*******
DUPL
A 443079
DIET FOR
CHILDREN
(AND ADULTS)
LULU HUNT PETERS, M.D.
}
}

1837
ARTES
LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
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VERITAS
PLURIBUS UNUM
TUEBOR
SCIENTIA
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MUSIAŁANIAJNI
SI QUÆRIS-PENINSULAM AMŒNAM
CIRCUMSPICE
SUALI O IESUS
✰
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3475
P482

DIET FOR CHILDREN
(AND ADULTS)
AND
THE KALORIE KIDS
BY
LULU HUNT PETERS, A.B., M.D.
Author of
Diet and Health, With Key to the Calories
Formerly Instructor on Infant Feeding, Los Angeles County and
Clara Barton Hospitals, Los Angeles Medical Department,
University of California, Los Angeles; Pediatrician,
Los Angeles County Hospital; Attending Phy-
sician, Florence Crittendon Home,
Los Angeles, California
NEW YORK
DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY
7
→
→

1924
MU
COPYRIGHT, 1924,
BY DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY, INC.
· PRINTED in the U. S. A. BY
The Quinn & Boden Company
BOOK MANUFACTURERS
RAHWAY
NEW JERSEY
TO-24SM.
ģ
Ma
Tr
TO
ALICE AND DAWSON
MY SISTER'S CHILDREN
THE MEANEST KIDS
THAT EVER LIVED
(AT TIMES)
BUT
LORD! HOW I LOVE 'EM!
School
1039
ہے
cchine
2
FOREWORD
This little book is written as a response to the
numerous-exceedingly numerous-requests I have had
from mothers since I began my newspaper syndicated
health feature, "Diet and Health."
It is not written for dietitians, nurses, librarians,
physicians, nor social workers, though needless to say
we have not the least objections to their using it!
But it is to the mothers that it is addressed-to the
mothers, who know very little about the principles of
nutrition, many who perhaps do not know the difference
between a protein and a ptomain, a carbohydrate and a
carbuncle to the mothers who are anxious to learn,
and who have requested me to teach them.
So, here we are, mothers, in a little book just for you,
written by me, at your request. And, mothers, right
away let me tell you something that is very important
and helpful to you. The proper diet for your growing
children is practically the foundation diet for yourself
and the other adult members of your family.
Yes, it has been conclusively demonstrated that the
best foods for the normal health and growth in children
are also the best foods for the maintenance of health
in the adult. You can see how this will simplify matters
for you, for eating the right things yourself is the surest
and best way of getting your children to eat them. You
know how imitative they are. It is for this reason that
I have taken for the title of the book "Diet for Chil-
dren," and have tacked on, in parenthesis, "and
Adults.'
}
vii
viii
FOREWORD
However, we have to give special thought to this grow-
ing business. You and father have to eat to maintain
your proper weight and normal health. Your children
have to eat not only for health, but for the enormous
work of increasing their weight from fifteen to twenty-
five times what they weighed at birth.
I have given, to the best of my ability, the best ideas
of the scientific workers on nutrition; not fads, not hear-
say, but things we know.
Aside from my professors in the University of Cali-
fornia, and the New York and Harvard Post Graduate
Colleges, I am indebted to all my colleagues and to others
who have written on the subject of nutrition; and I am
indebted to Dr. Belle Wood-Comstock, of Los Angeles,
and Dr. W. H. O. Hoffman, pediatrician of Chicago, for
many helpful conferences. I thank them all.
Hoping that I have been able to present the subject
in a simple non-technical manner that you, the busy
home-makers, who perhaps have had no scientific train-
ing, can understand, and that you will like it and will
be repaid in the better health and happiness of yourself
and your children, is the wish that is nearest to my
heart right now.
You will find that I have brought out different points
on many subjects under different headings, and many
times I have repeated important points in order to more
fully impress them upon you, for by repetition we re-
member better.
The first chapters are on the principles of the foods.
Don't try to remember all the technical points, but do
read the chapters; for you will then be able to under-
stand more fully the reasons for the things I have ad-
vised, and you will find that the main points will stick.
We all know this. If we know the reason for doing
FOREWORD
a certain thing and we agree with it, we are very much
more apt to do the thing we should and we are not nearly
so apt to stop doing it.
Of course I judge from your letters that if I say you
should do a thing you are going to take it as gospel
truth. (It makes me scared when I remember how much
confidence you are showing in me.) But I do not want
you to do that, mothers. I want you to know my rea-
sons for advising any certain procedure, so that instead
of doing a thing because I say do it, you are going to
do it because of the reasons for doing it; and you will
remember these reasons long after you forget that it was
from my writings that you got them.
You must know the elements of the science of nutri-
tion, and it has to be pretty solid reading. When I
signed with my publishers for this book they said they
hoped I would put in as much fun as I did in "Diet and
Health, with Key to the Calories," my book on and for
fat people. But you know, mothers, that couldn't be
done.
Any one can have fun with a subject on fat people,
because fat people have been the source of jokes from
time immemorial, even though it really is no joke to
be fat. (I know! It's past history, thank Allah!) But
the subject of the nutrition of children, especially the
half-starving ones, does not lend itself to any funny
treatment. Don't skip the chapters dealing with the
different food elements. Wade through them woman-
fully.
Atta, Mothers!
New York, 1923.
L. H. P.
CHAPTER
I
II
III
IV
V VITAMINS
VI
VII
VIII
IX
CONTENTS
FOREWORD
ELEMENTS NEEDED BY THE SYSTEM
THE FOOD SEXTET
PROTEINS
CARBOHYDRATES AND FATS
PART I
MINERAL SALTS
WATER
BALANCED DIET
CALORIES
•
→
PART II
I WEIGHT
II
TEETH AND THOROUGH MASTICATION
FEEDING THE FIRST YEAR
III
IV
DIRECTIONS FOR THE DIET FROM 6 TO 12
•
•
MONTHS
V TABLE OF FEEDING FROM 6TH TO 12TH
MONTH
VI
DIRECTIONS FOR THE SECOND YEAR
VII TABLES OF FEEDING FROM 1 TO 2½ YEARS
TABLE OF FEEDING FROM 12TH TO 15TH
MONTH
PAGE
vii
3
7
11
17
22
36
48
53
56
8888
81
86
90
96
99
103
103
TABLE OF FEEDING FROM 15TH TO 18TH
MONTH
104
TABLE OF FEEDING FROM 112 TO 21/2 YEARS 105
xi
1
B
xii
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
VIII DIET AFTER 212 YEARS
IX MENU PLANNING
X MENU PLANNING (CONTINUED)
XI
SAMPLE MENUS
XII
THE SCHOOL LUNCH
XIII
RECIPES
PART III
THE MALNOURISHED CHILD.
THE FAT CHILD
I
II
III
FASTING
IV FEVERS
V ACIDOSIS
VI AUTOINTOXICATION AND THE INTESTINAL
FLORA
•
•
XX
XXI WORMS
•
•
VII ASTHMA
VIII OBSTRUCTIVE ADENOIDS AND TONSILS
BED WETTING (ENURESIS)
CONVULSIONS
IX
X
XI
CONSTIPATION
XII DIABETES
XIII
DIARRHEA
XIV DIRT EATING AND NAIL BITING
XV GOITER (ENLARGED THYROID) AND THE
THYMUS GLAND
XVI RICKETS (RACHITIS)
XVII
TUBERCULOSIS
XVIII
SCURVY
XIX SKIN DISORDERS
•
ECZEMA
HIVES (URTICARIA)
ACNE
WHOOPING COUGH
•
•
•
PAGE
107
115
123
127
134
137
157
172
179
182
185
188
191
192
194
197
199
201
203
· 205
207
213
216
217
218 -
218
219
220
223
224
CONTENTS
xiii
PART IV
I FOOD POISONING (INFECTIONS, PTOMAINES,
BOTULISM)
II FOOD IDIOSYNCRASIES AND BAD FOOD COM-
CHAPTER
BINATIONS
III CANDY
IV CEREAL GRAINS
V EGGS
VI FRUITS
VII MEAT
VIII MILK
IX
VEGETABLES
X SHALL WE USE NO SALT?
XI POISONS AND THEIR ANTIDOTES
•
ᏢᎪᎡᎢ Ꮩ
THE KALORIE KIDS. FOR THE KIDDIES
INDEX
PAGE
231
235
242
247
252
254
257
260
276
280
283
291
307
f
}
ILLUSTRATIONS
Effect of vitamins on white mice
Effect of different foods on pigeons
Milk made the difference
Watch our weight chart
}
FACING PAGE
24
30
262
284
1
1
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PART I
ጎ
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+
*
DIET FOR CHILDREN
CHAPTER I
ELEMENTS NEEDED BY THE SYSTEM
"THE making of a well-balanced and well-organized
dietary requires several hours a day of careful calcu-
lating." No, no, not my words, mothers! I got them
from a book on child welfare. It is a most excellent book,
but I disagree with the author on this point.
Can you see yourself finding time to spend several
hours a day calculating your menus? I can't. Nor do
I believe it is necessary. I think if you know the gen-
eral principles of diet you will be able to feed your fam-
ily a well-balanced and well-organized dietary without
anywhere near several hours a day of careful calculating.
But, mothers (I am going to address you as "mothers'
throughout, for it seems more as though I were talking
directly to you. However, I include fathers, grand-
mothers, aunts and any other persons who are inter-
ested enough in some child to be reading this)-but,
mothers, you must know those general principles of diet.
So let's jump right into them and get it over with.
✓
3
>>
You know that an improper diet for the chil- What You
Already Know
dren (and adults) for any length of time causes
a slowing down of physical and mental growth, an in-
stability of the nervous system, a lowered resistance to
infection, a lowered power to recuperate after disease
and a shortening of life.
!
•4
DIET FOR CHILDREN
You know now as never before that a correct diet is
one of the biggest factors-we can really say THE biggest
factor-in the maintenance of health of the individual,
and the maintenance of health in the individual means
the maintenance of health in the race.
But the race does not concern you right now. What
you are interested in right now is what you can do
specifically in this eating line to improve and keep im-
proved the boy and the girl in your own particular
family; and you know that if you do your share in this
particular job, the race will take care of itself. So let
us get down to this particular job in hand.
What You
Must Do
You must supply food for:
1. Proper Functioning
2. Growth and Repair
3. Energy and Heat
All these are closely interwoven and dependent on
each other and we only separate them for purposes of
study.
If you don't furnish food for proper functioning, you
won't have growth and repair. If you don't have growth
and repair, you won't have energy. If you don't have
energy, growth and repair, you won't have proper func-
tioning. If you don't have all three of them, you won't
have HEALTH.
This spells
HEALTH
Now, before we get down to the particular foods and
the specific directions, I think we had better have a little
general knowledge and some definitions so that I won't
have to be making explanations of the terms we use as
I go along.
The
Elements
So let us begin right with the elements that the
human body is composed of and which we furnish
ELEMENTS NEEDED BY THE SYSTEM
5
LO
to our bodies in the foods we eat, as we cannot take them
directly from the air and soil. Plant cells alone have
this ability. They have the power to convert the light
and heat of the sun into the chemical energy that can
combine with the elements of the air and soil and convert
them into living cells. Because, as I have said, we can-
not do this, we have to take the elements secondhand
through the plants, and, if we eat animal foods (and it
is very difficult to get all of the elements we need unless
we do eat some animal foods, especially milk), then we
take them thirdhand.
I will give you a table of the most important of these
elements, with their percentages.
It is not necessary for you to remember the full list,
but if for any reason you might want to, you can
remember them by the mnemonic which I have placed
before the names. It is one I worked out when I was
a student and had to memorize them. The initial letter
of each word gives the initial letter of the element as
listed in the order of amounts. "O. C. Here. Now
Come, Pete! Please stop such chaff! Many indignant
Indians fidget. 'Sdeath!"' That doesn't make much
sense, but it will serve its purpose.
The only elements I want you to remember are
the ones represented by the initials of Now, Come,
Pete and Indignant Indians-nitrogen, calcium, potas-
sium, iron and iodin. Juggling the initials of these ele-
ments around, and if you use calcium a second time-and
that is all right to do because we do have to give more
than one thought to the calcium-you get the word
"Picnic." Remember the PICNIC. I'll explain why
later.
The Picnic
6
DIET FOR CHILDREN
0.
C.
THE ELEMENTARY COMPOSITION OF THE BODY
From "Sherman's Chemistry of Food and Nutrition,"
(Courtesy of Macmillan Company).
Here.
Now
Come
Pete!
Please
Stop
Such
Chaff!
Many
Indignant
Indians
Oxygen, about
Carbon, about
Hydrogen, about
Nitrogen, about
Calcium, about
Iron, about
Iodine *
Fidget.
Fluorine
'Sdeath! Silicon
·
Phosphorus, about
Potassium, about
Sulphur, about
Sodium, about
Chlorine, about
Magnesium, about
瘋
​•
D
•
* •
•
•
►
•
•
•
PER CENT
65
18
10
3
•
•
•
{
•
Độ
•
~ ~
2
1
0.35
0.25
0.15
0.15
0.05
0.004
Very minute quantities
Very minute quantities
Very minute quantities
By means of these elements furnished by the ma-
ternal blood, the human embryo of much less than a
grain grows to a seven-pound baby. Then by means
of the same elements furnished mostly by some mother's
milk-human, we hope-it grows to a twenty-pound
baby. Then by means of those elements furnished by
every edible animal and plant that roams the field it
grows perhaps to a 250-pound baby. (Some baby!
Now he has to reduce and get rid of some of his ele-
ments.)
*The "e" is left off in the newer spelling.
CHAPTER II
THE FOOD SEXTET
THE elements which the plants take from the sun, air
and soil are converted by them into six great classes
of foodstuffs, which we will call "The Food Sextet."
They are: fats, carbohydrates, proteins, essential salts
(sometimes called mineral salts, or mineral elements or
ash), vitamins and water. These are intimately mixed
in different proportions in each plant; the different pro-
portions making the characteristic flavor of the plant.
By the term plants we are including vegetables, fruits,
nuts: anything that grows from the soil.
It is interesting to know that the large plants
we can see depend upon countless microscopic
plants which we cannot see without the aid of
powerful magnifying glasses. These microscopic plants
are known as "bacteria" (germs and microbes mean
the same). They set the elements free from the dead
plants and animal material in the soil, by causing
what we know broadly as decay, and some of them
furnish acids which cause the rock fragments to crum-
ble and give up their elements. After the bacteria
liberate the elements, plants can feed upon them. The
knowledge of the bacteriology of the soil is used by
farmers when they rotate their crops, use different kinds
of fertilizers, etc. This makes what is known as scien-
tific farming; courses are given in college on the subject.
You will be glad to know about these germs. Per-
You Will
Be Glad to
Know This
7
8
DIET FOR CHILDREN
haps you had thought that all germs were disease-pro-
ducing. In reality, there are not more than a few dozen
of these known disease-producing microscopic plants-
we might call them the weeds-among the bacteria, and
there are thousands of the good little microscopic plants.
which are of benefit to mankind aside from those of the
soil.
The Human
Body Machine
You must know a little something about this
Food Sextet and what each member supplies to
the body.
We often liken the human body to a machine, espe-
cially to a steam engine, because it has to be given fuel
in order to produce its power. Sherman has pointed out
that a gas engine is a better comparison, because the
energy comes from the chemical reaction of the fuel,
rather than from the heat itself, in both the gas engine
and the body.
Comparing the human machine to a gasoline engine,
he says we can think of the fats, proteins, and carbo-
hydrates as corresponding to the fuel; the proteins and
some of the mineral elements corresponding to the ma-
terials of which the machine is made; other mineral
elements corresponding to the lubricant: and the vita-
mins corresponding to the ignition sparks without which
the engine cannot run, no matter how perfect the other
supplies are. That's a clever and comprehensive com-
parison. Try to remember it.
Sherman didn't speak about water, but we all know
that we have to have the water for all of these things
to work in, for there is no chemical reaction without
water.
We must get the correct proportions and sufficient
amounts of each of The Food Sextet. Otherwise this
•
:
THE FOOD SEXTET
human living machine is not going to be able to function
properly. Remember that these food elements are in-
timately mixed in the foods as they come from nature-
man, not nature, refining some of them to their concen-
trated states. (Bad business for the human machine in
many cases because refining robs them of vitamins and
mineral elements.)
When we get the correct and sufficient proportions of
each member of The Food Sextet, then we will get what
we call a balanced diet. I'll go into that later. Just
now I'm going to give you a synopsis of The Food Sextet,
and then I shall give you a little more in detail about
each member before I come to more specific directions.
9
""
1. PROTEIN FOODS. The "meat" element in
food. For growth and repair. Meat and fish,
milk, cheese, egg whites, most nuts and legumes, are the
highest protein foods. MILK, the most valuable of these.
2. CARBOHYDRATES. Energy foods. Starches and
sugars. These are furnished largely in the cereals,
breads, sweets and vegetables, especially the legumes
(beans, peas, lentils) and tubers (potatoes, beets, tur-
nips, etc.). Other vegetables and fruits also contain
carbohydrates.
3. FATS. Growth and Energy foods. Cream, butter,
egg yolks, all oils and animal fats.
4. VITAMINS. The "live" elements of food, “ignition
sparks. They have much to do with regulating growth
and normal function; and the prevention of certain dis-
eases. Fresh vegetables and fruits; bran and germ of
grains; milk and egg yolks, and the glandular organs of
animals furnish the vitamins.
5. MINERAL SALTS. For the bones, teeth, and for gen-
eral functioning. Give a little special thought to phos-
The Food
Sextet
W
{
:
}
10
DIET FOR CHILDREN
phorus, iron, calcium, nitrogen, iodin and calcium again.
That's our "Picnic." Foods containing the largest
amounts same as the vitamins.
6. WATER. The body is over % water. Must furnish
sufficient.
We will go a little more in detail on our Food Sextet
in the next chapter.
1
}
:
CHAPTER III
PROTEINS
We can think of proteins as the living substance of plants
and animals. Proteins are sometimes defined as that
element of the food which is used to build and repair
living tissue. It is a much more complicated substance
than are the carbohydrates and fats.
In order to have this living substance, protein, in the
body to make up its tissues, we must eat protein-be-
cause protein has to be made from protein. Fat can be
built from fat or carbohydrates; but muscles, bones and
all of the tissues must have protein or else they can
neither build nor repair themselves.
White of egg is practically pure protein and water;
lean meat and fish, casein of milk, gluten of wheat, are
examples of other high protein foods.
Proteins consist, as do carbohydrates and fats, of Nitrogen
carbon, hydrogen and oxygen; but in protein
there are also the elements nitrogen and sulphur, and,
in some proteins, phosphorus, iron and other minerals.
But it is nitrogen which is the element of protein that
is characteristic and which we cannot get in any other
food except protein. Living tissues must have nitrogen,
therefore the importance of protein foods.
When proteins are digested or broken down
chemically it is found that they consist of a num-
ber of simpler substances we call amino acids.
There are forty of these acids that are known in chemis-
Complete and
Incomplete
Proteins.
11
12
DIET FOR CHILDREN
1
try, but only eighteen which build themselves into the
body tissues. Therefore we call these eighteen amino acids
"building stones. "Proteins that contain these eighteen
building stones we cali complete proteins; and we must
have them, else we won't be complete. They are
furnished mostly by the animal kingdom. Most of the
foods from the vegetable kingdom do not contain all
these building stones, so their proteins we call incom-
plete.
Children will not grow normally nor maintain their
health if these incomplete proteins are the only proteins
furnished in their diets. (Adults will not maintain
their health, either, if incomplete proteins are used ex-
clusively.) However, this does not mean that the pro-
teins of plant life are not very valuable foods, it simply
means that they must not be depended upon for all of
the protein needed.
We believe that at least two-thirds of the proteins
required by children for their growth and repair should
be from the complete or animal protein list.
Milk:
A Complete
Protein Food
Because milk is the only food that is intended
by nature to support the higher animal life in
its infancy, it must of necessity contain a sufficient
amount of the best form of protein to build animal
tissue. The protein in seeds is intended by nature for
the building of plants. So while seed protein is good,
it is incomplete for animal life.
A child must have milk-and good, clean milk; for
milk is just as good a food for bacteria as it is for the
child. If the milk should happen to be contaminated
with tuberculosis or typhoid or scarlet fever or other dis-
eases, then your child would be liable to infection from
them.
PROTEINS
13
Cereals have incomplete proteins. That is why
milk with its complete protein should be taken
with them. Your growing child should have at least a
pint and a half-and if undernourished or very active,
a quart—of milk a day, to be sure of this valuable supply
of this complete protein. If he gets this amount of milk,
a large proportion of his needs for complete protein and
a wonderful supply of calcium will be furnished. All of
this milk need not be taken in the form of drinks; some
may be taken in the form of simple custards, soups or
sauces, and cheese.
Cereals
Incomplete
Milk is so important a part of our children's diet
that I am going to have a complete chapter on it later.
Other foods besides milk that have complete
proteins are meat-especially the meat of glan-
dular organs such as liver, kidneys, sweetbread
and brain-most nuts, and eggs. The soy bean, a Chi-
nese bean that is being used in this country now, also
has a complete protein. The proteins of legumes-
peas, beans and lentils—are incomplete proteins and
should not be depended upon for the chief supply on
account of this. The peanut, although listed as a
legume, has a complete protein. While the proteins of
potatoes and rice are not complete, still they are of an
excellent quality.
Other
Complete
Proteins
Gelatin is an animal protein, but it is incomplete;
flavored with fruit juices, and made into simple pud-
dings, it is a good basis for energy foods.
Adults need protein simply to repair their tis-
sues, their physical growth having ceased. Your
children must have protein not only for repair,
but for growth. When we realize that the period of de-
The Amount
of Protein
Necessary
14
DIET FOR CHILDREN
:
!
wwwwww
!
velopment or growth covers nearly one-fourth of a cen-
tury, and that at maturity there is approximately twenty
times the birth weight and twenty times the amount of
protein in the body that there was at birth, we can
realize that children must have a large amount of pro-
tein for this business of growing.
Let me emphasize again the importance of complete
proteins. About two-thirds of the proteins in the diet,
and especially in the diet of children, should be com-
plete proteins. The reason for this is not only for their
complete supply of building properties, but because the
vegetable proteins are combined with large amounts of
carbohydrates, and depending upon too much carbohy-
drate-combined protein might make the diet too bulky
and over-high in total energy food.
Protein Needs It is estimated that one-half of the protein the
of Children
child needs goes into new tissue-new child! So
you can see that children will need relatively more
protein than adults. For instance, if we take 10 per
cent of the total diet as the average amount of protein
needed by an adult, then at least 15 per cent should
be allowed for the child.
