WHAT TO EAT AND WEAR IN HOT WEATHER
No faith should be placed in the so-called "hot-weather" foods. The cereals and other manufactured foods advertised as possessing marvelous qualities, have in reality no advantage. Some of them have more or less value as ordinary food, but they certainly possess no unusual superiority. Home cooking is the best in summer or any other time.
Great care should be taken to keep the system in the best possible condition. This will prove the most effectual safeguard against the heat. Some foods do not agree with certain individuals, and these should be carefully avoided in summer. Every person will have to judge for himself in this matter. Otherwise the diet should be balanced carefully so that enough, and yet not too much, is eaten. As much fruit as possible should be eaten, and meat never more than once a day. It is not well, however, to omit it entirely.
Food sustains the body through the heat it generates chemically, and it is therefore impossible to eliminate a certain heating effect. If the system is kept normal, however, and the diet properly balanced, this should not be felt. Work is performed by the body and energy expended. This must be replaced with the heat value of food. A certain amount of fat, starch, and the other constituents of a well-balanced diet is essential.
Fat meats and other forms of fat are the most heating of all foods and may be minimized in summer. The amount of food necessary is, of course, largely governed by the nature of the work performed by the individual. Brain workers can eat very little in the morning and during the day, reserving until evening the single heavy meal. If they have been doing this the year around they probably will be cooler during the morning and afternoon if a light breakfast and luncheon are eaten. It is not well, however, to make any radical change from one's regular habits.
Manual workers require more food, and the heavy meal had best be eaten in the middle of the day. All three meals should be substantial. There is no danger of eating too much if the system is not overburdened.
Not only is pork rich and fat, and therefore very heating, but it is the quickest of all meats to spoil. Veal also spoils very quickly if not kept at the proper temperature. Of all meats mutton has the best keeping qualities. Beef also keeps well and is a safe meat to eat in summer.
Flies are dangerous under any conditions, but particularly should they be avoided where meat is kept. The bacteria they carry thrive particularly on meat, and therefore are apt more rapidly to multiply than if deposited on some other food. Care should be taken to buy meat only from places where adequate protection is provided against flies.
It is of the greatest importance to keep the meat at a uniform cold temperature. It should not be allowed to become heated, and then cooled again. Some meat shops still keep the meat on open counters or hooks and replace it in the refrigerators at the close of the day. These shops should be carefully avoided. Modern methods provide glass-covered refrigerating counters which keep the meat cool while it is on display.
Meat should be kept at as low a temperature as possible. The ordinary refrigerator is at a little above freezing and temperatures at or below zero are preferable.