Susanna Cocroft

“ A right habit is as easily formed, and as difficult to change, as a wrong one.
If one forms the habit of eating a certain amount of food, the stomach calls for about the same amount, and when one first begins to change the quantity it protests, whether the change be to eat more or less.
Few people form the habit of drinking sufficient water,—particularly if they have been taught that water at meals is injurious. In this busy life, few remember to stop work and drink water between meals, and if not consumed at the meal time the system suffers. ”

“ There is no study, therefore, more important than that of bodily nutrition and the preparation of food and drink in right proportions to yield the best returns under varying conditions,—age, employment, health, and sickness.
Nutrition is a broad subject. It means not only that the foods be supplied which contain elements required to rebuild body substance and to create heat and energy, but it embraces, also, the ability of the body to appropriate the foods to its needs. ”

“ Man has become so engrossed and hedged about with the complex demands of social, civic, and domestic life, all of which call for undue energy and annoyance and lead him into careless or extravagant habits of eating and living, that he forgets to apply the intelligence which he puts into his business to the care of the machine which does the work. ”

“ The power of the system to throw off food, over and above the needs of the body, is a wise provision of Nature, because where foods are not supplied in the proper proportions, a more liberal diet enables the system to select such foods as it needs from the abundance.
Cereals and legumes supply nutrients cheaper than any class of foods; therefore a vegetarian diet involves less expense than the mixed diet. Meat, eggs and milk, which usually supply the proteins, are the most expensive foods, and where these are eliminated, a large proportion of proteins should be supplied by the legumes. ”

“ Nothing is lost in Nature’s distribution of force and energy. Everything accomplished in life, either in the physical handling of material, the brain work in planning the constructions, the mental movements of thought in art, literature, or science, are all representatives of the heat and energy released from the body, and it is the effort of every man and woman to make the body yield as large an income as possible in the expression of this energy. ”

“ In an ordinary, mixed diet, it is stated that about ninety-two per cent of the proteins, ninety-five per cent of the fats, and ninety-seven per cent of the carbohydrates are retained by the body.
In digestion, it is of the utmost importance that the muscular, mucous, and the sub-mucous coats, and the secreting glands of the stomach and intestines be kept thoroughly strong and active, that the digestive juices may be freely poured out, the nutriment be freely absorbed, and the food be moved along the digestive tract. The strength of any organ is gained through the nutriment in the blood ”

“ Often loss of appetite is the result of a clogging of intestines or liver, or to an excess of bile, which, not having been properly discharged into the intestines, has entered the blood stream. An excess of bile and poisons, indicating a torpid liver, often expresses itself in a dull mental force, the toxins deadening the nerve cells. Nature does not call for more food until she has eliminated the excess of waste. ”

“ About one-third of the food eaten goes to maintain the life of the body in doing its incessant work of repairing and rebuilding, the remaining two-thirds is the reserve for usefulness outside of itself.
One of the most remarkable, and the least understood of any of the assimilative and absorptive functions, is that any one part of the body has the power to appropriate from the foods the elements necessary for its own rebuilding, while these same elements pass through other organs untouched. ”

“ Daily exercise and the habit of full breathing are absolutely necessary that the waste of the system may be fully liberated, that the nourishment may be carried freely to every tissue, and that sufficient oxygen may be carried through the blood to oxidize the waste, or, to put it into condition to be thrown off. ”

“ Many claim that one’s thirst, as in the desire for food, is the only safe guide, as to the amount and time of drinking, but these desires are largely matters of habit, and tastes are often perverted. Unless the condition is abnormal or the mind becomes so intensely active that one fails to listen to the call of nature, the system calls for what it has been in the habit of receiving and at the stated times it has been in the habit of receiving it. ”

“ The former custom of employing a physician as a retainer had its distinct advantage, his duty being to instruct in right living so as to avoid disease rather than to cure it. To-day scientific instruction in food and hygiene is within the reach of all, and every mother and teacher is a retainer, or guard of the health of those in her charge. ”

“ Repair and Elimination of Waste (Metabolism)
Every part of the body is constantly changing. Its work never stops. If kept in thorough repair it must be torn down and rebuilt incessantly. These chemical changes are called collectively metabolism. They are divided into two groups: the chemical process of building up complex substances from simple ones is known as anabolism; the chemical process of oxidizing and breaking down the complex substances into simple ones, so that they are in a state to be excreted, is catabolism. ”