It is only by studies of groups of healthy, normal,
well-developed children, presumably getting the right
food in right proportions, that we can get data on the
amount of protein and other food elements needed by
children. The reports of Holt, in such a study of one
hundred children ranging in age from one to eighteen
years, agreed with the reports of other investigators.
Holt found that at the age of one year the protein taken
averaged seven calories per pound. This gradually
diminished to about four and one-half calories when the
PROTEINS
15
child was six years of age, and remained about this
value or slightly below to the end of growth. He thinks
this amount of protein may be regarded at present as
the best amount for the growing child.
The average adult, according to the Chittenden
standard-which by many is considered too low-
needs approximately one and one-half calories of pro-
tein per pound of body weight. So you can see that the
above standard for children after their first year is
more than twice as much per pound as is needed by
adults.
Adult Needs
Human mother's milk does not contain a high
proportion of protein. This fact is sometimes
stated to advance the theory that a low protein
allowance is indicated for children. However,
the reason the nursing babies get along on this low
amount of protein is because the protein of mother's
milk is the very highest form of complete protein and
can all be utilized by the child. It has twice the amount
that cow's milk has of lactalbumen-a protein that con-
tains the most important growth factors, and which we
have learned from experience babies must have in full
amounts or they will not grow normally, nor be well.
Therefore, we have to give babies twice or even three
times the amount of protein when they are artificially
fed, so that they shall have their full amount of this
growth protein, lactalbumen. One of the reasons for
the failure of the condensed milk formulas when they
are used exclusively is because of their low protein con-
tent as well as because of their low fat and too high
sugar content.
Human
Mother's
Milk
Supermilk
16
DIET FOR CHILDREN
Danger in
Excess Protein
Of course there is danger of excess protein in
children's diets, as there is in the diets of adults.
Excess protein tends to cause putrefaction with its
resultant absorption of toxins or poisons. However, in
the growing child, the danger is more on the side of too
little protein in its diet rather than too much, because
very little meat should be given a child, while with the
adult it is usually the excess meat in the diet that causes
the excess protein.
Later, I will give you protein values of the principle
foods in the Table of 100-Calorie Portions of Foods.
This will help you to judge whether your child is getting
sufficient protein in its diet. For instance, if he is six
years old and weighs 43 pounds, he should have, com-
puting at 41½ calories per pound, 190 calories a day of
protein, at least.
I'm going to tell you about calories later so you will
easily understand them. Don't worry about them now.
I will also tell you how you can compute the protein,
approximately, without bothering about the calories.
.:
CHAPTER IV
CARBOHYDRATES AND FATS
CARBOHYDRATES
CARBOHYDRATES are the starches, sugars, and cellulose.
Cellulose is the woody fiber of plants-we might call it
the bones of the plant. Most of the cellulose is not di-
gested, so sometimes it is classed by itself. It is neces-
sary in the diet to furnish the bulk which seems essential
for the normal daily evacuation of the bowels.
Chemically, the carbohydrates are composed of oxy-
gen, carbon and hydrogen, the first three elements on our
list of elements needed by the system. The hydrogen
and the oxygen are combined as they are in water, so
we can think of the carbohydrates as being composed of
water and carbon. The name carbo-hydrate (hydrate;
water) is based on this fact. The different proportions
of water and carbon combined make the different kinds
of starches, different kinds of sugars, and different kinds.
of fruit acids-fruit acids are also partly carbohydrates.
The carbohydrates are supplied almost exclusively by
the vegetable kingdom, furnishing a large per cent of
the food element in fruits, grains and vegetables. The
biggest exception is the milk sugar in milk.
Carbohydrates and fats, and to a limited extent, the
proteins, furnish the fuel that produces the energy and
heat needs of the body.
It is considered that at least three-fifths of our
food for our energy and heat should be in the
carbohydrate group. It has been proved that a certain
Amount
Needed
17
18
DIET FOR CHILDREN
amount of carbohydrates is necessary to burn the fats
properly in the body. Reduction menus cutting out all
carbohydrates are dangerous.
We get fats from both animal and vegetable sources.
Fats are built up, just as are the carbohydrates, from
carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, only in different propor-
tions and combinations. They contain more carbon and
hydrogen than do the carbohydrates; therefore, they are
a more concentrated food and will supply more energy
than the other foods. In fact, fats produce two and a
quarter times the energy that an equal weight of pro-
tein and carbohydrates do.
FATS
Each animal and plant produces a fat that is char-
acteristic of itself. You know this from the looks and
taste of the different fats. Pork fat tastes different
from mutton fat, etc. It might be interesting to you
to know that when an animal eats large amounts of a
certain type of fat exclusively, that type of fat is found
in his tissues as well as his own type of fat. (Beware
of how much pork you eat! For this as well as for other
reasons.)
Combined Fat
The animal body makes its fat from carbohy-
drates and fats, and to a degree from proteins.
Fats are very necessary in the diet, but many of us
take altogether too much free fat in our diets. It is
better to take most of the fats in the form of combined
fat-that is, fat as it is combined in nuts, olives, egg
yolks, and cream-than it is to have so much free fat.
However, the free fat in butter is very valuable because
it has a large per cent of the valuable fat-soluble vita-
邊
​CARBOHYDRATES AND FATS
19
mins which are preventive of certain eye diseases and
rickets. (We'll have more on vitamins later.) (Cream
is not classed as a free fat. It is an emulsified fat,
but becomes free when it is churned into butter.)
In the normal digestion-in the intestines-fats are
converted first into what we call fatty acids. Then these
are broken down to carbon dioxide (CO2) and water
(H2O). This chemical breaking down sets free heat
and energy.
These final or "end" products, carbon
dioxide and water, are eliminated through the lungs,
the skin and the kidneys.
Friendly Fat
Fraternity,
Take Notice
Now if we eat more fat than can be fully oxi-
dized or broken down to carbon dioxide and
water, one of two things may happen. First, the
fat elements may recombine into fat. This fat tucks
itself away in the tissues. This may be desirable or un-
desirable, depending upon how much is already tucked
away. Or, second, this may happen: the excess fat may
break down to the fatty acid stage and not be able to
go any farther. This upsets the system in general and
the skin will be more susceptible to eczema, pimples, boils,
etc., and the mucous membranes tend to become catar-
rhal.
Fried foods should be eaten in great moderation be-
cause some of these fatty acids are formed and because
the coating of fat deposited by frying slows down the
digestion of the foods so treated. In some cases they
may retard digestion so much that more or less stagnation
is produced, with its resulting putrefaction and auto-
intoxication. Fried foods certainly should be avoided
in the diets of children, especially the younger chil-
dren.
You know how offensive and strong rancid fat is.
20
DIET FOR CHILDREN
This is because the fat is decomposed into some of its
fatty acids. This gives you an idea of fatty acids and
the importance of not giving the system more fats than
it can handle.
Excess
Fat and
Adolescence
During adolescence-that period of life from
puberty (the beginning of adult life) to early
maturity-we have some evidence acquired
through animal experimentation that much free fat
with its excess fatty acid formation may be a factor
in upsetting the thyroid gland, thus helping to produce
goiter. I'll tell you more about goiters later.
It is considered that from 25 to 30 per cent
of the diet of adults should be from fats. This
does not mean, of course, 25 to 30 per cent free fat.
Holt advises that children should have 35 per cent
fat. Other authorities are not fully in accord with him
here. We might take the middle ground. Until further
work is done in carefully checking up the diets of nor-
mal children, we cannot make positive statements re-
garding fat.
Fat Needed
However, inasmuch as fat as an energy food is two
and a quarter times greater than carbohydrates, it seems
that a fairly liberal allowance of the combined fats,
and good, fresh butter (for its vitamins as well as its
energy) should be allowed children, so they will not
have to overeat of the more bulky foods for their energy
needs. We know this for sure: unless children get suf-
ficient energy foods, their weight and growth will suffer.
If nature were only a little more perfect so that in-
stead of stopping the growth activities, she would auto-
matically make a child stop his play activities when the
CARBOHYDRATES AND FATS
21.
:
energy supply was exhausted, we would not have to be
so particular to supply children's energy needs. How-
ever, an excess of free fats must be avoided for the rea-
sons I have given.
i
i
A
5
CHAPTER V
VITAMINS are certain live elements in food whose chem-
ical composition has not yet been determined, but whose
presence in the diet is absolutely necessary for growth,
proper functioning and maintenance of health. "Igni-
tion sparks," Sherman has called them. They used to
be called "vitamines," because Funk, one of the original
investigators in these food factors, thought they were
amines, a protein product, and he called them "vita-
mines''
to indicate how vital they were. It is not
thought now that they are amines, but the name has
become so well known that it has been thought best to
keep it with the final "e" omitted, leaving the word
"vitamin," which does not give the implication that
they are amines.
Not Fads
VITAMINS
Let me assure you, mothers, vitamins are not
a fad nor an obsession, even though they have
been put into a little disrepute by the wild advertising
of some commercial concerns which have been putting
up for sale, in concentrated forms, what they call vita-
mins. While scientific research has shown that drug-
store vitamins are valueless, it is showing all the time
that the vitamins of certain foods are absolutely neces-
sary for health.
Some Main
Points About
Vitamins
1. With the exception of a few preserved foods,
vitamins are present only in fresh foods. They
are produced by the vegetable kingdom, and some
*22
VITAMINS
23
animal foods possess them because the animals have
consumed the vitamin-bearing foods from the vegetable
kingdom.
2. The animal body does not store vitamins very long,
perhaps not longer than a few weeks in man.
3. Vitamins are essential to all of the tissues of the
body, especially the nerve tissues.
4. Vitamins are essential for:
(a) Growth
(b) Reproduction and Lactation
(c) Proper Functioning
(d) Disease Resistance
If the diet is deficient in vitamins, certain "deficiency"
diseases may result. Scurvy, beriberi-a severe nervous
and intestinal disorder-and zerophthalmia-a severe
eye inflammation-have been known to develop. Other
diseases besides these are being proved to be at least
partially deficiency diseases. Pellagra, a terrible disease
of the poor of the South, so common that it is a national
problem, and rickets, a disease of babies and young
children and young animals, are included in this class.
Tuberculosis may possibly be in this class, also. That
is, the T.B. germ is much more liable to infect those
whose diet is deficient in vitamins.
In fact, almost any disease will have a better field to
flourish in when the diet is deficient in vitamins. But
we must not forget that the same thing can happen
when the diet is deficient in other vital elements as well
as in vitamins.
5. There are three vitamins which all of the research
workers agree on at this writing. They are all necessary
24
DIET FOR CHILDREN
for growth, reproduction and lactation, and proper func-
tioning, as well as for the prevention of disease.
They are called:
(1.) Anti-ophthalmic, or Fat Soluble A, Vita-
(2.) Anti-neuritic, or Water Soluble B, Vita-
(3) Anti-scorbutic, or Water Soluble C, Vita-
min.
min.
The Calories
Move Over
min.
Research work is now being done on cod-liver oil and
some other foods, which may prove that they have a
specific vitamin, which will be called Anti-rachitic, or
Vitamin D.
Up to the time of the vitamin investigations it
had been thought that if the proteins, carbohy-
drates, fats and mineral salts were in right proportions
in the diet, and there were enough calories of them con-
sumed, nutrition would be theoretically correct.
We had known that we must have some fresh foods
to prevent scurvy, and that we must not live on a diet
of polished rice or we would get the terrible nerve dis-
ease, beriberi, but we had not given these things their
proper significance. We did not know why certain foods
were incomplete and would apparently cause disease,
or what were the properties of other foods which made
them of sufficient value to cure these diseases.
Now we know that there are other food factors be-
sides proteins, carbohydrates, fats and mineral salts, and
other values to food aside from the energy or caloric
values, protein and mineral salt values. But this does
not mean in the least that we have discarded our knowl-

THESE WHITE MICE WERE OF THE SAME LITTER. THE VIG-
CROUS BRIGHT-EYED HEALTHY ONE RECEIVED RATIONS COMPLETE
IN VITAMINS AND MINERAL ELEMENTS. THE OTHER DID NOT.
VITAMINS
25
edge that we had before. Not at all! These food fac-
tors have simply moved over a little and have made
room for the vitamins. It may be that further investi-
gations will disclose some other food factors, and then
the vitamins will have to edge over a little to make room
for them.
Occasionally you hear it said that, now the vitamins
have been discovered, calories have been discarded. But
this is not true. To discard our knowledge of calories,
for instance, because we have discovered the vitamins,
would be similar to discarding a vital part of our auto-
mobile when we discovered the car was not running
right and found it necessary to add another part to
make it go. That would be foolish, wouldn't it?
Now let me digress a bit and tell you a little about
how foods are tested and diseases studied in the biologi-
cal laboratories.
I
In the last fifteen years we have learned more The Biological
about scientific nutrition than we did in a hun-
Method
dred years previous. The chief reason is because we
have used the biological method of studying much more
than formerly. The biological method means the study
of the effects of foods on animals and man. The
chemical laboratories have taught us a good deal, but
they have their marked limitations.
It is a most interesting experience to visit a biological
nutrition laboratory. The animals are usually caged
and are given the most tender and zealous care. Ac-
curate records are kept of the amounts and kinds of
food given them and of every reaction that is brought
about by these foods. The animals' activities and dis-
positions-in fact, everything they do are recorded as
carefully as a hospital patient's reactions would be.
26
DIET FOR CHILDREN
?
The research workers and the attendants be-
come very fond of these animals and have their
individual favorites, and they often given them pet
names. In the Forsythe Dental Clinic in Boston, for in-
stance, two beautiful little monkeys being fed to demon-
strate the value of certain diets on teeth were called
Mary and Doug.
When I was there Doug had begun to develop systemic
disturbances, pyorrhea and tooth decay on a diet that
was deficient in green stuffs and milk. His usual cheer-
fulness and friskiness were absent, and he was altogether
in the dumps. Mary, who was receiving the same diet
as Doug, with the addition of milk and greens, was her
usual vivacious self, eyes bright and starry, teeth shiny
white and perfect.
Mary
and Doug
Dr. Howe's experiments at this laboratory have shown
the effects of a deficient diet on the teeth and jawbones,
not only on Doug, but upon numerous anonymous guinea
pigs.
The common rat is one of the great scourges of
the world, both in transmitting plague and de-
stroying foodstuffs, but a few rats have at last found a
use they are contributing a good deal to our knowledge
of foods and disease. The rat, like man, is omnivorous
—that is, it eats everything; its tissues, therefore, must
need in general the same food elements that the human
tissues do. It bears young when it is three months old
and has five litters before it is fourteen months old. So
the rat's diet also shows very soon its effects upon re-
production and the offspring.
Small animals, such as rats, mice, dogs, guinea pigs,
and monkeys, are usually used in these experimental
The Rat in a
New Rôle
VITAMINS
27
laboratories because the trouble of preparing and
the expense of food is very much less than it is
for the larger animals. The chief reason, however, for
their greater value for experimental purposes is that
they grow and reach maturity and reproduce in a much
shorter time than the larger animals, and the effects of
their diet will show not only on themselves, but on their
young, in a comparatively short time. Facts learned
from these experiments can be very rapidly accumulated.
To Study
Disease
For a study of deficiency diseases-rickets, for
instance-animals are given diets which will pro-
duce rickets in them. Different foods and other factors
are then applied to find their worth in effecting a cure.
Food Testing
The tests that are used to find out the different
properties of foods are, very briefly, as follows:
A certain food is given alone, and its effects noted over
a certain period. Then to this food being tested, other
foods will be added and their effects noted. For in-
stance, it has been found that grains, even though they
have all of the known elements, will not support growth,
and finally, the animal fed on grains alone will die long
before its time. Even the wheat grain, the most perfect
grain, is a very imperfect food used alone.
All of the grains have been tested and it has been
found that they all are deficient as a sole food. It is
largely because their proteins are not complete. It has
been discovered that a large part of the leafy part of
the plants with their growing cells-the active part of
the plant must be included in the diet to supplement the
deficiency in the seeds and the roots or tubers, which are
the storage parts of a plant.
28
DIET FOR CHILDREN
¿
Į
i
!
McCollum probably has done as much if not
more work in this line than any other investigator.
Because he has found the very great importance of the
leafy vegetables and milk to supply deficiencies of other
foods, he has termed the milk and leafy vegetables "Pro-
tective foods." The human intestinal tract is not large
enough to take sufficient amounts of the green leafy
foods alone to protect, so milk is added because it also
supplies these deficiencies.
The dietary value of different fats is worked out by
feeding animals on correct diets, except for the lack
of fats. Then different fats are added and their effects
noted. It was from the same sort of biological experi-
mentation that we acquired our knowledge that proteins
differ so markedly in their dietary properties, and that
most vegetable proteins are incomplete.
Protective
Foods
The Anti-
Ophthalmic, or
Fat Soluble A, talk a little on each of them.
Vitamin
Now we will come back to the vitamins and
It has been found that the vegetable fats and
lard are very deficient except in energy or caloric
value, and that not only does the eye disease, zeroph-
thalmia, develop, but growth and reproduction are
markedly affected in animals when these are the sole
fats used in the diet. The growth and reproduction
proceeds normally and the eye disease disappears when
butter, cod-liver oil or egg yolks are added to their diets
-thus proving that there is some food element in these
last fats very necessary for these functions. Research
workers have called this element the anti-ophthalmic
vitamin, or fat soluble A.
They Were
Pitiable!
A striking practical application of this knowl-
edge was made in Rumania during the war. The
VITAMINS
29
children there, as in other warring countries, were living
on a very limited diet containing practically no milk or
butter or green vegetables. Very many of the children
were suffering from the severe eye infection, zerophthal-
mia (inflammation of the eyelids and eyeballs, some-
times going to complete blindness and death).
The American Red Cross secured for these children a
cargo of cod-liver oil, a food exceedingly rich in fat
soluble A, and the disease was checked and many lives
saved. The children in Serbia and Albania suffered
similarly. I know-I worked with them, with the
American Red Cross.
Experiments have shown that this fat soluble A is
also present in other foods, notably the green-leaf plants,
especially spinach.
The chief source of this vitamin in butter and milk
is primarily from the green vegetation, for less of it is
found in winter milk and butter than in summer milk
and butter. The nursing mother must have a liberal
supply of vitamin A else the nursing baby won't get it.
This applies to the other vitamins and the mineral
elements also.
In the experiments to find out which foods.
would prevent beriberi, the terrible nerve inflam-
matory disease, it was found that the anti-neuritic
foods not only prevent beriberi, but also have to do with
normal reproduction and lactation and growth, the same
as the anti-ophthalmic vitamin.
Anti-neuritic,
or Water
Soluble B
McCarison emphasizes that animals fed upon diets.
lacking in this vitamin, water soluble B, became sterile.
It is well known that sterility is common in those who
suffer from beriberi, the disease brought about by the
lack of this vitamin. Of course the diet which brings
30
DIET FOR CHILDREN
this on is also deficient in the anti-ophthalmic, or fat
soluble A, the vitamin which is also an important factor
in reproduction and lactation. It is quite possible that
many cases of abortions and sterility of unknown cause
in the human family may be due to diets lacking in the
vitamins.
A deficiency of vitamin B also causes a lack of
appetite and a disorder of the organs of digestion
and assimilation, so it is essential to normal nutri-
tion at all ages.
Essential to
Proper
Nutrition
The foods that are highest in the anti-neuritic vita-
min, or water soluble B, are tomatoes, raw, canned, or
dried; spinach, cabbage, beans, yeast and yeast extracts.
Anti-scorbutic,
or Water
Soluble C
It was discovered that the anti-scorbutic, or
water soluble C, vitamin also had profound effects
on reproduction and lactation. When pregnant
animals were fed on diets producing scurvy, the young
were born prematurely and died at birth. The anti-
scorbutic vitamin also has to do with growth and devel-
opment, for animals and babies fed on diets lacking them
will have their growth and development arrested, as
well as develop scurvy.
The foods that are highest in the anti-scorbutic vita-
mins are lemon juice, fresh or dried; orange juice; rasp-
berries, fresh or dried; tomatoes, raw or canned; raw
cabbage and lettuce.
Now you can see from what I have said that vitamins
are not only necessary to prevent disease, but all of
them are necessary to promote growth and to carry on
the normal functions of life, including reproduction and
lactation. Are the vitamins important? We'll say they
are!

PIGEON SUFFERING FROM POLYNEURITIS FROM AN EXCLUSIVE
DIET OF WHITE BREAD.
SAME PIGEON, 9 HOURS LATER, AFTER RECEIVING WHEAT GERM
EXTRACT.
VITAMINS
31
The vitamins are closely associated with the
mineral elements in the foods. This is fortunate,
for in getting the vitamins we will also get the
mineral elements and they are just as important as the
vitamins. That the vitamins are distinct factors and
are not the minerals is proved by the fact that the min-
erals can be separated from the foods in pure form while
the vitamins are killed. We have to think of the vita-
mins as the live elements in the foods.
Vitamins
and Mineral
Elements
When the body is deprived of vitamins for any
length of time, the vitamin content of the nerves
and all of the tissues is gradually lost and de-
generative changes begin to take place. It is now
thought that many half-ill people who live on the bread-
meat-potato-sugar diet, which does not include a suffi-
cient amount of the vitamins and mineral elements, may
be suffering from latent scurvy and nerve disorders,
due to this deficiency.
Has Your
Child Latent
Scurvy?
Holt and others have shown that when starches
and sweets are increased in the diet of children
they will not thrive unless the vitamin-bearing
Most of the vitamins are affected and some are
destroyed by the action of heat. The fat-soluble
A is more resistant to heat than the others. Alka-
lies such as baking soda, and drying, also lessen and de-
stroy some of them. The vitamins that are in solution
of an acid, as in the tomato and the citrous fruits, are
most stable, and tomato and orange juice, lemon and
raspberries keep most of the vitamins even when dried
or canned.
These foods have the anti-scorbutic and the anti-neu-
ritic vitamins in high concentration.
How
Vitamins
Are Affected
Another
Candy
Menace
32
DIET FOR CHILDREN
foods are also increased. This may show that there is
either an increased demand for the vitamins created by
the starches and sugars or that they have some effect in
destroying the vitamins. It is probable that children
and adults who have a large amount of cane sugar and
candy and other sweets suffer from a vitamin deficiency
as well as from the fermentation of these foods and the
unbalancing of the diet.
Because prolonged cooking does destroy the vitamins,
vegetables should be cooked in as short a time as pos-
sible, in a tightly covered vessel, for the oxygen of the
air helps to destroy the vitamins, too. If the vegetables
are thoroughly masticated they are better for the teeth
and the development of the jaws when firm rather than
mushy.
