BIG MEAT-EATERS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 16075, 13 March 1923, Page 9

BIG MEAT-EATERS

AND HOW WE BECAME SO. • A TALK WITH DIRECTOR OF SCHOOL HYGIENE. j “New Zealanders are ..big ineafiti eaters —probably they eat ;is much meat as any community- of people in the world. It is quite common for them to eat meat at every meal, and that means at least three and often four times a day. “ —Dr. E. It. Wilkins, Director of School Hygiene. Amplifying his statement (remarks the Dominion), Dr. Wilkins said that if was not good to cat so much meat, as it put an . undue strain upon the digestive organs, and made one ino.ro' liable to contract certain diseases than would be the case were they to cat meat with moderation, and go in more for fruit and vegetables. People at Home did not eat nearly so much meat as did the people of New Zealand, neither did Continental people, and,- in' liis opinion, they were the better for' it. Ho had concluded that New Zealanders liad become big meat-eaters through force of habit more than anything else. New Zealand was and always had been a great sheep-raising country, and, particularly in the early days, when food was required, it was customary to kill a sheep. Probably there were not enough in the fuinily tb consume it all in a day or t wo, so they ate it at every meal. They went strong on mutton in order that none should be wasted. Then again, the furmcr was often too busy with his sheep to lind time to raise vegetables. He had visited ninny farms, and it was always with a sense of surprise that he found so little time and spacp devoted to vegetables. In those hard pioneering days a strong meat diet might not have been so harmful, as the consumer had to do har'd manual labor from dawn till dark, but it was very .different now with many, and yet it was still the custom with people to have meat on the table at every megi.. Dr. Wilkins advocated a more varied diet, w,ith plenty of green vegetables and raw'fruit. Me maintained that cooked fruit -was not nearly so good as raw fruit, as much of its nutritive virtues vanished in .the cooking. Speaking of his own' experience in regard to food in relation to health, he said ho had never felt better in his life than when he lived on two meals a day in-his student days in Dublin. The professors used to tell him thatlie would lay himself open to all manner of complaints by not taking breakfast before ho attended lectures, but ho never did take any complaint, found liis mental powers vigorous, and took a greater pleasure in eating than would have, been the case wore lie eating'all day long. Ho strongly condemned any eating between meals, and warned parents that by feeding their children on chocolates, confectionery, and soft biscuits .they were guaranteeing bad teeth for t them, as such stuff was at the foundation of all dental disease.