OTHER ANIMAL FOODS 47 



beef, and is said to require five hours or more to digest, 

 while beef usually takes from two and one-half to three 

 hours. Mutton is considered somewhat more easy to 

 digest than beef, and, for this reason, may be better 

 for a person with a weak stomach ; but it is not quite 

 so nutritious. Lamb furnishes less nourishment than 

 mutton, nor is it so easily digested. 



While pork is rich in fat and has a good proportion 

 of proteid, it is, for many persons, the most difficult 

 of all meats to digest. For this reason, it should be 

 avoided by those who are delicate. Thoroughly 

 boiled ham is an exception to this rule, being much 

 used at health resorts because of its digestibility. 

 Dried beef is more difficult to digest than fresh beef, 

 but dried pork (ham and bacon) is digested more easily 

 than fresh pork. This is especially true of bacon, 

 which, when crisp and well done, is regarded as a very 

 wholesome heat and energy-giving food. 



Of course, the digestive juices can more readily dis- 

 solve tender meat than that which is tough. The 

 tenderness of meat depends upon the character of the 

 muscle fibers and the connective tissues that bind 

 them together. In young and well-fed animals the 

 fibers are thin and the tissues small in amount. As the 

 animals grow older and are made to work, the walls of 

 these fibers and the connective tissue become thicker 

 and harder. Tough meat is sometimes made more 

 tender by being cut into thin slices and pounded across 

 the cut ends until the fibers are broken. 



