CLIMATIC EXTREMES
In considering a diet to meet the requirements of climatic extremes, either hot or cold, it is necessary to reckon from normality, both as to climate and as to the health of the individual.
All the foregoing lessons, taken as a whole, are designed to teach one method or theory, involving two principles:
- Selections, combinations, and proportions of food that will counteract and remove the causes of unnatural conditions called dis-ease
- Selections, combinations, and proportions of food that will bring the body up to its highest degree of development and there maintain it
Under normal conditions the temperature of the body may be thoroughly controlled by feeding. The principal process of metabolism is that of making heat out of the fuel given to the "human boiler." The amount of heat, therefore, that a given quantity of food will produce is determined very largely by the amount of resistance that is met from natural environment.
Amount of fat required in different temperatures
The human body, under ordinary conditions, in a temperature of 60° Fahrenheit, will use about two ounces of pure fat every twenty-four hours. If the temperature should drop to 30° Fahrenheit, it would require about three ounces of fat every twenty-four hours to keep the temperature of the body at normal. Under certain conditions of exposure it might require as much as five and even six ounces of pure fat to maintain normal temperature of the body, and in the extreme north, where the temperature ranges in winter from 25° to 30° below zero, the natives often take as much as sixteen ounces of fat during the day. Fat being the principal heat-producing element, it is, therefore, the most necessary thing to consider in a temperature of extreme cold.
The student will readily understand that, in order to maintain a normal standard of vitality and endurance, the selection of foods must be made according to age, activity, and temperature.
For a person undergoing a reasonable amount of exposure, and working in a climate where the temperature is ranging between 20° and 30° Fahrenheit, the following menus, covering one day, may be suggested:
Immediately on rising, drink a cup of hot water, then take vigorous deep breathing exercises, followed by a cool sponge bath and rub down.
BREAKFAST
(An hour later)
- Add half an ounce of sugar to two or three eggs, and whip five
- minutes; add a tablespoonful of lemon juice while whipping; mix with
- this two glasses of rich milk
- A tablespoonful of nuts
- One very ripe banana, with cream
LUNCHEON
- One fresh vegetable
- Lima or navy beans
- A salad, with either olive-oil or nuts
- A baked potato or boiled wheat (A liberal supply of butter or cream)
DINNER
- A baked sweet potato
- One or two vegetables
- Eggs, or buttermilk, unskimmed
- A baked white potato, with either olive-oil or butter
- Dates, with cream cheese, or gelatin, with cream
As the temperature becomes lower, the amount of fats and proteids should be increased according to exposure and activity.
The student should bear in mind that carbohydrates, proteids, and fats are the most important factors in the winter dietary. Other articles can be held level over a wide range of temperature, provided these three staple nutrients are taken in the requisite proportions.
Summer diet requires scientific consideration
Nearly all people in normal health instinctively avoid heat-producing foods in hot weather, and as in warm or hot climates people live more in the open air, oxidation is therefore more perfect, and has a tendency to aid elimination, so the errors of diet are not so serious. Nevertheless, the food to be taken in hot climates, or the heated term of summer, should receive scientific consideration.
Anthropoid life, of which man is the highest type, originated in the tropics, and nearly everything necessary for his highest physical development grew prodigally in that country. His natural or primitive diet was nuts, fruits, and salads (edible plants).
Civilization has transplanted him in the north, and has laid heavier burdens upon him, therefore he needs, in many instances, heavier and different foods, such as the carbohydrates, proteids, fats, and the albumin and the phosphorus in eggs.
As the temperature becomes warmer, the heat-producing factors, such as fats and carbohydrates (starch and sugar), should be gradually reduced.
The following menus are suitable for the average person, in normal health, between the ages of thirty and sixty, when the temperature is ranging from 70° to 90° Fahrenheit:
BREAKFAST
- Cantaloup, peaches, or berries
- Very ripe bananas, with grated nuts and cream
- A glass of milk
LUNCHEON
- One whipped egg
- A fresh vegetable
- A teaspoonful of nuts
- A lettuce and tomato salad
- A baked sweet or white potato
DINNER
- Peas, beans, asparagus, or corn
- A salad, with grated nuts and carrots
- A potato
- One whipped egg
- Half a glass of milk
- A service of gelatin
These menus are mere suggestions, not invariable, and in following them it should be remembered that all green salads may be substituted for one another, and as a general rule such underground articles as beets, carrots, turnips, and parsnips may be substituted for one another. Also green corn, peas, and beans are in the same general class. (See "Constipation," Vol. III, p.761.)
Observation of these rules will give the student rather a wide range of articles to draw upon in selecting a diet for the normal person.