The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1915-10-29
What Shall We Eat?
What is a man?

What is man?
The normal man, weighing approx
mately $50 pounds on the hoof, is a
composition of 92 pounds of water, 81
pounds of fat, Is pounds of dry pro-
teids, pounds of gelatin, 8 IL pounds
of phosphate of lime, / pound car
Donate of lime, 6 ounces phosphate of
magnesium, 2-3 of an ounce common
salt and Chord of potassium, 3
ounces sugar and animal starch, and
enough iron to make ordinary car
pet tacks.
Any material variation from these
chemicals, in kind or relative quaint
| ty, brings trouble, and to keep the
proportion correct requires a menu
that will supply these compounds as
the body demands them. In other
words, man physically is what he eats,
and accordingly the choice of foods
is rather important.
Food supplies the body's wants in
three general ways; first, it furnishes
heat; second, energy and, third, it
builds up and repairs waste. If COM
parison may be made with the loco
motive, steam is the energy supply,
while the upbuilding and repair are ac-
complished in the machine shop. But
the human body has this advantage
over the engine in that, with the
proper food, it has within itself the
capacity for making steam and repairs
without outside aid.
Naturally different foods have diff
ferent values in supplying the two
fold demand of the body, including
heat and energy under the same head.
Some excel in the calorics or heat
producing elements and others furnish
larger proportions of proteids, or mus
Gle building units. The doctors and
dieticians have figured out the COM
plicated problems, showing the proper
proportions of calorics and proteids
necessary to insure the best working
efficiency of the human machine.
They say that for the laborer of av-
erage physique the relative supply
should be about 556 calorics and car
bo-hydrate units, to 118 units of pro-
teids. They have gone farther and
have tabulated long lists of foods, CIV
ing their values in these units, even
giving their market costs per 1000
units, so that it is entirely simple
for the profound mathematician to
figure for himself balanced ration
necessary for physical perfection and
efficiency and what it should cost.
The problem is about as fascinating
as the calculation of the sun eclipses
that are due to darken the heavens
in 1851.
A continued overwhelming of either
Galleries or proteids is quite apt to
disarrange the physical system. Too
much heat unappropriated by the body
from the food induces an aecumula-
ton of heat with the natural loss of
energy. Too large a proportion of
proteid seems to be less threatening,
but various intestinal disorders and
some skin rashes are said to be among
the consequences.
There is much to confirm these sci
entific calculations in the experience
and knowledge of the average person.
for he is aware that an exclusive diet
of vegetables produces known results,
while one that makes meats the prin-
ciple food is even more harmful. The
human body, however, in normal
health, seems to have the power of
appropriating what it needs from
food and of passing off what it does
not need, so the inexpert mathemati-
clan need not despair of reasonably
good health if he will eat moderately
and masticate thoroughly the ordinary
foods, including in his diet meats,
vegetables and fruits and avoiding
drinks rating high in their percent
ages of alcohol.
The matter of climate is not large
element in solving the food problem
for the body requires much the same
fuel and repair supply in the temper.
ate and the semitropic zones. Hun.
ger and thirst, the guards of a healthy
appetite, should be safe guides ir
choosing foods, and if the appetite full
fills its properly, there is little neeC
for a profound study of the tables Of
food values in calorics, carbohydrate:
and proteids.-State Board of Health
Bulletin.