SUPPER
Soup.
Bread and butter.
Stewed fruit.
Tea.
An old person needs little meat. The food should be masticated to a pulp. Tea and coffee are best omitted, but if used to tea, one small cup, prepared by turning boiling water on the leaves and served immediately, may be included. The tea should not be strong and, for reasons given on page [183], should never be allowed to steep.
If inclined to constipation, or if the kidneys are inactive, grapes or an apple, or some fruit may be eaten just before retiring.
MENUS FOR ABNORMAL CONDITIONS.
Where the body is not in normal condition, because elements are lacking in the blood, these elements must be supplied in larger proportions with the food, and the case is one for a food chemist, or for one who has made food conditions a study. When medical colleges broaden their curriculum, or physicians employ methods other than medicine and the knife, for correction of physical ailments, the relief will be with this profession. If they do not, professional schools for the education of the physical culturist and food specialists, for the correction of deranged conditions of the system, due to poor circulation and abnormal blood conditions, which have so long been controlled entirely through medicine, will spring up and replace much of the correction previously left entirely to the medical fraternity.
In case of an abnormal condition, the food must be regulated according to the case. This also applies to a diet where one carries an abnormal amount of fat.