The list of vegetables eaten raw should be extended.
There is hardly a vegetable that is not delicious eaten
raw, if it is grated or ground fine and served with an
appropriate sauce. None of the vitamins and none of
the minerals are lost when the vegetables are eaten in
this manner. This does not mean that I subscribe to
the raw food faddist's theory of eating no cooked foods.
Winter
Vitamins
Beets, parsnips, carrots, spinach, turnips, sweet po-
tatoes and other vegetables that are not usually served
raw can be served raw as well as cooked and they are
delicious. If they are thoroughly masticated they can be
given to any child who has all his teeth. They can be
used singly or in combination. (Remember also that
vegetables help to keep the normal alkalinity of the
blood and lymph.)
In the winter when the green vegetables and
fresh fruits are not so available, the winter veg-
etables and fruits should be eaten more freely than they
•
VITAMINS
33
4
are. With the larger consumption of the winter veg-
etables and fruits and whole milk, and some of the fol-
lowing foods which I will list, there need not be any de-
ficiency of the vitamins during the winter. The yeast
extracts on the market under various trade names-
Savita, Mamite, Herbex, Vegex, etc.-are just as effi-
cient as yeast for the anti-neuritic vitamins and they
add a very delicious flavor to soups and sauces.
Dried spinach is rich in the anti-ophthalmic or Vitamin
A, and the anti-neuritic or Vitamin B, and that can be
secured during the winter months. Canned or dried to-
matoes are rich in all the vitamins.
Sprouted legumes (beans, peas, lentils) and the
grains furnish an appreciable amount of the anti-
scorbutic vitamin (Vitamin C) and have been proved
effective. Sprouted beans were used to help keep down
scurvy in the Serbian Army during the war. The
sprouts from soy beans are used by the Chinese in their
chop suey.
·
Have Some
Chop Suey
Seeds can be sprouted in the following manner:
Punch a hole in the bottom of a tin pan. Half fill
the pan with thoroughly washed seeds, then fill the
pan with water. Keep covered and set in a warm place
where the water may drain away. Refill the pan two
or three times a day to keep the seeds moist. Allow the
sprouts to grow an inch or two and use in a salad, or
cook very slightly.
Milk, butter, cream, egg yolk, dried spinach, canned
and dried tomatoes will furnish the anti-ophthalmic or
the Fat Soluble A. (Cod-liver oil is very much more
concentrated in Vitamin A than any other food. This
is very effective in many anemic disorders.)
Because the demand is not sufficient for whole-grain
34
DIET FOR CHILDREN
cereals and flours, you may find it difficult to get these.
However, they are so important for their vitamins and
mineral salts, especially for the children, that it is
worth while to get a home grinding mill. They can be
purchased as low as ten dollars, I understand. A coffee
grinder will do if you can't get a regular grain mill.
Three or four families of your neighborhood could club
together and get a larger and better one.
I am quite sure you appreciate now the value of the
vitamins, for I think I have given you sufficient data.
So here is a table of them. (The authorities on vita-
mins usually list the vitamin-bearing foods as "one
plus," "two plus" and "three plus," to indicate their
values in vitamins. I am giving you only those that
are listed as "three plus"-highest-and "two plus"
-next highest-in the book on the subject by Sherman
and Smith.)
Among the vegetables in this list, notice how valuable.
tomatoes, cabbage and spinach are, either fresh, dried
or canned. These we can have the year around.
VITAMIN TABLE
'ANTI-OPHTHALMIC (Fat Soluble A) (May also be anti-rachitic)
Three Plus Butter, cream, cod-liver oil, milk (condensed,
(Highest) evaporated or whole dried), egg yolks, alfalfa,
spinach (dried or fresh).
Two Plus
(Next Highest)
Whole wheat, orange-peel oil, kidney, liver, to-
matoes (raw, canned or dried), string beans,
carrots, dandelion greens (fresh), lettuce, peas,
Hubbard squash, sweet potatoes, cheese, eggs.
ANTI-NEURITIC (Water Soluble B)
Three Plus
Tomatoes (raw, canned or dried), alfalfa, beans,
fresh cabbage, fresh spinach, yeast and yeast ex-
tract.
VITAMINS
35
+
Two Plus
Whole grains, brains, kidney and liver, grape-
fruit, lemon juice, orange juice, cabbage (cooked,
fresh and raw), carrots raw (cooked, one plus),
cauliflower, dandelion greens, lettuce, onions,
parsnips, peas, potatoes (white, raw and cooked),
dried spinach, turnips, most nuts, milk (all
forms), string beans, eggplant (fresh and dry),
rutabaga.
ANTI-SCORBUTIC (Water Soluble C)
Three Plus
Two Plus
Lemon and orange juice (fresh and dried),
raspberries (fresh and dried), tomatoes (raw
and canned), cabbage (fresh, raw), lettuce,
cloudberries (fresh and canned).
Sprouted grains and legumes, grapefruit, orange
peel, dried tomatoes, cabbage (cooked), fresh
carrots, raw onions, white potatoes (raw or
boiled 15 minutes; longer cooking, one plus),
milk (less than two plus).
Every day see that you and your children have a good
supply of some of these foods from each list, and you
will not suffer a vitamin deficiency. And if you include
two or three glasses of milk, which is high in calcium.
and phosphorus, and a liberal amount of foods contain-
ing iron, these with the other vitamin-bearing foods
which you will choose from this list-will protect you
against a mineral deficiency as well as a vitamin defi-
ciency.
CHAPTER VI
MINERAL SALTS
I WILL give you a few general facts about all of the ele-
ments before we discuss our "PICNIC"-Phosphorus,
Iron, Calcium, Nitrogen, Iodin and Calcium again. The
reason we do not have to think particularly about the
other elements is because they are supplied in the ordi-
nary mixed diet in sufficient amounts, while these five
elements are not always included in sufficient amounts
for proper growth and health.
When tissues are burned and analyzed in the labora-
tory, some of their elements are given off in the form of
gas and those that are not given off as gas are left in
the form of ashes. These ashes we call mineral ash or
mineral salt.
How
Chemical
It is by the presence of some of these gaseous
Reactions Are elements and those we call the mineral ash or
Maintained salts that the chemical reactions of the body
fluids and secretions are maintained, whether acid,
alkaline or neutral. Some secretions are acid; for in-
stance, the hydrochloric acid of the stomach. Some are
alkaline; for instance, the bile. The blood is nearly
neutral. (A secretion is something which the body
secretes for its use. An excretion is something the
body excretes or gets rid of, having no further use
for it.) Some of these mineral salts are deposited in
the different tissues as part of their structure. We will
talk of that later.
36
MINERAL SALTS
37
You all know that alkalies are the opposite of acids.
Sodium bicarbonate, or ordinary baking soda, is an ex-
ample of an alkali. Acids and alkalies when joined to-
gether neutralize each other and the result is called a
salt. They do not always join in equal proportions,
and if the alkali elements are in the larger proportion,
or are stronger, the salt is known as an alkaline salt.
If the acid element is stronger, the salt is known as an
acid salt. So we have three kinds of salts in chemistry-
the neutral salt, the acid salt, and the alkaline or basic
salt (alkalies are also known as bases).
The normal reaction of the blood and the fluid
which bathes all the cells of the body (the lymph)
is slightly alkaline, and probably never becomes actually
acid in life. However, when it becomes less alkaline
than normal, then a condition known as Acidosis re-
sults. Mineral salts must be taken in the foods eaten,
in such a proportion that the blood and tissue fluids are
kept normally slightly alkaline. Otherwise there is
trouble.
I am going to talk about acidosis under Diet in Dis-
ease. Just now I have merely brought it up to show you
one of the chief functions of the mineral salts.
We have already discussed nitrogen, the characteristic.
element in protein. Now we will talk about the other
elements represented by our P-I-C-N-I-C.
PHOSPHORUS
We must give a little thought to phosphorus, for
it has been shown that in our ordinary mixed diet we
do not always get enough phosphorus. Phosphorus is
just as necessary for the living cells as protein. It
Acidosis
38
DIET FOR CHILDREN
has to do with the multiplication of the cells, and it
is necessary in the bones and teeth, and the nervous and
reproductive systems. It also helps to keep the system
in its normal slightly alkaline state. Most of the in-
soluble phosphorus is in the bones. With the calcium it
helps to give them hardness and solidity.
So a little thought to the phosphorus, mothers. Luck-
ily the milk which we are giving the children for their
calcium and protein and vitamins also has a good sup-
ply of phosphorus. But in order to be sure they get
enough phosphorus, let's give them an egg yolk every
day, or at least two or three times a week. (They are
high in iron and growth vitamins, too.) Babies can have
these as early as the second month if rachitic. Later the
children can have cheese, peanuts, almonds, walnuts, lean
beef, and baked beans, whole wheat, and oatmeal. These
foods are all high in the phosphorus-giving scale. See
that you and the other adult members of your family
get enough, too, mothers. It is important!
IODIN
We have long known the necessity of giving special
thought to calcium and iron, but it is only in recent
years that we have realized the importance of the ele-
ment iodin. The study of the goiter problem has
brought iodin's importance to the front.
It is known that simple goiters are due to a deficiency
of iodin in the thyroid gland. I will discuss it again
when I tell you more about the prevention of goiters.
Fortunately, most of the foods containing iodin are
the foods that have iron and other needed elements and
the vitamins.
The foods which have iodin in them in measurable
MINERAL SALTS
39
quantities are sea fish, lettuce, beets, turnips, green
peas, radishes, and tomatoes. Carrots, parsley and po-
tatoes do not contain as much as the others listed, but
they do have some.
CALCIUM
If you soak a long, slender bone in a solution of
hydrochloric acid for two or three days, it will bend so
easily that you can tie a knot in it. The reason this
bone can be so easily bent is because the calcium salts
have been dissolved out of the bone by the acid.
Now that is all right for a bone that we are using for
demonstration purposes, but it certainly is not all right
to let the bones of our children get soft enough to tie
knots in. This couldn't happen anyway, of course, but
we don't want the children's bones to get even soft
enough to bend.
How shall we prevent it? One way is by supplying
enough calcium (common name, "lime") in their diets.
So, mothers, you can see the importance of foods that
will supply this important element, lime. There are
other things that are necessary for the firmness of the
bones, other minerals, vitamins, etc. We will speak of
them later.
Calcium is not only necessary to give firmness and
solidity to the bones and teeth, but it is also extremely
important to the blood and to the normal activity of the
heart.
In an extended series of investigations it was
found that calcium has a good deal to do in keep-
ing the other inorganic elements in the body in good be-
havior. It has such a favorable effect on iron that when
there is a good supply of calcium present there is not
Some
Regulator
40
DIET FOR CHILDREN
}
the same danger of having too small amounts of iron,
for the calcium seems to make the iron that is present
more easily absorbed.
Calcium constitutes three-fourths of the mineral con-
tent of the body. A child weighing 100 pounds totes
three and one-third pounds of lime! A regular little
hod-carrier he is. Ninety-nine per cent of this is in his
bones and teeth.
Sherman has said that the ordinary mixed diets of
the Americans and Europeans, at least in cities and
towns, are probably more deficient in calcium than in
any other mineral elements.
While a sufficient amount of calcium is very
necessary for adults, the rapidly growing child
needs more in proportion to his weight than do adults-
in fact, he needs three to four times as much (in propor-
tion to his weight), because he needs to store it up as
well as to use it in the system.
He Needs to
Tuck It Away
Because some of the salts are lost in cooking unless
cooked very carefully, and because there are some losses
in digestion, there should be a good surplus of calcium
in the diet for a margin of safety. There is not much
danger of getting too much, although in rare conditions
this does happen.
A certain amount of calcium leaves the system every
day, and that amount must be supplied daily. Now
that you know how important calcium is, mothers, I am
going to tell you right away something that will take
the worry off your minds about supplying enough of it
in your children's diet.
The Magic
Food
Milk, mothers! Milk is the magic food. From
our chapter on protein you know we can depend
MINERAL SALTS
41
upon it for its complete protein. It is high in phos-
phorus. Now see how it scores in calcium.
If your child drinks two and one-half glasses of good
milk every day, you would not have to worry, even
though he got no other food containing calcium, for two
and one-half glasses every day will supply his entire
need of this precious element. If you had to give the
child enough round steak to furnish this daily supply of
calcium, you would have to give him 122 pounds! If
you had to give enough white bread, you would have to
give him 100 slices!
These comparisons will show you how rich milk is
in calcium. In fact, a quart of milk contains more cal-
cium than a quart of clear, saturated solution of lime-
water. Milk is so important that I will talk a whole
chapter on it for you.
When nature alone is feeding the child, she
sees that he gets calcium even before he is born.
Some of you remember a book called "Tokology,
that came out years ago. It expounded the idea that if
foods containing lime were avoided by the expectant
mother, the infant's head would be softer and more
moldable and this would make childbirth easier. But
did it work? No. Nature saw to it that the child got a
good proportion by robbing the mother's bones and teeth.
This shows the importance of sufficient lime in the
diet of the pregnant woman, for herself and child too.
(In fact, the frequent decay of the mother's teeth is due
to this robbing of lime.) Then when the baby comes,
nature intends it shall have its mother's milk, and moth-
er's milk gives to the child more than three grains of
lime daily.
Puppies fed on meat alone will have deformed bones;
""
Nature a Wise
Dame (not
Infallible!)
42
DIET FOR CHILDREN
:
:
but give them bones to gnaw, and they get their lime
and develop normally. At the London Zoo at one time
many of the lion cubs were deformed and dwarfed be-
cause they were fed only on meat. The authorities con-
sulted a noted surgeon and upon his advice they began
to give them bones and bone meal, and the lion pups
ceased being deformed and dying prematurely,
Now, we can't feed children bones, but we can feed
'em something just as good. Don't forget the MILK,
mothers.
Other foods especially rich in calcium are cheese
(very high, for it is concentrated milk), egg yolks and
almonds. The fruits and vegetables are also fairly rich
in calcium. Cottage cheese is a most wholesome food
and should be part of the children's diet rather than
other cheeses. Don't forget the milk!
THE STORY OF IRON
The need of iron for the system is so important that
nature does not take any chances, but sends baby ani-
mals that nurse (mammalia) into the world with a
supply in their livers to last them until they are able
to chew and so get the food that supplies it. This has
been proved true of puppies, kittens, rabbits and chil-
dren. Nature, apparently, gives babies this reserve in
preference to supplying iron in their mother's milk, for
milk is deficient in iron; although the small amount that
is present is in a very valuable form.
Because little calf babies are able to nibble green grass
very shortly after they are born, nature doesn't supply
half so much iron in their milk as she supplies in human
babies' milk. That is why babies artificially fed on cow's
MINERAL SALTS
43
¡
milk have to have foods containing iron sooner than do
breast-fed babies.
The chief function of iron is carried on in the blood.
It is a part of hemoglobin, which is the chief constituent
of the red-blood cells.
No iron-no blood-no life. Too little iron-too little
blood-too little life. We must have iron, for without it
the body cannot make the red-blood cells.
There are approximately 5,000,000 red-blood cells in
a cubic millimeter of blood. A cubic millimeter is about
the size of the head of an ordinary pin. In the whole
body, then, you can imagine that the number of red-blood
cells runs up into many trillions. Physiologists estimate
that one red-blood cell lasts about six weeks, and that
seven million new red-blood cells die every second of our
lives. Now we have got to supply iron for this tre-
mendous work of helping to make seven million red-blood
cells every second. If we don't, we are going to suffer
from anemia. In case it makes you tired to think of
making seven million blood cells a second, think of
making the tiny droplet of blood that the head of a pin
could carry. That's work enough!
The word anemia is from "a"-without, and "emia"
-blood. So, literally, it means without blood. You all
know the symptoms of an anemic person. He is pale,
tires very easily, is short of breath, lacks appetite; in
fact, every vital function of the body is disabled.
The blood that comes to the lungs to discharge its load
of waste in carbon dioxide (CO2)-two molecules of oxy-
gen lugging along a molecule of waste carbon (amounting
to one-half pound a day)-gallantly takes on fresh oxygen
in the lungs and starts its round again. It goes to every
nook and cranny in the body, giving the cells the food
44
DIET FOR CHILDREN
molecules which it has chemically worked over (oxidized)
so they can be used by the system, and then, sturdily
tackling the waste, it marches off with it to the lungs
again.
Now suppose that instead of there being 5,000,000
red-blood cells to every cubic millimeter in the blood
that is brought to the lungs, there are only half this
number-or, if the anemia is very pronounced, as low
as one-fifth. You can easily see that no matter how much
fresh air with its vital oxygen is supplied, there are not
enough red-blood cells to carry away sufficient oxygen
for the needs of the system. This explains why an
anemic person is short of breath even though there may
not be any trouble with the heart or lungs.
You can see that where there is insufficient oxygen to
chemicalize the food so that it can be used by the body,
the growth and vital functions are going to be crippled
for lack of building and repairing material. And you
can see that where there is insufficient oxygen to combine
with the waste products so they can be carried by the
blood to the lungs, kidneys, skin and mucous membranes
to be eliminated, these waste products will accumulate
in the system and poison it.
It is the iron in the hemoglobin of the blood that car-
ries this precious oxygen. And the iron must come from
the food. Therefore, we must see that we and our
children get enough of the foods containing iron.
There are certain conditions under which, no matter
how much iron is supplied in the food, anemia may be
produced. The blood is poisoned by these conditions and
cannot take up the iron, but that is not our problem
just now. Our problem is to feed our children so that
they will get not only a sufficient amount of iron, but
of all the other elements which are needed by the sys-
i
MINERAL SALTS
45
tem-and, in so far as the diet is concerned, to keep them
strong and well so that these other conditions will not
have a chance to gain a foothold in them.
One-tenth
of an Ounce
After my telling you of the very great im-
portance of iron, you will be surprised to know
that the whole human body contains only 44 grains, one-
tenth of an ounce (95 per cent of this is in the blood).
But this one-tenth of an ounce! Oxygen, which makes
up two-thirds of the whole weight of the body, or carbon
and the other elements which make up the balance of the
weight, are not one bit more essential than this little one-
tenth ounce 44 grains-of iron.
Iron is so precious that nature hoards it with zealous
care. These red-blood cells which have served their use-
fulness and go to the red-blood cells' heaven (probably
the spleen) are not interred with any precious iron. Oh,
no. Nature removes a large part of iron from the re-
mains and stores it in the spleen and liver, and then
uses it again in making the new cells. This is mostly
done in the marrow of the bones in the extra-uterine
life (after birth).
But some iron is lost, mothers-about one-seventh of
a grain a day. Iron-bearing foods must make up this
loss. Girls at puberty, when the menstruation begins,
must have a diet especially rich in iron. This also ap-
plies to women.
I have talked so much about how precious milk
is that you may suspect me of owning a dairy (I
don't). Now I must tell you where milk falls down as a
perfect food. It is low in iron. When babies nurse too
long or are given the bottle too long, and when children
take so much milk that they have no appetite for solid
Milk Low
in Iron
46
DIET FOR CHILDREN
foods, then they become anemic. It occasionally happens
that milk has to be taken away from a child for a while
until it learns to like solid food.
While inorganic iron in the form of medicine does
sometimes apparently help anemia (whether by stimu
lating the blood-making function or protecting the food
iron from loss in digestion is not known), it is from the
organic iron in the food that the daily supply must come.
It has been shown that unless a good supply is taken in
food, the medicinal iron has no effect. Certainly we
must look to foods rather than to medicines for the iron
in normal conditions and to maintain normal conditions.
And we mustn't leave the supply of iron to chance.
Every day a generous supply of vegetables and fruits
must be eaten, for they are a splendid source of iron
as well as of the vitamins. Furthermore, where there is
anemia, there is usually excessive intestinal putrefac-
tion, and the vegetables and fruits, with their bulk and
laxative properties, combat this tendency as well as sup-
ply iron.
Vegetables high in iron, in the order of their
greatest amounts, are as follows: Spinach, string
beans, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, celery, tomatoes, car-
rots, peas and potatoes.
Animal Foods: Lean meats (fish is not high in iron),
and egg yolks (egg yolks have a very high percentage;
they have to have enough to make a live chicken!)
Cereals: Whole wheat and oatmeal.
Foods High
in Iron
Nuts: Almonds, peanuts and walnuts.
Fruits: Fresh fruits, while they do not contain a high
per cent of iron, have it in a valuable form. Dried fruits
-dates, figs, prunes and raisins-are relatively high.
You would have to eat a pound and a half of raisins
MINERAL SALTS
47
to get a day's supply of iron, so don't be misled into
thinking that a handful of raisins will suffice for all the
iron you need. In reality, dried figs, dates and prunes
have a higher per cent of iron than do raisins. It would
take a little over a pound of these to supply the entire
day's needs, as compared to the pound and one-half of
raisins. They are all good energy foods and are much
to be preferred to candy as a sweet for children.
However, you can see the advisability of not trying to
get all of your iron in any one food. For the reasons I
have given you, the best way for you and your children
to get the largest share of your daily iron ration is
to take it in the fresh fruits and vegetables, not forget-
ting the egg yolks, nuts and dried fruits.
Sugar has no iron or other mineral salts, nor vitamins.
(I emphasize this because sugar has become a menace.
Yes!) Malt sugar and molasses have a relatively high
per cent.
to
*
Heavy
Drinkers
CHAPTER VII
WATER
WATER comprises about two-thirds of the body weight.
We are all regular old soaks. Water is necessary for all
of the body fluids and secretions, and is a part of every
cell in the body. It holds the mineral salts and the
building materials in solution until they are deposited
where they are needed, and it carries away waste prod-
ucts.
So, must we have an adequate supply? Foolish ques-
tion! If we are totally deprived of food and water, we
will die from thirst long before hunger is fatal.
Be Sure of
Its Purity
The bodies of babies and children contain more
water in proportion to their weight than do
adults and the restriction of water hinders their growth
*and development. "I want a drink" is perhaps the
most familiar demand of childhood, and it is one that
has a big physiological need as a basis. We will have
to allow our children to be heavy drinkers.
You have heard the story of the little girl whose
mother, thinking that her demand for a drink in the
night was a whim, threatened to spank her if she asked
for it again. The little girl waited a little while, and
then finally said: "Mamma, when you get up to spank
me, will you get me a drink!" That's pathetic, isn't it!
Unless you are sure of its purity, water should
be boiled, or distilled water used. This is impor-
tant for campers or vacationists who go where surface
48
WATER
49
•
water may contaminate the water supply, otherwise ty-
phoid fever may be an unpleasant aftermath.
