NUTRITION
One of the important points to bring to the notice of pupils in the study of cookery is the phenomenon of nutrition. It is astonishing how vague are the ideas that many people have of why they eat food, and vaguer still are their notions of the necessity of air, pure and plenty. Once instruct the mind that it is the air we breathe and the food we eat which nourish the body, giving material for its various processes, for nervous and muscular energy, and for maintaining the constant temperature which the body must always possess in order to be in a state of health, and there is much more likelihood that the dignity and importance of proper cooking and proper food will not be overlooked.
A knowledge that the health and strength of a person depend largely upon what passes through his mouth, that even the turn of his thinking is modified by what he eats, should lead all intelligent women to make food a conscientious subject of study.
In general, by the term "nutrition" is meant the building up and maintaining of the physical framework of the body with all its various functions, and ultimately the mental and moral faculties which are dependent upon it, by means of nutriment or food.
The word is derived from the Latin nutrire, to nourish. The word "nurse" is from the same root, and in its original sense means one who nourishes, a person who supplies food, tends, or brings up.
Anything which aids in sustaining the body is food; therefore, air and water, the two most immediate necessities of life, may be, and often are, so classed.
Nutriment exclusive of air is received into the body by means of the alimentary canal. The great receiver of air is the lungs, but it also penetrates the body through the pores of the skin, and at these points carbonic acid is given off as in the lungs. The body is often compared to a steam-engine, which takes in raw material in the form of fuel and converts it into force or power. Food, drink, and air are the fuel of the body,—the things consumed; heat, muscular and intellectual energy, and other forms of power are the products.
Food, during the various digestive processes, becomes reduced to a liquid, and is then absorbed and conveyed, by different channels constructed for the purpose, into the blood, which contains, after being acted upon by the oxygen of the air in the lungs, all those substances which are required to maintain the various tissues, secretions, and, in fact, the life of the system.
Some of the ways in which the different kinds of food nourish the body have been found out by chemists and physiologists from actual experiments on living animals, such as rabbits, dogs, pigs, sheep, goats, and horses, and also on man. Often a scientist becomes so enthusiastic in his search for knowledge about a certain food that he gives his own body for trial. Much valuable work has been done in this direction during the last decade by Voit, Pettenkofer, Moleschott, Ranke, Payen, and in this country by Atwater.
No one can explain all the different intricate changes which a particle of food undergoes from the moment it enters the mouth until its final transformation into tissue or some form of energy; but by comparing the income with the outgo, ideas may be gained of what goes on in the economy of the body, and of the proportion of nutrients used, and some of the intricate and complex chemical changes which the different food principles undergo in the various processes of digestion, assimilation, and use.[22] Probably hundreds of changes take place in the body, in its various nutritive functions, of which nothing is known, or they are entirely unsuspected, so that if we do our utmost with the present lights which we possess for guidance to health, we shall still fall far short of completeness. The subject of food and nutrition, viewed in the light of bacteriology and chemistry, is one of the most inviting subjects of study of the day, and is worthy of the wisest thought of the nation.
The body creates nothing of itself, either of material or of energy; all must come to it from without. Every atom of carbon, hydrogen, phosphorus, or other elements, every molecule of protein, carbohydrate, or other compounds of these elements, is brought to the body with the food and drink it consumes, and the air it breathes. Like the steam-engine, it uses the material supplied to it. Its chemical compounds and energy are the compounds and energy of the food transformed (Atwater). A proof of this is seen in the fact that when the supply from without is cut off, the body dies. The raw material which the body uses is the air and food which it consumes, the greater portion of which is digested and distributed, through the medium of the blood, to all parts of the body, to renew and nourish the various tissues and to supply the material for the different activities of life.
Ways in which Food Supplies the Wants of the Body. Food supplies the wants of the body in several ways—(1) it is used to form the tissues of the body—bones, flesh, tendons, skin, and nerves; (2) it is used to repair the waste of the tissues; (3) it is stored in the body for future use; (4) it is consumed as fuel to maintain the constant temperature which the body must always possess to be in a state of health; (5) it produces muscular and nervous energy.[23] The amount of energy of the body depends upon two things—the amount in the food eaten, and the ability of the body to use it, or free it for use.
With every motion, and every thought and feeling, material is consumed, hence the more rapid wearing out of persons who do severe work, and of the nervous—those who are keenly susceptible to every change in their surroundings, to change of weather, even to the thoughts and feelings of those about them.
