different vocations, but who eat the same kind of food. Our system of eating is as vicious as our system of education, where thousands of students are put in the same education mold, with little or no regard to their individuality, to the fact that no two of them are alike, that their temperament, their inherited tendencies, their degrees of physical strength and vitality are all different. Of course, this does not mean that a separate meal would have to be provided for each member of the family, which, in the majority of cases, would be impossible. As in education, the basis could almost invariably be alike; but there would be minor differences which, while they would not overtax the housekeeper, would make a great difference in the well-being of the family.
We have heard a great deal from time to time of concentrated nourishment; that is, of a large amount of nutriment in very much less bulk than in ordinary food forms. But it is not sufficient merely to take into the stomach just the quantity of nutrition which would keep the body in perfect food balance. It must be taken in a form adapted to its digestion and assimilation. For instance, it would not meet the requirements of nature to take food into the body in a very concentrated form, as in tablets. The stomach is a sort of bag in whose lining is contained follicles which secrete the gastric juices. When empty, this bag is closed up and is so contracted in size that if the food were taken in a very small bulk, it would not be sufficiently distended to perform its function, even though the small quantity of food contained every element necessary for body building. In order to enable the gastric follicles in the stomach lining to do their normal work there must be a certain amount of pressure upon them, and this can only come from the presence of a sufficient bulk of food to open up the stomach bag to its natural size. The action of the follicles is induced by the alternate contraction and expansion of the circular and longitudinal layers of stomach muscles. This churning motion of the stomach is necessary for the proper mixing of the foods which the gastric juice is cutting up, dissolving, and macerating. When the whole contents are thoroughly mixed by this churning process, the liquid mass is ready to pass on and receive the other gastric juices of the bile, the pancreas, etc., along the intestinal tract, where the chief part of the digestion is done, for the work of the stomach is chiefly mechanical.
This is one reason why animals like horses require hay with their oats or corn. The latter alone would not make sufficient bulk to insure perfect digestion. In some countries clay and earth are mixed with food in order to give a greater bulk to satisfy the requirements of the stomach. It also, in part, accounts for the fact that milk alone would not be an adequate diet for an ordinary adult. When it is taken alone, some twenty per cent, of it is lost through faulty assimilation, so that something like a gallon of milk would be required daily for the complete nutrition of an adult. Where, however, bread is taken with it, assimilation is much more perfect; so that, although milk is the only food that contains the elements necessary for building and maintaining the tissues of the body, because of its faulty assimilation when not mixed with other foods, and also because it would not make sufficient bulk in the alimentary canal for the purpose of digestion, it would not of itself make a practical or satisfactory diet for a healthy adult.
Most people look upon milk as merely a drink, but it is not; it is a food, and hence it is very bad to drink it as rapidly as water, as most of us do. When one drinks a whole glass of milk at a draught or two, it forms into a large, solid mass of casein in the stomach; whereas, if sipped slowly, there are many little casein balls instead of one, which greatly facilitates the process of digestion. Many people have severe pains in the stomach after rapidly drinking a glass or more of iced milk in very hot weather, or when the body is for any reason overheated. The shock to the warm stomach of this mass of iced milk is really dangerous, as the work of digestion can be carried on with efficiency only when food is at the temperature of the blood—ninety-eight and one-half degrees.
Perhaps, everything considered, eggs, next to milk, come nearest to being a perfect food; although, as in the case of milk, if we should attempt to live on eggs alone we would not be able to maintain the bodily balance or poise, which is the object of a correct diet. They are especially good for building up the brain cells and the cells of the nervous system generally, for they contain considerable phosphorus and iron. As a rule, eggs introduce these substances into the body much better than drugs do. In addition to phosphorus and iron, eggs also contain arsenic, acids, and especially albumen, which are all extremely important for the building and maintenance of the organism.
Many people make the mistake of eating raw eggs because they think they are more digestible than cooked eggs. This is not so, because the white of an egg does not excite the secretion of saliva in the mouth unless it is cooked; so that hard-boiled eggs, thoroughly masticated, are really more digestible than raw eggs, though soft-boiled eggs are most digestible of all. It is a little more difficult for the liver to take care of the yolks of eggs than the whites, but they are more palatable, and for most people more easily digested.
Cereals are especially valuable for their large amount of albumen and skeleton-building material. Wheat and oats are notably rich in albumen. The wheat kernel contains eighty per cent, of starch, eleven per cent, of albumen, and about one per cent, of fat. Wheat bran contains even a larger percentage of albumen and almost as much starch. If bran could be as easily assimilated as flour, the value of wheat products would be multiplied many times. Many people think that coarse rye bread is very healthful, and this is true, but it is very difficult to digest and assimilate. It is good for people who have strong digestive organs, especially those who live a rugged, outdoor life.
Macaroni is an excellent food, very nourishing, and it contains considerable albumen, also sugars and starches. Though a little lacking in fat, it is especially valuable because of the large variety of body-building elements it contains. It is not strange, therefore, that so many people, especially Italians, live almost entirely upon this diet, as do the Eastern Asiastics upon rice.
Macaroni is easily digested and easily assimilated, and therefore particularly good for people with weak stomachs and delicate digestive organs. It is also good for invalids and patients who are convalescing. It is especially good for those affected with kidney diseases, for gouty persons, and for those who are getting on in years and have more or less hardening of the arteries, because it does not contain any substances or poisons which would injure the kidneys, the liver, or the blood vessels. Macaroni also tends to neutralize intestinal putrefaction. On the whole, it is one of the best known foods.
It is a strange fact that corn foods, which are rich in sugar, starch, and fat, and in some of the most important nutritive salts like phosphorus, potash, lime, magnesia, soda, and iron, should be made so little of in the American diet. Corn bread and corn cakes are very easily digested and assimilated, and are good body-builders. Why the great vegetarian restaurants, both here and abroad, make so little of corn products is a mystery, as they usually have so few foods that are rich in albumen. The Italians eat a great deal of corn products. Macaroni, which is made from flour, and corn products are as much a staple food with them as wheat bread is with us. We all know what tremendous workers they are and the great amount of fatigue they are capable of enduring.
Oatmeal porridge makes a very desirable food, particularly in the morning. We know how strong and vigorous, physically and mentally, Scotch people are, who live so largely upon oatmeal products. Oatmeal porridge with the yolks of two eggs would make a splendid breakfast, especially for those who are not subject to biliousness. Oatmeal contains considerable lime, phosphorus, acid, and a little chlorine. Whole oats contain quite a large amount of potash, iron, and phosphorus, which last is very nourishing to the brain cells and nerve cells.
Buckwheat cakes, which are much used for breakfast in America, especially in restaurants and hotels, are not very digestible, because they contain a large amount of cellulose, which is hard to assimilate. Corn cakes are much preferable. Other foods that contain a large amount of cellulose, such as cabbage, beans, rye bread, etc., cause flatulence, especially those which also contain considerable sulphur.
The cellulose in vegetables corresponds to the connective tissue in meat, which is difficult of digestion unless thoroughly cooked. The starchy foods, like sago, tapioca, etc., are
