Evening star., 1926-03-18
FOOD AND HEALTH
BIZ WINIFRED STUART GIBBS.
Food Specialist.

Fortunate the individual who under.
stands the art Of seeing the whole Of
a given question and Of weighing well
all considerations! This is as true of
dietary matters as of any other. and
II we aspire to the attainment Of all
round knowledge of nutrition, here IS
a point we'll worth your serious atten.
ton.
The layman who is just beginning to
study food and diet has a tendency to
become overserious about certain
things. as. for example. the daily and
exact balancing of all the elements
that 60 to make UP complete dietary.
Up to certain point this Is well, but
there is danger Of OVERRIDING such
anxiety. Any deficiencies existing in
| one meal may be made good at the
| next: If a days ration Is incomplete.
| the week as whole may take care
| of the lack, and so on.
Once this fact Is impressed on the
mind. however. It Is quite possible to
| discard anxiety so completely as to
endanger the efficiency of the diet
along another line.
Take the children's milk, for ex.
ample. Practically every one knows
that the daily quart for each child is
be assured that the youngsters have
| firm bones. good teeth and strong
| muscles. Yet how easy 1t Is to slip
into the way Of providing just one
glass less a day, "for the present"
| Always there Is the subconscious de.
termination to return to the full
| standard. but frequently the time is
postponed indefinitely until the child s
ration is permanently weakened.
Even this illustration must be con.
| sidered with due regard for all the
q ~ haf M tptn 70
ration. The milk supply may tempo.
rarily be interfered with, and then. Of
! course. it is usually quite possible to
| construct a fairly satisfactory make
| shift dietary. The argument as ad.
vanced is based on the assumption
that the interruption of the daily
quart has come about largely because
| Of inertia on the part of the one in
charge Of the household feeding pro.
gram.
The insidious character of the dan.
ger confronting those who are headed
| straight for chronic indigestion be.
cause Of the fact that individual vio-
lations of dietary laws do not always
| bring instant retribution Is recog.
| nized. Not SO we'll understood Is the
danger of what some one has called
continuous slight insufficiency" Of
any one Of the chief food elements.
| 1t Is so fatally easy to rest on the as
surance already noted that slight dis.
crepancies may be made up at later
meal.
SO let us watch carefully each main
division of the home diet. Let us see
to 1t that the body building food, as
represented by meat. fish, milk. eggs
and cheese, is kept adequate. Let US
| watch the fruits and vegetables, espe-
cially the vegetables!-so as to be
| very certain that no one Is getting
| away" with a secret attempt to eat
fewer carrots. cabbage and spinach
| than the quantity prescribed. Other
ttems-the cereals. breads and fats-all
! must be included in this occasional
scrutiny. Probably the only element
about which we need not be concerned
Is sugar. That is so popular that It is
| extremely doubtful whether there
| will ever be a voluntary Continuous
slight insufficiency."
Above all, let us make such a scru.
tiny a practical working plan. rather
than q mere harassment Of ourselves
over the mechanical details Of bal
ancing" the diet.
tCopyrisht. l926.)