“ If the individual continues to abuse the stomach and to cause it to work overtime, it becomes exhausted and demands rest; it refuses to discharge the gastric juice in proper proportion; the peristaltic movements are weak; and food is not promptly or forcefully moved along the stomach and mixed with the gastric juice. This demand for a rest is termed Indigestion.
To sum up,—digested sugar is dextrose; digested starch is first dextrin, then maltose (animal, sugar) ; digested protein is peptone; and, digested fat is saponified fat. ”

“ By foods is meant those articles of diet found in the market which contain the chemical elements used by the body in various combinations. Bread, for example, contains all of the foodstuffs and has been called the staff of life, because it sustains life. Foods may contain elements, not foodstuffs, and not used by the body, but cast out as waste, while certain foods, such as sugar, cornstarch, olive oil, and egg albumen, contain only one foodstuff, as will be noted in the following classification of foods and foodstuffs—grouped according to the body uses. ”

“ The gluten of wheat is built up by the chemical union of nitrogen in the air and nitrogen in the soil with other substances. Plants are able to use the simple compounds of the earth, air, and soil, and, within their own cells, build them up into such complex substances as starch, sugar, [Pg 22] protein, fat, and salt, which are appropriated by the animal kingdom for further growth and change.
In its conversion into tissue, heat, energy, and waste, the importance of the chemical exceeds the mechanical action, such as digestion, absorption, assimilation, and elimination ”

“ A study of the habitual taste for foods, in connection with the physical ailments of eighteen thousand women, shows that by the constituents in the blood, and the condition of the different organs of the digestive system, one can usually determine which food the individual has formed a habit of eating, because the blood will show a lack of the elements which that patient has denied himself on account of his likes and dislikes. ”

“ Sometimes the sight of quantities of food turns one against it. The custom among hearty eaters, of serving a plate too plentifully, destroys the appetite of one whose digestion is not so hearty.
Our grandmothers’ overloaded tables, with sufficient food of various kinds to serve many times the number of participants, might stimulate the appetite of hearty, strong men, while the very sight of so much might turn the appetite of one more delicate, whose system did not crave food. ”

“ The food which furnishes the most tissue-building substance and yields the most heat and energy, with the least refuse, is the economical food. In the selection of food for any individual, the result to be gained from the food must be borne in mind. If one is doing heavy muscular work, more protein to rebuild tissue, as well as more carbohydrates and fats to produce energy, are required than if one’s habits of work are sedentary. In mental work, where the brain is continually active, proteins are required to re-supply the brain tissue, but the fats and carbohydrates may be lessened. ”

“ As previously stated, no food contains but one element of foodstuffs and all elements are formed into compounds of plant life from the elements in the soil, air and water by the action of the sun’s rays. The rays of heat and light seem to store something of their power in latent heat and energy within the combinations of these compounds. The end of plant life is the completion of its compounds,—it first generates the compounds, then matures them, and then dies. ”

“ Meat soups, bouillons and broths contain very little nutriment, but they do contain the extractives, and the flavors increase the flow of digestive juices and stimulate the appetite. It is for this reason that soups are served before a meal rather than for a dessert; they insure a copious flow of gastric juice and saliva to act upon the crackers or toast eaten with the soup. Many mistake the extractives and flavor for nourishment, feeling that the soups are an easy method of taking food, but the best part of the nutriment remains in the meat or vegetables making the soup. ”

“ Surely man is marvelously made!
The intelligent care of the body,—the temple through which the soul communicates with material conditions,—is a Christian duty. “The priest with liver trouble and the parishioner with indigestion, do not evidence that skilled Christian living so essential to the higher life.” ”

“ One is inclined to think that a desire for a food is a requirement of Nature; yet it may simply be the continuance of a habit. The vital organs form habits just as one forms a habit of walking, sitting or of carrying the head or the hands, and habit re-asserts itself.
If a mother feeds her babe every three hours the child will usually wake and call for food about this period. If she has formed the habit of nursing the child every two hours, it will call for food in about two hours, even though all symptoms indicate that the child is over fed. ”

“ Nuts are a valuable food, but they should be made a part of a meal and may well take the place of meat, because of the large percentage of protein, rather than to be eaten as a dessert. They are too hearty to eat at the end of a meal, after one has eaten as much other food as the system requires. In planning a meal, if the dietary is rich in starches and lacking in protein, a side dish of nuts may be served.
Too great stress cannot be laid upon the importance of the thorough mastication of nuts; otherwise they are difficult of digestion. ”

