Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-06-29


Adults and children must get several
different substances from the food
they eat or they will miss something
which is essential to bodily efficiency
and health. according to the nutri-
tion specialists of the L. S. Depart
ment of Agriculture. The housewife,
therefore, who plans her meals or
. attempts to save money on food
without some knowledge of these
substances and of the five simple
groups of foods which supply them
is very liable to omit from her meals
some food essential for the growth
of children or necessary to supply
Ehe family with the energy they
need for their daily tasks. Attempted
economy which entirely omits GER
tain foods may we'll prove a very
poor investment because of its ulti-
mate effect on the well-being of the
household. Price, individual prefer
ence for certain foods, and even the
fact that hunger is satisfied after
meal, are not safe guides. Toma-
toes at ten cents a piece in winter
are no more nutritious than they are
at five cents quart in summer. A
child might crave much more sugar
than would be good for him. A
bulky diet of potatoes or bananas
might make a person feel he had
eaten enough, but would not furnish
him with the elements that his body
needs.
To plan out meals in the interest
of family efficiency and economy at
the same time, the housewife for
tunately does not need to do elab-
crate sums in calories or to have
any intimate understanding of such
terms as protein and carbohydrates"
All she needs to do is to classify the
food she uses into five simple house
hold groups laid down in recently
issued Farmers Bulletin sos, pub
lished by the office of Home Econom-
les, L. S. Department of Agriculture.
The purpose of the bulletin. which is
the first of a series of simple pamph-
lets dealing with the economical use
of foods, is to enable the average
housewife to plan her meals effec-
lively, even though she has no spe-
cial training in chemistry or dietetics.
The substances which the special
lists find are needed in the daily diet
TO maintain the body may be group
cd under seven heads: Mineral sub
stances, protein, starches, sugars.
fats, cellulose and certain little
known but very important growth
stimulating substances.
That these essential substances are
not difficult for the average house
wife to provide is shown by the fol-
lowing ordinations, which the spe-
cialists believe indicate the daily
food requirements of normal indi-
viduals:
man who does fairly hard mus
cular work would be likely to get
the mood which his body needs il
supplied daily with such combina-
ton of foods as the following:
l Il pounds of bread (haNinR a hout
the same food value as l pound of
such cereal preparations as wheat
or rye flour, oatmeal, corn meal, |
rice, etc.
ounces, of 4 cup, Of butter, oil. !
meat drippings, or other fat. . I
ounces, or 4 cup, of sugar; or Ia !
cup of honey, or sirup, or an equiv !
alent amount of other sweet.
IA pounds of food from the fol- |
lowing. Fresh fruits and fresh or
root vegetables.
u ounces of food from a class
which may be called meats and
meat substitutes" that is moder-
ately fat meats, poultry, fish, eggs,
cheese. dried legumes (beans, soy
oeans, peas. lentils, cowpeas and |
peanuts. Milk also belongs among
these foods, but because of the large
amount of water it contains. half a
glass, of ounces of il would be re-
CURED to equal an ounce of any one
OF the others.
A man who works hard out of
doors all day probably would need
more food than this, and one who
SITS all DAY at his desk would need |!
less. The amounts given are suit
able for man who, like q salesman
in store, walks about more or less
and does more or less of such work
as lifting.
A family consisting OF a man and
woman, who do moderately hard
work, and three children
say, between 8 and IL years of age
would get the food they require il
supplied daily with:
AZ pounds of bread, having about
the same food value as 3 pounds of
wheat or rye flour, oatmeal, corn
meal, hominy or rice; or about 2&
pounds of such cereals and 5 or 6
nedium-sized potatoes.
2 cup of fat (butter or butter
With oil, beef drippings, or other fat1
"a weekly allowance of "a to 3
pounds.
a little more than one Gun Of
sugar, or a weekly allowance of
pounds; or an equivalent amount of
some other sweet, such as IL Guns
u sirup or honey day, or q pound
ot dried figs or raisins a day.
pounds in all of fresh fruits and
'resh or root vegetables.
One of the two following. the