New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-12-25
FOOD VALUE OF RICE.
IT'S HIGHLY NUTRITIOUS.
admirable Diet for Persons of
.Sedentary Habits.

The efficacy of rice as a principal factor in the
leCuIar diet OF those whose employment makes
great and constant demands upon their physical
strength and endurance has been shown in the
preceding numbers of this series. 1t has been
proved by the testimony of the ablest students OF
the chemistry of foods and their adaPtablhty 10
the bodys uses, the recognized authorities on the
subject the savants in the employ of the Unltsd
States Government, which has a department. es-
pecially devoted research and experiment there
In. that % the bodys needs require that seven
eghths OF the food consumed shall furnish neat
and power, that ~ the most satisfactory food Is
that which shall provide these with the least TAX
upon the system. more especially the digestive
organs, and consequently the least expenditure OF
energy, and that 60 rice in greater degree than
any Of the foods in common use meets all require
ments.
But the reader must not he mlsed into the be-
lief that it is food suited only to the needs OF
those whose employment demands what is com
monty accepted physical effort. Commonly &C
cepted' might in this be truthfully termed
commonly erroneous conclusion since the BRAIN
worker makes perhaps even greater GRAFT upon
his physical strength and staying power than the
average man engaged in manual labor In these
days, the latter works eight or ten hours and the
constant movement of his limbs and torso ana the
ever-changng play Of his muscles give the eXer-
else that assists him to burn up even foods ordl-
narily diff cult to digest rapidly crcuates his blood
to feed renew the remotest parts Of his physi-
cal being and leaves him the end only heaIth!ly
tired. But the branworker. who sits in more or
less constrained attitude, leaning over the office
desk library table. scarcely changing the posi-
ton Of body or limb for hours, his sole active
bodily effort the pushing of pen pencil or the
turning OF the leaves Of book or ledger OF page OF
statistics accounts, stopping through the long
hours that reach far into the night only TO snatin
a hasty meal, the while his mind is intensely. alb
sorbingly ensaged-he knows what real exhaustion
is. The deadly weaIiness OF cramped muscles
taed ana 6e6 too one bsmed the EXPRESSION
he allOVCd-PTnDloVIne acquainted
with it in it's uttermost degree. For it is not only
long sitting in d constrained position, he. whose
work is mertal, suners-that really is the least
cause OF his physical exhaustion, Atwater says
that. with every thought material-and mainly
consumed ana that such Is the case with reel
ing we'll meaning that the impulse is given
some part Of the brain Itself Now. the task
set the brain usually falls up0l one set OF Nerves
loving up Of one theme for the time being, ana
Of that time and the strenuosity Of the thoughts
and feelngs-it is the "twanging upon the one
point of attack calls for reinforcements-it may
ASK LOT reDh Ihe s1ape o. aresn Te5eFla Ior its
worker stops to get bite meal of some III
in the right proportion nor digested under three
and a half hours. And does he wait until this is
food races Tack to his work nES 9oJs Sy ms
haltingly so like an engine with inadequate sup
and one-haIf hours the stomach is demanding that
steam-the blood which is seeking TO convey the
reinforcing material to the brain-wherewith 10
DO its work work which only the brain but
the whole physical economy of the depends
A little rice. little lean meat, and some of the
legumes easily converted by the stomach into the
one-eighth Of muscle and tissue building and re-
neWing. and the seyen-eighths OF heat and power
furnishing material, would have permitted him TO
resume his labors almost Immediately, and with
out the meal acting as brake his mental pow
ers; or distressing him physically. He would not
feel so like the boa that. having gorged himself
must sleep; would not have to put his mind out
OF commissiOn' for good norton Of his waking
hours that his stomach might unnterruptedly per-
form the work necessary TO keep the whole sys-
tenn in repair.