South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1914-01-21
WHAT To EAT
To KEEP WARM
Stacking Human Body More
important Than Stacking
the FurnaOe-FirSt Article
of important Series.
BY CAROLINE COE.

II husband shiyers this cold winter
on his way down town, isn't it really
Friend Wife's fault2
We'll. that depends on how long he
shivers." answer the doctors.
SniNering is an invention of nature
which corresponds to the automatic
| heating system in certain buildings
where a falling thermometer electric
ally turns on steam in the radiator.
In the human body the nerves. act
just as this thermometer does. When
cold air strikes them they send a
warning current to the muscles, which
commence at once to- Vibrate-shiVer.
Their involuntary vibration is an at
tempt on natures part TO generate
kind of heat which brisk volun-
tary exercise would produce.
If a glow of warmth follows the first
few shivers, it means that the muscles
have commenced 10 burn up fuel and
are producing heat-energy. But if
there is no reaction of warmth, and
hubby shivers all the way downtown.
that shows he has not been supplied
with proper food or fueln
For food literally is the fuel which
is burned in the body to produce heat
This modern explanation of animal
warmth seems simple compared with
the absurd ideas of ancient times.
Back in the sixteenth century saVants
asserted that there was a sort of boil
ling or fermentation of blood in the
heart, and that this supplied the body
with warmth Later they decided
that the friction of blood rushing
source Of heat.
Fuel Materials
But today we know that blood is
only the carrier of fuel materials and
that the heat-glow of the body ac-
tually is produced, like fire, by the
farN t.frCf rNf fafr OH h
stances contained in the fuel, or food
supply.
These fuel foods are meat sweets,
starches and fats.
Meat is not only year-round neces-
sity as muscle builder. 1t has also
a special winter value as fuel for the
human machine, for when it is broken
up and digested in the stomach it
gives off a certain amount OF quick
heat-energy which nervades the body
and warns it rapidly.
The heat OF which starches, such
as potatoes, bread and beans, and
| sweets-knOwn together as carbohy-
| drates-are the source is not so di-
rectly nor rapidly generated. Take
/ the baked potato, for instance. When
taken into the mouth il is mOistened
! by the saliva and should be thorough
| ly mixed with 1t, because saliva is
most important digestive juice. AS
result of the chemical action in the
stomach of saliva and other juices.
| the starch of the potato is finally
/ broken up into simple sugar, simple
/ to the sugar found in fruits, and this
I S absorbed through the walls of the
3 intestine. 1t is then carried by the
blood to the liver, where it is made
up again into a kind of starch called
! "glycogen" and stored for future use.
How They Burn.
When the body grows cold, or the
muscles begin to work, the blood car
ries some of the glycogen-s to the
muscles, and there it is burned by
coming in contact with oxygen
brought by the blood from the lungs.
! The burning of fats and carbohy-
| crates in the muscles is exactly SINH
! lar to that of wood in the fireplace.
/ The carbon molecules of the fuel and
| the oxygen molecules of the air Jump
| together. and in so doing give off en-
! ergy The resultant blaze produces
waste materials which correspond TO
wood ashes, and are carried off by the
blood to be eliminated through the
| kidneys and lungs.
When we remember these important
! facts about digestion, we realize that
plenty of fresh air, to supply the oxy-
gen. and plenty OF exercise, to keep
! the muscles at work and the blood cir
| culating, are just as important to the
human heating apparatus as
draught of air and proper stocking are
! to a furnace.
And unless we do exercise in the
air. it is useless to. increase the fuel
foods that we eat. for in so doing we
simply clog the system with materials
which cannot be burned because of
! lack of oxygen.
| Moderation in eating is thus the
| first requisite for keeping warm this
winter, and should be depended on
/ more than the steam radiator. In
! fact. the man who stokes the furnace
| down cellar is much less important
than the lady of the larder, for ii is
/ she. who by feeding her husband and