Foods and home making

Scientists working on the effect of food on the body are proving that fresh vegetables are needed to make us healthy. They are finding that both young and old need vegetables. Physicians are advising their patients to eat vegetables and are observing in them the benefits of vegetables in diet. Teachers, realizing the Ewing Galloway Figure 89. Cabbage This is much more than a back-yard cabbage patch ; it is a large tract of land in which cabbages are grown. People are beginning to realize how valuable are cabbage and many other vegetables. More vegetables are being grown every year. importance of pupils learning how to keep well and healthy, are advising the eating of fresh vegetables. Fresh vegetables help to give us vigor or strength and vim or “ pep.” In prescribing a diet for one who desires a good complexion , physicians invariably 266 Luncheon or Supper include fresh vegetables. Eating vegetables helps one to feel well and look well. Why are vegetables valuable foods ? You will remember that you learned of the treasures found in fruits. There are some of the same kinds of valuable materials in vegetables. Like fruits, vegetables contain ash or mineral matter , vitamins, water, and PROTEIN ^.2 Figure 90. Composition of an Uncooked Potato Notice that, although a potato is solid, it is more than three fourths water. It is less than one fifth carbohydrates. Although there is only 2.2% protein in potato, that protein is valuable. Potatoes contain some ash, but the ash contains very little calcium. White raw potatoes contain vitamins A+, B+ + , C + +. G + + (see Note 1, page 37). When cooked for more than 15 min- utes, some of vitamin C is destroyed. cellulose. Vegetables generally, however, do not contain so much sugar as fruits. There is only a small quantity of sugar in most vegetables. Unlike most fruits, such vegetables as potatoes, peas, and green corn contain considerable starch. The quantity of starch in potatoes, however, is not nearly so great as that in cereals. Less than 20% of a potato is starch. (See Figure 00.) Vegetables also contain a very small percentage of protein. Green peas contain more proteins than other green vegetables Fresh Vegetables 267 - — about 7%. Usually, however, we think of green vegetables as being prized chiefly for their mineral matter and vitamins. What kind of mineral matter does our food often lack? You have had some iron to-day, if you have eaten spinach. Spinach is rich in iron. Our bodies need iron. Our bodies need not only iron, but all the minerals found in foods. They need one kind quite as much as another. However, there are several minerals of which we are apt to get too little. Iron is one of them. We Figure 91. Iron-Rich Foods Boston brown bread, lima beans, spinach, dates, eggs, prunes, dried beans, shredded wheat. Egg yolk, beef, especially liver, dried fruits, leafy vegetables, dried legumes, and whole grains are good sources of iron. should learn to know what foods are rich in iron. (Study Figure 91.) It is not enough to know what foods contain iron • we need to eat foods rich in iron every day.