Feed (nutrition)

“ In other words, food is intended to be eaten that nourishment may be gained from it, and when you only gain a part of the nourishment, you prostitute your stomach and take tremendous risks of germ diseases in your body.
These facts are set forward thus simply in the hope that they may impress the reader as they have impressed the writer. Economic nutrition is not a joke, is not a fad ”

“ Hunger is always experienced when nutriment is needed, and will be felt a dozen times a day if the food eaten at each of a dozen meals has supplied only sufficient nutriment to produce the force expended between each meal. If the meal is large and supplies sufficient nutriment to produce the force expended in a whole day, then the one meal is all that is required. ”

“ Relation.—The value of a food depends largely upon the relation of one group of nutrients to another. Proper nutrition can only be obtained when a sufficient amount of flesh-forming as well as of heat-producing nutrients are present, when the “nutritive ratio” is properly balanced for the particular purpose in view, be it the growth of the child, the maintenance of the body, the restoration of matter consumed by labor of body or brain, or the supply of heat to make up for cold surroundings. ”

“ Because the stomachs of locomotive beings appear to have been provided for the purpose of conveying about with the moving animal nutritive substances, analogous in effect to the soil in which are fixed the roots of plants and, therefore, nothing ought to be introduced into the stomach for digestion and for absorption by the lacteals, or roots of the animal system, but the natural bases of simple nutrition—as the saccharine, the oleaginous, and the farinaceous matter of the vegetable kingdom. ”

“ There is little doubt but that the health of most people would be vastly improved if food were only eaten when genuine hunger was felt, and the dietary chosen were well balanced, i.e., the proportions of protein, fat, carbohydrates and salts being about 3, 2, 9, 2-3. ”

“ Many examples can be given of men and women of mature life who, either on account of some digestive disorder or some mental bias, have confined themselves absolutely to a diet of about two quarts of milk a day and have lived thereon for months and years without suffering from lack of nutrition. ”

“ 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. ”

“ According to Knight nutrition reigns supreme in the whole realm of variability, the kind of food and the method of nourishment coming into consideration only in a secondary way. The amount of useful nutrition is the all-important factor. ”

“ They also require less aliment; as experience had proved, long before theory had accounted for it by ascertaining that most of what we consume as food is not required for the actual nutrition of the organs, but for keeping up the animal heat, and for supplying the necessary stimulus to the vital functions, which in hot climates is almost sufficiently supplied by air and sunshine. ”

“ If, for example, a person be fed chiefly on milk, rice, or farinaceous aliment, which is almost entirely appropriated to the purposes of nutrition, and leaves very little residue, the bowels, having little to throw out, will naturally act seldomer and less fully than when the diet consists chiefly of bulky and innutritious vegetables, which leave a large portion of indigestible matter to be evacuated. ”

“ But as animals are subjected to much more rapid and violent transitions from activity to inactivity than vegetables are—and thus require to pass more immediately from one kind and quantity of nourishment to another, in order to adapt their nutrition to the ever-varying demands made upon the system—they evidently stand in need of some provision to enforce attention when nourishment is necessary, and to enable them always to proportion the supply to the real wants of the body. ”

“ To secure a proper and complete nutrition of the body it is desirable that all these elements should be so adjusted as to provide for complete nourishment without having any one of them in great excess. It is evident that an excess of any one or more of these nutrient materials must necessarily impose on the organs of the body an additional work in securing their proper elimination. ”

“ A complete diet may be selected without animal flesh, but including animal products of eggs, milk, cream, and butter, together with vegetables, fruits, cereals, and nuts, yet if the vegetable diet be selected the legumes, the whole of the grains, and nuts must be given their share in each day’s rations. ”

“ The problems of nutrition are many. Food alone is no small subject and a still greater one is the utilization of food materials in such a way that the body may gain the greatest value with the least expenditure of vital forces. ”

“ For all who are occupied with severe and continuous mechanical labor, a mixed diet, of which cereals and legumes form a large portion, and meat, fish, eggs, and milk form a moderate proportion, is more nutritious and wholesome than chiefly animal food. For those whose labor is chiefly mental, and whose muscular exercise is inconsiderable, still less of concentrated nitrogenous food is desirable. A liberal supply of cereals and legumes, with fish, and flesh in its lighter forms, will better sustain such activity than large portions of butcher's meat twice or thrice a day. ”

“ The conclusions to which he arrived were, that an animal, to be fully fed and satisfied, requires a quantity of food in proportion to its live weight; that no feed could be complete that did not contain a sufficient amount of nutritive elements; hay, for example, being more nutritive than straw, and grains than roots. He found, too, that the food must possess a bulk sufficient to fill up to a certain degree the organs of digestion or the stomach ”

“ On this same principle economic nutrition assures that the same food, taken in [Pg 22] accordance with its requirements, will add to one man’s weight and decrease another’s, simply because proper care of the stomach supplies the vital organs with the necessary materials to form each individual person after the model which Nature intended for him. If Nature intended him to be slight, economic nutrition will not make him heavy; if Nature intended him to be muscularly strong and heavy, economic nutrition will not reduce his weight. ”

“ Classification of Foods.—For increasing weight and producing heat, the fatty portions of meat, butter, and lard, together with wheat, Indian corn, and sugar, are best adapted; for muscle-making, lean meat, peas, beans, oatmeal; for brain and nerves, shell-fish, lean meats, peas, and beans. Those who lead an active, bustling life, especially if they take an abundance of out-door exercise, will naturally crave strong food in unstinted supply. The busy brain-worker, who is housed all day, and scarcely rises from his chair, needs to be much more careful in his diet. ”

