348 AGRICULTURE ON THE PACIFIC SLOPE 



What kind of food builds up the body? Protein is the 

 principal one, and so growing boys and girls should eat 

 plenty of this. Athletes in training eat a great deal 

 of meat, because they think it makes muscle better 

 than any other kind of food. Protein is known as 

 "muscle-making food." 



What kind of food is stored up? Principally fat. 

 If we eat and digest more food than we need for fuel, 

 we increase in weight. A part of this increase may be 

 in the form of protein, etc., but after the period of 

 growth is past the increase is principally fat. 



How much food do we need? If we know how much 

 work a man does every day, we can tell just how much 

 food will give him the strength to do this work. In 

 America a man doing average work needs about a 

 quarter of a pound of muscle-making food and a pound 

 and a quarter of heat-making food each day. This is 

 the weight of the food after it has been dried. Before 

 it is dried this would weigh three or four pounds, and 

 this is really about all a man needs. Many people 

 who do not get enough exercise eat a great deal more 

 than they should. 



Many foods which we eat are mostly water, as, for 

 example, milk and most vegetables. A pint of milk 

 (which weighs about a pound) contains very much less 

 food than a pound of sugar. 



Mixed diet. But we cannot live on sugar alone, 

 because it does not contain any muscle-making food 



