Part 3 (1/2)

FOOD

Section I--Quant.i.ty of Food

The body has often been compared to a blacksmith's forge, the lungs being the bellows and food the coal. The comparison is a good one, for food is actually burned in the body by the aid of the air we breathe.

[Sidenote: Calories]

All food is capable of being used as body-fuel and by far the greater part of it is so used. Consequently, food is measured in fuel-units, called calories. Many people eat too much, that is, too many calories; some eat too little, that is, too few calories. In both cases the person is usually unaware of the fact, because he makes the mistake of measuring his food by its weight or bulk. Some foods are concentrated, that is, contain many calories of food value in a given bulk; others are bulky, that is, contain few calories in a given bulk. For instance, olive oil is concentrated, and most vegetables are bulky. A third of an ounce of olive oil contains 100 calories, which is as much as is contained in a pound or more of tomatoes, lettuce, celery, cuc.u.mbers, string beans, asparagus, or watermelon.

It will help to give a picture of food values if, before going further, we note how much it takes of some of the common foods to make a given amount of food value, say 100 calories. It is surprising in how many cases the ordinary amount of food served at table happens to contain about 100 calories. We find 100 calories in a small lamb chop (weighing about an ounce); in a large egg (about 2 ounces); in a small side-dish of baked beans (about 3 ounces); in 1 cubic inches of cheese (about an ounce); in an ordinary side-dish of sweet corn (about 3 ounces); in one large-sized potato (if baked, about 3 ounces; if boiled, about 4 ounces); in an ordinary thick slice of bread (about 1 ounces); in one shredded wheat biscuit (about an ounce); in a very large dish of oatmeal (about 6 ounces); in a small piece of sponge-cake (about an ounce); in a third of an ordinary piece of pie (about 1 ounces); in three teaspoonfuls or 1 lumps of sugar (about 1 ounce); in a dozen peanuts (about ? of an ounce); in eight pecans (about an ounce); in four prunes (about 1 ounce); in two apples (about 7 ounces); in a large banana (about 4 ounces) in half a cantaloup (about 9 ounces); in seven olives (about 1 ounces); in a very large orange (about 10 ounces); in an ordinary pat of b.u.t.ter (about an ounce); in a quarter of a gla.s.s of cream (about 2 ounces); in a small gla.s.s of milk (about 5 ounces). (See SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES for ”Table of Food Values.”)

The ordinary sedentary man needs about 2,500 calories per day. But the larger the person (provided the bulk is due to muscle and active tissue and not to fat) or the more muscular the work he does, the more food he needs. It has been found that the number and activity of cells forming the organs and muscles and blood affect the food requirement.

[Sidenote: Favorable Weight]

Life insurance experience has clearly shown that weight, especially in relation to age, is an important factor in influencing longevity.

Except in the earlier ages of life, overweight (reckoned relatively to the average for that age) is a more unfavorable condition, in its influence on longevity, than underweight.

The question of whether an individual is really underweight or overweight can not be determined solely by the life insurance tables.

(See SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES, ”Influence of Build on Longevity.”) Some types who are of average weight according to the table, may be either underweight or overweight when considered with regard to their framework and general physical structure. Nevertheless, it should be remembered that notwithstanding the effort of life insurance companies to carefully select the favorable types of overweight and underweight, the mortality experience on youthful underweights has been unfavorable, and the mortality experience on middle aged and elderly overweights has been decidedly unfavorable. The lowest mortality is found among those who average, as a group, a few pounds over the average weight before age 35, and a few pounds under the average weight after age 35. That is, after the age of 35, overweight is a.s.sociated with an increasingly high death rate, and at middle life it becomes a real menace to health, either by reason of its mere presence as a physical handicap or because of the faulty living habits that are often responsible for its development.

[Sidenote: Overweight]

If there is a family tendency to overweight, one should begin early to form habits that will check this tendency. If considerable overweight is already present, caution is necessary in bringing about a reduction.

Barring actual disease, this can usually be done without drugs if the person will be persevering and faithful to a certain regime.

Constant vigilance is necessary, yet it is worth while when one considers the inconvenience as well as the menace of obesity.

After the age of 35, 15 to 20 pounds over the average weight should prompt one to take careful measures for reducing weight. Habits should be formed that will keep the weight down automatically, instead of relying upon intermittent attempts that are more than likely to fail. No matter how well one feels, one should take steps to keep out of the cla.s.s that life insurance companies have found to be undesirable as risks.

[Sidenote: Accessories]

One reason why many people eat great quant.i.ties of food without realizing it, is the common delusion that many articles such as candy, fruits, nuts, peanuts, popcorn, often eaten between meals, ”do not count.” Another common oversight is to overlook accessories, such as b.u.t.ter and cream, which may contain more actual food value than all the rest of a meal put together. Ice-cream and other desserts also have more food value than is usually realized. Nature counts every calory very carefully. If the number of calories taken in exceeds the number used by the body (or excreted unused), the excess acc.u.mulates in fat or tissue.

Thus, if some 3,000 calories are taken in each day and the calories used up or excreted are only 2,800, then 200 must be retained and acc.u.mulated in the body.

[Sidenote: Underweight]

A person who is not heavy enough can usually gain weight by following the general rules of hygiene, especially in the matter of increasing the fuel or energy foods. But he should not force himself to eat beyond his natural capacity to digest and a.s.similate the food, while overfatigue and exhausting physical exertion should be carefully avoided.

[Sidenote: Diet in Middle Life]

As age advances, the consumption of meat and all flesh foods should be decreased and that of fruit and vegetables, especially those of bulky character and low food value, such as lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, turnips, salsify, oyster-plant, watercress, celery, parsnips, should be increased.

[Sidenote: Diet in Hot Weather]

Generally the quant.i.ty of food should be slightly decreased in hot weather, when fewer calories are needed to sustain the heat of the body.

In particular, less meat should be eaten in the summer, on account of what is called the ”specific dynamic action of protein,” that is, the special tendency of meats and like foods to produce immediate heat.