Eileen nodded as the rest of the class tittered. “Can anyone name foods which do not have calories?”
The class thought. Lucy raised her hand. “Coffee doesn’t have any calories,” she said.
Eileen frowned a little and nodded. “Strictly speaking, I think you can’t exactly call coffee a food. It’s actually a drug ... or, at least, its main function is that of a drug.”
“How about salt?” Hedda asked.
“That’s right,” Eileen said. “But of course no pure minerals have calories. The function of the mineral is not to provide body heat.” She flipped a page. “Now let’s talk about diets and people. Can someone name three special categories of people needing different diets?”
Jean held up her hand. “Adults, children and expectant mothers.”
Eileen nodded. “Very good. Any more?”
Sally raised her hand. “Sick people have to have lots of different diets, depending on what’s the matter with them. And an office worker needs different food from the food needed by a laborer.”
Eileen hesitated. “You’re right about the first category, but don’t forget that all people need the same basic foods, no matter what they do.”
“All except Dr. Benson,” Lucy muttered under her breath. “He eats people. He’s a wolf!”