THE PERFECT MENU

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 210, 18 August 1933, Page 13

THE PERFECT MENU

WHAT WE OUGHT TO EAT DOCTOR’S ADVICE ON DIET. NATION’S EXPERIMENTS. LONDON. July 9. Anomalous as it seems, although all human beings resemble an army which "marches on its stomach,” in that wc live, move and have our being on the food we at, people who give special attention to their diet are invariably called ‘‘cranks” by their friends, who consider it beneath their dignity to do otherwise than follow the general fashion. It was consideration of this question which led Dr. J. Neil Leitch, M.D., M.R.C.P., London, to found the London' School of Dietetics, as he told the representative of ‘‘The Observer” yesterday in the following interview. "As a medical man, the need for sound, and not cranky instruction on the subject of dietetics had so impressed me that last summer I started a series of lectures on the subject, which were attended by over sixty people. "At the end of the course they clamoured for more knowledge, so I wrote to the heads of Universities, training colleges and polytechnics to discover what definite courses of instruction were available for people who wished to go farther than the casual knowledge everyone picks up on so vital a subject. To my amazement, I found there was none, although diet might- be considered the bricks with which we build our bodies. "In the course of my practice it often occurred to me that if people could see, on the one hand, the enormous mass of food which they have eaten in their lives and, on the other, an' eight-ounce bottle of medicine which they expect will undo the harm done by their improper diet, they would realise the importance of the subject, as well as the diseases, apart from such well-recognised ones as gout and rheumatism, which are caused by faulty diet. Colds and penumonia, for instance, are often due to a shortage of vitamins, while obesity and constipation, the producer of grave consequences in the human organism, are usually matters of faulty foods. "Another reason for the establishment of my school is that much instruction and the work of committees on nutrition are over the head of the man in the street who, in the ultimate revision, stands in most need of instruction of such vital importance not only to his bodily and mental welfare, but to the economical direction of his affairs, for the price of food and the most advantageous methods of preparing it to enable him to make the best use of it are important factors in these days of enforced economy. PRACTICAL FACTS. "What the public really needs to know is how to increase the value of its food without increasing the cost; how to cook the food scientifically, without wasting its nutritive qualities; how, in other words, one cau live on tho dole, for every one does live on a dole—the amount he assigns to the cost of his food in his weekly budget. "In this way he learns to compare the nutritive value of different joints and different kinds of meat, vegetables, and fruit. Thus he soon discovers that beef-heart is as nourishing as sirloin, but considerably cheaper; again, he discovers that there is no difference in the prin contained in white meat and red, so that white meat is no better than red for gouty people, and he further learns that brown-shelled eggs are not more nutritious than white. "Again, many years ago, when the average daily quantity of proteid was said to be four and a half ounces for an adult, Professor Chittenden, of Washington, halved it, as the result of his experiments. His experiments and those of others, either on human beings or animals, cannot, however, give the whole truth of the story, for the human beings were experimented on for only a small fraction of their lives and the experiments on animals are not comparable with those of human beings. "The only real experiments have been those carried on by various nations and religions for generations. Meay’s work in India shows that the Bengalis live mostly on carbo-hydrates with very little protein, while the Sikhs take much more protein and much less carbo-hydrates, although they live in

the same environment and do the same work. "The result, after many generations, has been that tho Bengalis are about 15 per cent, under height and 15 per cent, under weight, and are unfit for recruiting into the army, while the Calcutta life insurance companies load their premiums ou their policies by about 25 per cent. BRITAIN AND BEEF. "The Sikhs, on the other hand, are the finest troops in India, and exceptional in physique. Summing up, it would not be unfair to say that the decay of the Eastern nations is due to eating rice, and that it is roast beef that has built the Briton.” “To go from generalities which interest few people to particulars which interest everybody, will you suggest,” I asked, a really scientific dietary which may be followed to mitigate the rigours of the dog days which we have been promised will be very hot this year!” "Obviously, it would be beyond your purpose and your space to indicate a dietary scheme for a week, but a day’s menu for tho usual meals —breakfast, luncheon, tea and dinner can be made up at follows:— Breakfast.—Grapefruit, soz; cornflakes, loz; 1 egg; 2 slices of whole wheat bread and butter; marmalade, one small spoonful; tea or coffee. Luncheon. —Fresh salmon, 2oz; salad (lettuce, tomato, cucumber, cress), 8oz; mayonnaise, one dessertspoonful; small helping of tapioca mould with a little cream. Tea.—l or 3 cups of tea; 1 slice of sponge cake. Dinner.—lced consomme; veal, 4oz; spinach, 3oz; baked potato, 3oz; fresh fruit salad, soz; 1 orange, a quarter of a banana, some raspberries, a quarter of an apple. "With luncheon and dinner, half a slice of bread and butter at each meal; the butter should be limited to one ounce a day and one pint of milk and three ounces of sugar are the allowances for the day. Tho allowance of sugar is adequate for the tea or coffee and for sweetening the fruit salad. Lemon and other fruit drinks may be taken liberally and water if desired. "In conclusion, let me say that the proteid, fat and carbo-hydrate contents of these menus have been accurately calculated so that no one will suffer any diminution in health by following this scheme which should enable the heat to be borne with equanimity.”