True food values and their low costs

Milk should enter largely into the diet of children. It contains casein, or flesh-forming material ; cream and sugar, which are heat-producers ; mineral salts, for the bony structure ; and water, as a solvent for all the other materials necessary in nutrition. It should be used with discretion, however; not drunk immoderately, but taken slowly as food, after the pattern given by Nature. Milk, when taken, is a fluid; but as soon as it meets the acid of the gastric juice it is changed to a soft, curdy, cheeselike substance, and then must be digested, and the stomach is overtasked if too much is taken at once. A large glass of milk swallowed suddenly will form in the stomach a lump of dense, cheesy curd, which might even prove fatal to a weak stomach. Under tlie action of the stomach this cheesy mass will turn over and over like a heavy weight ; and as the gastric juice can attack only its surface, it digests very slowly. This same milk, however, taken slowly or with dry toast, light rolls, or soft, dry porridge, forms a porous lump, through which the gastric juice can easily pass and which breaks up as the stomach turns it over. Milk should be slightly salted, and eaten with bread-stuffs or sipped by the spoonful. Milk and Eggs Milk, eggs, and whole wheat are perhaps the three most essential foods that we have. It is on milk that the human race makes its greatest growth. The fuel value of one pound of milk (about a pint) is three hundred and fourteen calories, while one pound of eggs (about eight in number) would give six hundred and seventytwo calories. The milk would contain fifteen grams of protein, the eggs sixty-one grams; the milk eighteen grams of fat, and the eggs fortyseven and six-tenths grams ; the milk twenty-two and seven-tenths of carbohydrates, and the eggs none. The eggs are, to speak plainly, a more concentrated food, as milk is about eighty-five per cent, water. On the other hand, much larger quantities of milk can be taken. In comparing food values all things must be considered, for bare figures alone are apt to be misleading. With these facts in mind, it may be said that, weight for weight, the actual food value of the eggs is a little over twice that of milk. The food value of two slices of wheat bread, three eggs (boiled or fried), an ounce of butter, a pint of milk, is sufficient to furnish an ample breakfast for a laboring man. A pint of coffee may be used to supplant the milk if preferred. A CHAPTER III The Energy Value of Meat "Meat is the muscle of some part of the animal," says Samuel Schmucker Sadtler. in his book. "Chemistry of Familiar Things." "The muscles consist of bundles of microscopic tubes bound together with connective tissue, called collagen, and this includes more or less fat. "When carving at the table meat should be cut across the grain in as thin slices as possible, not to give people slim helpings, but to cut the microscopic tubes into many sections so the gastric juice can attack them with as much exposed surface as possible." If the tubes have not been cut into shoes in carving, they will take much longer to digest. Meat is more easily digested when it is hghtly cooked, as it is soft and more easily acted upon by the gastric juice. The nourishing power of food is measured in calories, and from three thousand five hundred to three thousand seven hundred calories of energy per day are required by most people. The following table showing the nourishing values of meat was prepared by Professor C. F. Langworthy, United States Government expert: VASicry POUND Beefsteak 1090 Brisket 1495 Chttck, including shoulder lOOS Chuck rib 920 Flank 1255 Loin 1155 Loin, sirloin bull 1115 Loin, porterhouse 1110 Loin, sirloin steak 1130 Neck 920 Plate 1450 Ribs 1370 Rib, rolls 1015 Rib, trimmings 1015