Evening star., 1925-11-20
FOOD AND HEALTH
By WINIFRED STUART GIBBS.
Food Specialist
Most of us have had the experience

| Most of us have had the experience
| ton of income and outgo has loomed
| very large, indeed. Sometimes it has
been a matter of financial income and
we have been forced to decide between
| spending as we CO." with the dis
quieting realization that we had no
| margin of safety, no sinking fund for
emergencies, on the one hand, and
| "scrimping" in our expenditures that
we might roll up modest nest egg on
the other. Perplexing s this often is,
| there is another aspect of the income
and outgo question that is even more
| important. The adjustment of the
| food income to the energy outgo calls
| for metlculous care, and Is. for that
| matter, closely connected with the
| matter of financial independence.
since. without the good health that is
the result of complete nutrition, we
| have scant chance of maintaining
| financial security.
| To return to the safety margin in
food. There Is for each one of us
what some one has called "the main
| tenance diet" that is. the average
| every day dietary that keeps us to
| our normal weight and maintains us
| in normal health With this mainte-
| chief concern should be to reduce our
| food intake If we reduce our activity.
| 1t would seem to be only common
| sense to eat less If we exercise less,
| but how many of us do it? Women
who are anxious to achieve the ia sh-
| ionable silhouette, perhaps, but these
often go to the other extreme and
become skinny and sullen." For the
most part we are prone to disregard
|
the quantity of food eaten and the
amount of muscular exercise taken.
If every one would lay fast hold OF
| this simple principle and apply 1t to
daily life. the need for obesity cures
would dwindle very considerably
Just what individuals should adopt
a reducing diet?
First. those who are overweight for
! their sex. height and age. \ variation
| of 10 per cent from the accepted
standard is considered safe, so that
| one need not be unduly cast down
over trtfing variations from day TO
day, but should merely keep a weather
eye on the average.
Second, would some those who are
| fairly or quite near the normal, but
who, for one reason or another, such
| as sedentary occupation, should be
under rather than over the normal.
Every one knows that the tendency is
| for desk workers to become what our
grandmothers used to call 'logy."
| Each hour that they sit still lessons
| their need for extra food. and light
| meals at least twice a day should be
| the rule rather than the exception.
Then there are those who have some
| slight disability, weak arches, for
| example. Surely il is easy to see that
a body light in weight is easier for
| these weak feet to tote around"
| Third. we have the individuals who
are suffering from some form of heart
trouble or other circulatory dis
turbances. With these persons over
| weight constitutes a very real danger.
| The pressure Of excess flesh on a
| weak heart may even cause death.
and in the case of disturbed blood
pressure, normal or even slightly sub
normal weight may make all the diff
| ference between health and disease.
| Finally. we have those persons with
| a chronic form of bronchitis. Such
individuals will find their breathing
| considerably eased by a sharp reduc-
| ton OF weight.
| With 50 many real reasons for
weight reduction. let those who are
not in any of these classes stop, look
and listen, before embarking on a re-
duction program that is either un-
necessary or dangerous.
Copyright. 1875