Oatmeal, thoroughly cooked, and shredded wheat, with cream and sugar, ripe fruit, bread and butter, milk, soft cooked eggs (poached, baked or boiled) constitute a rational diet.
If the child is hungry between meals, he should be fed at a regular period, midway between breakfast and luncheon and between luncheon and the evening meal. The food should be dry (toast or a dry cracker) to require thorough and slow mastication.
Many object to “piecing” between meals, but if this piecing be done at hours as regular as his meal hour, and the food be dry and well masticated, it will readily digest and will not interfere with his meals. The growing child needs more frequent meals than the adult. His stomach is not so large, he is active in out door exercise, and eliminates waste freely. He also requires much heat and energy. The active child at outdoor play uses almost as much energy as the laboring man.
The growing child craves sweets.
Candy should not be taken at any time during the day, because the digestive system needs rest. It is quickly converted into heat and is best eaten immediately following a meal. Sugar may be spread upon bread for the four o’clock lunch or a little candy may be eaten at this time. Two to three pieces of candy an inch square are sufficient.
The Developing, or the Adolescent Period
This period begins with a girl, usually near the thirteenth year, and with a boy about fourteen. There is no time in life when a mother needs to be so watchful of the diet. Growth is very rapid and much easily digested protein is needed to build tissue, particularly to build the tissue of red corpuscles.
The red meats, eggs, spinach and all kinds of greens are important articles of diet at this time, because of the iron which they contain. They should be supplied freely, particularly for developing girls, or they may otherwise be inclined to anaemia, at this time. Butter and milk are valuable and regular exercises with deep breathing are imperative.
BREAKFAST.