We easily realize that muscular force or energy cannot be maintained without nutriment in proper quality and amount. An underfed or starving man has not the strength of a well-fed person. He cannot lift the same weight, cannot walk as far, cannot work as hard. We do not as easily comprehend the nervous organism, and generally have less sympathy with worn-out or ill-nourished nerves than muscles, but the sensibilities and the intellectual faculties, of which the nerves and brain are but the instruments, depend upon the right nutrition of the whole system for their proper and healthful exercise.
So many factors enter into the make-up of a thought that it cannot be said that any particular kind of food will ultimately produce a poem; but of this we may be sure, that the best work, the noblest thoughts, the most original ideas, will not come from a dyspeptic, underfed, or in any way ill-nourished individual.
The classification of foods has been usually based upon the deductions of Prout that milk contains all the necessary nutrients in the best form and proportions, viz., the nitrogenous matters, fat, sugar, water, and salts; the latter being combinations of magnesium, calcium, potassium, sodium, and iron, with chlorin, phosphoric acid, and, in smaller quantities, sulphuric acid.
These different classes seem to serve different purposes in the body, and are all necessary for perfect nutrition. Some of them closely resemble each other in composition, but are quite different in their physiological properties, and in the ends which they serve. For instance, starch (C6H10O5) has almost the same chemical formula as sugar (C12H22O11), and yet the one cannot replace the other to its entire exclusion.
The Protein Compounds. In general it may be said that the carbohydrates are changed into fats, and are used for the production of force, and that the fats are stored in the body as fat and used as fuel. The protein compounds do all that can be done by the fats and carbohydrates, and in addition something more; that is, they form the basis of blood, muscle, sinew, skin, and bone. They are, therefore, the most important of all the food compounds. The terms "power-givers" and "energy-formers" are sometimes applied to them, because wherever power and energy are developed they are present, though not by any means the only substances involved in the evolution of energy. Probably the fats and carbohydrates give most of the material for heat and the various other forces of the body. In case of emergency, where these are deficient, the proteins are used; but protein alone forms the basis of muscle, tendons, skin, and other tissues. This the fats and carbohydrates cannot do (Atwater). The different tissues are known from analysis to contain this complex nitrogenous compound, protein. Now, since the body cannot construct this substance out of the simpler chemical compounds which come to it, it becomes perfectly evident that the diet must have a due proportion of protein in order to maintain the strength of the body. We get most of our proteins from the flesh of animals, and they in turn get it from plants, which construct it from the crude materials of earth and air.
The Extractives, usually classed with the protein compounds, such as meat extract, beef tea, etc., are not generally regarded as direct nutrients, but, like tea and coffee, are valuable as accessory foods, lending savor to other foods and aiding their digestion by pleasantly exciting the flow of the digestive fluids. They also act as brain and nerve stimulants, and perhaps also in some slight degree as nutrients.
The principal proteins or nitrogenous substances are albumen in various forms, casein both animal and vegetable, blood fibrin, muscle fibrin, and gelatin. All except the last are very much alike, and probably can replace one another in nutrition.
Modern chemists agree that nitrogen is a necessary element in the various chemical and physiological actions which take place in the body to produce heat, muscular energy, and the other powers. Every structure in the body in which any form of energy is manifested is nitrogenous. The nerves, muscles, glands, and the floating cells[24] in the various liquids are nitrogenous. That nitrogen is necessary to the different processes of the system, is shown by the fact that if it be cut off, these processes languish. This may not occur immediately, for the body always has a store of nitrogen laid by for emergencies which will be consumed first, but it will occur as soon as these have been consumed. The energy of the body is measured by its consumption of oxygen. Motion and heat may be owing to the oxidation of fat, or of starch, or of nitrogenous substances; but whatever the source, the direction is given by the nitrogenous structure—in other words, nitrogen is necessary to all energy generated in the body.
Protein matter nourishes the organic framework, takes part in the generation of energy, and may be converted into non-nitrogenous substances.[25] The necessity of the protein compounds is emphasized when we realize that about one half of the body is composed of muscle, one fifth of which is protein, and the nitrogen in this protein can be furnished only by protein, since neither fats nor carbohydrates contain it. It is therefore evident that the protein-containing foods, such as beef, mutton, fish, eggs, milk, and others, are our most valued nutrients. Our daily diet must contain a due proportion.
