Calcium, phosphorus, and iron are all supplied in high percentage in:
Spinach
Celery
Peas
Lima beans
String beans
Apples
Prunes
Peaches
Pears
Dates, raisins
Whole wheat
Whole cereals
Egg yolk
Lean meat (except calcium)
While milk contains only a low percentage of iron, it furnishes a high proportion of the day’s supply in children’s diet, because of the total quantity used.
Valuable mineral material in many fruits and vegetables is just beneath the skin. It is dissolved into the water if these foods are boiled. The mineral matter is conserved by baking, or stewing, or steaming, by cooking without paring, or by using the water in which they are boiled.
The mineral matter is in the germ and the husks of grains. Refined foods, such as white flour and sugar, polished or puffed rice, processed barley and corn meal, cream of wheat, cornstarch, sago, from which the husk has been removed, have been robbed of their mineral matter. The whole ground grains and brown sugar retain the minerals.
5. Water, a necessary part of all tissues, constitutes about sixty per cent. of the body weight. It promotes circulation of the blood and other internal fluids, dissolves poisons, aids elimination of waste through urine, feces, and perspiration. Water is best taken half an hour before meals, and at the close. If taken with the meal, it should be only after food in the mouth has been swallowed, that it may not interfere with the action of the saliva upon the food. Ice in water makes it too cold for the stomach, and unless artificial, is apt to contain dangerous impurities. Water should be sipped, warmed in the mouth before being swallowed, and not more than one glass taken at a time. Water is supplied in:
Milk
Cocoa
Broths
Fruit juices
Fruits
Green vegetables
Water constitutes about 65 per cent. of meats, 80 per cent. of fish, 90 per cent. of fresh fruits and vegetables.
6. Cellulose. The indigestible cellulose and fibers in food furnish a bulk of waste which stimulates the intestines to muscular action. Supplied in:
Whole wheat
Whole cereals
Prunes, dates
Figs, raisins
Fibrous vegetables as celery, spinach, onions, carrots, beets, peas, beans
Skins of apples, pears