Many cities purify their water supplies with freshly
made chloride of lime. In the proportions used, it is
harmless to man, but deadly to germs. The death rate
from typhoid fever has been reduced to one-fifth the
original rate in some cases. Other water-borne diseases
have also been markedly lessened. One grain (o-n-e
g-r-a-i-n) to a quart of water will destroy all germs in
a few minutes. (If you won't want to go to the trouble
of boiling or sterilizing all the water used when you
suspect it is impure, and exercising the other precautions
to prevent typhoid, be vaccinated against it. That will
immunize you.)
It is highly important that the water given to babies
be absolutely pure, for their intestinal tracts are so easily
deranged. Many deaths have been traced to impure
water as the initial cause. That is why you always see
boiled water advised in infancy.
The principal diseases that are transmitted by
water are typhoid, cholera and dysentery. Water
may also transmit the eggs of animal parasites, such as
intestinal worms.
Many large epidemics have been traced to infected
persons whose discharges have not been properly taken
care of.
In experiments upon animals it has been shown that
large numbers of germs have to be taken by mouth be-
fore the disease will be contracted, for evidently in ani-
mals the intestinal tract destroys most of the germs.
That is true to some extent in man, when in perfect
health, but as perfect health is not common, we cannot
depend upon this.
They're
Bad-uns
50
DIET FOR CHILDREN
The health departments have a big problem in keeping
the water supply pure, and we should wholeheartedly
support them in this and in all of their efforts to keep
us free from disease. They can do it very effectively if
we coöperate with them.
Water besides carrying specific germs, if con-
taminated, may carry other impurities, such as
decomposing organic animal matter, and mineral con-
tamination, such as lead from imperfect pipes. Occa-
sionally the water supplies, especially during the hot
weather, will have a disagreeable odor and taste, vari-
ously described as "fishy," "cucumber," "moldy,"
"grassy," etc. That is usually due to the rapid growth
of microscopic organisms of the algae group. They have
a little oil in their make-up which supplies the odorifer-
ous punch. Their growth is stopped by copper sulphate
applied by the water officials of the health departments
in such doses as are perfectly harmless to man, but
deadly to the flavorers.
Flavor not
so Good
Another Scare
for You
Very hard water should be boiled or distilled
because it has been found that kidney and bladder
stones are much more common in districts where only
very hard water is obtainable. (Overeating and inac-
tivity, without doubt-without even a shadow of a doubt,
-play a greater rôle in the formation of stones than
does water.)
The idea that distilled water is dangerous has no scien-
tific foundation. The table salt which we use-but
should be careful not to use in excess-and the mineral
salts in our foods (if properly chosen) will more than
make up for the inorganic materials that have been
taken from the water by distillation.
WATER
51
The chief thing to avoid with water and other Water
with Meals
liquids at mealtime is to take them in modera-
tion and not to use them to wash down the foods that
have not been thoroughly masticated. We must teach
our children (and ourselves) not to drink while there
is food in the mouth.
Children should be given water freely and regularly
between meals, especially during the hot weather. Ice
water and other iced drinks are permissible in modera-
tion but taken in large amounts, and rapidly, they may
cause severe intestinal disturbance both in children
and adults. Freezing does not always kill disease germs,
so ice from impure sources also must be under suspi-
cion.
No rule can be laid down as to the exact amount
of water that should be taken, for the needs for
water will be modified by the age and size, exercise and
season, the amount of other fluids that are taken-milk,
soup, fruit juices, etc.—and the concentration and
amounts of foods.
Amount of
Water Needed
A large amount of water (about 212 quarts) is
eliminated every day through the lungs, skin, kidneys
and intestines. So a large amount must be taken every
day combined in the foods and in the form of drink,
to supply the daily loss. Normally from one to two
quarts of water should be taken in fluid form in addi-
tion to that which is taken in the food. (Foods vary
from 50 to 90 per cent in water.) However, water
drinking can be overdone as can any good thing.
Salty foods and sweets cause a retention of water in
the system, so more must be supplied to keep the tissue
fluids and blood in their normal concentration. That
is why we are thirsty when we eat these foods. Nature
--
52
DIET FOR CHILDREN
causes each cell to cry out for more water to keep it
normal.
It is due to different degrees of water retention that
our weight varies one or two pounds from day to day.
Of course, if we habitually overeat-some of us—our
weight doesn't vary except in the upward trend.
Kellogg claims that mineral waters are harmful rather
than beneficial. Van Noorden calls attention to the fact
that saline waters when long used cause colitis (inflam-
mation of colon). It is a bad practice to take any course
of mineral waters without the supervision of your phy-
sician.
Four "Ifs"
It is usually taught that soda water should not
be given to children before the ninth or tenth
year. It is exceedingly difficult to keep it away from
them, and if these four "ifs" are observed, I don't be-
lieve it will harm them: IF it does not cloy the appetite
for their proper growth foods; IF it is taken in modera-
tion; IF it is not drunk rapidly, and IF made of un-
adulterated materials.
This finishes our little talk on the members of The
Food Sextet. Next chapter we will take up a little acro-
batic work. We'll balance them.
CHAPTER VIII
BALANCED DIET
FOOD has a threefold function:
FIRST-It must supply all of the elements which are
necessary to make the structure of the living cells.
SECOND-It must supply energy for heat and for the
activities, internal and external.
THIRD-It must regulate the vital processes to pro-
duce that harmony which means health.
We might add a fourth.
FOURTH-To add to the joys of life.
"All human history attests
That happiness for man-the hungry sinner—
Since Eve ate apples,
Much depends on dinner.”
-BYRON.
When our food is taken in such amounts and propor-
tions that all of these functions are fulfilled, then we have
a balanced diet. Our knowledge of what constitutes a
balanced diet for man at different ages and activities
has been gained by:
FIRST-Many accurate experiments in the nutrition
laboratories, with apparatuses (respiration and food cal-
orimeters) devised to measure the energies of men and
children of different ages and activities, and the energy
of foods.
SECOND-Other experiments covering certain periods
of time on groups of men-soldiers, students, professors
of nutrition, etc.-who volunteer for the work.
¡
53
54
DIET FOR CHILDREN
!
THIRD-Observations and histories of different peoples
of good nutrition.
FOURTH-Animal experimentation.
How Are We
to Know?
one?
Now, briefly, what has been found to be a Bal-
anced Diet, and how are we to know when we have
FIRST-Total amount of food. If you maintain normal
weight and health (normal weight will fluctuate two or
three pounds, due to different retentions of water), you
can be pretty sure your amounts are right and the pro-
portions must be more or less right also. (That is why I
pay so much attention to normal weight in my teach-
ings.) For children, normal weight must include nor-
mal rate of gain.
SECOND-The proportions of the different elements
should be: Protein, 10%-15%; Fat, 25%-30%; Carbo-
hydrate, 60%-65%. Taking the highest proportion of
protein and fat for the children's needs, this table will
also do for them. (The vitamins and minerals are taken
care of when you properly select your proteins, carbohy-
drates and fats; you know that from our chapters on
those elements.)
Now these figures will mean nothing to you without
a knowledge of the unit by which they are measured, i.e.,
the calorie. So you must have the knowledge. It is not
difficult. We'll have that in the next chapter.
This
Simplifies
It for You
If you know the protein value of the main pro-
tein foods and get the correct proportions of pro-
tein, and if you are very moderate in the use of
free fat, I believe in normal cases you can ignore the
calculations of the fats and carbohydrates.
Now I want to add another "if." This will be true,
BALANCED DIET
55
IF you include daily at least a pint of milk in some form
(for children, one and a half pints to a quart), a big
serving of cooked vegetables, especially greens, a big
fresh salad, some fresh fruit when obtainable-canned
or dried when not-and whole-grained foods-breads
and cereals.
AND IF you include these foods in your diet, you are
going to be pretty sure to have not only the correct pro-
portions of fats, carbohydrates and proteins, but the
correct proportions of vitamins and mineral elements.
This, with a plentiful supply of pure water, will give
you a balanced diet.
It is wisest, of course, to have a balanced diet
every day, but if for a short period this cannot
be done, don't worry yourself to death about it
because nature has a reserve store, more or less,
which can be drawn upon for short periods; but it is
not wise to impose upon nature too often nor for too
long a period. The vitamins are probably stored to a
less extent than any other of the elements.
Don't Worry
(Don't You
Hate That
Advice?)
CHAPTER IX
CALORIES
AND now, mothers, we come to the calories.
Perhaps you have heard that the calorie "theory"
has exploded? Oh, no, it hasn't. In the first place, there
isn't any calorie theory, any more than there is a yard
theory, or a quart theory. A calorie is still the standard
unit of measuring heat and the standard unit of meas-
uring the energy value of food.
We have to have à unit of this sort for we cannot
measure the need for food by bulk or weight, because the
foods differ so much in their concentration and energy
value. For instance an ounce of oil contains approxi-
mately 250 units of energy value and an ounce of lettuce
contains but five. You can see the necessity for a
standard unit of measurement of energy value from this
comparison.
You should know the energy or caloric needs of the
body and the energy or caloric values of food, so that
you can supply yourself and your children intelligently.
This knowledge is not at all hard to acquire.
Foods
Estimated
in Calories
The carbohydrates, fats and proteins are the
foods that can be estimated in calories. The min-
eral salts and vitamins are vital to the system,
but they do not supply in themselves sufficient energy
or heat to be computed in calories. It is for this reason
that you hear unthinking (and sometimes bum-thinking)
people say that the caloric "theory" has been exploded,
56
CALORIES
57
or that it is in the discard, or is absurd, or misleading
and so forth. All of this is untrue. In the scientific
feeding of infants, children and adults, we are using our
knowledge of the caloric value of foods more than we
ever did. Of course, we must always emphasize the im-
portance of getting the calories needed from the foods
which will also supply the vitamins, mineral elements,
and the proteins in sufficient amounts and of the right
kind.
The Reason
The reason that so many of our adult popula-
tion are overnourished, hence overfat and dis-
eased, and so many of our children are undernourished,
with its accompaniment of diseases, is due to the fact
that the knowledge of the caloric value of foods has not
been known.
These cases have proved that instinct is not always
the right guide for the amount of foods nor the kinds
of foods that are necessary for well-being. However, we
are learning rapidly, and just as rapidly we are im-
proving.
Through the knowledge of food values as expressed
in calories-measured feeding-combined with our newer
knowledge of vitamins, the overweight are reducing and
are improving their health and their efficiency. Under-
nourished children are gaining and are healthier and
happier. So, let me repeat, mothers, the calorie is not
discarded, nor will it be, unless a better unit is discov-
ered to take its place.
Von Pirquet, of Vienna, has been using a food
unit he created, called the "nem," taken from the
initials of the words nutrition, element and milk. The
nem is the amount of food value in a gram or 1/1000 of
The "Nem "
58
DIET FOR CHILDREN
A
a quart of milk. However, the computation of the nem
is rather complicated, and is based upon the metric sys-
tem which is not in popular use in the United States, so
it will probably not be adopted extensively here, and
the calorie will still remain. There is no reason why
it should not, because it has been found practical and
dependable.
I Count on
My Fingers,
Myself
I know that if the use of calories required a lot
of mathematical work and time, many of you
would still have to continue to feed your chil-
dren by guesswork. However, I repeat, a knowledge
of calories is not at all complicated and it is not at all
hard to learn.
You do not have to know-nor could you know—ac-
curately the caloric value of foods, unless you were go-
ing to have the foods weighed and you knew exactly the
proportions of fat, carbohydrate and protein in every
food and combination of foods. This, obviously, would
be very difficult. But the approximate knowledge which
I will give you will serve just as well, except in some
extreme cases, as would the accurate knowledge. There
are so many ordinary foods that are 100 calories, that
they are easy to remember.
No, But-
Do you have to know the caloric value of foods
and know how many calories your children are
taking, if they are apparently growing properly and are
perfectly well? No, you do not have to in these cases.
If your children are perfectly well and are normal weight
and growing normally they are evidently getting the
right number of calories instinctively. But they may
not continue normal weight. One of them may get too
fat, or one of them may become undernourished; then
:
CALORIES
59
you must have a knowledge of calories so you can know
if these conditions are brought about by faults in their
feeding.
And even in case your children are all well and con-
tinue well, you must have a knowledge of calories or you
will be ignorant of part of the broad science of nutrition.
(Perhaps you need the calories for yourself or some other
adult member of the family? Haven't I had a letter
from you telling me how much overweight you are?)
So that's settled. Now for the little knowledge which
is not going to be a dangerous thing.
Definition
Calorie (symbol C) is a heat and energy value
unit. Technically it is that amount of heat neces-
sary to raise one pound of water four degrees, Fahren-
heit. It is not heat, it is not food, it is simply the unit
of measuring them just as the yard and the quart are
measures of length and of liquids.
Samples of all foods have been burned in the nutri-
tion laboratory in a little apparatus called the bomb
calorimeter, and the amount of heat which they give
off has been definitely measured. And these nutrition
laboratories have given us the data of the fuel or energy
value of all of the known foods.
Very complicated apparatuses known as respiration
calorimeters have shown that the food burned in the
body gives off approximately the same amount of heat
or energy as when burned in the calorimeter, and they
have determined just how much food is needed at all
ages, while at rest, sleeping and at work.
60
DIET FOR CHILDREN
#
1
APPROXIMATE TABLE OF CALORIES NEEDED DAILY
(From "Chemistry of Food and Nutrition"-Sherman. Courtesy
of Macmillan Company.)
1 year
1-2 years
2-5 years
6-9 years
10-13 years
14-17 years
18-25 years
Under
"Children who are very active or growing very rapidly may
require even more food than the table just given suggests."
Children of 1-2 years inclusive.
Children of 2-5 years inclusive.
Children of 6-9 years inclusive.
Girls of 10-13 years inclusive.
Boys of 10-13 years inclusive..
Girls of 14-17 years inclusive.
Boys of 14-17 years inclusive.
"Assuming average size at the different ages, the allowances
in Calories per day become about as follows:
·
•
•
45 Calories per lb.
45-40 Calories per lb.
.40-36 Calories per lb.
.36-32 Calories per lb.
.34-27 Calories per lb.
30-22 Calories per lb.
25-18 Calories per lb.
•
·
•
1000-1200 C. per day
.1200-1500 C. per day
1400-2000 C. per day
1800-2400 C. per day
2300-3000 C. per day
2200-2600 C. per day
..2800-4000 C. per day
•
•
•
"Above the age of 17 years, although there is still some growth,
differences in activity due to occupation become so great that the
food requirement will usually depend as much upon occupation
as upon age."
Now, from these tables find out how many calories
your child needs. From the table of foods which follows
reckon how many he is getting. It is not difficult. It
may be illuminating. Remember if he is undernourished
he probably needs over the highest, and if he is over-
nourished he needs under the lowest.
CALORIES
61
TABLE OF 100-CALORIE PORTIONS OF FOOD
Bread and Crackers
(This is a table I have rearranged and condensed from the standard
tables so it can be more easily remembered.)
BREAD: slice, 3 x 4 x 1½ inches (1.3 ounces)
(White, whole-wheat, gluten and rye practically the
the same caloric value per same weight)
Boston Brown: slice, 3 x 4 inch
Corn: slice, 2 x 2 x 1 inch
French or Vienna Roll: 1
Popover: 1
Muffins: 34
Zwieback: 3 slices (3 x ½ x 1¼ inches)
CRACKERS
Boston: 1'
Educator: 12
Graham: 2
Oatmeal: 7
Oyster: 24
Saltines: 6
Soda: 4
[Protein C.'s in bread and crackers -12 to 16 to the hundred.]
Cakes and Cookies
Simple Cake: piece, 134 inch cube
(Other cakes depend upon icing, fruit, nuts, etc.
Compute approximately)
Plain Cookies: 2 cookies, 24 inches in diameter
Gingersnaps: 5
Ladyfingers: 2 to 4
Macaroons: 2
Doughnuts: ½
Candies and Sweets
Chocolate Fudge: piece, 1½ x 4 x 1 inch
Cocoa: 4 rounding teaspoons
(Chocolate, a little less)
Plain Hard Candies: peppermints, molasses, lemon
drops, etc., average about 100 calories per ounce
Chocolate and Nut Candies: on account of the oil in the
chocolate and nuts, a little over ½ ounce
62
DIET FOR CHILDREN
1
7
Honey: Average 1 full tablespoonful
Rich Thick Syrups, Jellies and Marmalades: approxi-
mately the same
Sugar: 3 full cubes or 2 rounding teaspoonfuls
(Candies can be reckoned by the sugar)
[No protein in refined white sugar.]
Cereals
COOKED CEREALS
Oatmeal, Cracked Wheat, Farina, Corn Meal, and others
Average: 4 cupful
Plain Cooked Macaroni, Spaghetti, and Noodles: the
same
(When these are cooked with milk and cheese they
probably average less than ½ cupful)
DRY CEREALS (ready to serve)
Puffed Cereals, Post Toasties, Cornflakes, Roasted Bran-
flakes, Popcorn, etc.: Average 14 cupfuls
Shredded Wheat Biscuit: 1
Shredded Wheat Triscuit: 2
Grape-Nuts: 2 rounding tablespoonfuls
[Protein C's in Cereals-12 to 18 to the hundred; oatmeal the
highest.]
Custards, Puddings, Pies, etc.
Cup Custard
PIES
Cornstarch
Blancmange
Etc.
Plain Gelatin: 1 scant cupful
Simple Rice
Bread
Tapioca
Water Ices
Etc.
Ice Cream: 1/4 cupful
Average ½ cupful
Average ½ cupful, scant
(Depends upon richness)
With top crust: About 4 ordinary slice, or 14 inches
at edge
CALORIES
63
E
Without top crust: 2 inches at edge
(Depends upon richness)
Dairy Products and Oils
MILK
Whole milk: 5 ounces (% cupful)
Cream (thin): ¼ cupful
Cream (thick): 1 tablespoonfuls
Cream (whipped): 1 heaping tablespoonful
Skimmed milk: 10 ounces (14 cupfuls)
Buttermilk: 10 ounces (14 cupfuls)
(Artificial buttermilk depends upon whether made
with whole or skimmed milk)
Condensed Milk (unsweetened): 4 tablespoonfuls (scant)
Condensed Milk (sweet): 12 tablespoonfuls
Malted Milk: 1 round tablespoonful
Powdered Milk: 1 round tablespoonful
[Protein C.'s in whole milk-20 to the hundred; skim and butter-
milk, 35; condensed (unsweetened), 23; condensed (sweet), 11.]
Butter or Margarines: 1 level tablespoonful
Olive Oil and other oils and fats: 1 scant tablespoonful
CHEESE
Most solid cheeses: Approximately 1 full cubic inch
(Full-cream cheeses, a little less)
Cottage Cheese: 2 heaping tablespoonfuls
[Protein C.'s in solid cheeses—25 to the hundred; cottage cheese,
75.]
EGGS (1%)
Fruits
1 egg: 75 calories
1 yolk: 50 to 60 calories
1 white: 15 to 20 calories
[White of egg is almost pure protein; yolk of egg approximately
20% protein, 80% fat.]
FRESH
Apple
Pear
1 large
Banana
Orange
Grapefruit: ½ large
64
DIET FOR CHILDREN
1
Berries
Grapes
Cherries (stoned)
Blackberries: ½ cupful
Cranberries: 2 cupfuls
Cantaloupes: 1 melon 4½ inches in diameter
Watermelon: 4 pound, edible portion
Plums
Apricots 3 to 4 large
Lemons
Peaches: 3 medium
Pineapple: 2 slices, 1 inch thick
Olives (green or ripe): 6 to 8
(Stewed Fruits, depending upon amount of sugar:
Approximately ½ cupful)
FRUIT JUICES
Orange
Grapefruit Average 1 cupful
Lemon
Grape Juice: ½ cupful
DRIED FRUITS
Average 1 cupful
Dates: 3 to 4
Figs: 12 large
Raisins and Currants: 4 cupful
Prunes: 4 medium
Meats and Fish
MEATS
[Protein C.'s in fruits from 2 to 5 to the hundred, with the ex-
ception of berries, currants and rhubarb, which have approxi-
mately 10 C.'s to the hundred.]
Any lean meat: Approximately 2 ounces
Fat meat: 1 ounce
FISH
Bacon: 4 small crisp slices
(Piece 3 x 2 x 2 is 2 ounces, or meat part of ordi-
nary lamb chop is 1 ounce.)
Lean fish: 3 ounces
(Cod, haddock, halibut, etc.)
Fat fish: 2 ounces
1
(mackerel, salmon, etc.)
CALORIES
65
?
Nuts
Lobster: 4 ounces
[Protein C.'s in meats and fish-50 to 75 to the hundred.]
Oysters: 12
Sardines: 4 (1½ ounces)
Soups
Almonds, Peanuts: 10 to 12 large
Filberts: 10
Brazil: 2
Chestnuts: 20 small
Pecans: 5 large
Walnuts (English): 4 large
Cocoanut (prepared): % cupful (½ ounce)
Nut Butters: 1 slightly rounding tablespoonful
[Nuts highest in protein; peanuts and peanut butter, 20 C.'s
protein to the hundred; almonds, 15; chestnuts, Brazil and
walnuts, 10. (Nuts are from 60 to 80% fat-good fat—with the
exception of chestnuts, which are mostly carbohydrate.)]
Creamed Soups: ½ cupful scant
Consommé (no fat): 4 cupfuls
(Thick vegetable and legume soups: 1 to 2 cupfuls,
depending upon richness)
Vegetables (sauces and butter added not included)
Asparagus
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Celery
Cucumbers
Lettuce
Radishes
Spinach
Tomatoes
In measurement,
Asparagus: 20 large stalks
Cabbage (shredded): 5 cupfuls
Cauliflower: small head
Celery: 15 stalks
Average 1 pound. (These vary 4 to 14
pounds, but you can remember them more
easily by the average of 1 pound)
'i
:
:
6
}
+
66
DIET FOR CHILDREN
{
Cucumbers: 3, six inches long
Lettuce: 2 good-size, firm heads
[Protein C.'s per hundred. Average approximately 20 to 25 to
the hundred.]
Beets
Carrots
Onions
Parsnips
Turnips
Squash
Average ½ pound. 1 big cupful cooked
plain; sauces and butter not counted in
[Protein C.'s average 10 to the hundred.]
String Beans: 2 cupfuls
[Protein C.'s average 20 to the hundred.]
Beans, cooked
Canned Corn
Succotash
Lentils
Average ½ cupful
Stewed Mushrooms
Average 4 cupful
Peas, cooked
[Protein C.'s to the hundred: Beans and lentils, 20; corn, 10;
succotash, 20; mushrooms, 30; peas, 25.]
Potatoes, white: 1 medium (3 ounces)
Potato Chips: 8 to 10 large pieces
Sweet Potatoes: 12 medium
[Protein C.'s to the hundred: White potato, 10; sweet potato, 6.]
