The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1920-11-22
EATER
| HAS HARD TIME
!. FOLLOWING FADS
fany Different Systems to
Determine Exact Value of
Food Are Advanced Con-
stantIy.
BY FREDERIC J.>HAsklN.

syho tries to eat scientifically in &C
ordance with the information he
ends in the public prints. Every
4 ew months a new dietetic god and
new salvation is offered him, and
zach seems completely to displace the
Id one.
Some Of us can remember back to
! he time, for example, when buttermilk
Vas to make new men of US all. Many
lersons of the older generation still
letain a faith in buttermilk as "a pro-
bnger of human life, which is like
into the faith of little child in
Santa Claus.
II But more recently attention was
diverted from buttermilk to mystic
lious thing called the calorie. Lots
AZ people thought calorie was it
lelf something to eat, but the more
sophisticated grasped the@ idea that
was d unit of heat or of energy.
Il fou need a certain numper of Gallo
lies in order to do your work in the
World, and too many or too few VIII
auin you. The caiorie- counter, who
computed the number of Galleries in
livery dish set before him, became
AAo common that one great chain OF
Restaurants placed the number of
5alories in parenthesis after each
HrLlcle on us mem.
II Then, still more recently, the ca
brie was eclipsed in popularity by
ID still more mysterious class of
things known as vitamines. A VITA
nine, we gathered, was not a@unft
IL measurement like calorie, but
n actual substance, which was
Necessary ito health. 1t occurs in
|Hnilks, eggs, fresh fruit and vegeta-
bles.. We ourselves went into the
matter with many experts and set
Horth the facts in detail. They need
bot be repeated Suffice it to say
hat unless you get enough vita
|enines, your machinery won't work.
Mineral Starvation.
But now new complexity has
been introduced into this business of
Rating, which the ancients regarded
$ simple pleasure, and which has
become such a complex science for
IS. The latest bugaboo of the dinner
liable Is generally known as mineral
E tarvation.' A Boston dentist, whose
Work was recently described in the
Iaskin letter, has reached the con-
illusion that our teeth decay, not be-
PAUSE Of the particles of food de-
bosited on the surface of them, but
Because our habitual diet does not
Eontain enough mineral building ma
Herial to keep them in repair. And
his same idea of mineral starvation
has been advanced by many other
Students of the food situation. Once
#gain guinea pigs, dogs, and pigeons
have been sacrificed to prove the
boint. Fed on some of the deminer-
Halized foods which make up so large
part of the civilized diet, 1t Is said,
they practically starve to death.
This is the idea of mineral starva-
lion, as we understand it: A great
many of the feeds which we eat are
refined This means that certain
portions of the natural product are
removed. In some cases this is done
by manufacturing processes ana
sometimes by cooking processes in
the home Sometimes it is done
merely because we are in the habit
BIZ eating the food that, way, and
sometimes because it is necessary to
refine the foods in order to improve
their keeping and shipping qualities.
The leading refined manufactured
Foods, it appears, are the white, bolt
ed wheat flour Of which our bread is
made, the manufactured corn meal OF
commerce, and the polished rice. Some
investigators have taken the belllger-
ent position that food manufacturers
are poisoning the American people.
aThey have, in a word, tried the usual
american stunt of finding a scape-
goat and raising a moral issue. AS
] matter of fact there is none. The
manufacturers give us what we de-
mand. It is true that it is Impossible
: to buy whole wheat bread in many
American cities today Graham
zbread is not the same thing. But II
even one housewife in ten began reg
uIarly demanding whole wheat bread,
it would make it's appearance. The
manufacturers are not slow to sat
isfy any paying demand. And you
can't blame them for not trying 10
put out a product for which there is
: no demand. One manufacturer a few
years ago did try putting on the mar
j ket natural brown rice instead OF
polished rice in the interests or
health. He could not sell it.
Taking the blame unso ourselves,
then, let us see why it is that the
refined foods are not good for us.
In making our white bolted flour the
millers remove the outer husk of the
wheat. In so doing they greatly re-
duce it's content of mineral and Fat,
Asaving largely pure protein. The
Same happens in the commercial pro
cess of making corn meal. In the
manner the brown husk of the rice
contains valuable minerals, while the
white polished rice contains almost
none. In the tropics, the disease
known as beriberi follows upon eat
ing polished rice, and is prevented
by a diet of natural brown rice.
These minerals which are removed
are necessary to the building of bone
and tissue. But they are also neces-
sary to keep the blood in its proper
chemical composition. The proteins
which form the bulk Of our food teno
to make the blood acid. These min
erals keep it alkaline. A great many
of our typical diseases are due to
acid blood.
Eat Potatoes Baked.
Manv of the elements in our diet,
which might counteract this tend
ency to acidosis of the blood, are
demineralized before we eat them.
Thus the potato Is a valuable aka
line food. but if boiled and mashed
much of the best of its substance is
leached away. 1t should be eaten
baked with the skin on, and parts OF
of the skin should be eaten, too.
In general the way to avoid de-
mineralized diet, as we understand it,
is to eat whole wheat bread If you
can get 1t. Some food experts advise
that you buy whole corn and make
YOUR own corn meal in a little hand
mill. 1t is true that whole corn
ground by hand makes more tasty
bread than the commercial product.
The Indians in the Southwest grind
their own corn by hand and it's fame
has spread so that the Indians have
quito demand for it from the white
people. Oatmeal is a good natural
food, and breads and cookies may be
made from it as well as mush. The
natural brown rice is good if you can
get it. So much for the cereals.
OF vegetables we learn that spin
ach, carrots, and turnips are especial