To combine foods in such a way as to supply all the needed elements, we should choose something from each of the different classes of food elements. There should also be among these such as supply sufficient cellulose and mineral. To illustrate this point, a few menus will be given that are extremely unbalanced, or one-sided, that we may understand more forcibly, by contrast, what a good meal is:
| 1. Soy bean soup | \ | |
| Lentil patties | | / | Too much building food |
| Cottage cheese | | | | Too concentrated |
| Custard pie | | \ | Too little bulk |
| Milk | / | |
| 2. White rice | \ | |
| Mashed potato | | / | |
| Spaghetti | | | | Too much fuel food |
| White crackers | | | | Too little bulk and mineral |
| Butter | | \ | Lacks building food (protein) |
| Cake | / | |
| 3. Vegetable soup | \ | |
| Wax beans | | / | Too little building food |
| Lettuce | | | | Too little fuel food |
| Stewed beets | | | | Too bulky |
| Bran biscuit | | | | Lacking in nourishment |
| Strawberries | / \ | Bad combination |
In order to make a balanced meal out of the above foods, it would be necessary to choose something from each of these unbalanced meals, and it would not be necessary to choose a large variety in order to supply the needs of the body. Upon examination, we find that bread (entire wheat) possesses properties which so nearly represent the constituent parts of the body as to make such bread ideal for the building up and keeping in repair of the human body. In the matter of building food (protein), bread contains about ten per cent, or about the recognized dietary requirement.
Bread is an exceedingly digestible food; and experiments taken as a whole show nearly ninety-eight per cent of the starch, or carbohydrate nutrients, and about eighty-eight per cent of the gluten, or protein constituents, assimilated by the body. See Snyder's "Human Foods," page 179; also table, page 23.
Many other grains, such as corn, oats, rye, barley, and rice, all contain heat- and energy-producing substances and tissue-forming elements in about the right proportion to meet the needs of the body. Exception is made of rice, which is slightly deficient in protein.
Bread of some kind, therefore, is the "backbone" of the meal. Around it are grouped the various fruits and vegetables for change and variety, alternating with one of the more solid foods, rich in protein, such as cottage cheese, eggs, nuts, or any of the various legumes, as peas, beans, lentils, etc. Of all the legumes, the soy bean takes the lead for building food, containing nearly twice the per cent of protein found in round steak. These more hearty foods should be used with discretion, especially during the summer months, when well baked breads, fruits, and green garden products constitute the ideal diet.
Potatoes, which are mostly starch, and eggs, which are largely albumen and fat, may be combined in such a way as to furnish all the needed elements in the right proportion. As rice is nearly all starch, and beans are rich in protein, these make an excellent combination. Nuts, rich in proteins and fats, and fruits, containing sugars and acids, also make an ideal combination. To a meal composed largely of rice and potatoes, which are deficient in fats, there may be added a little cream, a few ripe olives, a few nuts, or an egg, to give a well balanced ration.
The custom of eating a light lunch at noon, and reserving the heaviest meal for the close of the day, while actuated to a great extent by seeming necessities, or convenience, is not, as a rule, found a benefit to health. As a result of a hearty meal at night, the digestive process is continued through the sleeping hours; and though the stomach works constantly, its work is not properly accomplished. The sleep is often disturbed by unpleasant dreams; and in the morning, the person awakes unrefreshed, and with little relish for breakfast.
The practice of eating but two meals a day is generally found a benefit to health; yet under some circumstances, persons may require a third meal. This should, however, if taken at all, be very light, and of foods very easily digested, so that when we lie down to rest, the stomach may have its work all done, and it, as well as the other organs of the body, may enjoy rest.