“ Our explanation becomes still more convincing when we take into consideration the effects of other foods. If you give the dog, for example, something else to eat which does not interest it to the same degree as flesh or bread, [Pg 216] you will find the initial increase in quantity and strength of juice does not appear. Offer the animal milk, for example, which in sham feeding, especially if it does not last long, calls forth, as a rule, no secretion, or at all events only very little, and the rapid flow of the commencement—the already-mentioned initial rise—absolutely fails to appear. ”

“ PHYSIOLOGICAL ECONOMY IN NUTRITION
By Russell H. Chittenden
Director of the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University
Among the many problems awaiting solution, none is of greater importance for the welfare of the individual and of the race than that which relates to the proper nutrition of the body. Man eats to live and to gain strength for his daily work, and without sufficient nutriment the machinery of the body cannot be run smoothly or with proper efficiency. ”

“ Not only must the body have the right food for each requirement, but it must have each type of food in proper amounts. The meal must be balanced—that is, it must contain energy-giving, tissue-building, function-regulating, and growth foods in right proportions. ”

“ A liberal supply of non-stimulating food—in other words, bread, milk, vegetables, fruits, and a farinaceous diet principally—is far superior for the healthy growth of bone and nerve and muscle than a regimen into which nitrogenized materials—flesh-meat, eggs, etc.—enter largely. ”

“ I say it without the least prejudice, as a lesson learnt from simple experience, that the most natural diet for the young, after the natural milk diet, is fruit and wholemeal bread, with milk and water for drink. The desire for this same mode of sustenance is often continued into after years, as if the resort to flesh were a forced and artificial feeding, which required long and persistent habit to establish its permanency as a part of the system of every-day life. ”

“ These necessities granted, cereal foods, such as well-made bread in variety, and vegetable produce, including fruits, should form a great part of the diet consumed, with a fair addition of eggs and milk if no meat is taken, and little of other animal food than fish. On such a dietary, and without alcoholic stimulants, thousands of such workers as I have briefly indicated may enjoy with very little exercise far better health and more strength than at present they experience on meat and heavy puddings, beer, baker's bread, and cheese. ”

“ Object.—Rational feeding of man has for its object the regulation of the food supply in accord with the demands of the body. It is based upon the same principles as the rational feeding of animals; in each, the best results in the way of health, amount of labor performed, and economy are secured when the body receives nutrients sufficient for the production of heat and energy and for the repair of worn-out tissues. Rational feeding is simply regulation of the food, both as to kind and amount, to meet the needs of the body. ”

“ As the child grows older, foods rich in both carbohydrates must be added to the diet. Wheat contains all that the body needs for nourishment except water, which is easily added in cooking.
Choice of food.—The diet must be carefully chosen, to give a needed variety and to combine the foods properly so that one may have a right proportion of all the food-stuffs. Each meal should contain some protein food, some fats or carbohydrates, some mineral matter, and water. All five forms of food-stuffs should have a place in the day's diet. ”

“ NUTRITIVE VALUES.—The per cent of nutrients in a food does not always indicate the quantity of nourishment it will yield. The nutrient must be in a condition to be absorbed. Wheat grains contain as much protein when whole as when ground into meal, yet uncooked whole wheat grains yield little nourishment to the body. They pass through the system with much nutriment unextracted. Even if the unbroken grains are thoroughly cooked, they will not furnish as much nourishment to the body as they will when in the form of meal. ”

“ Water constitutes about two-thirds the weight of the body, and is in all tissues and fluids; therefore its abundant use is necessary. One of the greatest errors in diet is neglect to take enough water; while it is found in all animal and vegetable food, the amount is insufficient.
Vitamines, growth-promoting substances, are essential especially for children. They are found in milk, butter, egg yolks, green leaves, etc.
CORRECT PROPORTIONS OF FOOD Age, weight, sex, occupation, climate, and season must determine the diet of a person in normal condition. ”

“ The unmodified foods, such as grain, vegetables, fruit, meat, eggs, and milk, may be depended upon to amply supply all the necessary elements to sustain growth, functions, and waste of the human body. On the other hand, foods which it is proper to designate as “artificial” are not only not essential to an adequate diet, but when they are used freely may render a diet very one-sided or deficient. ”

“ Such persons stand in no need of the more abundant and more substantial nutriment which is essential to those who are daily engaged in occupations exacting much muscular labour. In the preparation and distribution of food, this I believe to be an important point, and one which should be held steadily in view. For the labourer the food must be in part solid, requiring mastication and insalivation, and not rapid of digestion. Food, however nutritious, which is too quickly digested, is soon followed by a sense of hunger and emptiness, and consequent sinking and debility. ”

“ Each of the broad food groups has a special contribution to make toward an adequate diet.
Here are some of the reasons different food groups are emphasized in the guide and the names of some of the nutrients these foods provide.
Meat, poultry, fish, and eggs from the meat group and their alternates—dry beans, dry peas, and nuts—are valued for their protein. This is needed for the growth and repair of body tissues—muscle, organs, blood, skin, and hair. These foods also contribute iron and the B-vitamins—thiamine, riboflavin, and niacin. ”

“ Mixed Diet.—In infancy the digestive powers are weak and undeveloped, and food must be taken in its simplest form. Milk alone, at this period of life, seems best adapted to sustain life and growth. After this period has been passed, no single article of food furnishes all the principles necessary to support the growth, repair the waste, sustain the strength, and preserve the health. A mixed diet, therefore, becomes necessary. ”