The proteins are all complex chemical compounds, which in nutrition become reduced to simple forms, and are then built up again into flesh. The animal foods are in the main the best of the protein compounds, for they are rich in nitrogenous matter, are easily digested, and from their composition and adaptability are most valuable in maintaining the life of the body.
A diet of lean meat alone serves to build up tissue. If nothing else be taken, the stored-up fat of the body will be consumed, and the person will become thin.[26] Athletes while in training take advantage of this fact, and are allowed to eat only such food as shall furnish the greatest amount of strength and muscular energy with a minimum of fat. The lean of beef and mutton, with a certain amount of bread, constitute the foundation of the diet.
Fats. Most of the fatty substances of food are liquefied at the temperature of the body. When eaten in the form of adipose tissue, as the fat of beef and mutton, the vesicles or cells in which the fat is held are dissociated or dissolved, the fat is set free, and mingles with the digesting mass. This is done in the stomach, and is a preparation for its further change in the intestines.
Fats are not dissolved—that is, in the sense in which meats and other foods are dissolved—in the process of digestion; the only change which they undergo is a minute subdivision caused principally by the action of the pancreatic juice. In this condition of fine emulsion they are taken up by the lacteals; they may also be absorbed by the blood-vessels.
It has been found that fat emulsions pass more easily through membranes which have been moistened with bile, and it is probable that the function of bile is partly to facilitate the absorption of fat. That the pancreatic juice is the chief agent in forming fats into emulsion was discovered in 1848. Bile is, however, essential to their perfect digestion, and we may therefore say that they are digested by the united action of the pancreatic juice and the bile.[27]
Fat forms in the body fatty tissues, and serves for muscular force and heat; it is also necessary to nourish nerves and other tissues,—in fact, without it healthy tissues cannot be formed. A proper amount of fat is also a sort of albumen sparer.
It is probable that the fat which is used in the body either to be stored away or for energy, is derived from other sources than directly from the fat eaten. From experiments made by Lawes and Gilbert on pigs, it is evident that the excess of fat stored in their bodies must be derived from some other source than the fat contained in their food, and must be produced partly from nitrogenous matter and partly from carbohydrates, or, at least, that the latter play a part in its formation. It would appear from this that life might be maintained on starch, water, salts, and meat free from fat; but although the theory seems a good one, practically it is found in actual experiment[28] that nutrition is impaired by a lack of fat in the diet. The ill effects were soon seen, and immediate relief was given when fat was added to the food. Besides, in the food of all nations starch is constantly associated with some form of fat; bread with butter; potatoes with butter, cream, or gravy; macaroni and polenta with oil, and so forth. A man may live for a time and be healthy with a diet of albuminoids, fats, salts, and water, but it has not yet been proved that a similar result will be produced by a diet of albuminoids, carbohydrates, salts, and water without fat. Fat is necessary to perfect nutrition. Health cannot be maintained on albuminoids, salts, and water alone; but, on the other hand, cannot be maintained without them.
Probably the value of fats, as such, is dependent upon the ease with which they are digested. The fats eaten are not stored in the body directly, but the body constructs its fats from those eaten, and from other substances in food,—according to some authorities from the carbohydrates and proteids, and according to others from proteids alone.
Fats are stored away as fat, furnish heat, and are used for energy; at least, it is probable that at times they are put to the latter use. The fats laid by in the body for future use last in cases of starvation quite a long time, depending, of course, upon the amount. At such times a fat animal will live longer than a lean one.
Doubtless in the fat of food the body finds material for its fats in the most easily convertible form. Of the various fatty substances taken, some are more easily assimilated than others. Dr. Fothergill, in "The Town Dweller," says that the reason that cod-liver oil is given to delicate children and invalids is, that it is more easily digested than ordinary fats, but it is an inferior form of fat; the next most easily digested is the fat of bacon. When a child can take bread crumbled in a little of this fat, it will not be necessary to give him cod-liver oil. Bacon fat is the much better fat for building tissues. Then comes cream, a natural emulsion, and butter. He further says there is one form of fat not commonly looked at in its proper dietetic value, and that is "toffee." It is made of butter, sugar, and sometimes a portion of molasses. A quantity of this, added to the ordinary meals, will enable a child in winter to keep up the bodily heat. The way in which butter in the form of toffee goes into the stomach is particularly agreeable.
