Personal hygiene and physical training for women

by Anna M. Galbraith

At the present time the dairy products supply the cheapest nutriment among animal foods, but the price of butter and eggs are apt to soar enormously during the winter months.

Leguminous Food.—The dried pea, bean, or lentil are especially rich in protein, and are thus fit to take the place of a part of meat in the dietary. Their price is low in comparison to their value, and must be considered next to bread in importance. They are less completely digested than cereals if eaten in any quantity; and, highly nutritious as these are, it cannot be denied that in large quantities they are very indigestible for any but persons with strong constitutions and leading an active outdoor life.

Great care is needed in their preparation. Dried legumes should be soaked in cold water for eight hours, and then boiled for one hour and a half. They are then sufficiently soft to be pressed through a sieve. The skin of peas and beans that have been dried should be removed, for they pass through the intestines unchanged. Soft water should be used in preference to hard, as insoluble lime compounds are formed by the latter with the protein “legumin.”

Outside Preparation Expensive.—From the standpoint of food value, white bread is more than twice as costly as the wheat flour from which it is made. A barrel of flour of 196 pounds will make on the average 315 5-cent loaves of bread. The bread costs the consumer $15.75, whereas the flour can be bought at the time of writing for $6.50.

Breakfast foods ready for the table, instead of the cheaper cornmeal, oatmeal, and hominy cooked at home, and bread, cake, and other pastry cost double the amount of the raw materials.

There are, however, other factors which complicate and increase the cost of living. At present the exorbitant cost of labor, cost of fuel, etc., and the amount of the housewife’s time consumed are all important factors to be taken into consideration.

The size of the family, the number of small children demanding the mother’s attention, the kind of labor in which they are engaged, whether hired help has to be depended on for all the work, etc., are all factors which must be taken into consideration as to whether the outside preparation is more expensive than when the labor is performed in the home. This is a matter for every housewife to work out in making her monthly and yearly budgets.

TABLE OF FOOD VALUES[4]

