Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1919-08-12

HOMEMAKERS COLUMN.
Correspondence ON topics Of interest 70 the ladie.
Il solicited. Address: Editor Honn4 ~
Food and Diet Suggestions.
VALUES OF SOME COMMON AND SEASON
ABLE THINGS.
fselected from bulletin Of State Health Depart
ment. by A. G.. Young, n. d.
FOOD VALUES.
In choosing foods We have not only
the question Of keeping well and strong,
but there is also the question OF econo-
my. In learning to choose good nourish-
ing foods, It is necessary to fx In the
mind the meaning of the word calorte.
A calorie Is the unit for the measure
ment OF the nutritive value Of food sub
stances-their heat and energy value.
By very careful experimental work the
| food value of about everything used on
the tables of civilized peoples has been
determined. They differ very much.
Protein, sugar and starch furnish the
same number of oalories per pound
burned In the body; but the fats and
oils have little more than twice their
caloric value. Thus the food value OF
fat meats is greater than that of lean.
| One pound of tenderloin from the pig,
all lean, supplies 900 calories, while
pound of fat ham from the same animal
gives more than $500.
Fuel values of foods vary also with
the percentage of water which they con-
tain, The more water the fewer the
Galleries. A part of the difference be-
tween tenderloin and fat ham is due to
the fact that there is more water In lean
meat than in fat.
Again, food values vary with the
amount of waste material they contain
bone, gristle, cellulose, parings, etc.
And, still again, the protein, starch
sugar, or fat In some food products is
more easily and fully digested and util-
lied by the system.
But in view Of what we now know
about the value of the protective sub
stances, the vitamines, In certain food
products the quantity Of the protein,
carbohydrate and fat which they con-
tain can no longer be taken as trust
worthy measurement of their money
value. Milk, for instance, and the green
leaf vegetables, aside from their caloric
value, contain that which makes them
essential protective foods.
NOTES ON SOME VEGETABLES.
Spinach, among the vegetables, is
exceptionally rich in the three impor-
tant minerals, iron, phosphorus and
calcium.
The carrot deserves q more prominent
place on the everyday bill of fare for its
healthfulness. The child's craving for
it should be encouraged by presenting
the grated or ground root as a salad, or
In serving it cooked.
The food value of string beans ex-
pressed in calories is hardly more than
one quarter that Of green she'll beans,
but the green pods of the string beans
bring q good supply of iron, phosphorus
and vitamines.
Green peas have more than half the
value of dried peas in protein value and
more than one-quarter their total food
value.
Cabbage is of rather low fuel value,
but it has a medium supply Of the three
most important health minerals, iron,
phosphorus and calcium; and the eel
lulose or wood fiber in the sauerkraut or
cabbage salad is food substitute among
many peoples for the liver pills that can
not be grown in the home garden.
Cauliflower with cabbage has less than
half the food value of the potato, but its
percentage of calcium is high.
The potato, rich in potassium salts,
does good Office in helping to neutral
ize those acid conditions Of the system
which the doctors recognize as serious,
and which often arise when the diet
does not include suficiency of fruits
and vegetables. The total food value Of
the potato boiled is 440 calories, mostly
in it's abundance of starch.
The food value of beets per pound,
| 215, and that of parsnips, 800, Is mostly
derived from the sugar which they con-
| tain.
While satisfying the spring craving
for early green things and INDUCING in
boiled dandelions, ono gets not only the
medicinal action of the vitamines and
the great abundance of mineral salts
carried in the tissues of that plant, but
otherwise a food value which is more
than half that of the potato. This plant
is exceptionally rich in the mineral salts
There is hygienic reason for the orav-
ing.
Beet greens bringing the blessings of
the green leaf foods are near spinach in
total mineral salts and have total food
value little bit above that Of the roots
which have nourished them.
The real food value Of both celery and
lettuce is low and If the need of saving
money is imperative more may be saved
| BY dropping celery first from the bill of
fare, though the flavor of celery is of
distinct value. Lettuce has the things
which the green leaf vegetables bring
and is especially rich In phosphorus.
The onion, with about half the food
value of the potato, is helpful vege-
table. To present to the sense of smell
and to the polate advance messages of
pleasing odors and flavors excites q
prompt secretion of the digestive juices
and goes long way in helping the
stomach and the rest of the food canal
to get the most and the best that there
| is in the heartier foods. The onion and
the tomato may be classed together as
welcome aids to the cook in saving the
dietary which she serves from day to
day from the monotony of taste which
| is bar to the best nourishment of the
body.
Rhubarb should be used sparingly II
at all. The acid of the sauce prepared
from it interferes with the prompt digss-
ton of bread or other cereals which may
90 into the stomach with 1t. It is not
like the acid of the apple, orange, toms-
to and that of most Of the other fruits,
promptly converted into healthful aka
line salts, but the oxalic acid which
gives rhubarb it's sourness passes through
the system and is excreted by the kid
neys still as an irritant acid or az oxa.
lates. The oxalic acid from the drug
gist is dangerous enough always to bear
the poison label. Over.indulgence In
rhubarb is often followed by irritant