CHAPTER V 



FOOD 



The body as a machine. Wholesome food and fresh air 

 are necessary for a healthy body. Many housewives, through 

 ignorance, supply to their hard-working husbands and their 

 growing sons and daughters food which satisfies the appetite, 

 but which does not give to the body the substances needed 

 for daily work and growth. Some foods, such as lettuce, 

 cucumbers, and watermelons, make proper and satisfactory 

 changes in diet, but are not strength giving. Other foods, like 

 peas and beans, not only satisfy the appetite but supply to 

 the body abundant nourishment, and many immigrants live 

 cheaply and well with beans and bread as their main diet. 



It is important that the value of different foods as heat 

 producers be known definitely; and just as the yard meas- 

 ures length and the pound measures weight, the Calorie 1 is 

 used to measure the amount of heat which a food is capable of 

 furnishing to the body. Our bodies are human machines, and, 

 like all other machines, require fuel for their maintenance. 

 The fuel supplied to an engine is not all available for pulling 

 the cars; a large portion of it is lost in smoke, and another 

 portion is wasted as ashes. So it is with the fuel that runs the 

 body. The food we eat is not all available for heat and work, 

 much of it being as useless to us as are smoke and ashes to an 

 engine. The most economical foods are those which dp the 

 most for us with the least possible waste. 



1 The Calorie equals 1000 calories, the amount of heat required to raise the 

 temperature of I kilogram (1000 grams) of water 1 C. 



CLARK INTRO. TO SC. 5 6j 



