Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1914-09-04
QUESTIONS OF FOOD.

Whatever supplies uOuIlbum0ut W
organic bodies-anything that sus-
tains. nourishes and augments life;
anything that will supply the mate
rial required to repair the waste &C
companying the vital processes
food.
Beginning with pins, needles and
buttons. everything we as infants can
lay hands on that is not too large. and
in the emergency Of having nothing
else available, even our own fingers
and toes. are showed into our mouths
and q strenuous effort made to swal
low them under the promptings Of "a
instinct we know as appetite.
Appetite has its origin In body
needs, and inasmuch as the body Is
continuously consuming energy appe
tite manifests two strong Characters
tics: periodic recurrence and organic
necessity.
The average individual attributes
far too much importance to the Ques-
ton Of diet. Hence we have the
countless fads-vegetarianism red
meat. white meat. fruit and nut diet.
buttermilk drinking. no breakfast. one
meal day or six meals day.
Experts divide foodstuffs into six
groups: Water, carbohydrates. pro-
teins. fats, refuse, and ash. The two
divisions of refuse" and lash" are
persistently and exasperatingly ig-
nored as having little II any meaning
and are not considered of any signif1-
canoe or importance by most food "ex-
perts." The refuse" division consists
Of the bones Of meat and fish, shells
of shellfish. skin of potatoes, apples.
pears and peaches, the bran Of wheat
and of other cereals. Not only are
these two divisions ignored, but stupid
chemists and Psychologists are not
wanting who assert that I'VE are pro-
foundly ignorant as to the actual pro-
cesses Of digestion. therefore We
should not give much consideration to
mineral contents." etc.
AS~Ah6 OA SAA0 ootnOAAtyp oOAAO ~
legged experts" emphatically state
this "insoluble refuse" is either un-
necessary or even injurious. forgetting
that there Is a class Of "insoluble sub
stance" demonstrating q property of
matter well known to science and now
generally and very probably used in
the manufacturing industries under
the name catalysis.
A catalyst is thing which may lie
in vessel seemingly inert and yet BY
Its mere presence dictate what shall
or shall not take place therein. A
small quantity of q catalyst will bring
about the transformation of enormous
ly large quantities of substance which
lie in its presence. and at the end of
the reactions the catalyst will have
the same physical and chemical
properties as 1t had in the beginning
of the action.
All the enzymes (digestives) are
catalyzers. Pepsin. yeast, diastase.
rennet. trypsin, ptyalin, zymase,
amylopepsin and undoubtedly others
we do not yet know exert a profound
influence on living things about US.
Many of these ferments are found in
grains and In saliva and the other di.
gestive juices and in every cell Of our
bodies. As many as a dozen have
been found in the liver cell. Ferments
are Of profound importance and yet
we calmly kill them with Harmless"
preservatives and by mechanical
means in preparing the now popular
devitalized "blondined" foods.
Anemic, nervous, muscle twitchinx
men and women are suffering from
starvation-and often q starvation in
the midst Of plenty solely because
they do not know how to pick food
values.
A handful Of fertile earth contains
sixteen or more elements and among
these. for instance. will be phosphorus
In the proportion of one in 1000: II II
is not there then starvation, poverty
and death are In that soil. Our blood.
gastric Juice. saliva, bile and other
vital fluids are composed of mineral
salts in solution. A drop of the blood
contains many millions Of corpuscles.
red and white. and some fourteen
chemical elements, all having a def |
mite work to do They are not there
through accident and they can get |
there only through the food we con-
sumo. Eliminate any one Of these ele-
ments and there will be trouble.
We dare not longer stand aloof from |
the progress made in science and
segregate the human race as some
thing apart from the balance of the
physical universe. Our differentiation |
IL arbitrary. stupid and unscientific:
We cannot, like the western broncho. |
stand hitched" to an idea and pros.
per-we have got to learn to eat IN
order that We may live.