Food and freedom

1 Since protein can be burned in the body to yield energy, it must be classed here as a fuel food, although, because of its importance as a tissue-builder, it is commonly considered as a building-food rather than as a fuel food. While proteins do serve the body as fuel, they are not re- quired by the body for fuel. It is better and cheaper for the body to get its fuel from carbohydrates and fats, and a good diet is so arranged that protein foods are used chiefly for building purposes, and not depended upon for energy. If more protein is consumed than the body needs for build- ing and repair, this excess protein is destroyed, leaving un- desirable products to be eliminated in the urine and over- working the kidneys. IMPORTANT FOOD FACTS 59 Ash Constituents, found in Milk, cereals from whole grains, egg yolks, fresh fruits, green vegetables, dried lentils, peas, beans. 3. "Regulating-foods," which include: Ash Constituents, found in (as listed above). Accessory Factors, found in Almost all fresh foods — fresh milk, fresh meats, fresh fish, cream, butter, egg yolks, cheese, fresh fruits and vege- tables, green-leaf vegetables and salad plants, whole-grain foods. Different types are found in different foods, how- • ever.^ Bulk Material, .represented by Fruits, vegetables, coarse cereal foods, coarse breads, bran — including some *'hard" foods; the latter induce masti- cation, which both aids digestion and helps to insure sound teeth. Water. While water is not specifically a "food," viewed from the standpoint of nutrients for the body, it is as important and nec- essary as food. '^ Without water the elements could not be combined into an organism, nor could the organism carry out its physiological June- * See References listed on p. 56. Go FOOD AND FREEDOM tions. It forms 58.5 per cent, by weight of the human body. The daily require- ment is estimated from the average loss by the skin, lungs, and kidneys, which excrete a total of about eighty ounces a day. This loss must be made good by food and drink." ^ Some water is present in all food. In raw, fresh -food materials — meats, eggs, milk, fruits, vegetables — it varies from 55 to 95 per cent. In prepared foods — flour, cereal products, crackers, dry breads — it averages, approximately, less than 10 per cent.^ For all foods, as we know them, we can find a place in the above accepted groupings. The chemical composition of foods varies very greatly, however; some foods — such as pure sugar or pure fat — con- tain only one of the needed food principles; other foods — such as fresh, whole milk or cereal products milled from whole grains — contain some proportion of all the needed principles. Consequently, some foods are more important and more nutritively valu- able than other foods. This is particularly true of pure, whole milk and properly milled cereal products. These two foods together are particularly valuable, as they complete each other to an extent, and are therefore of such importance in the diet of children. "Milk and cereals together make a remarkable com- ' Tibbies, Food in Health and Disease, p. 6. 2 See "Chemical Composition of American Food Ma- terials," Bulletin 28, United States Department of Agri- culture. IMPORTANT FOOD FACTS 6i bination; * bread-and-milk ' is justified not only by experience, but by theory." ^