for a long time. Whole wheat bread and milk would be even better, because the whole wheat would supply more iron, in which white bread and milk are not rich. The addition of fruits and vegetables to the bread and milk diet would also be an advantage—partly for the same reason.
Other foods especially valuable for growth are eggs and cereals from whole grains. Children should acquire the habit of eating fruits and green vegetables of all kinds, for when they are older and likely to take less milk and cereals, the fruits and vegetables supply important ash constituents and also help to prevent constipation.
The foods good for children are also good for adults, but the latter can keep their bodies in good repair with less protein and ash in proportion to body weight than are required during growth, and many kinds of protein serve for repair. If there are not enough milk and eggs to go around, adults can take meat, nuts, peas, beans and bread for protein, and trust to these and fruit and vegetables for ash. When the body has been wasted by sickness, however, a return to the foods of growth, especially a diet of milk and eggs, is best for building it up again.
The number of meals in a day.—Knowing how much and what kinds of food are best for each member of the family, we must next find out how to divide the total food for the day into meals. Few of us could take our required fuel in one meal, and if we could, we should probably be hungry before the time for the next meal. Some persons get along very well with two meals a day, but usually their fuel requirement is not high. Most people are more comfortable and more likely to eat a suitable amount in a deliberate fashion if they have three meals a day. When large amounts of fuel have to be taken, four or five meals may be better than three; babies who have to eat in proportion to their size,
often 21⁄2 times as much as their mothers, take 21⁄2 times as many meals, i.e. 7 or 8 in a day.
The amount of food for each meal.—While the number of meals depends largely on the amount to be eaten in the whole day, and the appetite of the subject, the amount at each meal is most influenced by the nature of the daily occupation. The baby with nothing to do but eat and sleep has meals uniform in kind and amount. The business man who works very hard through the middle of the day, and has not time to take an elaborate meal, nor time to rest after it so that it may digest easily, takes a light luncheon and makes up for it at breakfast and dinner. The outdoor worker who has a long hard day and expends much energy, takes an hour at noon for a substantial dinner, in addition to a hearty breakfast and supper and sometimes a mid-forenoon or mid-afternoon lunch.
Regularity of meals.—More important than the number of meals is regularity as to time of eating and amount of food. Training for the digestive tract is just as important as training the eye or the hand or the brain. We cannot expect good digestions if we have a hearty luncheon to-day, none at all to-morrow, and perhaps a scanty and hasty late one the next day. To take food into the stomach between meals is to demoralize the digestive system. Foods that are excellent as part of a meal provoke headaches and bad complexions, and many symptoms of a protesting stomach, when taken between meals. The younger the person, the more important is regularity. Little children soon suffer if their meals are not “on the minute.” Adults have more difficulty in controlling their time, but if they have to be late to meals, they should be more careful than usual to eat slowly and to choose plain simple food that will digest easily.
Mental attitude toward meals.—Good food may be provided at the proper time and yet the members of a family
may fail to keep well and happy unless they come to meals in the right condition. Haste, chill, exhaustion, anxiety, excitement, fretfulness, or anger may interfere with the digestion of the most digestible of meals. Orderly table service, good manners, and cheerful conversation are very important factors in the success of a meal. Peace and joy as well as “calories” are watchwords of good nutrition.
Balanced meals.—Having determined how many meals to serve in the day and what their hours shall be, the next question is how to choose and distribute the constituents of the day’s ration so as to promote digestibility and satisfaction. A meal of pure protein, or fat, or carbohydrate would not be relished, and would have some physiological disadvantages. Digestion is likely to be more complete on a mixed diet. A meal of carbohydrate alone leaves the stomach more quickly than any other kind, and one would feel hungry before the next meal, though one might have had plenty of fuel; a meal of fat alone would leave the stomach very slowly, and one would not have so good an appetite for the next meal; a meal of pure protein would stimulate heat production without any particular advantages, except possibly in very cold weather: it would be decidedly undesirable in hot weather. For these and other reasons it is best to have the different foodstuffs represented in each meal, and to see that no one contains an excess of fat, which tends to retard all digestion. This is what is usually meant by a balanced meal, but it may also include care that about the same proportion of fuel is served at the same meal each day. A meal does not need to be “balanced” in quite the same sense as a day’s ration. The latter must have a definite amount of fuel, a suitable proportion of protein, ash well represented, some food for bulk, the whole selected with regard for the physical condition, tastes, habits, and pocketbooks of those to be fed.