CHAPTER XXVII.
THE BODY'S BOOK-KEEPING.
Man's food is as varied as his work, more varied than the climate, with one food for the luxurious and one for the poor. The majority of us take what we can get, making no complaints; even when we have a cook and a good one the same is true. The ideal diet prepared by the ideal cook no one has as yet made fashionable, but one thing is within the reach of all—cleanliness of the sewers of the body. Keep the contents of the bowels moving down and out steadily and regularly and you may eat almost any food and in almost any preparation and still be healthy.
Just as a steam-engine, running at a given rate of speed, must be supplied with fuel sufficient to maintain that speed, so the human body must have the requisite food to maintain the speed of civilized society and business, and replace the waste of the tissues; otherwise decline sets in and the reserve store of strength is exhausted. How shall we determine the proper amount and kind of food for the various ages, sexes, and conditions of life?
A leading authority says that the character and amount of the daily excreta furnish suggestions as to the required food supply. (Kirk's Physiology, p. 208.) These excreta are found to be carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen in great part, with some sulphur, phosphorus, chlorine, sodium, etc. A summary is given (ibid., p. 432) of the expenditure for twenty-four hours:
| 1. From the lungs: | |||
| Carbonic acid | about | 15,000 | grains |
| Water | " | 5,000 | " |
| 2. From the skin: | |||
| Water | " | 11,500 | " |
| Solid and gaseous matters | " | 250 | " |
| 3. From the kidneys: | |||
| Water | " | 23,000 | " |
| Organic matter | " | 680 | " |
| Saline bodies | " | 420 | " |
| 4. From the intestines: | |||
| Water | " | 2,000 | " |
| Organic and mineral substances | " | 800 | " |
| Total daily expenditure: | |||
| Solid matters | " | 17,150 | " |
| Water | " | 49,500 | " |
| Altogether about eight and a half pounds. | |||
| The credit side of the sheet is about as follows: | |||
| Solids (chemically dry foods) | " | 8,000 | grains |
| Water, combined or otherwise | " | 35,000 to 40,000 | " |
| Oxygen, absorbed by the lungs | " | 13,000 | " |
| Altogether about eight and a half pounds. | |||
With the proper balance between the intake and the outgo, the functions of the body will be carried on normally, but the balance must be a proper one; that is, not only must the entire waste be repaired but the correct proportions of one kind of food and another must be observed. If all the elements needed are not furnished there can be no true counterpoise.
How do we expend the energy? By the common wear-and-tear incident upon all voluntary motion, all work and recreation, carrying on the internal movements of digestion and respiration, by thinking, by loss of temperature, by indulgence of any of our functions, and by any wrong indulgence especially. Excessive use, voluntary or otherwise, will of course diminish our total capital and cut short our lives. Could we always maintain the right balance we need never die.
The importance of what has been said must now be clearly apparent. We ought to be wisely interested in choosing the proper foods for our daily needs and in having them properly prepared; we ought to know how much carbohydrates we need, how much proteids, and regulate our diet accordingly. The foods which contain nitrogen are chiefly the following: flesh of all animals, milk, eggs, leguminous fruits (peas, beans, lentils); those which contain carbohydrates chiefly are bread, starch, vegetables and especially potatoes, rice, etc.; foods supplying fat are butter, lard, fat of meat, etc. Salts are furnished in almost all other substances, but especially in green vegetables and fruits. Liquid food is obtained by water, too often neglected, and tea, coffee, beer, cider, etc.