Evening star., 1936-05-06
rowing Children Need Certain Foods Build Strong Husky Bodies
Home Economics Bureau
Suggests Varied Diet
In Generous Quantities
Omission of Particular Food Components
Apt to Result in Later Physical
Deficiencies

is one of the best meats for children
because Of the vitamins and the iron
1t furnishes.
"CEREALS, bread and potatoes are
~ important energy foods because
Of the large amount of starch they
contain. They differ, however. in
vitamin and mineral content, and both
the kind and amount of cereals and
breadstuffs the child should eat de-
pends upon how much potato he eats
and upon the variety of his diet in
general. Every meal may well include
some bread. The child who drinks
plenty of whole milk, eats a variety Of
fruits and vegetables and gets entire
grain cereals in some form may have
either whole-grain or white bread.
With less variety of other foods, the
entire-grain cereals and whole-wheat
bread are recommended for growing
children.
vegetables and fruits are valuable
for the minerals and vitamins they
supply and also for the variety of
their color and flavor. In addition to
potatoes, the child should have at
least two servings Of other kinds Of
vegetables every day. Thin green
leaves, such as spinach, green lettuce
and beet and turnip tops, are richer
in iron and in some of the vitaminS
than bleached, thick leaves, such as
Winter cabbage, but all the leaf vege-
tables, and also tomatoes, carrots,
sweet potatoes, green beans, green
peas and asparagus, supplement the
food values of the white-root vege-
tables, the cereals, dried beans and
peas. The leafy vegetables should, of
course, be finely chopped when fed to
little children. Carrots should be
grated and tomatoes peeled or strained
and used as juice. The raw chopped
vegetables, mixed with creamed butter,
may be made into small sandwiches
for at least one meal day.
Fruits, both raw and cooked, are
good for children. The juice, espe-
cially orange and tomato juice. or the
scraped or sieved pulp of fruit is given
daily to infants. Bananas, too, are
good, If ripe-which means when the
skin has begun to darken, the seeds
are black and the pulp is mealy. For
very young children bananas may be
baked or the raw pulp mashed. Ap-
Piles, peaches, apricots, pears, plums,
prunes and cherries afford plenty Of
variety for the childs meals. Two
fruits day-at least one of them raw
If possible-aid nutrition and simplify
the dessert problem throughout child
hood.
"SWEETS are concentrated fuel
- foods. They add interest to the
diet, but must be used with discretion.
After other foods have been provided
some sweet food. may be used to ad-
vantage for the sake of flavor and to
provide energy that is quickly used
by the body. But the child should
not have sweets or sweet foods be-
tween meals or early in the meal
they take away his appetite for other
foods. At the end Of the meal give
him cake or cookies not too sweet or
rich in fat, or a custard. a pudding,
ice cream, fruit sherbet or other SIM
pie desserts. And he may have simple
candies.
Fats are the most concentrated
body fuels. furnishing more energy
than sweets and starches. Butter,
which is milk fat, is also a good source
of vitamin A, and the child should
have it every day. Not much other
fat, however, should be used in the
child's diet.
The consistency or texture of a
food is highly important to the child.
If too many meats or vegetables are
served with white sauce over them he
is very likely to tire of them as being
all alike. To be palatable, rice, po-
tatoes and mashed vegetables should
not be pasty. Creamed dishes should
be neither thick and sticky nor too
soupy to eat with a fork. Vegetables
must not be cut in pieces SO small
that they are hard for little hands to
manage with a fork nor so large that
they are clumsy to eat. Slices or
oblong pieces are more easily handled
than cubes. The skins of baked fruits
and vegetables should either be re-
moved or cut up in small sections
easy for the child to eat
"All hard foods, such as bread crust
and toast, and also meat that has not
been ground or scraped, encourage
chewing and are valuable for exer-
cising the gums and teeth. Foods of
this kind should be given very early
in life, but not too often or in such
large amounts that eating becomes
slow and laborlouS. Contrast Of con-
sistency in the same meal, serving
some hard, crisp or dry foods and
some that are soft, makes meals in
teresting and appetizing."