Carbohydrates. The principal carbohydrates are starch, dextrine, cane-sugar or common table sugar, grape-sugar, the principal sugar in fruits, and milk-sugar, the natural sugar in milk. They are substances made up, as before stated, of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, but no nitrogen. They are important food substances, but are of themselves incapable of sustaining life.
The carbohydrates, both starch and sugar, in the process of digestion are converted into glucose. This is stored in the liver in the form of glycogen, which the liver has the power of manufacturing; it then passes into the circulation, and is distributed to the different parts of the body as it is needed. (The liver also has the power of forming glycogen out of other substances than sugar, and it is pretty conclusively proved that it is from proteids, and not from fats. Carnivorous animals, living upon flesh alone, are found to have glycogen in their bodies.)
It is impossible to assign any especial office to the different food principles; that is, it cannot be said that the carbohydrates perform a certain kind of work in the body and nothing else, or that the proteids or fats do. The human body is a highly complex and intricate organism, and its maintenance is carried on by complex and mysterious processes that cannot be followed, except imperfectly; consequently, we must regard the uses of foods in the body as more or less involved in obscurity. It is, however, generally understood that the proteids, fats, and carbohydrates each do an individual work of their own better than either of the others can do it. They are all necessary in due amount to the nutrition of the body, and doubtless work together as well as in their separate functions. They are, however, sometimes interchangeable, as, for instance, in the absence of the carbohydrates, proteids will do their work. The carbohydrates are eminently heat and energy formers, and they also act as albumen sparers.
The body always has a store of material laid by for future use. If it were not for this a person deprived of food would die immediately, as is the case when he is deprived of oxygen. (Air being ever about us, and obtainable without effort or price, there is no need for the body to lay by an amount of oxygen; consequently only a very little is stored, and that in the blood.)
The great reserve forces of the body are in the form of fatty tissues, and glycogen, or the stored-away carbohydrates of the liver; the latter is given out to the body as it is needed during the intervals of eating to supply material for the heat and energy of daily consumption, and in case of starvation. That they are true reserves is shown by the fact that they disappear during deprivation of food. The glycogen, or liver-supply, disappears first; then the fat (Martin). The heat of the body can be maintained on these substances, and a certain amount of work done, although no food except water be taken.
The principal function of the liver is to form glycogen to be stored away. It constantly manufactures it, and as constantly loses it to the circulation. Glycogen is chemically allied to starch, having the same formula (C6H10O5), but differing in other ways. Its quantity is greatest about two hours after a full meal; then it gradually falls, but increases again when food is again taken. Its amount also varies with the kind of food eaten: fats and proteids by themselves give little, but starch and sugars give much, for it is found in greatest quantity when these form a part of the diet.
Inorganic Matter and Vegetable Acids. Water and other inorganic matter, as the salts of different kinds, and vegetable acids, as vinegar and lemon-juice, can scarcely be said to be digested. Water is absorbed, and salts are generally in solution in liquids and are absorbed with them.
Water is found in all parts of the body, even in the very solid portions, as the bones and the enamel of the teeth; it also constitutes a large proportion of its semisolids and fluids, some of which are nearly all water, as the perspiration and the tears.
Water usually is found combined with some of the salts, which seem to act as regulators of the amount which shall be incorporated into a tissue. Water is a necessary constituent of all tissues, giving them a proper consistency and elasticity. The power of resistance of the bones could not be maintained without it. It is also valuable as a food solvent, assisting in the liquefying of different substances, which are taken up by the various absorbent tubes, conveyed into the blood, and so circulated through the body. Most of the water of the body is taken into it from without, but it is also formed in the body by the union of hydrogen and oxygen.[29]
Sodium chlorid, or common salt, is found in the blood and other fluids, and in the solids of the body, except the enamel of the teeth; it occurs in greatest proportion in the fluids. The part that this salt plays in nutrition is not altogether understood. "Common salt is intermediate in certain general processes, and does not participate by its elements in the formation of organs" (Liebig). Salt is intimately associated with water, which plays an intermediate part also in nutrition, being a bearer or carrier of nutritious matters through the body.
Salt seems to regulate the absorption and use of nutrients. It is found in the greatest quantity in the blood and chyle. It doubtless facilitates digestion by rendering foods more savory, and thus causing the digestive juices to flow more freely. Sodium chlorid is contained in most if not all kinds of food, but not in sufficient quantity to supply the wants of the body; it therefore becomes a necessary part of a diet.
