CHRISTMAS AND THE DIGESTION.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, 24 December 1910, Page 4 (Supplement)

CHRISTMAS AND THE DIGESTION.

A DEFENCE OF THE XMAS PUDDING. Christmas is here again, and the little ones are looking forward gleefully to “plum-pudding" time.

I know when I was small I looked upon this as one of the principal reasons for rejoicing at the Christmas season. If I, as a child, had not been given my share of pudding, I know I should have felt cheated out of one of the chief Christmas iovs.

Of course I used to find out by bitter experience that I-was sure to l>o verv ill the next day. But wasn’t the delight of that Ohristmas-pudding worth it? “ In reality, however, Christmas plumpuddine- is a much-maligned object: and tak-ng into consideration the healthful ingredients that are used, and the way it is prepared, it ought

not to upset any ordinarily healthy child’s digestion. THE ONLY EVIL. The only real evil of the pudding is that it is misused, or, lather, eaten at the wrong time. A plum-pudding' contains more substances required for the needs of the body than almost any other form of diet. For instance, the bod?' requires nourishment to repair the waste of tissue that is always going on. All our movements—whether voluntary, such as those of the arms and legs, or involuntary, such as the movement of the heait and d:apbragm--use a certain amount of energy and waste tissue. 'I his waste must b” replaced if wo are to .go on living. Wc also need bodily' heat, as everv breath ixe exhale and ivory breeze that blows upon us Carrie.-- away, to some 6x10111,4116 store oi heat in the bodv. Starchv foodstuffs phiy their part in our diet in replacing ‘ the muscular energy we are constantly' using up. Tluse are represented in the breadcrumbs and fruits- with thdlr sugars - found in the much-maligned Christmaspndding. Th- material that is essential to keen tlie tissues nourished mi l active is nitrogenous, or proteid, food. This in found in the eggs in the pudding. Nitrogenous food also helps, in a minor way, to increase the bodily boat : but th” gi;e.at beat producers ar” the fats which we find in the suet, and tbes? also he 1 !? in the maintenance of the tissues. Finally, nearlv all the in-e-rcdie-'ffc.- +l-|p rlitdding contain a certain amount off mineral salt? V.bioh are so e<s”%tial to flic health of the bodv. A ME\I. IN IT<ELF. it can ensilv be soon that Uhristmas-pudding. containing all the required foods of the bodv, is reallv a meal in itself.

Of course, the nudding must h” ihoroughlv conked for the starchy ingiedients. though in an ordinary’ xvav so nourishing, are most indigestible if t! ' orr, '’Sh!X’ steamed or boiled. _ Another great, value of the pudding is that, cooked in tho manner custom demands. Hi- itor-s n f tIIP sn „ ar and fruits do not escape. IVhen it is steamed or boiled, the albumen of the rggs I-eeomes coagulated on the outside of the pudding, thus preventing tho water from entering, and the juices '■va sfanp.

The fault, then, is not so much with the pudding ns with the time we choose to eat it Being, as I have said, a me»l m its-lf. how eaj) we expect our digestive organs to stand it, on the top - Ot ?° r rich *"<l strong ood. The Chnstmas-pudding, eaten !> one. ieo>.’7.->s all the digestive inices £„ erin . t 2 ’° t '. for to own assimilation. ,7’ •. IS K npv 7 a ohance to L + '•? T7L "XLL th 3 "’Mom Keim? to oa it at the Christmas dinner, when thp . digestion is already overworked • \ jlr ,'stmns-pudding would soon eomo 1 other day™during ’the® ™ lighter “ th<? r<?St ' ° f the Keal