I
7
1.
PART II
:
CHAPTER I
WEIGHT
THE recent surveys made by the nutrition experts dis-
close that there are from five to six million malnourished
children in the United States. Something wrong, some-
thing wrong! What is it?
One of the reasons, dear mothers, is this. While the
weekly weighing of your babies has been almost a re-
ligious rite with you, you have not realized that the
monthly weighing of your children is just as important.
This is not altogether your fault. We physicians per-
haps have not emphasized this often enough.
Had the importance of a normal gain in weight in
your children been emphasized, and had their monthly
weighings been carried out as faithfully as the weekly
weighings of your babies, then when there was failure
to gain over any length of time you would have had the
cause investigated, and you would have made some effort
to remove it, the same as you did when your babies failed
to gain.
While weight is not the only thing we have to
go by to judge the physical condition, it is the
surest single thing we know. We know that normal
health without normal nutrition is not possible. We can
also say that when there is normal nutrition, as expressed
by normal weight, as a rule there cannot be any serious
disorder present. And if there is normal weight and
Surest Thing
We Know
69
70
DIET FOR CHILDREN
4
:
normal rate of gain, we must suppose that the child is
getting an adequate diet.
Watch Your
Weight
"Watch Your Weight!" is a health order of no
mean value. Because this is so, a household scale
is one of the most important pieces of furniture to buy.
Instead of getting a scale for the baby only, invest a
little more money and get one that the whole family can
use. There are good ones on the market at comparatively
low prices.
Normal babies should be weighed once a week and nor
mal children once a month. Undernourished and over-
nourished children should be weighed once a week until
normal weight is attained. Children should be taught in
childhood the importance of keeping up this monthly
weighing the rest of their lives. If that is done we shall
cease seeing so many persons sweltering under blankets
of fat and other persons shivering in their naked bones.
The height of children should be taken twice yearly-
six months apart. They usually grow most rapidly in
the spring and fall.
Weight-
Height-Age
The weight in relation to height and age is the
best guide for normal weight. It is a more reliable
standard than that of relation of weight to age alone, as
children of the same ages may vary considerably in
weight and still be normal. The weight for height has
been found to vary little even in the different races. For
instance, the Russians are a tall race and their children
weigh more than the Japanese who are a short race.
In a series of weights in thousands of foreign-born
children and of American children it was found that
the extreme variation at the height of fifty inches was
but nine pounds. Of course, a child may be below stand-
WEIGHT
71
ard in height as well as in weight even when the ratio
between them is normal-for the same causes which have
made a child underweight may also make him below
height. Don't forget this, mothers.
Age has to be considered somewhat, however,
and of two children of the same height the older
should weigh a little more. The tables of weight which
we use are based on the averages of many children. They
cannot be considered absolutely accurate standards to go
by, for an individual child has its own normal height and
weight, which may not be exactly the average. Still,
however, they are guides and the best available guides we
have. As Holt has expressed it, the average is a line.
The normal is a zone extending a little above and below
this line.
Dr. W. R. P. Emerson has stated that he never has
seen a child habitually seven per cent underweight for
his height, as given by the standard tables, who did not
show other marked signs of malnutrition. I am using
the terms malnutrition and undernourishment more or
less interchangeably but in reality there is a slight dif-
ference. A malnourished child may be undernourished
or it may be overnourished. The prefix, mal, means bad.
However, usually when the term malnourished is used,
we mean undernourished.
Our insurance companies and all of our studies of
children have shown that the undernourished child has
its resistance to disease decidedly lowered. In the war-
ring countries of Europe during the war there was a
marked increase of tuberculosis in children because of
undernourishment.
It is better for a child to be slightly over the average
weight. When over fifteen to twenty per cent over the
Age
1
72.
DIET FOR CHILDREN
1
average, however, depending upon the child, it brings
him into the fat-child class. And it is just as impor-
tant to have that child's condition watched and his
overweight reduced as it is for the undernourished
child to have his condition watched and his weight
increased. For the fat child also lowers his resistance
to infectious disease and he is much more liable to
develop diabetes. More later on the under- and over-
nourished child.
The weight tables follow, mothers. Check up and see
how he stands. Saying that makes me think: How is
his posture? Correct posture is important. Does he
need corrective exercises?
E
WEIGHT-HEIGHT-AGE TABLES
NOTES REFERRING TO TABLES
The tables are to be used as follows:
Take, for example, a 14 year old boy, who is 64 inches tall.
By following the numbers horizontally opposite the figure 64 it
will be found that he should weigh 113 pounds. A 12 year old
boy who is 64 inches tall should weigh 109 pounds and an 18
year old boy should weigh 126 pounds.
Age is taken at the nearest birthday; height at the nearest
inch; and weight at the nearest pound. A child is considered
6 years old at any time between 5½ and 6½ years.
The figures not starred represent exact averages in round
numbers.
The starred figures represent smoothed or interpolated values.
Children weighed in ordinary clothing, with shoes, coats and
sweaters removed.
Tables for boys and girls of school age. Prepared by Bird T.
Baldwin, Ph.D., Iowa Child Welfare Research Station, State Uni-
versity of Iowa, and Thomas D. Wood, M.D., Columbia University,
New York, and reprinted by courtesy of the American Child
Health Association.
Tables for infancy and early childhood. Reprinted by permis-
sion of Robert M. Woodbury, Ph. D., Children's Bureau, U. S.
Department of Labor.
73
74
DIET FOR CHILDREN

Height
(inches)
38
39
40
41
********
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
Average
weight for
height (lbs.)
34
4H L
35
36
38
39
41
44
46
48
50
53
55
58
61
64
68
71
74
78
82
WEIGHT-HEIGHT-AGE TABLE FOR BOYS OF SCHOOL AGE
5 Years
6 Years
34 34*
35
35
36
38
39
41
44
36*
38
39
41
44
46 46
47* 48
49* 50
52
55
7 Years
38*
39*
39*
41* 41*
44
44*
46* 46*
48 48*
46
48
50 50
50* 50*
53 53*
53
53
55
55 55 55
57* 58
61
58
61
63
64
66* 67
70
58
61
64
67
70
55*
58 58* 58*
61 61*
64 64
67
68
70 71
61
64
67
70
72* 72 73
75*❘ 76 77
79*
80
73
77
81
74
77
81
13 Years
14 Years
64*
68*
71 72*
74
78
82
74*
78
83
15 Years
80*
83* |
16 Years
17 Years
18 Years
19 Years
(b) *****
Height
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
WEIGHT-HEIGHT-AGE TABLES
75

58
NEN ***** ***** **
60
61
62
64
65
70
72
73
74
63888
Average
Height
(inches)
85
89
94
99
104
111
117
123
129
133
139
144
147
152
157
163
169
Age-Years
Short
Medium
Co
Average
Annual
Gain (lbs.) ( Tall
6
i
7
43 45 47 49
8 9
83*
345
457
557
6
84
87
Short
Medium 46 48 50 52 54 56
Tall
59
49 51 53 55 57
567
21585
84
88
91* 92 92
7
85
89
90
93
94 95 96
95 96 97
99 100 103 106*
100* 101 102 103 104 107 111
105* 106 107 108 110 113 118
109 111 113 115
117
53
569
478
85
89
86
90
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
114* 117 118 120
|
119 122 125
124* 128 130
134 134
137 139
8
9
12
9
11
16
87
90
54 56 58
58 60
61
64
*
143 144 145 148 151 155
148* 150 151 152 154 159
153 155 156 158 163
157* 160 162❘ 164
160* 164
164168 170
167
171
63
67
116*
123127*|
121 126
127
131 134 65
66
122
128 132 136 139
134136 139 142 67
137 141143 147
143 146 149 152
68
11
15 11
11 9
700 №28
60
64
65
65
65
68 69
69
70 72 72 73 73
62
67
14 13
60
61
62
63
130* 64
743
58
59
334
+88588
69
70
71
72
73
74


76
DIET FOR CHILDREN

Height
(inches)
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
9885985
56
57
Average
weight for
height (lbs.)
33
34
36
37
39
41
42
45
47
50
28228 GOO
52
55
58
61
64
68
71
75
79
84
WEIGHT-HEIGHT-AGE TABLE FOR GIRLS OF SCHOOL AGE
5 Years
♡♡
33
C++
34
36
37
39
41
42
6 Years
33
34
7 Years
36 36*
37
37*
39
39*
41
41
42
42
45
45
47* 47
49* 50
52
54
8 Years
56* 56
41*
42*
45
47
50 50
52
52
54
55
**
9 Years
45 45*
48 48*
50
52
****
10 Years
55 56
57
58
61
59 60
63* 64 64
66* 67 67
69
59
61
64
68
70 70
72* 74
50*
53* 53*
56**
11 Years
74 74
76 78
80*1 82
61 62*
63 65
65 67
N8R8
68
12 Years
74
78
82
13 Years
69 71*1
71
73*
75
79
82
14 Years
77
78*
81 83*
84
15 Years
88 92*
16 Years
17 Years
18 Years
Height
(inches)
** **** *****
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
WEIGHT-HEIGHT-AGE TABLES
77

58
88 87*** |68588
59
60
61
62
63
64
66
67
69
70
71
8988
Average
Height
(inches)
95
101
108
114
118
121
125
129
133
138
142
144
145
Age-Years
Short
Medium
Tall
Short
Medium
Average
Annual
Gain (lbs.) (Tall
CO
7 8
43 45 47 49
47 50 52
50
53
55
6
45
47
45
6
10 00
8
4
6
84
87
679
86
86
90 90
*
91* 95 95 97101 105
99 100 101 105 108
104 105 106 109113 115
110110112
112 116
114 115 117 119
117
*
120
LO LO
50
54
57 59
56
52 54
88989
58
88 93
92 96
9 10 11 12 13 14 | 15 16 17 18
62
10
13
123
125
118* 120 121 122
124 124 125 128 129
128* 130 131 133 133
131* 133 135 136 138 | 138
135* 137* 138* 140* 142*|
6
8
10
11 13 9
57
60
64
96*| 101*
100 103* 104*
13
10
8
88990
108
108
8880
10
6
109
109
111* 60
112 113 116 61
136* 138* 140* 142* 144*
138* 140* 142* 144* 145*
59 60 61
744
231
117 118 62
119
119 120 63
122 123 64
126
130
135
61
61
62
63 64 64 64
66 66 67 67 67
18 CUNI!
58
1
1
59
65
66
67
68
69
70 71
78
DIET FOR CHILDREN

Height
(inches)
20
1234
21
22
23
24
~~~~~
B678✪
25
26
27
28
29
30
Bo að að að að
C123 TH
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
CHIRE COL00
40
41
42
43
44
444
45
46
47
48
49
WEIGHT-HEIGHT-AGE TABLE FOR BOYS FROM BIRTH TO SCHOOL AGE
Average
weight
for Height
(pounds)
8
000
92
10%
12
13/2½
15
162
18
192
2012
~~~~~
23467
22
23
242
26
27
29½
31
32
33%
35
36½
38
39%
4112
432
452
48
50
5212
55
1
mo.
8
9
10
11
12
13
3
6
9
mos. mos. mos.
10
11
12
TH
123
13
HHH
456
14
15
16
B4 B7B00
HHA
13
14
15
17
18
19
20
22
16
17
18
19
21
222
234
22
23
24
12 18
mos. mos.
18
19
20
21
2222
2346
22
23
24
26
20
22 22222
21
23
24
26
27
29
24
mos.
20DON RO
22
23
25
26
27
29
30
32
30
mos.
2222
4567
24
25
26
27
29
23
31
32
33
35
36
mos.
26
27
29
31
32
33
35
36
48
mos.
29
31
32
33
MÓ CO
COLO
35
♡♡♡
36
38
39
41
60
mos.
සසස
245
32
34
35
36
38
39
41
43
45
72
mos.
36
38
39
41
43
5002D
45
48
50
52
55
NOTES:
1. Weight is stated to the nearest pound; height to the nearest inch; age to the nearest birthday.
2. Up to and including 34 inches the weights are net. Above this the children weighed in ordinary clothing
with shoes, coats and sweaters removed.
WEIGHT-HEIGHT-AGE TABLES
79
;
!
1
K
Height
(inches)
22222
O123 <H
20
21
22
23
24
287885
CO
26
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
Spaana və 1 mar -
WEIGHT-HEIGHT-AGE TABLE FOR GIRLS FROM BIRTH TO SCHOOL AGE
Average
weight
for Height
(pounds
8
9
10½
12
132
15
101½
172
19
20
211/2
222
24
25
2612
29
30
312
322
34
352
372
39
41
422
45
472
50
522
1
mo.
8
9
10
11
12
13
3
mos.
10
11
12
13
14
453
15
16
6
mos.
HA
+
13
14
15
101
BOND!
HIHI
16
17
19
19
21
9
mos.
14
15
.
17
18
19
20
22
21
22
12
mos.
17
18
19
20
222
123
21
22
NOTES:
1. Weight is stated to the nearest pound; height to the
2. Up to and including 34 inches the weights are net.
with shoes, coats and sweaters removed.
23
18
mos.
19
20
21
22.
23
24
25
26
29
24
mos.
22222
IMTLOO
21
23
24
25
26
29
30
31
30
mos.
23
24
25
26
29
30
31
33
34
36
48
mos. mos.
25
26
27
29
30
31
33
34
35
29
30
31
33
34
36
37
39
40
60
72
mos. mos.
1234
31
32
33
34
36
37
39
41
42
34
36
37
39
41
42
45
47
50
52
L7
nearest inch; age to the nearest month.
Above this the children weighed in ordinary clothing
Vie

80
DIET FOR CHILDREN
1
ABOUT WHAT A BOY SHOULD GAIN ON AN AVERAGE
EACH MONTH
AGE
5 to 8.
8 to 12
12 to 14
14 to 16
16 to 18
ABOUT WHAT A GIRL SHOULD GAIN ON AN AVERAGE
AGE
5 to 8.
8 to 11
11 to 14
14 to 16
16 to 18
6 oz.
8 oz.
12 oz.
16 oz.
8 oz.
EACH MONTH
•
6 oz.
8 oz.
12 oz.
8 oz.
4 oz.
The monthly gain may not be regular. Sometimes
there may be stationary weight for over a month, perhaps
two, for no apparent reason. However, it should not be
considered normal for any longer than this, nor for as
long as this if there are any symptoms aside from the
stationary weight.
The yearly gain for children is approximately 5 pounds
a year after the first year and up to 11. After that the
gain is approximately 10 pounds a year until growth
ceases. And that is the weight to maintain, if it is
normal. We do not allow an increase of weight for in-
creasing years after full maturity as was formerly
done. In fact, insurance statistics show that those
under the average weight after 30 have a longer life.
expectancy.
CHAPTER II
TEETH AND THOROUGH MASTICATION
Most of you realize the importance of your children be-
ing taught to keep their teeth clean by a thorough brush-
ing at least twice a day, and most of you realize the im-
portance of taking your children to a dentist at fre-
quent and regular intervals. (At least every six
months.) Tiny cavities can then be filled with practi-
cally no pain so the children will not suffer, nor fear the
visit. And you know that this is just as important
for the temporary as well as the permanent teeth.
You know decayed and painful teeth must receive at-
tention, for a child cannot chew his food and he is very
apt not to eat sufficient food, if chewing causes pain.
Decayed teeth also furnish an entrance to disease germs
and their resulting poisons, the same as diseased ade-
noids and tonsils do.
I believe you realize all this, mothers. But have you
realized the importance of furnishing in their diets the
material for building strong and healthy teeth so that
they will be more resistant to decay and will develop
properly?
Teeth, Good
and Bad
Haven't you thought that whether the teeth are
good or bad was an inherited characteristic which
you could not alter? That because father had bad
teeth, Jackie, who takes after him, will probably have
bad teeth too? While we cannot deny that the shape
and size may be more or less an inherited characteristic,
81
82
DIET FOR CHILDREN
!
we now know that inheritance is the smallest factor for
determining whether the teeth shall be good or poor. The
factor which determines whether the teeth shall be good
or poor is whether the diet is good or poor. That is,
whether it is rich in building materials for the teeth
or not.
The mother's diet during pregnancy, during
the last months of which the baby's teeth begin to
develop, and while nursing the baby; and the child's
diet after weaning, are the chief factors in the develop-
ment of the first teeth. Not inheritance as we use that
term.
The Mother's
Diet
Whether the permanent teeth are good or poor de-
pends upon the child's diet while they are developing,
as well as the dental and cleaning care they receive.
Largely the diet, mothers! In the examination of the
teeth in school children, it is found that by far the
greater proportion of decayed and irregular teeth are
found among the malnourished children.
The special requirements in the diet for the
teeth is met if you follow the directions I give
for supplying at least three glasses of milk, a liberal
amount of green-leaf vegetables, some fruits, nuts,
etc., for the mineral elements necessary to be deposited
in the teeth, and for their vitamins; and some hard
foods, such as coarse cereals, dried toasts, and food con-
taining fiber-these hard foods for the exercise that
thorough mastication will give the jaws and teeth.
It has been estimated that when we chew hard food
we exert a pressure of 100 to 250 pounds on the teeth.
This pressure brings a good circulation of blood to the
Not Too Much
Mushy Food
TEETH AND THOROUGH MASTICATION
83
teeth and jaws and salivary glands and helps in their
development. And this is important, mothers.
Having a large element of the hard food which re-
quired mastication is given as one of the reasons for the
good teeth of certain primitive peoples.
Thorough mastication is also necessary for the proper
mixing of the foods for the first digestive juice, the
saliva, and for finely dividing the foods so that they will
be easily attacked by the digestive juices in the stomach
and later the intestines.
Thorough mastication has to be taught to chil- Thorough
Mastication
dren right from the start of giving solid foods, Not Instinctive
by giving small amounts for each mouthful and
showing them how. Later, as the children grow older,
it seems to be almost natural for them to gobble. Many
times it is because they want to get back to play, their
natural occupation. During this period they should have
some one with them while they are eating to see that
too large morsels are not taken at a bite, and that they
chew their food thoroughly and swallow it before more
food is put in the mouth. 'Chew 'til it's all gone be-
fore you put any more in your mouth." Work that over-
time, mothers!
Children should be made to stay at their meals a cer-
tain length of time, irrespective of whether they are
finished before that time or not. This will teach them
not to hurry as they gain nothing by it.
The importance of greens and milk for their vitamins
has been shown experimentally upon animals. When
they are fed foods containing no greens or milk, the jaw
bones will soften, the teeth decay and a condition similar
to pyorrhea will develop. Systemic troubles develop also.
84
DIET FOR CHILDREN
A Warning
While we are talking about development of the
jaws and the teeth, let me warn you, mothers,
about the first permanent molars. Special care should
be given that they do not decay, for they are extremely
important teeth. They do the heaviest work in chewing,
and they serve as a guide for the other permanent teeth
to take their proper positions. Watch these carefully,
mothers, because they decay rather easily. If they are
pulled, they never return. The jaws will shrink and
the teeth will come in irregularly. This is also true if
the temporary teeth are lost before their time. (It
occasionally happens that a temporary tooth does not
loosen and come out on time and it must be pulled if the
permanent tooth gives evidence of coming in out of line.)
It is wise to have some fresh fruits or a salad at the
end of a meal, because they cleanse the teeth and stimu-
late the alkaline saliva which in itself is a protection to
the teeth.
I have spoken about the effect of candy on the teeth
when I discussed candy. I will just repeat here that ex-
cess candy works in two ways to cause tooth decay: by
acid fermentation in the mouth, and by cloying the ap-
petite so that enough of the proper growth foods are
not taken.
AVERAGE TIME OF ERUPTION OF TEETH
DECIDUOUS OR TEMPORARY (Twenty)
Two lower central incisors
Four upper incisors
Two lower lateral incisors
Four anterior molars
Four canines (upper, the "eye" teeth;
lower, the "stomach" teeth)
Four posterior molars
•
•
6 to 9 months
8 to 12 months
9 to 12 months
12 to 16 months
14 to 20 months
20 to 36 months
TEETH AND THOROUGH MASTICATION 85
At one year should have 6 teeth
At eighteen months should have 12 teeth
At two years should have 16 teeth
At two and one-half to three years should have 20 teeth
PERMANENT TEETH (Thirty-two)
Four first molars
Eight incisors (replace temporary incisors)..
Eight bicuspids (replace temporary molars)..
Four canines (replace temporary canines)
Four second molars
•
Four third molars ("Wisdom teeth")
}
...
(The molars are back of the bicuspids)
6 years
7 to 9 years
9 to 10 years
12 to 15 years
12 to 15 years
17 to 25 years
i
1
Į
I
t
រ
!
"
.
"
CHAPTER III
Develop
Gradually
FEEDING THE FIRST YEAR
WHILE it is my purpose in this book to cover mainly the
diet for children, I shall step aside a little and touch on
the subject of feeding infants, for so very much de-
pends upon the child getting the right start in liking
the foods necessary for childhood while it is still an in-
fant. In reality while it is still a very young infant;
six months old, mothers! Even the nursing babies.
At the sixth month we begin to teach the baby's di-
gestive tract to care for solid foods and the baby him-
self to like them. Some Pediatritians (children spe-
cialists) begin as early as the fifth month. This sounds
like heresy, I know, to some of you who have thought
that nothing except milk and orange juice should pass
babies' lips until well into the second year.
It used to be thought that young babies could
not digest starchy foods, nor any foods except
milk. But it has been proved that the power to digest
other foods besides milk is latent and can be developed
if the development is done very gradually. It is upon
this very gradual and slow development of the digestive
capacity of the infants that the principle of introducing
any new food in the diet is founded.
Strained cereals and puréed vegetables are introduced
by the sixth and sometimes as early as the fifth month,
beginning with not over one-half a level teaspoonful
86
FEEDING THE FIRST YEAR
87
and increasing it not more than one-half a level tea-
spoonful every other day. The first tooth makes its
appearance usually at the fifth month, and we believe
that nature is now telling us that solid foods should be
begun.
One of the chief reasons for including other foods
early, is that milk is deficient in iron and may be de-
ficient in vitamins. The babe comes into the world with
a store of iron in its liver, but by the sixth month it
begins to be exhausted. As there is a very small amount
of iron in human milk and cow's milk, we have to think
of other foods for this vital element.
Since we are beginning to feed babies solid foods much
earlier than we formerly did, we have very many less
cases of anemia, scurvy, rickets, and malnutrition than
before.
