WHAT DO YOU EAT?

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1396, 24 May 1923, Page 3

WHAT DO YOU EAT ?

.'■ man's health is determined by j wbai !u< eals. A well known physicij an recently declared thai .it least out j third of our ailments can be relieved I through diet alone. I would go even j further (says a Daily Mail writer). I j have just made an examination of the patients in a large London hospital and certainly not less than GO ! per cent of thuir illnesses are the direct result of eating too much or too ! little: more often the former. Kat ! the right kind and quantity of fond. I and yon will resist disease germs, ', which are constantly striving for | supremacy. Von need have little or i no fear of attack. I'm yon say, "How ! am I to know what is the right diet ' for me?" The common fallacy is to

1 oil( w 11;11 one desires. Is there not a i music hall song which says "A little of what yon fancy does yon good?" | Xol always: 1 know a man who is partial to game, hut every time lie indulges he has to spend three or foil!' days in lied. Goal is a sure sign post to him t,hat he is travelling in the wrong direction. To appreciate th< value of diet, we must grasp certain elementary truths. Let me illustrate what 1 mean. Here is an engine room containing the heating apparatus of a large building. The boilers may consume anthracite, patent fuel, coke or coal. A great deal depends upon the nature of the work. II is advisable to exercise the same care ill selecting our food as the engineer does it connection with his fuel. ft should he the kind the furnace of our bodies can utilise. Use too little and the waste tissues are not restored: too much, and the system becomes clogged. It is therefore obvious that what, is necessary is a properly balanced diet. The standard one, framed by Moldeschott. suggests the requisite proportion of food required by ia. person living in the British Tsles | and doing a moderate amount of manual work. If is as follows: Proteids 17?. per cent, fats 22?. per cent. I Carbo-hydrates fit) per cent. What do these technical terms I mean, and what are their functions? ! Protein is a builder of tissues and a ; restorer of waste, it determines the | framework of our body, and is found Jin lean meat, milk, fowl, fish and [ j eggs. Fats are to the body what fuel iis to a boiler. They regulate the j | temperature and produce energy. They I I also assist proteins for the developj merit of tissues, cream, suet, butter, j | bacon, all- contain a good percentage jof those essential fats. Carbo-hydva-j tes contribute to the formation of fat, j and are also applied indirectly, if : not. directly, to force production. They | include all kinds of sugars and syrup fruits. «.such as grapes, starches found |in wheat, maize, oats and rye. and i other cereals, and potatoes] The inii portance of diet is becoming more and j more recognised by the medical pro- | fession every day. Patients are adi vised to become familiarised with the value of foods. The knowledge is important in teh treatment of | disease as the knowledge of the mul- | tiplication table is to a financier, and it is as easy to understand as the j A.B.C.