CHAPTER XIV.
CEREAL FOODS.
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Carbohy-
Water Protein Fat drates Ash
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Barley. 10.9 12.4 1.8 72.5 2.4
Buckwheat. 12.6 10.0 2.2 73.2 2.0
Corn. 9.3 9.9 2.8 76.3 1.5
Kafir corn. 16.8 6.6 3.8 70.6 2.2
Oats. 11.0 11.8 5.0 69.2 3.0
Rice. 12.4 7.4 .4 79.4 .4
Rye. 11.6 10.6 1.0 73.7 1.9
Wheat, spring. 10.4 12.5 2.2 73.0 1.9
Wheat, winter. 10.5 11.8 2.1 73.8 1.8
First patent flour. 10.55 11.08 1.15 76.85 0.37
Whole wheat flour. 10.81 12.26 2.24 73.67 1.02
Graham flour. 8.61 12.65 2.44 74.58 1.72
Bread, ordinary white. 37.65 10.13 .64 51.14 .44
Bread, whole wheat. 41.31 10.60 1.04 46.11 .94
Bread, Graham. 42.20 10.65 1.12 44.58 1.45
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The cereal foods are important because of their wide distribution and the ease with which they can be prepared and utilized as food. They are very productive and need but little care and hence are a cheap food. The body can digest and absorb sugar and starch more completely than any other kind of food.
All civilized people have a favorite cereal. The Chinese and Japanese use rice very extensively, and this grain is growing in favor with us. White people generally prefer wheat, which is an excellent grain that has been used by man for thousands of years. It has been found in ancient Egyptian tombs, and it is so retentive of life that it has started to grow after lying dormant for several thousand years. Truly it is a worthy food for man.
The table of cereals should be carefully studied. It will be seen that the grains contain much starch, a little fat, and considerable protein. They also carry sufficient of salts, but only a small amount of water.
Please note further that patent flour loses nearly all of its salts. Patent flour is the product that is left after all the bran and practically all of the germ have been removed from the wheat. Whole wheat flour, or entire wheat flour, is the name given to the flour that has had a great part of the outer covering of the wheat kernel removed. It is a misnomer. Graham flour, named after Dr. Graham, is the product of the whole wheat kernel, and it will be noted that it is richer in salts and protein than the white flour and the whole wheat flour. The whole wheat flour and Graham flour we find on the market are often the result of blending, which is also true of the patent flour.
As we would expect, the various breads are rich or poor in salts according to the flours from which they are made.
All the cereals are good foods, but inasmuch as wheat and rice are used most extensively, they will receive more attention than the rest.
Wheat is perhaps the best and most balanced of all our cereals. The whole wheat with the addition of a little milk is sufficient to support life indefinitely. It is one of the foods of which people never seem to tire. Tiring of food is often an indication of excess. It is with food as with amusement, if we get too much we become blase. Those who eat in moderation are content with simple foods, but those who eat too much want a great variety, as a rule. There are beef gluttons, who are satisfied with their flesh and liquor, but this is because the meats are so stimulating.
Inasmuch as we use so much wheat, it is important that we use it properly. Today people want refined foods, and in refining they spoil many of our best food products. Sugar is too refined for health, rice suffers through refinement, and so does wheat. The wheat kernel contains all the elements needed to support life. In making fine white flour of it, at least three-fourths of the essential salts are removed. This robs the wheat of a large part of its life-imparting elements, and makes of it starvation food. If much white bread is consumed it is necessary to supplement it by taking large quantities of fresh fruits and vegetables, not necessarily in the same meal, in order to get the salts that have been removed in the process of milling.
The salts are found principally in the coats of the wheat, and in removing these coats and the germ, not only the salts, but considerable protein is lost. In other words, we remove most of the essential salts and a considerable part of the building material of the wheat, and then we eat the inferior product. The finer and whiter the flour, the poorer it is.
White flour has a very high starch content. The products made from it are quite tasteless and lacking in flavor, unless flavoring is added. Those who are used to whole wheat products find the white bread flat. It is possible to consume large quantities of white bread, and yet not be satisfied. There is something lacking. Whole wheat bread is more satisfying and therefore the danger of overeating of it is not so great.
The advocates of white flour say that the bran is too irritating for the bowels and for this reason it should be rejected. There is no danger in eating the entire kernel, after it is ground up. The particles of bran are so fine that they do no harm. The intestines were evidently intended for a little roughage, and it might as well come partly from wheat as from other sources. The gentle stimulation produced by the bran helps to keep the intestines active. It is noticeable that consumption of very refined foods leads to constipation.
Bran bread and bran biscuits are prescribed for constipation. This is just as bad as removing the bran entirely. Man has never been able to improve on the composition of the wheat berry. When an excess of bran is eaten, it causes too great irritation and in the end the individual is worse off than before. The after effect of irritation is always depression and sluggishness. Recent experiments seem to show that it is not the coarseness of the bran that causes activity of the bowels, but that some of the contained salts are laxative, for the same results have been obtained by soaking the bran in water and drinking the liquid.
The products of refined flour are more completely and easily digested than the whole wheat products. However, by eating in moderation and masticating well every normal person is able to take good care of whole wheat products, and the benefit of using the entire grain is so great that we should hesitate about continuing the use of the refined flours and white breads.
In the French army it has been found that when the soldiers are fed on refined flour products they are not so well nourished as when they have whole wheat products, and that they must have more of other foods to supplement the impoverished breadstuffs. It is difficult to get people to realize how important it is to give the tissue salts with the foods. Salts are absolutely essential to vital activity, and a lack of salts always results in mental and physical depression and even in disease.
No matter what adults are given, children should not be fed on white flour products. They need all the salts in the wheat. Depriving them of salts retards their development and results in decaying teeth and poor bone formation, among other things. They do not feel satisfied with their white flour foods. Therefore they overeat and get indigestion, catarrh, adenoids and various other ills. It is not difficult for people with observing eyes to note the difference in satisfaction of children after they get impoverished foods and the natural foods.
Anemia is very common among children, especially among the girls. The chief reason is impoverished foods. Salts can be used by the animal organism only after they have been elaborated by the vegetable kingdom. To remove all the iron from wheat and then give inorganic iron, which can not be assimilated, in its stead, is the height of folly. By all means, use less of the white flour and more of the entire wheat flour. If the white flour habit can not be given up, take enough raw fruit and vegetables to make up for the loss of salts in milling.
When rice is properly prepared it digests very easily. It is a little poor in protein, but this can be remedied by taking some milk in the same meal.
The rice we ordinarily get is inferior to the natural product. First they remove the bran. Then the flour is taken off. Then it is coated with a mixture of glucose and talcum and polished. All this trouble is taken to make it appeal to the eye. This impoverished rice is lacking in salts. It will not support people in health. In the countries where polished rice is fed in great quantities, they suffer a great deal from degenerative diseases. One of these is beri-beri, in which there are muscular weakness and degeneration, indigestion, disturbances of the heart and often times anasarca. When people suffering from this disease are given those parts of the rice grain lost in making polished rice, they recover. This is proof enough that the cause of the disease is the impoverished food.
The rice that should be used is brown and unpolished. When it is cooked it looks quite white. It is very satisfying.
Rye is extensively used in some lands. The bread is very good. Oats are largely devoured in Scotland. Corn bread is a favorite food in the southern part of our country. The negroes are fond of corn and pork with molasses, which is far from an ideal combination in warm climates.