Evening star., 1925-12-04
FOOD AND HEALTH
BY WINIFRED STUART GIBBS.
Food Specialist.

While positive information is al
ways more satisfactory than mega
tive. an occasional glance at the neg
ative side of the picture is apt to be
stimulating. So, if we grow weary
of thinking about balanced diets"
if our interest flags in the matter of
checking up our menus so as to make
sure that the food elements are prop
erly balanced. why not think for
few moments sbout the disadvantages
of unbalanced diets.
Unless we exercise great care il is
fatally easy to plan a menu, one that
looks quite innocent of harm, that
will tip so far over to the side of one
particular food element as to be
frightfully Iop-sided. Here is what
one wellmeaning housewife offered
the members of her family in a single
day:
Breakfast-Wheat cooked in milk,
corn-beef hash with poached eggs,
graham mullins with sweet butter,
milk to drink.
Luncheon-F'ried mush with sirup,
white bread and butter, apple sauce,
ginger bread.
Dinner-Cream of corn beefsteak.
potatoes in cream, spinach with but
ter, suet pudding with foamy sauce,
coffee with cream.
The sad thing was that this par
ticular woman was much agarieved
when told that her meal plans were
all askew, With a hurt note in her
voice she responded: "But the doc
tor said they must all have plenty of
nourishing food To which the OBJ
vious reply was to the effect that
since the breakfast was too high III
protein or body building material. the
luncheon too starchy, and the dinner
too fatty. her family's collective and
individual digestions would be hard
put to it TO obtain the proper nour-
ishment,
Not that every meal need be bal
anced exactly. Sometimes one or
other of the food elements will pre-
dominate. but the wise housewife will
| recognize this fact, and unless the
| excess of one element is so marked
| as to show on the face of II that
! there is likely to he Indigestion. she
! will not worry. She Will, however,
! be especially careful TO see that the
/ subsequent meals of that day and OF
! that week are as we'll balanced as
! possible.
| Modified in accordance with meal
! balancing principles and laws, the
three meaI Is Of which we are speaking
might read something like this:
| Rreakfast-Wheat. cooked in water.
| corned beef hash with egg. crisp. dry
| toast huttered at table; cereal Coree
with hot milk.
Luncheon-Fried mush with sirup,
! fruit salad. whole wheat waters. tea
with lemon.
Dinner--Cream Of potato. beefsteak,
! spinach with lemon juice. gelatin
! fruit dessert with fruit juice sauce,
| black coffee.
| Such revision tends To restore
| the balance not only Of each meal but
! of the DAYS dietary as whole.
/ Eliminating the milk from the prepa :
ra ton Of the cereal and the egg from
! the hash and the milk at breakfast
will relieve that meal of the excess
| Of protein material and thus relieve
! the organs OF elimination. the kidneys
| and liver for example. OF their extra
burden of work and will thus tend to
make the digestion and assimilation
more complete.
Now for the overstarchy luncheon.
! The substitution Of crisp waters for
| the bread and of fruit salad for the
gingerbread takes care of the diff
! Guilty, adding at the same time body
regulating, mineral salts through the
| fruits.
Finally. the overfatty dinner. Po-
! tato instead of corn soup removes
! a certain proportion of the extra fat.
serving the spinach with lemon in
! stead of butter makes another whole
! some shift in food emphasis. while
the delicate gelatin and fruit dessert
completes the process in very salts
| factory manner.
While an Indian baby lay asleep
In a hut in a crowded suburb of
Calcutta. a jackal entered and carried