FOOD REQUIREMENTS 103 



the thought and expense of arranging meals, and we should be 

 safe from the danger of eating the wrong kind of food. But 

 a glance at the table prepared by Professor Fisher (p. 96) 

 will show us that there are really very few substances that 

 have the required proportions of proteins and fuel foods to 

 meet our needs. A nutritive ratio lying between i : 75 and 1 19 

 would appear on this table for any food that has between n 

 and 13 calories due to protein for every 100 calories consumed. 

 It is easy to see that if you ate enough beef to supply the 

 protein needs of the body, and nothing else, you would have 

 insufficient fuel ; and if you ate enough to supply the necessary 

 fuel, you would take in a great excess of proteins. On the 

 other hand, if you tried to live on fruit, you would have to eat 

 the equivalent of about thirty-five pounds of apples to supply 

 the necessary protein ; nine pounds would supply sufficient 

 energy for a day for an ordinary student, but there would 

 then be a shortage of protein. Corn, onions, baked potatoes 

 (whole), almonds, and bread come very near to furnishing a 

 balanced diet. Potatoes and corn would have to be consumed 

 in large quantities to meet the day's needs ; an exclusive 

 onion diet would hardly be satisfactory ; and the almond meats 

 would not satisfy the hungry feeling, since they would not 

 occupy enough space in the stomach and intestine. Taken 

 by itself, good bread, made of whole grains, comes the near- 

 est of all our food articles to furnishing a balanced diet of 

 approximately satisfactory bulk. Of course, " bread " must 

 be taken to include a large variety of flour preparations, such 

 as macaroni, Vienna rolls, shredded-wheat biscuit, and various 

 crackers and biscuits. 



If we are not content to live on bread alone, as most of us are 

 not, we shall not be able to find any other one substance that 

 will by itself meet all the requirements of the daily diet. It is 

 therefore necessary to combine high-protein foods with low- 

 protein foods in the proportions that will furnish bulk as well 

 as the proper nutritive ratio, and that will at the same time suit 



