This inorganic mineral, according to Sherman, constitutes about
2% of the entire body weight ; and of this total amount, about 99%
is in the bones. The remaining per cent, though small, being an
essential constituent of the soft tissues and the body fluids, is abso-
lutely necessary to the normal action of the heart muscle, and to
the coagulation of the blood. Experiments on birds showed that
when the birds were fed for a length of time on a calcium-poor
food, there was a marked wasting of calcium salts from various
bones ; when the birds were killed and dissected, some of the bones
were found to have been perforated in order to supply needed
lime for the body's metabolism.
This may serve to explain the cause of the hollow teeth and
bone deformity among children fed largely on white breads,
sugars, candies, and flesh meats, all of which are very poor in
calcium. May we not conclude that when they are fed on such
3 "Science of Nutrition," third edition, page 360.
33
SCIENCE of FOOD and COOKERY
a diet, the body will retaliate, as it were, and draw upon the
bones and the teeth for that which is lacking in the food?
Almonds, milk, egg yolk, oranges, prunes, carrots, parsnips,
and entire ground cereals are rich in calcium. As set forth by
Sherman, the entire wheat products contain more than twice the
amount of calcium found in white flour.
DEMINERALIZED FOOD AND CONSTIPATION
Constipation is declared to be the most prevalent ailment of
civilized man. It should be regarded as but a condition of de-
ranged nutrition ; and consequently any treatment, to be efficient,
must be directed not simply toward the temporary removal of the
symptom, but at the cause. A fact which should be more generally
known, is that nature provides a powerful yet harmless laxative,
which will accomplish for the individual what no medicine can do.
This laxative is in all plain, unrefined, wholesome foods as fur-
nished by nature.
Natural foods, when not submitted to the modern refining proc-
esses, contain a bulky element — the rough, indigestible particles
of vegetable matter that absorb moisture and increase the volume
of the bowel content, thereby exciting them to more thorough
action. Besides promoting this mechanical propulsion, unrefined
foods contain certain properties that lubricate the bowels and
stimulate peristalsis. These are the acids, the fats, and the min-
eral salts.
Examples might be multiplied that indicate the evil effects fol-
lowing the continued use of demineralized foods, which have been
robbed of the greater part of their essential mineral and vitamine
in order to convert them into products that will "keep." Diagnos-
ticians agree that many of the ills that afflict mankind are preceded
by constipation. They also agree that freedom from constipation
averts many ills. Peoples who subsist on foods as nature supplies
them are not troubled with constipation. Decaying teeth, appendi-
citis, tonsillitis, and constipation are rife among all civilized peoples
who eat largely of concentrated foods, and who remove the hulls
from their cereals in preparing them for eating.
34
SCIENCE of FOOD amf COOKERY
WHITE AND ENTIRE WHEAT BREAD
✪ White and Entire Wheat Bread
Page 17 · 1 recipe record on this page
Presented as published in 1921. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
This inorganic mineral, according to Sherman, constitutes about 2% of the entire body weight ; and of this total amount, about 99% is in the bones. The remaining per cent, though small, being an essential constituent of the soft tissues and the body fluids, is absolutely necessary to the normal action of the heart muscle, and to the coagulation of the blood. Experiments on birds showed that when the birds were fed for a length of time on a calcium-poor food, there was a marked wasting of calcium salts from various bones ; when the birds were killed and dissected, some of the bones were found to have been perforated in order to supply needed lime for the body's metabolism.
This may serve to explain the cause of the hollow teeth and bone deformity among children fed largely on white breads, sugars, candies, and flesh meats, all of which are very poor in calcium. May we not conclude that when they are fed on such
3 "Science of Nutrition," third edition, page 360.
a diet, the body will retaliate, as it were, and draw upon the bones and the teeth for that which is lacking in the food?
Almonds, milk, egg yolk, oranges, prunes, carrots, parsnips, and entire ground cereals are rich in calcium. As set forth by Sherman, the entire wheat products contain more than twice the amount of calcium found in white flour.
DEMINERALIZED FOOD AND CONSTIPATION
Constipation is declared to be the most prevalent ailment of civilized man. It should be regarded as but a condition of deranged nutrition ; and consequently any treatment, to be efficient, must be directed not simply toward the temporary removal of the symptom, but at the cause. A fact which should be more generally known, is that nature provides a powerful yet harmless laxative, which will accomplish for the individual what no medicine can do. This laxative is in all plain, unrefined, wholesome foods as furnished by nature.
Natural foods, when not submitted to the modern refining processes, contain a bulky element — the rough, indigestible particles of vegetable matter that absorb moisture and increase the volume of the bowel content, thereby exciting them to more thorough action. Besides promoting this mechanical propulsion, unrefined foods contain certain properties that lubricate the bowels and stimulate peristalsis. These are the acids, the fats, and the mineral salts.
Examples might be multiplied that indicate the evil effects following the continued use of demineralized foods, which have been robbed of the greater part of their essential mineral and vitamine in order to convert them into products that will "keep." Diagnosticians agree that many of the ills that afflict mankind are preceded by constipation. They also agree that freedom from constipation averts many ills. Peoples who subsist on foods as nature supplies them are not troubled with constipation. Decaying teeth, appendicitis, tonsillitis, and constipation are rife among all civilized peoples who eat largely of concentrated foods, and who remove the hulls from their cereals in preparing them for eating.
WHITE AND ENTIRE WHEAT BREAD
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White and Entire Wheat Bread