Potassium chlorid has similar uses to sodium chlorid, although not so generally distributed through the body. It is found in muscle, liver, milk, chyle, blood, mucus, saliva, bile, gastric juice, and one or two other fluids.
Calcium phosphate is found in all the fluids and solids of the body, held in solution in them by the presence of CO2; both it and calcium carbonate enter largely into the structure of the bones.
Sodium carbonate, magnesium phosphate, and other salts play important parts in nutrition.
The various salts influence chemical change as well as act in rendering food soluble. For example, serum albumen, the chief proteid of the blood, is insoluble in pure water, but dissolves easily in water which has a little neutral salts in it.[30] Salts also help to give firmness to the teeth and bones.
To recapitulate, food is eaten, digested, assimilated, and consumed or transformed in the body by a series of highly intricate and complex processes. It is for the most part used for the different powers and activities of the system; there is, however, always a small portion which is rejected as waste. The first change is in the mouth, where the food is broken up and moistened and the digestion of starch begins; these changes continue in the stomach until the whole is reduced to a more or less liquid mass. As the contents of the stomach pass little by little into the duodenum, the mass becomes more fluid by the admixture of bile, pancreatic juice, and intestinal juice, and, as it passes along, absorption takes place; the mass grows darker in color and less fluid, until all good material is taken up and only waste left, which is rejected from the body.
That portion of the food which is not affected by the single or united action of the digestive fluids is chiefly of vegetable origin. Hard seeds, such as corn, and the outer coverings of grains, such as the husk of oatmeal and those parts which are composed largely of cellulose, pass through the intestinal canal without change.
It may be remarked here that since the digestive mechanism is so perfect a structure, and will try to dissolve anything given it, and select only that which is good, why should there be the necessity of giving any special attention to preparing food before it is eaten? The answer is that the absorptive vessels cannot take up what is not there, neither can the digestive organs supply what the food lacks; therefore, the food must contain in suitable proportions all substances needed by the body. Also, food which contains a large proportion of waste, or is difficult of digestion from over or under cooking, or is unattractive by insipidity or unsavoriness, overworks these long-suffering organs (the extra power or force needed being drawn from the blood), and causes the whole system to suffer. Mal-nutrition, with the long line of evils which it entails, is the cause, direct or indirect, of most of the sickness in the world, for it reduces the powers of the system, and thus enfeebles its resistance to disease.
Ideal Diet. "The ideal diet is that combination of food which, while imposing the least burden upon the body, supplies it with exactly sufficient material to meet its wants" (Schuster).
In general the digestibility of foods may be summarized as follows:
1. The protein of ordinary animal foods is very readily and completely digestible.
2. The protein of vegetable foods is much less easily digested than that of animal foods.
3. The fat of animal foods may at times fail of digestion.
4. Sugar and starch are easy of digestion.
5. Animal foods have the advantage of vegetable foods in that they contain more protein, and that their protein is more easily digested. (Atwater.)
A diet largely of animal food leaves very little undigested matter. The albuminoids in all cases are completely transformed into nutriment. Fat enters the blood as a fine emulsion.
Absorption. The general rule of absorption is that food is taken into the circulation through the porous walls of the alimentary tract as rapidly as it is completely digested. A large portion of liquid is immediately absorbed by the blood-vessels of the stomach.
Adaptation of Foods to Particular Needs and Conditions. The demands of different individuals for nutrients in the daily food vary with age, occupation, and other conditions of life, including especially the peculiar characteristics of people. No two persons are exactly alike in their expenditure of muscular and nervous energy, so no two will need the same amount or kind of nutriment to repair the waste.
A man who digs in a field day after day expends a certain amount of muscular energy. A lawyer, statesman, or author who works with his brain instead of his hands uses nervous force, but very little muscular. Brain and muscle are not nourished exactly by the same materials; therefore, the demand in the way of nutriment of these two classes will not be the same.
The lawyer might find a feast in a box of sardines and some biscuit, while the field laborer would look with contempt upon such food, and turn from it to fat pork and cabbage. This is no mere difference in refinement of taste, but a real and instinctive difference in the demands of the two constitutions. Sardines supply to the brain-worker the material he needs, and the pork and cabbage to the laborer the heat and energy he expends.
