Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-12-16
FOOD AND HEALTH
IY wfNIFRED STUART GIBBS.
Food Specialist.

How often do we come across gen.
eralization like this: THE American
diet is largely white bread. steak, po-
tatoes and pie" The various authors
then proceed TO point out that because
of the preponderance of starch and
meat in the national dietary the ma
ton as a whole is headed straight for
retribution in the form of malnutri-
ton, not to say all-round inefficiency!
Now the American dietary, taken by
and large, does show an overweening
fondness for starchy foods, for sweets
and for meat. To make the statement,
however, as an unqualified generaliZa-
ton does a grave Injustice TO num-
Der of valuable foodstuffs.
Before we know 1t some persons
given to the forming of snap judg-
ments will be saying, "Oh, white
bread Is bad for, you.. and so Is meat:
l heard some one say so, or l read II,
as the case may be-
The truth is that none Of thse foods
| IL in itself bad" for us. The mischief
lies in the fact that single foods are
expected to perform the work of an
all-round mixed diet, and no self re-
speeding foodstuff will submit!
Take white bread, for example. We
do like 1t. and one of our choicest sac
rifices during the war was the giving
up of white flour that the soldiers
might have the more easily transport
ed and more digestible form of bread
The long current notion that it is in
! ferior as foodstuff is being done away
with. Scientists are establishing the
| fact that white flour more than makes
up for It's lack of bran and salts by
| its digestibiity and other qualities.
White bread is not bad" for US,
Simply because we are prone to let
our enjoyment Of meat overrule our
better judgment, serving large por-
tons of meat several times a day
when moderate servings once a dag
are in order, there is no reason to say
that meat is essentially bad for u.s.,
The next victim in this particular
pie Is a nourishing food, high in en-
ergy, in body building material and,
when enriched by fruit filling in
body regulating salts as we'll is an es
tablished fact. Soggy pie. like badly
prepared food of any type, is. of
course, mistake. and any well reGu-
lated digestion Is quite within it's
rights to reject II.
Again, even when the pie is a para
gon of it's class 1t may easily trans
pire that, after hearty meal ii tends
to unba lance the diet and that a light
dessert of a water ice or Sherbet would
he better. This Is a long way. how
ever. from saying that pie is bad for
ONE
Possibly the chief contributing fac
tor to this deplorable state Of misin-
formation Is the habit that is so wide
spread of half stating a fact and the
companion habit, equally pernicious,
Of half digesting the same fact The
one who makes the Indictment of our
food program is careless. He tells
only half truths and -omits entirely
information that would throw much
light on the entire subject. The lis
tener or reader is equally culpable, in
that he does not allow his hearing
power his reasoning power and his
common sense to function. The result
is one OF several series of incomplete
diet programs and. what is even
worse, a series of prejudices against
foods that are good friends to health.
Like other friends, however. their CON
fidence must not be abused.
We must steadfastly refuse to listen
TO gossip about the bad effects of GER
tain foodstuffs that are in reality only
! waiting for half A chance to work for
us. to nourish lis and to increase our
enjoyment of life itself.
Copyright. 1929