FOODS AND FOOD HABITS 53 



'condiments. None of these is really a food, since.it con- 

 Itains no nourishment; but they are all useful in one of two 

 ways: as agents for producing a .pleasanter taste in some 

 foods or as stimulants to provoke a more rapid flow of some 

 of the digestive juices. Common table salt seems to be a 

 necessity. 



Other Materials Needed. It will be seen from the figure on 

 page 26 that besides the constituents of the three chief food 

 substances the body contains a small but appreciable amount 

 of other materials. Compounds of iron, sulfur, potassium 

 and other elements, are all present in small amounts. One 

 of these, the necessity of which is easily appreciated, is the 

 mineral matter that forms the hard, resisting part of bones 

 calcium phosphate, or phosphate of lime, as it is sometimes 

 called. Although one does not realize that he is consuming 

 lime in his food, many foods contain it. It is present in eggs, 

 as is shown by the fact that a chicken has bones when it is 

 hatched. It is in wheat, also, and in meats in small amounts. 

 In short, our common foods contain enough of this material 

 to supply all the lime we need for bone formation and 

 repair. 



Sometimes a child whose bones are growing rapidly may 

 eat so much sugar-containing food, such as cake, pastry and 

 candy, that he gets too little of the more substantial foods 

 and fails to obtain the proper material for his bones and teeth. 

 This is occasionally shown by the rapid decay of the teeth 

 and in permanently crooked bones in the legs, a condition 

 called rickets. A more substantial diet of bread, eggs and meat 

 would be advisable in such cases. 



COOKING 



Everyone should know something about cooking. Cooking 

 always means the application of heat in some form to a raw 

 food. Sometimes it is done by placing the food in dry, hot 

 air baking or roasting; sometimes by putting the food in 