	Percentage composition.
Kind of food, edible portion only.	Water.	Protein.	Fat.	Carbohydrate.	Ash.	Heat value calories per ounce.	Food values comparison of 1000 grams.
Meats.
Beef:
Roast, average	48.25	22.25	28.55	...	1.25	160	1868
Roast ribs, fat	45.20	19.14	39.04	...	.82	122	2057
Boiled, average	39.10	26.30	35.00	...	1.00	175	2268
Broiled steak	44.25	23.45	26.50	...	1.43	100	1942
Corned	51.19	26.32	18.65	...	4.10	80	1810
Veal: Cooked, average	51.88	32.20	11.40	...	1.50	68	1896
Mutton:
Roast, average	51.00	26.00	22.60	...	1.19	90	1805
Boiled leg	57.67	27.60	14.38	...	1.05	67	1738
Lamb:
Roast leg	67.10	19.70	12.70	...	.80	66	1318
Various parts	47.25	23.80	28.50	...	1.25	100	1966
Pork: Roast, various parts	45.00	32.00	20.00	...	1.76	90	2122
Organs:
Heart, cooked, average	62.60	16.60	20.00	...	1.00	70	1370
Kidney, ox, cooked, average	76.15	16.50	4.90	.40	1.20	32	940
Liver, ox, cooked, average	71.00	20.60	4.60	1.80	1.50	38	1150
Sweetbread, ox, cooked, average	71.00	16.80	12.00	...	1.60	51	1157
Tongue, ox, cooked, average	71.00	19.00	9.00	...	1.00	46	1188
Soup, etc.
Beef-tea	93.00	4.30	.50	1.10	1.10	8	234
Bouillon	96.50	2.30	.10	.20	.90	3	116
Chicken broth	94.00	3.80	.10	1.80	1.00	6	200
Consomme	95.50	2.40	.10	.30	1.10	3	120
Meat hash	80.00	6.50	2.00	9.00	2.40	24	560
Meat stew	84.50	4.60	4.30	5.50	1.10	23	420
Oxtail soup	89.00	4.00	1.50	4.30	1.50	13	278
Pea soup	87.00	4.00	.80	8.50	1.30	15	291
Soup stock, beef	89.10	5.80	1.50	...	3.60	11	324
Tomato soup	89.00	2.00	1.50	5.50	1.30	12	158
Meat juice (natural), average	90.00	5.37	.19	...	1.36	7	269
Fowl.
Domestic, average	64.00	19.00	16.00	...	1.00	65	1130
Chicken	67.00	22.70	10.00	...	1.00	62	1395
Capon	56.00	21.80	21.00	...	1.30	91	1656
Duck	55.75	17.50	25.00	...	1.00	95	1554
Goose	52.00	16.50	35.10	...	1.20	110	1800
Turkey	55.50	21.10	23.00	...	1.00	85	1679
Roast	52.00	27.80	18.50	...	1.30	82	1872
Roast capon	59.00	27.00	11.50	...	1.30	60	1677
Chicken	66.90	22.00	8.10	...	1.70	58	1298
Boiled fowl	57.60	27.00	12.80	...	1.90	80	1708
Eggs.
Chicken eggs:
Raw	73.70	13.40	11.50	...	1.00	45	983
Boiled, white.	86.30	12.80	.20	...	.70	16	633
Yolk	50.00	14.80	33.70	...	1.20	106	1883
Fish and Shell-fish.
Bluefish	78.50	19.10	1.20	...	1.20	27	935
Haddock, fresh	81.40	17.20	.30	...	1.10	21	922
Halibut steak	74.80	18.50	5.30	....	1.40	35	850
Mackerel	74.80	18.50	6.50	....	1.10	40	1086
Oysters	80.00	10.60	2.60	6.50	1.30	25	655
Perch	75.70	19.00	4.00	....	1.20	33	1049
Salmon, Atlantic	63.60	21.60	13.90	....	1.40	64	1445
Sardines	56.30	24.80	12.70	....	5.00	79	1560
Shad	70.60	18.50	9.50	....	1.30	47	1170
Roe	71.20	21.00	3.80	2.50	1.50	38	1252
Trout:
Brook	77.70	19.30	2.10	....	1.20	28	995
Lake	69.30	18.30	10.60	....	1.20	48	1190
Salmon	70.80	17.80	10.20	....	1.20	48	1156
Calf’s foot jelly	77.50	4.50	....	17.40	.70	26	210
Milk Products.
Cows’ milk, average	87.30	3.50	3.70	4.60	.73	20	320
Skimmed	90.30	4.00	.20	4.60	.83	11	245
Condensed milk, full cream,
unsweetened	62.40	10.60	10.80	14.10	2.00	52	973
Full cream, sweetened	20.00	10.50	9.90	57.50	2.10	100	1368
Skimmed and sweetened	26.40	10.40	.90	60.20	2.10	40	1232
Cream, hand skimmed	74.00	2.50	18.50	4.50	.50	56	210
Buttermilk	90.00	3.20	1.20	5.00	.60	10	238
Cheese from skimmed milk.	45.30	32.00	16.50	2.00	4.20	85	2140
Butter:
Best quality	13.00	1.00	82.50	1.50	2.00	225	2371
Second quality	16.00	2.00	73.00	4.00	5.00	203	2235
Margarine	16.00	1.10	76.70	....	6.30	220	2210
Cereal Foods.
Wheat flour, superfine, white.	10.50	11.90	1.60	75.40	.50	114	1283
Entire wheat	10.80	12.20	2.20	73.60	1.00	114	1300
Graham	8.60	12.60	2.40	74.50	1.70	116	1330
Maize	10.90	10.20	4.80	71.00	1.30	....	1242
Meal	12.50	7.10	1.30	78.30	.60	108	1106
Rice	12.40	6.90	.40	79.40	.50	102	1084
Boiled	72.50	2.80	.10	24.50	.20	45	258
Oatmeal, boiled	84.50	2.80	.50	11.50	.70	18	244
Macaroni, cooked	78.40	3.00	1.50	15.80	1.30	26	558
Bread.
White, best	44.10	7.70	.90	46.90	.30	71	793
Entire wheat	49.10	7.40	1.10	41.70	.50	65	770
Brown (Graham)	47.20	7.70	1.20	42.80	.90	67	780
Gluten bread	38.20	9.30	1.40	49.80	1.30	72	910
Toasted bread	24.00	11.50	1.60	61.20	1.70	90	1126
