What to eat and when

by Susanna Cocroft

Wheat is also rolled, or flaked, or shredded. The majority of wheat breakfast foods contain a part of the middlings and many of them bran. Farina and gluten preparations do not contain these, however.

The preparations of the various breakfast foods are a secret of the manufacturers. The ready-to-eat brands are cooked, then they are either rolled or shredded, the shredding requiring special machinery to tear the steamed kernels; later they are dried, and, finally packed, sometimes in small biscuits. Many preparations are baked after being steamed, which turns them darker and makes them more crisp. Some preparations are steamed, then run through rollers, while still wet, and pressed into flakes or crackers.

Predigested Foods. It is claimed that some foods are “partly digested and thus valuable for those with weak stomachs,” but breakfast foods are largely starch and the starch is not digested by the gastric juice. It is digested by saliva and the ferments in the small intestine. These change the starch into dextrin and maltose.

Experiments with “predigested” foods do not show a larger proportion of dextrin (digested starch), however, than would naturally be produced by the heating of the starch when these foods are cooked at home. The natural cooking makes starch more or less soluble, or at least gelatinized. As a result of these experiments therefore, the “predigested” argument is not of much weight.

Predigested foods, except in cases in which the patient is so weak as to be under the direction of a physician, are not desirable. Nature requires every organ to do the work intended for it, in order to keep up its strength, just as she requires exercise for the arms or legs to keep them strong. If an organ is weak, the cause must be found and corrected—perhaps the stomach or intestines need more blood, which should be supplied through exercise; or perhaps the nerves need relaxation; or the stomach less food; or food at more regular intervals.

Another argument against predigested foods lies in the fact that the chewing of coarse food is necessary to keep the teeth strong. For this strengthening of the teeth, children should be given dry crackers or dry toast each day.

Dogs and wild animals which chew bones and hard substances do not have pyorrhea, but lap-dogs and animals in the zoos, fed on bread and meat without bones, suffer from this disease.

In the so-called “predigested” or “malted” preparations, malt is added while they are being cooked.

Malt is a ferment made from some grain, usually from barley, the grain being allowed to germinate until the ferment diastase is developed.

There is no doubt that a number of foods containing malt are valuable to assist in converting starch into dextrin or sugar, just as pepsin is an aid in the digestion of protein; but eaten indiscriminately, there can be no question that it is more important for the teeth, stomach, and intestines to perform their natural work and thus keep their strength through normal exercise.