“ Since the condition of the body so materially affects the digestion, absorption, and metabolism of food, as well as the elimination of waste, it is not amiss to discuss it here.
The habit of eating when too tired and then at once going to work, so that the blood is called from the stomach, is almost sure to result in indigestion.
The average person is tired because the brain and nerves are more active than the muscles and is rested by muscular exercise, or change of work. ”

“ The diet must consist of protein and fat and one danger is in the tendency to acetic and other acids in the blood, which involves the nervous system. The patient has a craving for sugars and starches, but the system cannot make use of them, and the heat and energy must be supplied by fats. While, as a rule, the craving for certain foods is an indication that the system needs the elements contained in it,—this is true in the craving of the diabetes patient for carbohydrates,—yet the desire must not be gratified, because of the inability to digest them. ”

“ DIGESTION
Any discussion in regard to the digestibility of foods must be general, because food which agrees with one may disagree with another, and a food which disagrees with one at a particular time may entirely agree with him at some other time; therefore, before one passes upon the adaptability of a food to the individual, it should be known that this food agrees or disagrees with him under varying conditions. ”

“ Yet the simple laws of nature in the care of the body, are plainer and easier to follow than the complex habits which he forms. The “simple life” embraces the habits of eating as well as the habits of doing and of thinking. ”

“ Without doubt, highly spiced foods are undesirable. They tend to weaken digestion, by calling for an undue secretion of digestive juices, which, if prolonged, tires out the glands. A reasonable amount of condiments such as pepper, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, sage, thyme, ginger, mustard, cinnamon, mace, horseradish, vanilla, dill, etc., may be used as appetizers, because the pleasing thought of them may incite the flow of gastric juice; but if one has not cultivated a taste for them this thought will not be pleasing and they are then better omitted from the diet. ”

“ Since both sugar, carbohydrates and protein undergo chemical changes in the liver, it is evident that a diet consisting of an excess of either, must overwork the liver, not only through the nutritive food elements absorbed, but through the toxic substances which must be absorbed,—due to the excessive amount of food not being digested as readily as a smaller amount. ”

“ There is also a great lesson here in the law of supply and demand;—when the body is at mental or muscular work, the potential energy liberated leaves through muscle or brain, as energy, and is expressed in the result of the work; when the body is at rest, it leaves it as heat (excepting such part as is necessary to carry on metabolism, circulation, etc.) If much muscular energy is called for, a deep, full breath is instinctively drawn to supply the oxygen necessary for the added force required. ”

“ It follows, therefore, that, unless one is a thorough student of dietetics, the mixed diet is by far the safest to follow. One can better run short of starch or fat in one day’s rations than to be short of protein, because if the two to four ounces daily requirement is not provided the tissues are consumed and the blood is impoverished. It is a rare condition in which a reserve of glycogen and fat is not stored in the system. On the other hand an excess of nitrogenous foods calls for a very active circulation and plenty of oxygen in the system. ”

“ One reason why milk seemingly disagrees with many people, is because they lose sight of the fact that milk is an actual food, as well as a beverage and they eat the same quantity of food in addition to the milk that they eat if drinking water. This is the reason that milk seems to make some people bilious and causes constipation. It is due to too much food rather than to any quality in the milk.
Constipation may be occasioned by drinking milk rapidly so that large curds are formed by the acids in the stomach, rendering it difficult of digestion. ”

“ The difficulty which confronts the housewife, is to provide one meal suited to the needs, tastes, or idiosyncracies of various members of her household. Peculiarities of taste, unless these peculiarities have been intelligently acquired, may result in digestive disturbances. As an illustration: one may cultivate a dislike for meat, milk, or eggs, as is often the case, and the proteins for the family being largely supplied by these, the individual is eating too much of starches and sugars and not sufficient protein,—legumes, nuts, etc., not being provided for one member. ”

“ Meat is almost all digested in the stomach by the gastric juice, which changes it into peptone. It is needless to say that it should be thoroughly masticated that there may be no delay in the prompt action of the gastric juice upon it. If any part passes into the intestine undigested, the process is continued by the trypsin of the pancreatic juice. The peptone is absorbed as peptone and after it passes through the inner coating of the intestines, it is changed back to protein and carried by the blood and lymph to all tissues of the body, where it is used for growth and repairs. ”