In health the sense of taste is the best guide to what is demanded by the system, and may as a general rule be followed; but in sickness that will not do, as the sense of taste in particular is disturbed by most forms of disease.
When a patient is very ill only the simplest foods will be used, and those will be prescribed by the physician; but when a patient is out of danger, and the necessity for variety comes, then the nurse, by preparing or suggesting dishes, may do much toward restoring the person to health and strength.
As a very large percentage of diseases arise from imperfect nutrition (as large as eighty per cent. being given by some writers), the sense of taste is usually very much disturbed and dulled in illness; therefore those kinds of food which are savory, and at the same time easy of digestion and nutritious, should be selected. The savory quality is very important. A person in health may endure badly cooked food and monotony in diet; a person recovering from an illness cannot but suffer by it.
A nurse will find a pleasant field for the exercise of ingenuity in selecting and preparing such dishes as shall (1) be suited to the digestive powers of the patient; (2) shall be savory; (3) shall be sufficiently varied to supply all those materials which the depleted and exhausted body needs; and (4) shall be in such judicious quantity as shall increase nutrition, but never overtax the digestive powers.
The decision of No. 1 (food suited to the digestive powers) is the most difficult, and here again the doctor will advise for particular or peculiar diseases.
There are certain things which from their natural composition are more easy of digestion than others, such, for instance, as milk, eggs slightly coagulated and raw, beef tea with the juices in solution, cocoa milk, and cocoa, coffee, jellies, gruels, porridge from prepared grains (except oatmeal) when thoroughly cooked, oysters alive, rice, venison, and tripe.
No. 2, the savory quality, depends largely upon preparation, and is under the control of the nurse. A baked potato done in a hot oven, just to the point, and served immediately, is a delicious dish; overdone, or done in an oven of low temperature, and served lukewarm, it is very far from appetizing. A steak, if cut thin, salted, and broiled slowly, will be hard, dry, and lacking in flavor, but if it is cut thick, at least an inch and a half, better two inches, broiled for the first minute over very hot coals, and then slowly, that the heat may have time to penetrate to the center, and raise the whole to a temperature sufficiently high to cook it (about 160° Fahr.) without charring the outside, it will make a dish both wholesome and savory.
No. 3, the next consideration, is that of variety, and here the resources and judgment of the person in charge must come to the front. Only general hints can be given. Endeavor to supply some protein, some fat, some of the carbohydrates, and some mineral matter in each meal. Bread, grains, or potatoes will give the necessary starch. Sugar is usually supplied with drinks. Milk, eggs, meat, fish, and oysters will give protein; cream, butter, bacon, and the fat of other meats will furnish fat, and fruits and green salads give acids and mineral salts. For the latter, grapes, apples, carrots, onions, dandelions, and lettuce are very valuable. Grapes are composed of water with salts in solution, and glucose; both are absorbed with very little outlay from the system. The others are every-day foods, but science has taught that their instinctive use in the past has been a wise one.
No. 4, the quantity of food to offer to a sick person, will depend upon the individual. Give enough, but rather give to an invalid too little than too much, especially in the first days of using solid food; for after some forms of sickness there is great hunger, and one may injure himself by overeating at such a time. Furnish a little of each kind of food, but let that little be of good quality and perfectly prepared, so that every morsel is eatable. It is discouraging to any one to have set before him food such that much of it must be rejected uneaten. It is very encouraging, especially to an invalid, to be able to eat all that is brought him, and for this end cooking and serving are of great importance. It is necessary to adjust the proportions of the different kinds of foods to the needs of the consumer, otherwise all unnecessary material will be rejected from the body as waste, or will be accumulated in it to interfere with the workings of the different organs.
In general it may be said that the needs of no two individuals can be satisfied with exactly the same diet. In sickness it is the province of the physician to adjust the food to the condition of the patient. In convalescence the taste of the individual and the judgment of the nurse or attendant combined will usually not fail of good results. If an individual craves a certain dish, and there is no good reason why he should not have it, by all means procure it. Let only your judgment act. It may be something that you personally do not like. That should not influence a decision, provided, of course, that the food is not unwholesome.
We should bear in mind that a sick person is not in the same condition as ourselves, and that no matter how absurd his cravings may seem, they may be but perfectly natural longings for those substances which his depleted and exhausted system needs in order to be restored to health.
PART II
RECIPES
[PART II
RECIPES]
