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Food Groups and Their Uses

GROUP 1.-Foods depended on for protein; that is, foods in which the principal parts of the nutrient is in form of protein: milk, skim milk, cheese, eggs, meat, poultry, fish, dried peas, beans, lentils, and some of the nuts. Especially useful for repair and body-building material.

GROUP 2.-Foods depended on for fat; that is, foods in which the principal part of the nutrient is in the form of fat: butter, cream, lard, suet, and other cooking fats, salt pork, bacon, table and salad oils. All have a very high fuel value. GROUP 3.-Foods depended on for starch; that is, carbohydrate foods in which the principal part of the nutrient is in the form of starch: the cereals-wheat, corn, oats, rice, rye, barleyand their products, breakfast foods, bread, crackers, macaroni, cakes, cookies, puddings; also potatoes and other starchy vegetables. Used as fuel, and in excess, stored in the body as fat.

GROUP 4.-Foods depended on for sugar; that is, carbohydrate foods in which the principal nutrient is sugar: sugar, molasses, syrups, honey, candies, fruits, sweet cakes, and desserts. A form of fuel which is quickly utilized in the body.

GROUP 5.-Foods depended on for mineral matters; that is, foods not rich in nutrients but which supply iron, vitamins, vegetable acids, cellulose, and other body-regulating substances: fruits and vegetables, apples, pears, oranges, lemons, bananas, berries, melons, salads, lettuce, spinach, potatoes and root vegetables, green peas and beans, tomatoes, squash, etc. Vitamins. In addition to a familiarity with the various food groups, the good cook should know something about vitamins. By vitamins is understood certain life-giving substances whose presence in the body is essential to normal growth and health. If omitted from the diet for any great length of time, the so-called "deficiency diseases" arising from malnutrition are likely to develop.

Vitamins are present in some foods, but absent in others. It is therefore of the utmost importance to know which foods contain these life-giving elements, so that they may be included in the daily diet. Some of them are soluble in fat, others are soluble in water.

Whole milk and butter are especially rich in the fat-soluble vitamin, recognized by scientists as vitamin A. For this reason milk and butter are absolutely essential to the growth and health of children. Skimping on milk and milk products is certain to retard the child's development and expose it to the many evils which follow malnutrition. Codliver oil is another source, being more than two hundred times as rich in the valuable vitamin A as butter. This vitamin is also present in the yolks of eggs, in animal fats, in green-leaf vegetables, such as young cabbage, and in most yellow vegetables, such as carrots.

The water-soluble vitamin, known to scientists as vitamin B, is present in most foods, especially in fruits, vegetables and whole grain cereal products. It is absent in foods which have been "purified," such as white flour, cornstarch, polished rice, refined sugar, and most table oils, all of which in their natural state contain vitamins. Vitamin B supplies the nervous reserve so necessary to combat neuritis. Another water-soluble vitamin is recognized by scientists as vitamin C. This is found abundantly in all citrus-fruit juices, in lemons, oranges, grape-fruit, and in green vegetables. Tomatoes and white potatoes are a valuable source of vitamin C. Vitamin C is the accepted preventive and cure for scurvy.

Since an abundant supply of vitamins exists in all fresh vegetable foods, in milk and in meat from animals fed on fresh foods, the normal adult living on a well-balanced diet is certain to obtain a plentiful supply. But the diet of growing children must be watched carefully to see that they get a proper proportion. Fortunately, vitamins A, B, and C are all found in whole milk. Children suffering from rickets and other diseases of under-nourishment have frequently been cured by a liberal diet of foods that contain vitamin A. It should be remembered that all the vitamins are easily destroyed by excessive cooking or sterilization. Fresh foods, and those that have been properly cooked, contain the helpful element in greatest measure. While canned foods and other dried vegetables and fruits may be necessary for economy and convenience, or to give bulk to the diet, they should never be used to the exclusion of green-leaf vegetables and fruits. The Graphic Charts on the following pages show the composition of- Milk Cheese Potatoes White Bread Eggs Oatmeal Butter Beef Water 87 Parts Protein 3 Parts Carbo- Hydrate Whole Milk 5 Parts Crude Fiber, Etc. 4/10 Part Fat 1/10 Part Ash 1 Part Starch 18 Parts Protein 240 Parts Carbohydrate 2 Parts Ash Water 4 Parts 34 Parts Cream Cheese Fat Protein Fat 4 Parts 34 Parts 26 Parts Ash 1 Part Water 78% Parts White Potato Protein 9 Parts Ash 1 Part White Bread Carbohydrate 53 Parts Fat 1 Part