Teach a growing child that selecting and preparing his food is an important occupation. Do not allow a child to fill his body with trash.
MINERAL MATTER.
In an organic form, we find mineral matter in large proportions in green leaf vegetables, small fruits and berries, bran, rye, green peas, string beans, tomatoes, yolks of eggs and in all the outer skins of legumes, grains and fruits. The importance of the mineral elements in our foods has been little understood, so far. Of late, health reformers are beginning to realize that many serious diseases, such as tuberculosis, insanity and malnutrition, are the result of mineral starvation. Three-fourths of these valuable minerals are removed from our foods daily by modern milling, bleaching, and polishing of rice, wheat, corn and all the other grains. Not alone the minerals, but necessary volatile oils, acids, and ferments are removed by these processes. Refined white flour and sugar have been on the market for the last hundred years; and much time and health have been wasted with the writing of fashionable cook books, and the manufacture of anemic snow white cakes, crackers, biscuits and soft putrefying puddings and desserts, prepared with skim milk, sugar and eggs. The deficiency of minerals in these products has created an abnormal desire for salts, spices, and chemically pure sugar, followed by an additional craving for intoxicating beverages and liquors. The latter articles cannot enter into the composition of perfect teeth and bone, or gray nervous tissue; therefore, the result is premature death and many new diseases.
It is my desire to present in this book food combinations as perfect as can be produced from food material with our present methods of milling and preliminary treatment. Many people have become so delicate in structure that they cannot use coarse breads and cereals; therefore, a variety of different cereal foods have been included. Vegetable foods, such as are rich in minerals, have been added to the breakfast foods in place of sugar and beverages. In order to supply the body with the necessary amount of minerals, we must learn to eat greens for breakfast, until our so-called breakfast foods have improved in quality.
Keep the feet warm, the head cool and the stomach not too full.
Take walks out of doors daily and breathe deeply.
Do not wear tight shoes or corsets.
All foods possess potential or latent energy. The sun is the great positive element, and plants store up the sun’s energy. It is transferred to us through the eating of plants and animal foods. Through the process of oxidation this energy is set free in our bodies, and appears as heat and muscular power. This energy contained in foods is known as heat or fuel value, and is expressed in terms of a heat unit or calorie. A calorie is the amount of heat necessary to raise one kilogram of water, one degree centigrade. This is spoken of as a large calorie, which is used in determining the energy value of food. The small calorie is ¹⁄₁₀₀₀ of a large calorie.
The physiological fuel and energy value of the different foods is as follows:
| 1 gram of Protein | yields 4 Calories |
| 1 gram of Fat | yields 9 Calories |
| 1 gram of Carbohydrates | yields 4 Calories |