Because we are beginning to feed the babies But, Mothers!
early does not mean that we do not still continue
to condemn giving tastes of things to babies from the
table. That is usually pernicious. So often they are
given tastes of things they should not have and out of
their regular feeding time. The baby should have its
little bit of solid food, but only foods that its little in-
testinal tract can handle, and given at its regular feed-
ing time. Irregularity in feeding and the feeding of
foods that babies should not have, both of these often
coming from the practice of giving "tastes," are two big
causes of illness in babies.
The foods besides milk that can be given the first
year are the fruit juices and strained cooked fruit or
scraped raw-fruit pulp, strained cereal, strained and
puréed vegetables, beef and vegetable broths free from
fat, and egg yolks.
88
DIET FOR CHILDREN
Nursing
Babies
Nursing babies can also begin at the sixth
month to have solid foods, just as the bottle babies,
although it is not so important for them as it is for the
bottle babies-that is, if their mothers are on a correct
diet-because of the superiority of the human milk over
cow's milk.
Orange juice, or, if that cannot be secured, tomato
juice canned or fresh, or raw cabbage juice, should be
begun in the second or third month for its anti-scorbutic
vitamins. If it is given one hour before the mid-morn-
ing feeding and begun in very small doses, not over a
small teaspoonful well diluted with water, it will cause
no disturbances. This can very gradually be increased
until two tablespoonfuls or more are taken every day.
These are given to prevent the baby from having
scurvy.
Boiled water should also be given babies at least twice
a day either from the cup or from the bottle. Water
giving can be overdone in babies. I have known babies to
have a bottle of water stuck in their mouths every time
they opened them to cry as the protest against some dis-
comfort that was not hunger nor thirst. Children need
a lot of water, but milk is over ninety per cent water, so
babies who are getting mostly milk are getting a lot of
water.
Because, as I have said, liking the right foods in child-
hood must be begun in infancy if we don't want a fight
on our hands (why is it that some children who are not
taught early have such an unholy aversion to spinach
and carrots?), I am going to give you, a little farther
on, a table which I have arranged giving you the foods
and the time of feedings for your baby from the sixth
to the twelfth month.
FEEDING THE FIRST YEAR
89
If your baby is malnourished or ill, or arti-
ficially fed, mothers, he should be under a phy-
sician's care, either in private practice or at the
baby clinics. It is even difficult for a specialist at times
to feed these children.
Read about the importance of giving your baby your
own milk in the chapter on human mothers' milk.
A Specialist's
Care
Necessary
CHAPTER IV
DIRECTIONS FOR THE DIET FROM 6 TO 12 MONTHS
IMPORTANT! IMPORTANT! Remember the principle of
adding new foods to baby's diet, mothers, and that is,
begin in very small amounts and increase very gradually
so that his digestive powers, which are latent, will grad-
ually develop and will not be overtaxed.
Feed the baby VERY REGULARLY every four hours-
6, 10, 2, 6 and 10. You can omit the 10 P.M. feeding at
the 10th or 11th month or perhaps earlier. NOTHING
between meals but water and its orange or vegetable
juice.
BREAD
By the 7th month, begin to give babe a piece of bread
-about one-third of a slice. Fine whole-wheat bread
which is twenty-four hours old and toasted in the oven,
so that it is dried throughout, is best. You can give
Zwieback or the hard educator crackers instead for a
change. Let him hold it himself. You can tie it with
a piece of strong white thread or clean cord to his wrist
so he won't drop it. (Never give a child anything to eat
that has dropped on the floor unless it is something that
can be washed thoroughly. Think what you step on in
the streets and track into the house, and you will see the
reason for this.)
Give the bread before the nursing or bottle. Only
the small amount that the baby's saliva will soften will
be nibbled off, but it is given to develop the jaws and
90
DIET FROM 6 TO 12 MONTHS
91
teeth as well as for its food value. When broths are
given, some of the toast can be crumbled in them.
BUTTER
Add butter to the toast by the 9th month, beginning
with just a little scraping and gradually increase to a
third of a level teaspoonful to one-third of a slice of
bread. Butter, you remember, is rich in the growth vita-
mins as well as having energy value.
BEEF JUICES (See Recipes)
Beef juice can be added to the diet by the 6th or 7th
month at the 2 P.M. meal. Begin with one teaspoonful
diluted. Increase one teaspoonful every other day until
two tablespoonfuls. Have NO fat on it.
CEREALS
Cereals the first year should be strained. Any well-
cooked cereal can be used. Oatmeal, cream of wheat and
farina are usually recommended for the first cereals.
Oatmeal, because it is highest in protein and iron, should
be given three or four times a week. Toward the end
of the year, the other whole-grain cereals should be used
on account of the mineral elements and vitamins in the
bran and germ. All cereals should be very thoroughly
cooked-two or three hours if in a double boiler. Best
cook them the night before and reheat. If soaked over-
night, thirty minutes-at least-over an asbestos mat
will do.
Begin the cereals with one-half of a level teaspoon-
ful and increase not more than one-half level tea-
spoonful every other day until about three tablespoonfuls
CREA
92
DIET FOR CHILDREN
at a meal are being taken by the end of the 7th month.
A larger amount-up to a half cupful or more-can
be given by the end of the year. This amount will
depend upon the size and the activity of the child.
When a different type of cereals or fruit pulp or veg-
etables is given, give about half as much as the baby was
getting before, until the effects are noted. Feed the
cereals from a spoon without milk or sugar at first,
before the bottle or nursing. Later, when milk is being
given, then it can have some on its cereal. Use no sugar.
It is never necessary nor desirable on cereals. A small
amount of salt should be cooked with the cereals.
EGGS
If baby is anemic or rachitic, you can begin giving
one egg yolk by the 2nd or 3rd month, two or three times
or oftener, a week. (See "Feeding in Rickets," Page
213.) The white is not advised the first year because it
is a pure concentrated protein and sometimes causes
eczema and other disturbances.
FRUITS
Fruit Juices. The orange juice you can begin to give
the 3rd month. Begin with a teaspoonful well diluted
and increase a teaspoonful every other day until at least
two tablespoonfuls are taken.
If you cannot secure orange juice, then tomato juice,
raw or canned (if canned, should be boiled before being
served), or raw cabbage juice can be given. Grind the
cabbage fine and put in a piece of gauze and squeeze in
a press or in the hands (if thoroughly washed). These
are given to prevent scurvy.
DIET FROM 6 TO 12 MONTHS
93
Fruit. Cooked apples, prunes, apricots, peaches and
others, strained, or fresh fruit, such as apple or pear or
peach, or thoroughly ripe banana, scraped to a fine
pulp, can be added to the diet the 9th month. If
cooked use very little sugar, and if used cook with the
fruit (the fruit acids change it so it is more easily
digested).
Begin in small amounts and gradually increase from
two to six level tablespoonfuls. The fruits and veg-
etables contain valuable mineral elements and energy
value and are good to prevent constipation as well as
scurvy.
VEGETABLES
All vegetables should be steamed or cooked (for all
the family) only until tender in a tight-covered vessel
and with very little water. Never have any excess water
to be drained off from the vegetables because of the val-
uable mineral elements which are lost. The juice from
the cooked vegetables-diluted at first-can be given
by the 7th month and will prepare the babe for the
strained vegetables which it can have by the 8th month.
Puréed vegetables are vegetables put through a fine
strainer and perhaps thickened a little bit with white
sauce. The best vegetable-on account of its high iron
and vitamins-is spinach, but other vegetables may be
used as they are used by the family. It is wise, if possi-
ble, to have spinach three or four times a week. The most
valuable vegetables that can be used now are spinach,
tomatoes, carrots, peas, string beans, cauliflower, as-
paragus tips, kohlrabi, Brussels sprouts. Remember
that all vegetables should be strained through a fine
sieve until the first molars are in (at the age of 12 to
16 months usually).
94
DIET FOR CHILDREN
7
•
¡
The vegetables can be served with a tiny bit of butter
or meat stock or cream; no other fat.
Potato can be begun by the 8th, 9th or 10th month.
Baked potato is the most digestible and the part nearest
the skin has the most of the mineral elements. A tiny bit
of butter or the beef broth can be used on the baked
potato, greasy gravies never. Thoroughly mashed boiled
potato (boiled with the skin on) can be given also.
Give the vegetables and vegetable juices in the same
gradual manner as the cereals. Increase until by the end
of the year one-fourth to one-half cupful, after cooking,
is taken during the day.
WEANING
By the ninth month, most Pediatricians advise to begin
to wean the baby. Begin the first week of the ninth
month by omitting the nursing at 2 P.M. feeding. Give
eight ounces of half milk and half water boiled together
for three minutes. Use no sugar. Increase the milk one
tablespoonful and decrease the water one tablespoonful a
day until whole milk is given; no sugar need be added.
Stop boiling the milk if certified or Pasteurized after
two or three weeks.
The second week omit the 10 A.M. nursing also, and
give eight ounces of milk, the strength you have worked
up to.
The third week omit the 6 P.M. nursing; the fourth
week the 6 A.M. nursing, giving the milk instead. By
the tenth or eleventh month omit the 10 P.M. nursing.
This gradual weaning will cause no disturbances what-
ever.
If the baby has been a bottle-fed baby, you can begin
by the ninth month to gradually decrease the water or
DIET FROM 6 TO 12 MONTHS
95
the gruel and the sugar in the formula, until whole milk
is being taken some time the ninth or tenth month.
Begin to feed from the cup the last part of the year,
otherwise you will have difficulty to wean from the bottle.
The bottle need not and should not be given after the
first year.
Amounts
Needed
The exact amounts your baby will finally eat
will depend upon his age, activities and size, and
you yourself will have to find out just how much he will
be able to take. But the first amounts you give must
be tiny ones, as I have directed, and you must increase
in tiny amounts, otherwise you may cause a digestive
disturbance.
With the foundation of at least twenty-four ounces
of milk, the other foods will have to be increased or de-
creased from the amount I have stated, depending upon
his well-being and his weight. If he does not gain the
normal amount (at least four ounces), you must increase
his calories of solid food. Check up his foods by the
calorie list, remembering he needs more than the average
number of calories if undernourished and less if over-
nourished. Increase very gradually, if undernourished.
It is seldom necessary to give over a quart of milk to
a baby, and it will be undesirable if it satisfies his appe-
tite so he will not take the proper allowance of solid
foods.
If he gains too much you must decrease his food
allowance. Overweight and underweight are alike un-
desirable.
Remember, mothers, if your baby is malnourished or
ill, he should be under a specialist's care, if possible.
CHAPTER V
TABLE OF FEEDING FROм 6TH TO 12TH MONTH
(See general instructions for beginning and increasing any new
foods.)
Calories needed, 1000 to 1200 per day. (Approximately 45 C.
per pound per day of normal weight; 5 to 10 more, or less, if
underweight or overweight, respectively.)
Feed at 6-10-2-6 and 10. NOTHING between meals, except
boiled water and its orange juice at 8 or 9.
6th Month
6 A.M.-Nursing (or bottle if not breast-fed)
9 A.M.—Orange juice, 2 tablespoonfuls. (See directions)
10 A.M.-Breast or bottle preceded by strained Cereal. Begin
cereals 2 level teaspoonful, increase same
amount every other day until about 2 level table-
spoonfuls
Water between meals.
2 P.M.-Nursing or bottle
6 P.M.-Cereal same amount as getting at 10 A.M., followed
by nursing or bottle
10 P.M.-Nursing or bottle
7th Month
6 A.M.-Nursing or bottle
9 A.M.-Orange juice.
10 A.M.-Breast or bottle, preceded by strained cereal 3 to 4
level tablespoonfuls
2 P.M.-Nursing or bottle
Vegetable or beef juice minus all fat. Begin,
teaspoonful diluted. Increase 1 teaspoonful every
other day to 2 tablespoonfuls
Piece of dry toast to nibble on before nursing or
bottle. Can put a little in the broth also.
96
FEEDING TABLES 6 TO 12 MONTHS
97
6 P.M.-Cereal, same amount as getting at 10 A.M., fol-
lowed by nursing or bottle
10 P.M.-Nursing or bottle
8th Month
6 A.M.-Nursing or bottle
9 A.M.-Orange juice
10 A.M.—Breast or bottle, preceded by strained cereal 3 to 4
level tablespoonfuls
Piece of dry toast to nibble
2 P.M.-Nursing or bottle
Strained vegetables, 1 to 2 level tablespoonfuls.
(See directions)
Bone, good sized, with no fat or meat on it, to
gnaw on 2 or 3 times a week
6 P.M.-Cereal, same amount as getting at 10 A.M., followed
by nursing or bottle
10 P.M.-Nursing or bottle
9th to 12th Month
6 A.M.-Nursing or bottle. (Omit breast feeding at 4th
week of 9th month, give 8 ounces of milk in-
stead. See directions)
9 A.M.-Orange juice
10 A.M.-Breast or bottle, preceded by strained cereal 3 to 4
level tablespoonfuls
Piece of dry toast. Add small amount of butter to
toast by 9th month
Egg yolk 2 or 3 times a week, or oftener. Begin
this earlier if babe is anemic (see "Rickets").
Can be stirred in milk or taken on toast. (Omit
nursing second week of 9th month. See direc-
tions.)
2 P.M.-Nursing or bottle. (Omit nursing 2nd week of the
9th month)
Dry toast and butter, 2 to 1 slice
Strained or puréed vegetables up to 3 to 4 table-
spoonfuls, or more
Baked potato, 3 to 4 tablespoonfuls, or more. (Be-
gin small amounts, increase gradually)
*98
DIET FOR CHILDREN
1
Fruit, 1 to 3 tablespoonfuls, fresh (scraped) or
stewed. If stewed, very little sugar
6 P.M.-Cereal, same amount as getting at 10 A.M., fol-
lowed by nursing or bottle. Add a little milk
on cereal. No sugar. (Omit nursing or bottle
by 3rd week of the 9th month. See directions)
10.P.M.-Nursing or bottle. (Omit at 10th or 11th months)
}
$
CHAPTER VI
DIRECTIONS FOR THE SECOND YEAR
THE second year has the reputation for being the most
difficult year and the most dangerous year for the child,
and it usually is.
Do you know why this is so, mothers? I'll tell you.
It is because the same scrupulous care is not given in the
feeding and other health measures during the second
year as the first year. Babies are given foods they should
not have and at all hours of the day. Their daily baths
are usually discontinued. (And they really need them
more rather than less.)
If the same care is given to the baby the second year,
the same regularity of meals, and no foods given that
he has not learned to digest by very gradual feeding,
nothing allowed between meals but water and his fruit
juice; and if his daily baths and other hygienic meas-
ures are kept up, there is no more danger in the second
year than the first year. That will comfort you, I
know.
Most of the foods necessary for the second year
should be begun the first year. Now, of course,
they can be taken in larger quantities. The baby
can be taking daily from one-half to one cupful of
vegetables, measured after cooking. It is best to strain
them until the first molars are in (12 to 16 months). It
is well to begin giving some of the tender fresh vegetables
raw after all the teeth are in and he can chew. Grind
Larger
Quantities
of Food
99
100
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DIET FOR CHILDREN
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very fine at first. Some of the vegetables will appear
in the stools undigested, but if there is no distress from
them, this is no cause for discontinuing them.
He Has to
Be Shown.
You, mothers, must see that he masticates his
food thoroughly by giving him small morsels at
a time and showing him how. Sometime during the sec-
ond year he can begin to handle a spoon and feed him-
self, but he must be supervised to see that he does not
take too much at a mouthful. If you or some other adult
cannot be with him and there is an older child in the fam-
ily, teach this child to guide him.
When he begins to handle his spoon teach him to hold
it correctly, and that is with the thumb over the handle,
and fingers underneath, not grasped in the fist over the
top of the handle. It will require much patience, much
patience, and much perseverance, to teach him this, but
it can be done. (I know, for I have done it.) If he
handles the spoon this way, the food is not spilled all over
him and he cannot pile it so high. Try grasping a spoon
yourself as a baby usually does and see how difficult it
is to get food to your mouth without spilling it. Give
him a coffee spoon. He'll love that and he can't get
very much on it.
Teach him to use a bit of his bread to push the food
on the spoon, never the fingers, nor one of those pushers
that are sold for the purpose. They are an abomination,
and so are the spoons with the turned-over handles. Why
teach him anything he has to unlearn? It is unnecessary
and unwise. (I use the pronoun "he" throughout,
mothers. You know I mean "she" as well.)
DIRECTIONS FOR THE SECOND YEAR 101
EGGS
He has already had egg yolks the first year. When
you begin to give him the white of the eggs begin with
not more than a teaspoonful and increase the same
amount when they are given. As I have told you, some
children do not digest egg white easily and it is one of the
proteins that may produce eczema if the child is sus-
ceptible. Given in this way, it probably won't cause
any disturbance. Cook in any way so it is tender.
No fried foods for any young child.
BREAD
It is well to continue toasting the bread thoroughly
throughout, but you can vary by giving him hard rusks.
or rolls, or French bread if twenty-four hours old (the
bread, mothers, not the baby), for the development of the
jaws and teeth. No young child should have fresh or
soft bread, hot muffins, doughnuts, griddlecakes, nor
waffles, as they are more apt to form gummy masses and
ferment and cause distress.
BUTTER
One to two level teaspoonfuls can be taken on the bread
and vegetables during the day. It is valuable for its
fat and for its growth and anti-ophthalmic vitamins.
MEAT
Scraped beef is made by scraping raw beefsteak with
a silver spoon or knife. Make into loose little cakes and
broil. Add a little butter and salt (not much).
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102
MILK
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DIET FOR CHILDREN
Milk is still, and should continue to be, the founda-
tion for the diet, and at least twenty-four ounces should
be given daily.
If nothing is given between meals but water (two or
three glasses during the day), he will be hungry at meal-
times, as he should be. Do not permit him to dawdle,
nor to eat too rapidly. The habits of eating he estab-
lishes the first two years are probably going to persist
throughout life. This applies to other habits as well,
mothers!
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☺
CHAPTER VII
TABLES OF FEEDING FROM ONE TO TWO AND A HALF YEARS
If so,
IMPORTANT! If your babies have not been having solid foods
up to the 12th month, begin as you would at the 6th month.
You can increase the foods a little faster, but be cautious. The
babies may and probably will refuse the solid foods.
withhold the milk and starve them to it. It won't hurt them.
A 12- or even a 24-hour fast (with plenty of water) will usually
convince them you mean business. Be prepared for a stormy
time, and warn your neighbors so they won't have you up before
the anti-cruelty society. Has happened!
TABLE OF FEEDING FROM 12TH TO 15TH MONTH
(Calories, 800 to 1100)
6 A.M.-Milk, 8 ounces, from cup by 13th month.
(No sugar)
Dry crisp bread and butter; about 1% ordinary slice;
increase gradually
Juice 1 orange at 9 A.M.
10 A.M.-Milk, 8 ounces from cup
Cooked cereal, 3 to 4 level tablespoonfuls with milk
(part of above). (No sugar)
Dry crisp bread and butter, 1 to 2 slice
Egg yolk 2 or 3 times a week or oftener; cooked slightly
or raw-on toast or in milk
2 P.M.-Milk, 4 to 8 ounces from cup (no sugar) after solid
foods
Meat or vegetable broths (3 to 4 ounces), with rice
or stale bread in it, 2 or 3 times a week
Crisp bread and butter
Scraped beef, 1 tablespoonful 2 or 3 times a week when
broths are not given
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103
104
DIET FOR CHILDREN
1
Cleaned bone to gnaw on two or three times a week
Puréed vegetables, 3 to 4 tablespoonfuls. (Potato and
one other. Spinach, 3 to 4 times a week, if possible)
Fruit pulp cooked or raw, 2 to 4 level tablespoonfuls
6 P.M.-Milk, 8 ounces from cup (no sugar) after solid foods
Dry crisp bread and butter, ¼ to ½ slice
Cereal (¼ to ½ cupful)—some of above milk in it
Fruit pulp, 1 to 2 tablespoonfuls
Water, 2 to 1 glass between meals
TABLE OF FEEDING FROM 15TH TO 18TH MONTH
(Calories, 900 to 1200)
(See note over table for 12 to 15 months)
(Can begin 3 meals a day now)
BREAKFAST-7:30 A.M.
Milk, 8 ounces (no sugar) after and with solid
foods
Cereal, ½ cupful or more with some of the milk
allowed. (No sugar)
Dry crisp bread and butter, ½ slice or so, in-
crease gradually
Egg yolk 2 or 3 times a week or oftener. Begin
to add, gradually, the white of the eggs on
the days meat not given at the noon meal.
(See directions under eggs)
9 A.M.-Juice of orange and ½ to 1 glass of water
DINNER-11:30 to 12
Meat or vegetable broths with rice or bread (24
hours old) in it, 2 or 3 times a week
Crisp bread and butter, ½ slice or so
Scraped beef, 1 to 2 tablespoonfuls (level) OR
Cottage cheese, 2 or 3 level tablespoonfuls, OR
Nut butter, 2 to 1 level tablespoonful thinned
FEEDING FROM 1 TO 212 YEARS
105
with milk or water, 2 or 3 times a week when
meat is not given
Cleaned bone to gnaw on 2 or 3 times a week
Strained or puréed vegetables, 3 or 4 tablespoon-
fuls. (Potato and one other. Spinach, green
string beans, cooked lettuce, carrots, etc.)
Spaghetti, macaroni or rice occasionally instead
of potato
(When first molars are in [12 to 16 months],
you can chop vegetables and meat instead of
straining or scraping. Make him chew)
Fruit pulp, cooked or raw, 2 to 4 level table-
spoonfuls
Milk, 4 to 8 ounces to drink
3:30 P.M.-Milk, 5 to 6 ounces
SUPPER-5:30 to 6 P.M.
Milk, 8 ounces
Dry crisp bread and butter
Cooked cereal, ½ cupful, some of the above milk
in it
Stewed fruit, 2 to 4 tablespoonfuls
TABLE OF FEEDING FROM 12 TO 22 YEARS
(Calories, 1000 to 1250)
(See note over table for 12 to 15 months)
BREAKFAST-7 to 7:30 A.M.
Same as 15 to 18 months. Add 1 to 2 half slices
of partly crisped broiled bacon, 2 or 3 times a
week when egg is not given
Any fresh or stewed fruit. Fresh preferably.
DINNER-12 M.
Same as 15 to 18 months.
Cooked vegetables, ½ cupful or more by two and
one-half years. May have creamed soups in-
stead of milk, or vegetable soups. Can give
other tender meats (not over three or four
1
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106
DIET FOR CHILDREN
1
1:
tablespoonfuls). Make him chew. No fried or
greasy meats. The glandular organs such as
sweetbreads, liver and brain are especially good
on account of vitamins and high grade pro-
teins. Can begin tender raw vegetables ground
fine when back molars are in. Begin very
small amounts and gradually increase to two
or three tablespoonfuls or more by the thirty-
sixth month.
