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Balanced Caloric Menus: Introduction
A calorie is a heat unit, or we might say an
energy unit, which we use to measure the food
needs of the individual.
There is no agreement about the number of
calories needed. There can be no agreement. It
is something that is dependent on circumstances.
A small woman leading a sedentary life may need
only 1500 calories. A large man working hard
may need 2800 or more calories. We do not pre-
tend, in the menus to follow, to tell you exactly
how many calories you need. If you follow these
menus and find yourself growing too thin, it is
easy to add more calories by taking some butter
or oil or starch or some kind of sweets in addi-
tion to the amount given here. For instance, take
an additional tablespoonful of mayonnaise dress-
ing and you will add a hundred calories, or double
the butter. This is just illustrating what you
can do.
If you find yourself growing too heavy, eat
less of oils or fats or starch or sweets. It is very
easy to regulate the foods so as to get the right
amount if you just remember the key given here.
A correct maintenance diet will run between
1500 and 2500 calories, as a rule.
A reducing diet should ordinarily be below 1200
calories a day. Those who want to reduce fast
can eat less than 800 or 900 calories a day if they
wish.
Usually, a diet containing over 2600 calories
per day will be fattening.
We wish to call your special attention to the
fact that no exactness is indicated in calories. It
is impossible. You might think, for instance, that
an ounce of butter is of a constant calorie content,
but it is not so. If butter contains considerable
salt and water it will be of a lower caloric con-
tent than unsalted butter which has been well
worked.
Sweet beets are higher in caloric content than
those containing less sugar. All kinds of fruits
and vegetables vary greatly and the same is true
of the cereal foods. Some meat may contain only
400 calories to the pound and other meat may con-
tain 1000 calories to the pound. A caloric diet
can only be an approximation unless so much time
is spent on it that it is not worth while. In diet-
ing common sense has to be added to science.
We have given the principal vitamins contained
in certain foods. There are also vitamins D and
E. Perhaps they will add others as the years go
on. The vitamins are really the health building
elements present in food. If this is remembered,
it is not necessary to know exactly what each vita-
min does. It is well to bear in mind that the raw
foods contain most of the vitamins-raw vegeta-
bles, fruits and milk for instance. Cooking de-
stroys many of the vitamins. This is the reason
that it is necessary to eat raw fruits and raw
vegetables.
With this explanation it should be easy to get
helpful pointers from these menus.
These menus are calculated for individual por-
tions; when used by more than one it is easy to
perform the necessary multiplication.
The term 40% cream refers to the heavy cream
sold in bottles in the city. 20% cream is diluted
with a trifle more than one-half milk.