The criticism of the ordinary lunch for women is that it is too light. The food served for lunch should furnish about 1000 calories; 90 per cent. of these should be in the form of starches and fats.
Dinner.—The following is a balanced ration given in the Educational Lunch Room of the New York Department of Health:
| Proteins. | ||||
| Price. | Quantity. | Calories. | Grams. | |
| Vegetable soup | 5 cents. | ½ pint. | 150 | 5 |
| Roast beef | 20 cents. | 4 oz. lean. | 140 | 30 or |
| Roast beef with | 4 oz. fat. | 460 | 27 | |
| Mashed potatoes, creamed | Av. helping. | 110 | 4.0 | |
| String beans | 5 cents. | 2 h. tbsp. | 10 | .5 |
| Salad a la Sauté | 8 cents. | Av. helping. | 370 | 2.0 |
| Whole wheat bread | 2 slices. | 140 | 5.5 | |
| Butter | ½ ounce. | 120 | ||
| Apple pie | 5 cents. | ⅙ pie. | 300 | 4.0 |
| Black coffee | 3 cents. | 1 cup. | ||
| Sugar | 2 squares. | 60 | ||
| 46 cents. | 1760 or | 50 or | ||
| 1440 | 53 |
One glass of water is served with each meal; it should be taken when the meal is finished.
The mineral waters promote digestion by promoting an earlier and more abundant secretion of the gastric juice.
Lemon juice should be substituted for vinegar in all salad dressings. For a French dressing the correct proportions are 1 tablespoonful of lemon juice and water each to 2 of olive oil. Mix well, and pour over the salad just before serving.
Three meals a day has been found to be the best arrangement, and there should be an interval of five hours between the meals. If possible dinner, which is the principal meal, should be taken at the end of the day, after its work is over, so that comparative repose may be enjoyed after it. It is of extreme importance that the meals be served at the same hour every day. The perfectly healthy woman should never take anything to eat between meals.
A hearty meal should never be eaten when one is exhausted or greatly fatigued. Half an hour’s rest before dinner is a great aid to digestion. Sleep directly after a hearty meal is injurious and sometimes proves fatal because there is a depression of the circulation, and the digestive processes may stop absolutely during sleep.
Preparation of Food.—Fresh meats are highly nutritious, but in order that the nutritive properties may not be lost in the cooking, they must be eaten “rare,” that is, beef and mutton should be at least pink.
A roast should be done in a quick oven, so that the albumin shall rapidly coagulate on the surface and prevent the escape of the nutritive juices. Or if the meat is boiled, it should for the same reason be plunged into boiling water.