Add simple desserts, such as custards, rice, corn-
starch, tapioca, junket, etc.; simple cakes and
cookies by the twenty-second month. NO
CANDY
MID P.M. LUNCH
Milk, 5 to 6 ounces
SUPPER-5:30 to 6 P.M.
Same as 15 to 18 months
Cereals ready cooked can be given for a change
when chewing teeth are in.
Milk toast or creamed toast, or creamed soups,
for a change
Stewed fruit, ¼ to ½ cupful (very little sugar)
(For menus for the older children, see Page 116.)
CHAPTER VIII
DIET AFTER 212 YEARS
THE diet you have been giving baby by the sixth
month really contains most of the foods he should have
until adult life. And if it were to continue as simple
throughout childhood and even adult life, he would avoid
much trouble probably.
You remember I told you that the diet which is best
for the growing child has been proved to be best for the
maintenance of health in the adult. In other words,
milk and its products, whole-grain cereals-including
breads-vegetables, especially the green-leaf vegetables,
in liberal amounts; fruit and nuts, a small amount of
meat, eggs and simple desserts should form the diet
both of the adult and the child.
That does not seem to exclude much, does it? But let
us see. Ordinary white bread, demineralized cereals, ex-
cess fat, greasy fried foods, rich and fancy pastries and
candies, condiments, such as mustard and pepper, tea,
coffee and alcohol, also would come in the list tabooed.
You see, it is quite a list.
After the 15th month three meals a day are sufficient
Up to six at least, the heavy meal should be at noon, for a
heavy meal at night often causes restless sleep and
other disturbances.
At six years of age, when the child begins to go
to school, he may have to take his lunch, and that
will necessitate a little different arrangement of the
A Good
Breakfast
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107
108
DIET FOR CHILDREN
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meals. Be sure that he has a good substantial warm
breakfast before he goes to school. Get up a little earlier
if necessary, so that he can have time to eat it. You may
be benefited by going without breakfast-many adults
are, especially if they are overnourished-but the child
will not be. A good breakfast is important.
It is best to have the dinner in the middle of the day
even now if possible, but if he hasn't time to come home
and eat it without rushing, it is better to give a nourish-
ing lunch and have the heartier meal at 5 or 6.
If he comes home for lunch, mothers, do have it ready
so he won't have to worry about being late at school.
This same advice applies to breakfast. You know worry
doesn't help digestion.
If the heartier meal is given at night, an hour to an
hour and a half should elapse before bedtime. If
father doesn't get home until late, don't make the chil-
dren wait for him. Serve them at 5:30 or 6. In many
ways this is better anyway, for it gives you more of a
chance to supervise them, and then gives you a restful
period to eat in yourself without having to wait on them.
Regularity
Important
It is just as important for regularity in meals
for the older children as it is for those under two
years. No foods should be given between meals to the
normal child except fresh fruit or fruit juices, and if
these are given, they should be given at a specified time,
and just as regularly as the meals. If it is found this
lunch interferes with the appetite, it will have to be
discontinued.
For malnourished children, mid-morning and mid-
afternoon lunches are usually advised, so that they will
get the necessary amount of food for a gain in weight
without overeating at mealtimes. These lunches again
DIET AFTER TWO AND A HALF YEARS 109
should be given at the same times each day. I give you
some special directions for the malnourished child be-
ginning Page 153.
The practice of letting children nibble at crackers,
cookies, candies, bread and sugar, etc., at all times be-
tween meals is one of the chief causes of indigestion. It
destroys the appetite for foods that should be taken at
mealtimes, and thus may cause malnutrition.
FOODS THE CHILD CAN AND CANNOT HAVE
Whole-wheat bread (at least a day old) most
of the time. For a change: corn bread, brown
bread, popovers, Zwieback, Swedish health bread, whole-
wheat crackers, etc. Any firm and crusty bread for
jaw and teeth.
The hot fresh breads are not objectionable because
they are hot, but because they are apt to be gummy
and therefore will not be well masticated and may fer-
ment in the stomach. Thin, crusty tea biscuits and pop-
overs, etc., are not objectionable.
(Ordinary white bread is demineralized and devi-
tamized, and cannot be called the "staff of life" for that
reason.) Thorough mastication.
Margarines, vegetable oils. (No growth vita-
mins.) All good in moderation, if plenty of
whole milk is taken. Butter best fat on account of
growth vitamin. Not over one level teaspoonful a meal
up to 3 years. Gradually increase, but usually best not
to exceed one level tablespoonful a meal.
All kinds. Those containing the bran and germ
much preferred (oatmeal has the most iron and
protein). Dried ready-to-serve cereals for a change.
}
Breads
Fats
Cereals
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110
DIET FOR CHILDREN
Condiments
Drinks
Eggs
Į
They have about one-half the energy or caloric value of
cooked cereals. Remember that and serve twice as much.
It is best to use no sugar on cereals, or if used, a very
little. Serve with some hard bread to insure thorough
mastication.
Mustard, pickles, vinegar, pepper, horse-radish,
best omitted. Use lemon juice instead. It has
vitamins and mineral salts and is nonirritating.
Milk in all forms. Milk is a food and must be
sipped or taken with other foods (best warmed for
the younger children); weak chocolates or cocoa or
cereal coffees made with milk; fruit-ades and water
(but mustn't be taken when food is in the mouth, to wash
it down. This applies to all drinks). Never tea or coffee
on account of its theine and caffeine, nor strong choco-
lates or cocoa on account of the theobromine (the same
principle as theine and caffeine, all strong drugs). Never
alcoholic drinks of any kind except under the physician's
orders. Ice-cream sodas occasionally if pure and if
taken slowly and if growth foods are not slighted.
PROTEIN FOODS
Egg whites are valuable for proteins. One a
day usually enough for the younger children.
(Don't always agree. See chapter on "Idiosyncrasies,
Page 235.) Egg yolks, especially valuable for iron,
phosphorus and vitamins and seldom disagree. May
have one, or more, if necessary.
Eggs most any way but fried and greasy. Thorough
mastication.
""
DIET AFTER TWO AND A HALF YEARS 111
One ounce (the amount of meat on an ordinary
lamb chop is about one ounce) up to about four
years of age. Not much more than two ounces after that.
Once a day is sufficient to give meat, if it is given.
Sausages and greasy meats best omitted. The glandular
organs-sweetbreads, liver, brain-especially good.
May boil, broil, stew, or bake meats (or pan-broil if
very lean, so there will be no fat to cook out and scorch).
For the babies, scraped-scrape with the grain with a
silver spoon-then broil. Thorough mastication.
Fresh fish, same directions as meat. (As it is
less stimulating, a larger portion can be served.)
Be sure to remove bones for the younger children.
Dried meats and fish if soaked until the salt is re-
moved, then cooked until soft, are not objectionable for
a change. Oily, canned fish, such as sardines, are best
omitted in children's diet. Any canned meat or fish
should be cooked thoroughly before serving. If wanted
cold, cook first, then cool. Thorough mastication.
High in fat and protein, except chestnuts, which
are mostly carbohydrates. Nuts may take the
place of meat. Be careful not to give unground nuts
before chewing teeth are in and they have been taught
thorough mastication.
Any mild cheese. Cottage cheese especially
valuable and often preferable to muscle meats
for protein. Thorough mastication.
Meats
Fish
Nuts
Cheese
112
DIET FOR CHILDREN
VEGETABLES
All kinds, if properly prepared-that is, strained be-
fore the molars (chewing teeth) are in, and grated or
chopped fine after, and until the child is taught to chew.
(See page 149 for cooking.) The idea that certain vegeta-
bles could not be given to a child until three years,
others at six, and so on, has been proved wrong. The
strong aromatic vegetables, such as onions, cucumbers,
if given raw may disagree. Navy beans may disagree.
When giving vegetables or foods of any kind not used
before, begin in small amounts and try them out. Thor-
ough mastication.
FRUITS (See "Fruits," Page 254)
The same general directions given about vegetables
apply to fruits. Best remove seeds and skin for all
children, especially the younger. Special attention must
be paid to see that the fruit is thoroughly sound-
that is, not underripe nor too ripe.
Yes, we can have bananas! if they are thoroughly
ripened and well masticated. For the younger children
they had best be mashed and beaten. Baked bananas
are very easily digested. There are three reasons that
bananas are in bad repute. They have been given chil-
dren before they were thoroughly ripened-the stage
when the starch has not been converted to the fruit sugar
which is more easily digested; they have been swallowed
in chunks, and they have been eaten in too large amounts.
Observing precautions I have given you, you can include
bananas in the children's diet at any age after 9 months.
Thorough mastication.
DIET AFTER TWO AND A HALF YEARS 113
:
SOUPS
Thin soups made of vegetables and meat are good for
the mineral salts, but have very little nourishment. They
are good occasionally to make the children eat more bread,
if that is necessary, and sometimes they stimulate the ap-
petite. Beef essence and beef juices have more nourish-
ment and mineral elements, and they also act as a
stimulant.
Thick cream soups made with a foundation of milk
are very nourishing and wholesome and can be given
often. Serve soups with a bit of hard bread or crackers
so as to insure thorough mastication.
DESSERTS
(Best to keep out of sight until growth foods are
eaten. No sweets between meals.)
Fresh fruit is one of the best of desserts. Stewed
fruits, canned or dried if fresh fruits cannot be obtained,
are also good. Dates, figs, raisins, if thoroughly masti-
cated, are good desserts on account of their energy
value and iron.
Cornstarch, gelatin, blancmange; tapioca, rice and
other cereal puddings; custards, junket; simple cookies
or cakes; whole-wheat bread and jelly sandwiches; pure
ice cream and water ices in small amounts, simple candy
in smaller amounts. (After the 4th or 5th year.) Best
omit pies and pastries made of lard and white flour,
although if the proper proportion of growth and repair
foods have been taken, an occasional piece of well-made
pie won't kill him.
(No matter what the dessert, it is a good plan to have
:
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114
DIET FOR CHILDREN
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Changed portion, party” and a monti tu máme v
-་མཁའ་ས་ ་v - ---- -འ-་་
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a piece of fresh fruit at the end of the meal. It acts
as a toothbrush and mouth cleanser.) Thorough masti
cation.
Read about some of the most important foods in Part
IV, mothers.
1
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CHAPTER IX
MENU PLANNING
I HAVE given you menus for children up to 212 years.
Now we will take up the menu planning for the children
after that age.
You know from what I have given you that for all
children of all ages we must supply complete proteins
(those that have all the building elements), and min-
eral salts and vitamins to cover the growth and repair
needs.
You know that we must supply sufficient energy
foods to cover the needs of the internal and ex-
ternal and eternal energy of these frisking young human
animals.
1
You know that the foods given them must be balanced
to give the correct proportion of proteins, carbohydrates
and fats, and that they must be of such a nature that
the alkali mineral elements exceed the acid so as to main-
tain the normal slightly alkaline reaction of the blood
and tissue fluids.
It sounds like a formidable task, doesn't it? It's not
so formidable, mothers-in fact it's not formidable at
all. I will show you how simple it is. I will give you
a foundation upon which you can build your menus
which can be guaranteed to build children. Here
it is.
115
116
DIET FOR CHILDREN
BEST FOUNDATION FOR EACH DAY FOR EACH CHILD
(Also best for each adult)
PART I Protective Foods
1½ pints milk, at least
1 full
full cupful of
of vegetables
(especially the green-leaf veg-
etables) Part of them raw
1 cupful of fruit, part fresh if
possible
PART II Energy Foods
Cereals, including whole-grain
breads. Fats in the form of
butter, cream, egg yolks, and
nuts.
You will give your child other foods besides these I
have listed, but if he has Part I as the minimum basis
for every day, we can be pretty sure the protein, min-
eral elements, and the vitamins will largely be taken care
of; and, if the energy foods are properly chosen, that
there will be a preponderance of alkalinizing foods in
the diet.
The amount of the energy foods of the basic diet, or
Part II, will depend upon the age, activity, etc. (I will
explain this later under the amount of food needed per
day.) Remember that the child is going to need a lot
of good energy foods. However, a large share should
come from the ones I have listed. If he has those in
sufficient amounts as a basis, they will help supply vita-
mins and minerals and proteins as well as furnish energy.
MENU PLANNING
117
If you see that he gets the proportionate part of the
protective foods for each meal, he will automatically
stoke up his little tummy with sufficient energy foods,
if he is normal. If he is undernourished or overnour-
ished, you may have to do a little "seeing" about his
energy foods also.
Wood-Comstock, in her most interesting and helpful
book, "The Home Dietitian," has called milk, vegetables,
fruit and cereals, "The Food Quartet." They sing a
merry song, this Food Quartet! Notice that they take
up practically the whole of our program for the day.
Now let us recall the Food Sextet, the larger ele-
mental food group from which the Quartet is made, and
see what part each member of that has to play on our
menu program.
If he has a pint and a half to a quart of milk
a day, served as a drink and in simple custards or
sauces, or cooked in a cereal, he will have 110 to
160 calories in proteins right there, because there are ap-
proximately five calories of protein in an ounce of milk.
The milk will furnish so much protein, and that of the
very best kind, super-complete, that it will be a safe-
guard for his protein needs.
If he has from three to six slices of whole-wheat bread,
this will furnish 48 to 90 calories more, for in a full slice
of whole-wheat bread half an inch thick there are sixteen
calories of protein.
If he has one to two eggs, or one to two rounding
tablespoonfuls of cottage cheese, or an ounce or two of
lean meat or fish, or nuts or nut butter, he will have
from 25 to 75 calories more of protein in these. Other
foods will add a little store of protein also.
Proteins
Repair Foods)
(Growth and
118
DIET FOR CHILDREN
All of these approximate from 200 to 325 calories of
protein a day. This is about what an adult needs, and
it's all right, for a child needs more in proportion to
his weight than an adult. You will remember from our
chapter on proteins that a child needs considerable extra
protein for his growth. If there should be a little ex-
cess above the minimum requirements, it will be utilized
as an energy food.
This shows you that if you have a minimum of three
glasses of milk a day, whole-wheat bread, and one other
relatively high-protein food, you need not worry about
the protein nor the kind of protein.
Carbohydrates
(Starches and
Sugars;
With the protective foods, mothers, you must
see that whole-grain cereals, including bread,
Energy Foods) macaroni, and similar foods, potatoes, and some
wholesome simple desserts, including sweets such
as molasses, honey and jellies occasionally, are fur-
nished your child for his energy foods. He is going
to need a lot of them. The amount we'll talk about later.
Be sure he gets the proportionate amount of the pro-
tective foods before he fills up on the energy foods.
Fats (Energy
Foods)
Butter, on account of its growth vitamins as
well as its energy value, is the chief free fat that
should be given children. Salad oils, especially the olive
oil, in small amounts on salads are not objectionable.
Butter up to a level tablespoonful for each meal, with
that served on the vegetables is sufficient for the older
children. Cream, egg yolks, bacon fat, olives and nuts
will furnish them more good fat.
Reread the chapter on fats, mothers.
MENU PLANNING
119
Reread a little more, mothers, on the vitamins. Vitamins
and Mineral
Elements
They are very important.
Just here we will say that the vegetables, espe-
cially cabbage, tomatoes, spinach and other green-leaf
vegetables; fruits, egg yolks and butter and milk, are all
very high in the vitamins and mineral elements. You
know their place in the menu.
The amount of water needed depends upon the
amount of milk and other fluids, watery fruits and
vegetables consumed, and the season, as I have explained
in the chapter on them. Children need a large amount
of water. From one to two glasses, depending upon the
factors I have spoken of, should be taken regularly be-
tween meals. We have a chapter on water, too. Did
you read it? Better.
Water
We have reviewed each member of the famous The Amount of
Food Needed
Food Sextet, and have more thoroughly impressed
per Day
on our minds the place of each in the diet. Now,
we must talk about the total amount of all of them to-
gether that we will have to have for each day.
The daily amount of food needed by a child or adult
depends upon age, size, weight, activity, temperament,
season and, possibly, sex. The unit we use for measure-
ment is the calorie, and as I have explained in the chap-
ter on calories, it has been determined by many experi-
ments how many are needed daily per pound of body
weight for all ages. Now let us discuss each factor a
little.
The most rapidly growing period of life is the
first year, when the infant usually doubles its
birth weight by the fifth month and trebles it at the end
Age
120
DIET FOR CHILDREN
of the year. So during this period, more calories of
food per pound of body weight are needed than at any
other period.
At puberty, the beginning of adult life, and three or
four years after puberty (adolescence) there is also a
very rapid growth, and the food intake at this period
must be very large to cover the needs.
One of the most notable studies made upon the foods
needed by schoolboys from twelve to seventeen years old
was that made by Gebhardt. He studied the boys at St.
Paul's School, Concord, for a year. He found that
the amount of food consumed by these normal, very
active, healthy boys was enormous, especially during the
very cold winter. It was around 5000 calories per day
per boy at that time! Over 50 per cent more than needed
by the average adult.
Du Bois found in boys from twelve to thirteen that
their food needs during complete rest was seventy-five
per cent more than that of normal adults.
He Eats
More Than
His Father!
'Sall Right
Those of you who have boys or girls at these
ages don't need Gebhardt and Du Bois to tell you
about their enormous appetites. How many times
have you said they were eating you out of house
and home? You will be comforted to know that this is
not abnormal; it really represents a physiological need
during this very active growing period of adolescence.
Needless to say, children will overeat for their needs
at times, especially of foods they like-particularly if
they are rapid eaters and do not masticate their food
sufficiently-and they suffer for it. This, of course,
should be discouraged. If their enormous appetites lead
to overweight, you can be sure that they are overeating,
and this also must be discouraged. It rarely happens
MENU PLANNING
121
that overeating in general tends to underweight, so you
don't need to worry about that.
In old age there is a slowing down of the in-
ternal as well as the external activity of the body,
so the food requirements have to be lessened propor-
tionately on account of this. Sherman states that from
10 to 20 per cent, or possibly 30 per cent, reduction from
that needed in early middle life should gradually be made
in the food intake of the aged. I bring this in because
I remember I have "and Adults" tacked onto my title
The larger the size, the more food needed. Do
not confuse size with overweight, for the rule for
that is just the reverse. By size we mean the general
frame. A large-frame baby will need more than a smal-
ler-frame baby of the same age. The same principle
applies to children and adults.
The normal baby the first year will require on
an average of 45 calories per pound per day. If it
is underweight, it will require from 50 to 60 calories
per pound per day, and if it is overweight it will require
as low as 40 calories per day. This same principle of
fewer calories per pound for overweight and more per
pound for underweight applies throughout infancy,
childhood and adult years.
Obviously the very active infant, child or adult
needs more food to keep well and at normal weight
than the inactive, just as an auto which is being run all
day long will need to have its gas tank refilled oftener
than one not run so long.
:
Older
Children
Size
Weight
Activity
122
DIET FOR CHILDREN
Season
The temperament often decides the activity, so
these are bound together more or less. A phleg-
matic, slow-moving child or adult will need much less
food than the quick-moving, superactive nervous type.
Temperament
Sex
In winter and cold climates more food is needed
than in summer because there is an increased rate
of oxidation in the body in response to the cold.
Boys the same age and weight as girls usually
eat more; this is probably because they are more
active. The same is true of men and women generally.
Women during pregnancy and lactation have their food
needs increased, but not nearly so much as is commonly
supposed. During menstruation there is an increased
need for food, also, unless the activities are lessened.
(The tables giving the approximate number of calories
needed daily you will find on Page 60.)
I
CHAPTER X
MENU PLANNING (CONTINUED)
By planning your menus ahead, mothers, you will not
only be able to have them balanced better but you will
be able to market much more efficiently and save time
in the preparation of meals.
When you have a roast, plan to have baked potatoes
and baked apples or other fruits, or a baked pudding.
When you prepare your vegetables, prepare enough so
that you can have some left over for a salad or a cream
soup the following day.
If you run your household on the budget plan, allow-
ing a certain amount each month for food, clothing, rent,
education, charity, amusement, doctor bills, etc., allow
a liberal amount of money for the protective foods, for
each child and each adult. By doing this you are going
to be able to save on those doctor bills. Doctor bills are
high (they have to be on account of the many years
of preparation a scientific physician of to-day has to
pay for). When your child is ill you willingly spend
any amount for his recovery. Think of this and spend
more money, if necessary, to better advantage in keeping
him well. You not only will save money in this way, but
much sorrow and suffering.
In planning the menus for the younger children, have
milk, cereals (including bread) and fruits for the morn-
ing and evening meals, and a protein dish and vegetables
for the basis of their heavier noon meal. If you cannot
give all of the minimum requirements of vegetables at
noon, some may be given in the evening meal or the
!
123
124
DIET FOR CHILDREN
morning meal, but it will simplify your menu plan-
ning if you think of fruits for the evening and morning
meal, and vegetables for the noon meal.
Many vegetables and fruits have similar properties,
so can be used interchangeably to a certain extent. So
when you cannot get fruits, give more vegetables, and
· vice versa.
At the dinner when potatoes or rice, macaroni, spa-
ghetti or noodles are served in liberal quantities, bread
need not be served, except a small piece of crust or dry
toast or hard cracker for exercise for the teeth and jaw
muscles and to use to push the food on the fork or
spoon. (Too much bread eating is sometimes the cause
of not enough of the protective foods being taken.),
PRECAUTIONS
1. Serve the meals at regular times.
2. See that the proper proportions of the protective
foods and whole-wheat bread for each meal are consumed
before desserts are allowed.
3. Nothing between meals except water and one lunch
of fruit; or milk for the undernourished child.
4. Insist on thorough mastication and give some hard
food every meal. (See "Teeth," Page 81.) Have
dry toast eaten with the cereals or sprinkle with grape-
nuts to insure their being chewed also.
5. Have the mealtime a happy time. This is impor-
tant for good digestion, as well as peace.
6. Insist on washed hands and faces before eating.
7. Do not permit hurried eating to get back to play.
On the other hand, do not permit dawdling and playing
with the food.
8. Have the child seated comfortably at the table. If
MENU PLANNING
125
you haven't a special chair, place something on the chair,
so as to bring the child's elbows nearly to the top of the
table. Provide something for a foot rest.
9. Don't permit the child to play or work so hard be-
fore meals that he is too tired to eat.
10. Serve the food attractively and teach and insist
on good table manners-if they are not learned in child-
hood they are seldom acquired. A few suggestions: Sit
erect. Butter small portion of bread at a time, not a
whole slice. If necessary to push food on the fork or
spoon, use a bit of bread, never the fingers; take soup
from the side of the spoon not the tip. Take only enough
ice cream or other food on the spoon for one trip to the
mouth, not enough to lap the top off and come again!
