362 





Our Surroundings 



Conditions of Muscular Activity. The following table 

 indicates the average normal output of heat per hour from the 

 body of an average-sized man (154 pounds) : 



Average 

 Calories per Hour 



1. Man at rest, sleeping 65 



2. Man at rest, awake, sitting up 100 



3. Man at light muscular exercise 170 



4. Man at moderately active muscular exercise 290 



5. Man at severe muscular exercise 450 



6. Man at very severe muscular exercise 600 



Muscular activity has a great influence on the amount of heat 

 energy given off by the body. A man doing office work gives off 

 only about 170 Calories an hour, and therefore has to eat only 

 sufficient food to replace that heat. Should the same man become 

 a farmer and do farm work requiring considerable muscular effort, 

 he would need to replace about 290 Calories an hour, and if he 

 went into the wilderness and became a woodsman, working hard 

 all day swinging an axe, he would increase his hourly heat output 

 to about 600 Calories, and would be forced to eat much more food 

 than formerly, or food with greater heat value. One's diet should, 

 therefore, depend largely upon one's activity. 



Food Allowances for Children. The following table is 

 based on Food Allowance for Healthy Children, a publication of 

 The Association for the Improvement of the Conditions of the 

 Poor, New York City. 



