The Postum Cereal Company

“ The body is dependent upon protein, fat, and carbohydrates (starches and sugars) for its energy supply. Protein foods, selected primarily for building purposes, supply some of this energy, but it is inadvisable to take more protein into the body than is required each day to build needed tissues or repair worn tissues. Considerable energy may also be had from the fruits and vegetables selected primarily to supply mineral salts or vitamins and from fats chosen chiefly for the vitamins they possess. ”

“ The fats yield two and one-quarter times as much energy for a given weight as do the starches and sugars. But they are more costly and more difficult to digest, more concentrated, and so we can use less of them, about one-quarter to one-third of our food being fats. Three-fifths of the ration should be from sugars and starches, the latter being our leading body fuel. ”

“ Vitamin AVitamin A is particularly important to general well-being. It is stored in the body and seems to build a positive resistance to disease. Recent experiments have shown the importance of carrying a wide margin of insurance in the consumption of foods containing good supplies of vitamin A. Children lacking a sufficient amount of this important vitamin, while displaying an appearance of good health while young, at adolescence revealed marked tendencies toward lung disease, and their general resistance to infections was extremely low. ”

“ But it is from animal sources that we obtain foods with proteins in largest amounts and in the form to do us the most good. Proteins in milk, eggs, meat, and fish are much like those in the human body, and so we can build proteins from these foods easiest into our own body tissues. ”

“ Anti-rachitic Factor, Vitamin DAnother food element is vitamin D, the absence of which, especially in infants’ food, is one of the causes of that prevalent form of malnutrition called rickets—the failure of the bones to deposit calcium and phosphorus properly and to harden normally. Once rickets has fastened itself upon the child, the little victim becomes more susceptible to other diseases, especially those of the respiratory tract. A deficiency of vitamin D also causes poor development of the teeth. ”

“ WaterWater helps to regulate the concentration of the minerals in the body and carries food to the tissues by holding the food materials in solution in the body fluids. It also is invaluable in helping to carry off the body’s wastes and assists in regulating the body temperature. Four to eight glasses of pure water every day make for health. ”

“ Vitamin CAbsence of vitamin C causes scurvy. But if the supply is deficient, there will result irritability, stunted growth, and lack of stamina. Vitamin C is the vitamin easiest to miss, because it is so easily destroyed by heat and is found less generally in foods than the other vitamins. It is not enough barely to escape scurvy. We need an abundance of vitamin C to insure vigorous health, and it is extremely necessary for mothers, both before and after baby’s arrival. ”

“ The efficiency of each of these body regulators is increased by the use of right proportions of the others. They supplement each other’s efforts like partners in a well organized business enterprise, each with its particular function and responsibility. ”

“ When we are up and about, exercise brings muscles into play, and energy is expended in proportion to our activity.
Thus it may be seen what a constant necessity we have for the various materials different foods supply us, and how important it is that we do not neglect to provide ourselves with any single class of these materials in our daily meals.
Body Building Material: Proteins, Minerals, WaterThe body builders are the proteins, mineral salts, and water. They are the substances from which the body’s tissues are made. The body’s tissues include all the materials of the body. ”

“ The same amounts of sugar, butter, cereals, and breads may spell energy and muscle for the athlete, and dullness and fat for the Lady of the Hammock or for the Man-Behind-the-Desk who exercises his brains only! ”

“ One who habitually gets an under-supply of vitamins in his food will suffer from general debility, will be easy prey to infections, and will fall heir to the common languors and inefficiencies accepted by many persons as inevitable. ”

“ Under normal conditions, however, the amount of energy obtained from these foods will not be sufficient for the day’s requirement, and they must be supplemented by carbohydrate foods if the body’s energy demands are to be thoroughly satisfied. ”

“ Vitamins Extremely Important to YoungThe young must have all these important vitamins to build healthy bodies with strong resistance. But the adult, subjected to the strains and artificialities of modern life, needs them also. Vitamin-bearing foods there must be in right quantities each day to aid both old and young along the Road to Wellville.
Foods for EnergyFood for body fuel, to give it energy for maintaining its warmth and for providing it power to work, must be had in adequate amounts each day. ”

“ Foods for Growth and HealthThese are the all-important vitamins. We do not know what vitamins are. We only know them by their works. They are absolutely necessary to health and growth and are present in various foods in minutest quantities. ”

“ Experimentation has shown striking disaster resulting from diets entirely lacking in vitamins. But diets only slightly lacking in any one of the vitamins are even more dangerous. First, because such deficient diets are a great deal more prevalent. ”

“ The RegulatorsEven with all the building material ready at hand, there can be no satisfactory work accomplished within the body without proper regulation of the body machinery and a prompt disposition of its waste matter. ”

“ Fortunately this is easy to do, for vitamin B Is widely distributed by nature in our foods and is not easily destroyed by heat in cooking processes. The best sources of vitamin B are milk, whole wheat cereals, and bran, vegetables, especially spinach, cabbage, tomatoes, and navy beans. ”