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Introduction

The health of the family depends largely upon the correct grouping of the foods consumed.

Therefore, menu-making is one of the greatest responsibilities of the housewife. In making menus a scientific knowledge of food and health values is necessary, for indiscriminate combining of foods is harmful to health.

To eat wisely we need some definite measures of amounts, but the nutritive value of foods is in part determined by the digestibility of the meal; it also depends in part on the individual's power of digesting and assimilating. The food value is measured in heat units, which are convertible into energy units, and these have been named calories.

The calorie is the amount of heat that will raise the temperature of a pint of water four degrees Fahrenheit.

The number of calories of a certain food product does not determine its dietetic and hygienic value. In planning daily menus the textbooks usually pay too much attention to the number of calories in the foods, while the important organic salts are hardly mentioned. Otto Carqué says: "We may slowly starve and poison ourselves on a diet consisting mostly of denatured foods furnishing as many as 3,500 calories per day, while we may be well nourished with natural foods supplying one-half that amount of calories." The approximate proportion, by weight, of the nourishing compounds required by the average person is: one of protein, three of fats or oils, and six of carbohydrates (which are starches and sweets).

Right eating results in normal weight, natural blood pressure and prolongation of youth and life.

To insure healthy nutrition the daily food intake should include the eighteen elements which make up the normal body, and they are: 1. Hydrogen

10. Iron

2. Carbon

11. Phosphorus

3. Nitrogen

12. Sulphur

4. Oxygen

13. Silicon

5. Potassium

14. Chlorine

6. Sodium

15. Fluorine

7. Calcium

16. Iodine

8. Magnesium

17. Aluminum

9. Manganese

18. Arsenic

How are we to obtain these elements, without an extensive knowledge of food chemistry? It is very simple. Every day partake of some berries or melon or raw fruit; if the raw fruit is not at hand use some good dried fruit such as prunes or raisins. Every day eat some raw vegetables, either plain or in salads. Instead of eating so much white bread, use vegetables liberally for lunch and dinner. Use whole wheat bread instead of the white bread at present so popular. By taking these precautions all the elements are obtained to make pure blood.

Oxygen is the only element that enters the living organism and is absorbed in a free state, as a part of the air we breathe.

It is very important to cook properly. Good foods are often ruined through poor cooking. A few cooking hints will be found in this book, but for a full discussion of the subject I refer the readers to ADVENTURES IN COOKING, by Rasmus Alsaker, M. D.

Vegetables cooked in hard water are rendered partially indigestible. The calcium sulphate in water when boiled forms hard, indigestible compounds.

Water, composed of hydrogen and oxygen, is a component part of all natural foods. Water is necessary as a solvent in all physiological functions of the body.

Correct eating and normal exercise promote health. Many grow ill through eating foods improperly combined. Most of the diseases of the stomach and intestines are due to improper eating. Wrong eating does not necessarily imply a lack of food; it generally means that a person fails to combine his foods correctly, and often the factors of undermasticating and overeating also enter.

The importance of these facts is obvious when we realize that what many consider mere trimmings are often the main supply of nourishment. Butter, sugar, oil and cream are dressings, but they are very nourishing. He who takes two cups of coffee, each containing two or three lumps of sugar and a liberal portion of cream, is thus getting more nourishment, when measured in fuel value, than he does in an ordinary serving of steak.

Dr. Robert Hugh Rose writes, "The intense blackness of the sin of ignorance regarding dietetic requirements which humanity has permitted to obscure its vision for so many centuries is really appalling."

It is to get out of the darkness into light that this book will serve the careful reader.

The menus are rather simple, as they should be.

Each individual can eat enough to serve his needs, but he should not add to the menus, except the simple dressings that are customary.

The two most important principles of correct eating are: 1, Be moderate; 2, Eat simply.

Each chapter has a brief introduction, written from the standpoint of health; nearly every Sunday has a note, also written with health in mind. I should advise the reader to peruse all of these introductions and notes.