and
Intellectual part may broaden and grow
1t Is question to who is the greater en-
envy to progress toward a higher plane
OF llVlng-the supposedly intelligent woman
unfortunately ii is usually woman who
scorns the ethical Importance of eating,
and insists that it is a calling that should
be regulated to the lowest order in the
labor scale. or the man land in this case it
is usually mani who degrades this impor-
tant function to mere gluttony question
of financial gain. Fortunately there is q
happy medium of well balanced and prop
erly fed people who have the clear wisdom
that only the absolutely healthy mind and
a oSic hot
the natural law governing life has placed
the higher part which we call the intellect
ual in the tangible and natural guardian
ship of what we call the body and subject
in great measure to the influences of this
material part, how much we can readily
estimate by watching the reflex action of
physical upon the mental and spiritual:
1t matters much as to the true and greater
development of the higher part of the in
telligent being upon what the body as well
mind is fed
Tie ignorant abuse and misinterpretation
OF natures intentions by the educated is
most scarcely understandable. AS even the
most casual observation will prove that
nature guards the appetite and severely
Furnishes those who infringe upon her pro-
tect1Ve laws or interfere with her wise pur-
pose by going beyond her simple REQUIRE
ments in the matter of eating.
Interchangeable Foods.
In selecting foods to form mixed diet.
the work is rendered easier by the fact
that there are several foods which appear
10 be largely Interchangeable. For exam
pie, fats and carbohydrates seem to serve
the same purpose in the body, although the
fat yields two and a fourth times the on
erSy supplied by the carbohydrates Then
again, among the carbohydrates sugar NAV
De employed to take the place of starch in
certain circumstances when the starches
cannot be digested with ease or SUFFICIENT
inf
carbohydrates is obtained from siIpar or
mix or lactose, which though having about
the same composition as cane sugar is not
SO sweet. The presence of this milk sugar
makes milk difficult to keep sweet in ex-
IRENE hot weather, unless great care is On
served; as 1t is readily acted upon by GER
tam minute plants, better known as bacte-
RIA, winch cause decomposition forming
tactic acid. which curds the milk
Comparing the value of sugar md
starches, an ordinary lump of graduated
'dple sugar tcane) has about the same i'm
portance as an ounce of potato starch. In
c3ii .,L.a value two and a half quarts
OF milk, SKINNED, will give the same food
value and contain nearly the same mount
steak. "a 49,
similarity Between Meat and Legumes,
II Is especially interesting to know to
what extent these seeds may be used as
substitutes for meat. Peas beans. lentiIs
ana seeds of other leguminous plants con-
tam as much proteid matter SIS meat the
chle1 dlfference in their composition being
the substitution of carbohydrates for fats
IN meat. Thus the flesh and yapeta Ill.,
foods are supplementary or NAV he snh
suluteu one Tor the other. The fresh grown
Iegumes being far better adapted for hot
weather dietary than meats, and the dried
SEEDS equally as well fitted for taking It's
place in winter.
Different Needs of Different Bodies.
FOOD taken into the body is supposed to
serve TWO distinct purposes-to rebuild that
part OF the body which has, through its
activity, been used up, and to provide a
new supply of fuel
Inc old Idea that the distinction between
the heterogeneous and non-nitrogerous foods
III the work performed by them in the BODY
is now considered an erroneous on. Pro-
telds, fats and carbohydrates are MI 1issua
formers and the production of heat i NOT a
separate phenomenon due to the fats ard
caroohydrates, but the natural and ueces-
sary result of the oxidation and The cnn
slant wasting of the substance of .be nons
cIes and tissues. Therefore all NAV he said
to be tissue builders and heat producers as
the presence of all three in the body ore
necessary to the same end However il
must be fully understood that some cIaSscs
OF foods are more suitable for certain CON
dlu0ns in life than others: occupation and
location having much to do with a suitable
seIectlon- Fats are essential in cold eli
mates while the sugars, in moderate
amount. are better in hot countries and of
great assistance at such times when great
muscular labor is required. The craving
most growing children display for sugar if
the child Is full of the natural restless ac-
uFlty of youth, is natural demand tar a
1000 suitable for its condition Peopl, of
sedentary habits require large proportion
of proteid.
Distinction Between Foods,
Among vegetables the potato, turnip, car
rot beet root etc. are considered true
foods, while cabbage lettuce, tomatoes and
egg plant, along with apples, oranges, ber-
RES, etc, are chiefly valuable on account
OF the mineral salts and organic acids
cltric, malic and tartaric acids-they con-
tain. bananas are fruits that hold rank
with foods in the true sense of the word
The seed plants, which include the cereals
ana ieSumes, are well-known members of
the true food class. The purpose of food
is so simple that but a little study would
make the problem of what to eat clear to
the understanding of child. The foods to
be selected are those which supply the ele-
ments which the body elects as waste pro-
ducts of It's activity. These foods are to he