Zwiebach	5.80	9.80	9.90	73.50	1.00	125	1399
Pies and Puddings.
Apple pie	42.50	3.10	9.80	43.00	1.80	80	866
Cornflour blanc mange	66.00	2.60	3.10	27.00	1.00	36	456
Custard with crust	62.40	4.20	6.30	26.10	1.00	52	604
Maize pudding (Indian meal)	60.00	5.50	5.00	28.00	1.40	51	628
Rice pudding	60.00	4.00	4.70	32.00	.60	52	608
Tapioca pudding	64.50	3.30	3.20	28.50	.80	45	505
With apples	70.10	.30	.10	30.00	.20	36	289
Roots and Tubers.
Carrots, boiled	92.50	.50	.20	4.50	.80	8	70
Beets, boiled	91.70	1.40	.10	5.13	1.00	11	102
Parsnips, boiled	92.10	1.30	.30	6.50	.70	11	126
Potatoes, boiled	75.50	2.50	.10	21.00	1.00	26	312
Mashed, with cream	75.10	2.60	3.00	17.80	1.50	31	364
Fried in fat	2.20	6.80	39.80	46.70	4.50	166	1807
Vegetables.
Asparagus, cooked and buttered	91.60	2.10	3.30	2.20	.80	30	200
Brussels sprouts, boiled	93.70	1.50	.10	3.40	.20	6	98
Cabbage	85.50	2.30	.70	5.10	1.70	9	89
Boiled	97.00	.60	.10	1.40	.20	3	41
Cauliflower, boiled	97.30	.60	.10	1.40	.50	....	41
Celery, boiled	97.00	.40	.07	1.00	.50	....	26
Green peas, boiled	73.80	6.70	2.50	14.60	1.50	34	588
Beans, string, boiled	89.20	2.30	.30	7.40	.80	12	176
Salads.
Celery	94.50	1.10	.10	9.70	1.00	13	144
Cucumber	94.90	.70	.20	3.10	.50	4	64
Endive	93.00	1.00	.10	3.00	.60	8	73
Lettuce	93.80	1.80	.60	4.80	1.20	9	138
Onions	87.60	1.60	.30	9.50	1.10	13	167
Radishes	91.80	1.20	.10	5.60	.70	5	107
Tomatoes	91.80	1.20	.10	5.60	.70	5	107
Watercress	92.80	.70	.40	4.00	1.20	6	79
Dried Legumes.
Peas	9.50	23.80	1.80	60.30	2.60	104	1544
Haricot beans	12.60	22.50	1.90	59.60	3.50	100	1654
Butter beans	10.50	20.60	2.00	62.60	4.20	102	1519
Nuts.
Almonds, dried	4.80	21.00	54.90	17.30	2.50	189	2645
Brasil nuts	5.40	18.00	66.00	8.00	2.70	204	2606
Butter nuts	4.50	28.00	61.00	3.50	2.90	192	2956
Chestnuts	4.80	11.60	15.30	65.70	2.60	117	1537
Cocoanut, fresh	19.20	5.40	51.00	10.00	1.20	108	....
Hazel and filbert nuts	48.00	8.00	28.50	11.50	1.50	160	....
Peanuts	9.20	26.00	38.60	24.20	2.00	160	2071
Walnuts, dried	4.90	15.50	62.70	7.50	1.90	190	2364
Fruits.
Apples:
Raw	85.20	.40	.50	12.60	.30	18	149
Cooked and sweetened	66.10	.20	.80	37.20	.70	46	395
Dried	28.10	1.60	2.20	66.10	2.00	84	753
Apricots	85.00	1.10	....	13.40	.50	18	176
Canned	81.40	.90	....	17.30	.40	21	208
Bananas	75.70	1.30	.50	21.70	.70	29	276
Blackberries	86.30	1.30	1.00	8.40	.50	17	120
Cherries	82.00	.90	.80	14.30	.60	23	197
Cranberries	88.90	.50	.60	4.00	.20	14	76
Dates, dried	20.00	3.50	2.30	69.00	1.30	101	885
Figs, dried	22.70	4.30	.70	62.50	1.30	80	805
Grapes, fresh	80.50	.90	.80	14.70	.50	28	201
Dried, raisins	18.60	3.00	2.80	70.50	2.70	100	870
Jam, or preserve, average	30.50	1.50	....	60.00	.50	70	744
Melon	89.50	.60	.30	7.20	.60	11	103
Oranges	82.80	.90	.20	10.60	.70	15	146
Peaches	88.80	.50	.20	9.20	.60	12	117
Canned	88.10	.70	.10	10.80	.30	14	128
Pears	80.90	.90	.50	15.70	.40	18	203
Canned	81.10	.30	.30	18.00	.30	22	195
Pineapples	89.30	.40	.30	10.00	.90	13	112
Plums	74.50	.90	.20	19.10	.50	24	200
Prunes:
Dried	22.30	2.10	.20	73.30	2.30	86	724
Stewed	76.60	.50	.10	22.30	.50	27	243
Raspberries	86.20	.50	....	5.60	.50	16	76
Strawberries	94.00	1.00	.60	8.80	.60	12	144

The Physiologic Action of Moderate Doses of Alcohol.—The result of a series of experiments by Dr. Parke were as follows: “By quickening the action of the heart, it shortens the interval of rest, and, therefore, interferes with the nutrition of the heart. It also produces palpitation and breathlessness. Even small doses of alcohol, by increasing unnecessarily the action of the heart, are injurious. It acts on the nervous system by lessening the rapidity and the delicacy of the impressions, as well as by lessening the power of control of a train of thought. Further, by this same blunting of the nervous system, voluntary muscular power is impaired, and the finer combined movements are less perfectly made. It causes a lowering of the temperature of the body, and, although it is taken to overcome the effects of exposure to cold, it has been learned that persons who take it are less able to resist the exposure to cold.”