186 ANNUAL REPORT 



So it is in every department of housework; study first how to 

 obtain perfect results; second how to obtain these with the least 

 time and labor possible. 



It is very necessary that our food be properly cooked, but it 

 is no less important that we understand what food elements and 

 what proportion of these elements are essential to health. Gov- 

 ernments have employed men and furnished the funds to enable 

 them to experiment and determine what foods are best adapted 

 to each class of animals, construct digestion tables, feeding ratios, 

 determine the comparative feeding value of grains, roots, grasses, 

 ■coarse fodders, etc. ; in like manner the conditions best adapted 

 :to the growth of plants, fruits and trees of all kinds. Appetite 

 Is man's only criterion. Appetite is a poor guide to follow 

 thus blindly. If you sit down to a meal consisting almost 

 entirely of carbonaceous food, appetite does not disclose this 

 error, but causes you to eat twice or thrice the customary 

 amount in vain endeavor to obtain sufficient nitrogenous materi- 

 al. The carbonaceous foods — fats, starch, sugar, etc. — cannot 

 take the place of the nitrates although the nitrates can take 

 the place of the carbonates. But this is not economical, since, for 

 instance, it takes more than three pounds of lean meat to equal 

 one pound of starch as a producer of heat, and the cost of the 

 meat is much the greater per pound. The most common mis- 

 take, however, is in serving foods that contain too great a per- 

 cent of carbonates. The consumer in order to obtain the neces- 

 sary five ounces of nitrates, which is the proper daily amount, 

 must eat not twenty ounces of carbonates, which is sufficient, 

 but twice or thrice this amount. This is not only a waste but a 

 positive detriment to the system. 



There is a class of people who are starving themselves by eat- 

 ing food that does not contain all the elements required by the 

 system. 



They are troubled by indigestion and begin dieting, omit- 

 ting one kind of food after another, thinking that they can in 

 this way remedy the evil. Less than p, year ago I met a gentle- 

 man who had followed this plan until his food consisted of a cup 

 of coffee with a little cream, and an almost incredible amount of 

 toast. He ate only two meals a day. The bread he termed 

 "bran bread." It was made of flour and bran, about one meas- 

 ure of bran to five of flour. He said: "After eating all that 

 great plate of toast I become hungry within an hour. I have no 

 strength. I have a very disagreeable feeling in my stomach, 



