CHAPTER V 

 THE HYGIENE OF THE DINING ROOM 



How may we know what kinds of food we 

 should eat and how much in order to keep our 

 bodies in the best health ? 



In considering the matter of foods, two questions arise : 

 first, what kind of foods should be eaten, and second, how 

 much food should be eaten. The first question may be 

 looked at from two standpoints, from that of health and 

 from that of cost. 



Uses of foods. In order to answer these questions, we 

 must first understand the uses of foods in the body. Foods 

 serve three purposes : first, they furnish material for the 

 growth and repair of the parts of the body ; second, they 

 supply the body with fuel, which yields heat to keep the 

 body warm and furnishes power by which the muscles work ; 

 third, they regulate some of the processes of the body, such 

 as the beating of the heart, the digestion of food, and other 

 activities that are constantly taking place in the body. The 

 body may be likened to a furnace. As the fuel is burned in 

 the furnace and furnishes heat and energy, so food is used 

 for maintaining life in the body. There is nothing, however, 

 in the work of the furnace which corresponds to the first 

 use of foods, for the furnace cannot build and repair its parts 

 as the body can. 



Kinds of nutrients. Studies that have been made of foods 

 show that while we have a great variety of foods, yet the 

 kinds of substances in them that actually nourish the body 

 may be divided into a few groups of nutrients. The five 



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