The spoon should be left in the saucer and not in the
cup. Small mouthfuls; chew with mouth closed; noise-
less eating, correct use of knife and fork; no reaching
in front of others; no conversation on disagreeable sub-
jects; "Please" and "Excuse me, Please," etc., etc.
The menus I give you can use as a guide,
mothers. When you haven't the food that is
suggested, substitute something which is similar;
for instance, one leafy vegetable for another; one meat
for another. Remember, nothing can take the place of
milk, so if you can't get fresh, use canned or dried milk.
They Are
Good for the
Whole Family
After the children begin to go to school, if they have
to take their lunch, the midday meal can be used for
the evening meal.
I have not given the menus for the different ages after
two and a half years, for that would give you the im-
pression that if you have children of different ages you
have to have different menus and cook different foods,
and that is not true. After the chewing teeth are in,
126
DIET FOR CHILDREN
a food that is wholesome for one age is equally whole-
some for another. The older child will take larger
amounts. (Perhaps!)
In the menus which I give you, you will see that
I have worked in for each day the minimum allotment of
the protective foods. You must do the same.
Each child, overweight or underweight, should have
this minimum allowance of protective foods. It is the
energy foods that have to be decreased for the over-
weight child; and the energy foods, and the milk and
egg yolk of the protective foods can usually be increased
for the underweight child if his underweight is caused
by too little food-and it very often is. In these cases
count calories! See by the tables (Page 61) the approxi-
mate amount they should take, and check up by the
calorie food list. Reread the chapters on the mal-
nourished child and the fat child if necessary, mothers.
DINNER.
BREAKFAST. Orange, 1.
Afternoon
Lunch
CHAPTER XI
SUPPER.
SAMPLE MENUS FOR CHILDREN
(EQUALLY GOOD FOR ADULTS)
SUNDAY
Milk, 10 ounces
Oatmeal. Part of above milk on it, with very
little sugar, if any
Whole-wheat toast, crisp throughout, and butter
Egg, coddled or poached
Baked or stewed chicken, OR nut and cheese loaf
Baked potato with butter or chicken gravy
Cooked spinach, ½ cupful or more
Raw carrots, grated or chopped very fine (served
with a little boiled dressing), 4 cupful or more
Dessert: Apple Indian pudding. (See recipe),
Educator cracker
Water, milk or fruit-ade to drink
1 apple or pear, or other fruit in season
Whole-wheat bread and butter
Cooked vegetable, if liberal amount is not taken
at noon
Apple sauce, ½ cupful
Milk, 8 ounces
NOTE:-If you haven't the carrots for this meal, save a little
of the raw spinach, and serve that as a salad. Save some of the
cooked spinach for soup to-morrow. If more convenient, you can
cook enough of your cereal for two days if you have a cold place
127
128
DIET FOR CHILDREN
to keep it. Serve the second day with a few dates or soaked
prunes, or seedless raisins in it for a change. Be careful to see
that only the child who chews well has these additions.
MONDAY
BREAKFAST. Dish stewed prunes or fresh fruit in season
Milk, 8 ounces
DINNER.
Afternoon
Lunch.
SUPPER.
Oatmeal, cream; with a few dates or raisins in
cereal
French rolls, toasted-butter
Crisp bacon, 2 or 3 half slices
Cream-of-spinach soup, 6 to 8 ounces.
(See rec-
ipe)
Minced chicken and egg. Mince the chicken meat
left over from yesterday, add one chopped cod-
dled egg, with some of the white sauce saved
from the soup before the spinach is added. If
meat is not used, add 1 tablespoonful of peanut
butter to the white sauce and egg
Mashed potatoes
Cooked carrots, diced, served with melted butter;
½ cupful or more
Raw shredded spinach or lettuce salad, ½ cupful
or more, served with a little lemon juice and
honey dressing: (3 tablespoonfuls lemon juice
to ½ tablespoonful honey-olive oil if desired)
Dessert: Piece of crisp toast with honey, jelly or
fruit sauce
Water, milk or fruit-ade to drink
100 calories fresh fruit in season
Shredded-wheat biscuits
Milk, 8 to 10 ounces
Cooked vegetable, if liberal amount not taken at
noon
Baked apple, pear or banana
SAMPLE MENUS FOR CHILDREN 129
..
DINNER.
BREAKFAST. Baked banana
Afternoon
Lunch.
SUPPER.
TUESDAY
Milk, 8 to 10 ounces
Whole-wheat or cracked-wheat cereal
Popovers and butter. (See recipe)
Vegetable broth. (See recipe)
Roast lamb or beef, 1 slice, OR the same amount
of protose vegetable roast (see recipes), served
with lemon-parsley-butter sauce
Steamed rice. (Natural brown, if possible)
Stewed celery or asparagus, ½ cupful or more,
with cream sauce thickened with egg yolks.
Save the tender stalks of celery for to-morrow.
Put the tops, including the leaves and the outer
tough stalks in the soup stock
Raw beet salad, ¼ cupful or more grated, on
lettuce
Dessert: Crisp reheated popovers with a little
preserve or jelly, or a hard molasses or sugar
cooky with a little jelly
Water, milk, or fruit-ade to drink
100 calories of fruit
Grape-Nuts-crisped in the oven if necessary
Milk, 8 ounces. Add milk to the cereal a little
at a time so not to soften too much. See that
it is thoroughly masticated
Cooked vegetable, if liberal amount not taken at
noon
Fruit sauce-apple, pear, prune, apricot, etc., ½
cupful
WEDNESDAY
BREAKFAST. Apple or other fresh fruit
Milk, 8 to 10 ounces
130
DIET FOR CHILDREN
}
!
DINNER.
Afternoon
Lunch.
SUPPER.
Cracked-wheat cereal, with a few seedless raisins
or a few prunes in it
Whole-wheat bread, toasted-butter
Crisped bacon, 1 to 2 half slices
DINNER.
Lamb or beef croquette, OR ribbon loaf (see
recipe). Grind the meat left over from yester-
day. Mix with a little white sauce, roll in
dried crumbs and bake in oven
Creamed potatoes au gratin
Green peas, or string beans, ½ cupful or more,
served with a little butter
Celery and apple salad on lettuce
Dessert: Frozen custard (see recipe), with a hard
cracker or piece of hard toast with thin spread-
ing of jelly
Water, milk, or fruit-ade to drink
100 calories of fresh fruit in season
Creamed toast. (See recipe)
Cooked vegetable, if liberal amount not taken at
noon
Stewed fruit or baked apple (very little sugar)
Water, or fruit-ade to drink; or milk, if full al-
lowance not taken during the day
THURSDAY
BREAKFAST. Melon or other fresh fruit in season
Milk, 8 ounces-part may be used on the cereal,
part may be made into weak cocoa to drink
Cereal, Pettijohns
Egg, poached, coddled or scrambled
Whole-wheat bread, toasted-butter
Vegetable or meat broth
Macaroni, spaghetti, or similar food, au gratin.
Cook in milk and sprinkle layers liberally with
grated cheese, and bake
SAMPLE MENUS FOR CHILDREN
131
:
.
Afternoon
Lunch.
SUPPER.
DINNER.
Beet, dandelion or turnip top greens, ½ cupful or
more
Raw cabbage, ground, with boiled dressing, 14
cupful or more
Dessert: Junket and hard cracker
Water, milk, or fruit-ade to drink
100 calories of fruit.
Cream-of-vegetable soup
Well-toasted whole-wheat bread
Cooked vegetable, if liberal amount not taken at
noon
Stewed seeded or seedless raisins, dates or figs
FRIDAY
BREAKFAST. Thoroughly ripe banana
Creamed toast with raw egg yolk stirred in the
cream sauce. If not a full 8 ounces of milk
used in the cream toast (for each chid), serve
the balance as a drink
Crisp bacon, 1 to 2 half slices
Beef or vegetable broth
Baked, steamed or broiled fresh fish (white fish
best for younger children-remove bones),
serve with lemon-parsley-butter sauce. OR
Cottage cheese and nut roast. (See recipe)
Creamed spinach, molded in cup
Baked or boiled potatoes (baked or boiled with
skins on) and butter
Combination raw vegetable salad. Grated beets,
cabbage, celery, turnips, etc., served with a
little mayonnaise and whipped cream dressing
'(half and half-delicious). Save the tops of the
vegetables for greens to-morrow.
Dessert: Prune whip of the white of egg left
from morning meal, and 6 stewed prunes.
Serve with whipped cream or plain cream
132
DIET FOR CHILDREN
1
Afternoon
Lunch.
SUPPER.
DINNER.
Educator cracker
Water, milk, or fruit-ade to drink
Afternoon
Lunch.
100 calories fresh fruit in season
Browned rice (see recipe) and milk, or whole-
wheat bread and milk
Cooked vegetable, if liberal amount not taken at
noon
Swedish health bread and butter
Baked pear
Milk or weak cocoa to drink
BREAKFAST. Fresh fruit in season, or stewed or canned fruit
Milk, 8 to 10 ounces
SATURDAY
Oatmeal
Toasted Triscuits and butter. (See recipe)
Scrambled egg
Cream-of-corn soup
Fish timbales.
yesterday. (See recipe.)
Legume roast
Baked, boiled or mashed potatoes with butter
Boiled greens-spinach, beet tops, dandelions,
Swiss chard, etc., ½ to 1 cupful
Salad dessert: Fruit salad-any kinds of fresh
fruit served with a dressing of lemon juice and
honey, whipped cream on top-apples, oranges,
pineapples, and bananas are a good combina-
tion.
Water, weak cocoa or fruit-ade to drink.
Make from fish left over from
OR
100 calories of fresh fruit
SAMPLE MENUS FOR CHILDREN
133
SUPPER.
Corn bread and butter
Milk, 8 ounces
Cooked vegetable, if liberal amount not taken at
noon
Stewed fruit, ½ cupful
:
}.
CHAPTER XII
THE SCHOOL LUNCH
In many places the schools are now serving noon lunches,
or at least some hot dishes that can be used with the food
brought from home. If that is true in your locality, it
will simplify matters for you. If it isn't true, can't you
get the Parent-Teacher organization interested in making
it true? A hot lunch, or at least a hot nourishing soup
or drink is extremely desirable for children who cannot
go home at noon. Send to the United States Department
of Agriculture and ask for Farmers' Bulletin No. 712 on
the "School Lunch." That will give you some valuable
suggestions.
If children are given money to buy their lunches from
the near-by stores, they must be instructed to buy whole-
some sandwiches and milk before candies, ice creams,
etc., are indulged in. It will be well to investigate what
kind of foods are sold and the method of handling.
THE BASKET LUNCH
If the lunch is carried in a basket or pail or box, it
must be one that can be scalded very often, so the simplest
type of boxes and baskets should be used. The metal
boxes that can be folded when empty and strapped with
the schoolbooks are the most convenient. Three or four
small holes can be punched in these to let in the air.
Paper napkins and oiled papers can be obtained at very
low prices, and food should be wrapped in these, and
1
134
THE SCHOOL LUNCH
135
two extra napkins included-one to put over the desk
or lap and one to use for the hands and mouth.
Jelly tumblers with covers and small jars with screw
tops can be used for the semi-solid foods.
The basis of the school lunch is a good sandwich. This
can contain the protein part of the meal, and at times
the sweet part when filled with jelly, sweet fruit, etc.
Whole-wheat bread should be used most of the time, with
brown bread, French rolls, corn bread, raisin or nut
bread for a change.
Cut the sandwich in two, diagonally, or lengthwise,
and wrap each article separately, putting the things
least likely to crush in the bottom of the basket.
When milk cannot be taken for the lunch, see that the
child gets its minimum requirement for the day-1½
pints-in the other two meals.
SUGGESTED LUNCHES
1. Whole-wheat bread sandwiches, liberally buttered, with a
slice of tender meat and two or three leaves of lettuce or
spinach with a little lemon juice on them.
Whole-wheat hermits.
Baked or fresh apple-eat last. It cleans the teeth.
2. Three-tiered sandwiches made of thinly sliced whole-wheat
bread. Between two of the layers, peanut butter or
chopped nuts, and the other two jelly.
A good-sized raw tomato, or cup of stewed tomatoes.
Educator crackers.
3. Sandwiches made of Boston brown bread and whole-wheat
bread, filling made of cottage cheese mixed with a little
strained tomato; place a lettuce leaf over this with a
little mayonnaise or boiled dressing.
Cookies.
1 orange or other fresh fruit-eat last.
4. Crisp rolls with the centers taken out, filled with chopped
meat or fish moistened with a little melted butter or cream
sauce or mayonnaise.
136
DIET FOR CHILDREN
Two or three stalks of celery-eat part of it last.
Rice pudding with raisins.
5. Nut bread and butter sandwiches.
Some tender raw carrots.
Gingerbread.
Apple, pear, peach or other fresh fruit.
6. Whole-wheat bread-and-butter sandwiches.
Deviled eggs.
Radishes, or small amount of other raw vegetable.
A glass of junket.
7. Bean or green-pea or lentil sandwich. Press vegetables
through a sieve; add a little lemon juice and melted butter.
Use whole-wheat bread.
One cupful of chopped raw spinach, or other raw vegetable
moistened with a little mayonnaise, boiled, or lemon and
honey dressing.
Fresh fruit, nuts.
8. Salad sandwiches.
Chop tomato, celery, carrots, lettuce, or any other raw
vegetables fine, mix with a little mayonnaise or boiled
dressing and place between whole-wheat bread, or scraped-
out French roll.
Cup custard.
Almonds or peanuts.
9. Chopped nuts and ripe olive sandwich.
Mix ground nuts and ripe olives with a little melted
butter or salad dressing, put beween whole-wheat bread;
leaf of lettuce.
Three or four dried figs (thoroughly washed), apple, pear,
orange, or other fresh fruit.
10. Cream, Swiss, or other cheese sandwich, made of whole-wheat
bread.
Well-washed dates or figs stuffed with nuts, or some raisins
and nuts.
Apple, pear, orange or other fresh fruit.
Instruct the children to wash their hands and faces
before eating, and not to exchange spoons or other
utensils with the other children.
CHAPTER XIII
RECIPES
THERE are many modern cookbooks on the market which
emphasize the importance of cooking to conserve the
vitamins and the mineral elements, and I am going to
take it for granted that you have at least one of these.
However, I am going to give you a few general in-
structions, and a few of the recipes I have tested.
Your cooking utensils should include a steamer, one
or two casseroles and a fireless cooker. You can make
a homemade fireless cooker with a hinged box, some ex-
celsior and some asbestos paper, very inexpensively.
Vegetables cooked in the casserole are usually served
in the casserole, and there isn't the loss of material from
pouring from one dish to another.
If you can afford it, have a pressure cooker which
confines the steam until it reaches a high pressure and
thereby cooks food tender in a very much shorter time.
BREADS, TOASTS, ETC.
HOME-GROUND WHEAT BREAD
(Food Thrift Series No. 2 United States Department of Agri-
culture.)
3 cups wheat meal (or 2 cups wheat meal and 1 cup
white flour)
11/4 cups lukewarm water
1/2 cake compressed yeast
1 level teaspoonful salt
-
137
138
DIET FOR CHILDREN
1 level tablespoonful sugar
1 level tablespoonful shortening if desired
Mix the yeast with a small amount of lukewarm water;
dissolve the sugar and salt in the rest of the water; mix
the two solutions and add all to the meal (or meal and
flour). Mix thoroughly so that all the liquid is incor-
porated in the mass, cover and set in a moderately warm
place to rise. After about two hours, or when risen, add
the shortening and knead well, adding a little meal if
necessary, until a smooth, elastic dough has been formed.
Cover and set aside again to rise for an hour. Knead
lightly, form into a loaf, place in a greased pan; allow
to rise until just double in bulk (this is only two-thirds
of the usual rise in the pan when white bread is made).
Bake slowly for three-fourths of an hour.
CORN BREAD WITHOUT BAKING POWDER
("Food and Cooking"-Anderson.)
1 cup cornmeal
2 tablespoonfuls flour
1 tablespoonful sugar
2 eggs (separated)
1/4 cupfuls boiling water
1½ teaspoonfuls salt
Sift dry ingredients together, stir smooth with one
cup of boiling water. With the remaining one-fourth
cup of water, make a batter that will barely drop from
the spoon. Beat eggs separately. Fold yolks into whites
and turn them into the batter, folding them in with a
wire batter whip; mix lightly, yet thoroughly. Pour
into oiled granite pan and bake in a moderately hot oven
twenty or thirty minutes. Number of servings, six.
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RECIPES
139
WHOLE-WHEAT POPOVERS
1 cup milk
1 cup sifted whole-wheat flour
1/2 teaspoonful salt
1 level teaspoonful sugar
1 egg
Put all of these ingredients in a bowl together and beat
with an egg beater until thoroughly smooth. Pour the
mixture into hot well-greased gem pans and bake in a
moderate oven three-quarters of an hour. They should
rise and form large crisp shells with no centers. These
can be given to children.
Popovers can be filled with custard sauces, stewed
fruit or a little jelly, or whipped cream, and served as
a dessert.
WHITE SAUCE
2 level tablespoonfuls butter
2 level tablespoonfuls flour
1 cup whole or skimmed milk
1/2 teaspoonful salt, scant
Melt the butter gently; take off the fire and stir the
flour in until thoroughly mixed. Pour over this the
cup of cold milk all at once, place back on the fire and
stir constantly until thoroughly blended and cooked.
This is a good basis for cream soups, and it can be
used to mix with flaked fish, minced meats and vegetables
when they are served creamed. If you like the sauce
thicker than this proportion of flour will make, add a
little more butter and flour. (Or egg yolk. This makes
it richer.)
White sauce can also be made by scalding the milk
140
DIET FOR CHILDREN
¦
first, mixing the butter and flour together and adding
to the scalded milk. If the mixture of butter and flour
is put on a wooden spoon, it will not melt off the spoon,
but just off the top, and will be more gradually blended.
OVEN TOAST (ZWIEBACK)
Cut stale bread in slices. Brown slowly in oven until
crisp all through.
PLAIN CREAM TOAST
Pour white sauce over hot oven toasted bread. Do not
moisten the bread for the children who have their an-
terior molars-first chewing teeth-in, for it will give
them jaw exercise.
EGG CREAM TOAST-No. 1
Add a little hot milk to the white sauce to thin, scram-
ble one egg; add the white sauce, and pour over the
toast. One egg to one cup of white sauce is a good
proportion.
EGG CREAM TOAST-No. 2
Make a plain white sauce; add the chopped whites of
eggs, pour over oven toast; over this grate the hard-
boiled yolks.
NUT CREAM TOAST
White sauce with one tablespoon of nut butter to the
cup. Pour over oven toast.
RECIPES
141
BRAN
The outer covering of the bran consists of cellulose
which is insoluble in most people's digestive juices, and
because of this, it helps form a bulk in the intestines and
thus is good for constipation. The bran and the germ
of the grain contain most of the mineral salts and vita-
mins, so bran is not only good for constipation, but it is
good for a supply of minerals and vitamins, especially
Vitamin B (see "Vitamins," Page 22).
For children and adults who are constipated, one to
three tablespoons of bran taken in the cereal, or stirred
in water or milk is an exceedingly good remedy.
BRAN EXTRACT
Bran soaked over night in enough water to cover it,
and then slowly steeped for two or three hours. This
will draw out most of the mineral elements. Drain the
water off.
A prominent baking company of New York is now
making a pure white fine-grained bread, of white flour
mixed with bran water, some powdered germ of the wheat
and powdered milk (of course the exact proportions are
a trade secret). Rats and mice will grow and thrive
wonderfully on an exclusive diet of it, and they die in
a short time on an exclusive diet of ordinary white bread.
I understand this company is going to put the powdered
wheat germ on the market. This is a suggestion for
those of you who do not like dark breads.
142
DIET FOR CHILDREN
+
BRAN-AGAR JELLY
1 cup bran
1 pint water
1 tablespoonful agar
1/4 teaspoonful salt
Put all together and simmer slowly until the agar is
dissolved. Pour into a shallow pan and allow to solidify.
Serve sliced as a cereal with milk, or cream and milk,
or dice and serve with ordinary cereal for cases of con-
stipation. (Get the non-medicated granulated agar at
the drug store.)
AGAR SALAD
Cover three level teaspoonfuls of agar with two cups
of water and let stand overnight. Place over the fire,
bring to a boil and boil five minutes. Remove from the
fire, let stand fifteen minutes; add two tablespoons of
lemon juice, one cup of diced oranges, one cup of diced
apple, one cup of diced celery, and half a cup of chopped
walnut meats. Mix well, fill molds with the mixture,
stand in a cool place one hour, unmold on lettuce lined
plates and serve with a cream salad dressing.
SCOTCH BROSE
(Good for constipation. Recommended in simple goiter, auto-
intoxication and acidosis. See Page 207.)
RICE COOKED IN MILK
(When it is impossible to get the children to take all
the milk that they should have, or when it is necessary to
RECIPES
143
increase the food value so that more calories are taken,
They have a much
cook cereals in milk or skim milk.
richer flavor cooked in this way.).
1 quart milk to
1 cup rice (get unpolished rice if possible)
1 teaspoonful salt
Wash the rice thoroughly in several waters, drop
slowly into the hot milk; add salt. Cook rice until
the grains are soft, but not mushy. Remove the lid from
the double boiler during the last part of the cooking so
the grains will remain separate.
This rice can be served as a vegetable with the protein
part of the meal-the meat, fish, eggs, etc.—or it can be
served with grated cheese in liberal amounts as the pro-
tein dish itself, or it can be served with cream or syrup
or crushed fruit as a dessert.
BROWNED RICE
Put rice in a shallow pan and bake in a moderate
oven until golden brown. Stir occasionally. Now cook
in a double boiler until tender in milk or water. Serve
with cream or milk. This browning dextrinizes the
starch and makes it more easily digested.
MEATS
BEEF ESSENCE
Put one pound of finely chopped lean beef, with a little
salt, in a glass fruit jar with a tight cover. Place it in
the oven or steamer or on the top of the stove in a pan
of water and cook four or five hours.
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144
DIET FOR CHILDREN
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BEEF JUICE
Remove all fat and gristle from half a pound of lean
beef; broil over a clear fire from six to eight minutes;
cut the meat into small pieces and squeeze out the juice
with a meat press or lemon squeezer. Add salt. When
reheating beef juice or essence put into a cup and set in
hot water so it will not coagulate.
PAN GRAVIES
After meats are roasted, there is a brown essence in
the pan which contains some of the mineral matters and
flavoring of the meat, as well as the fat which has
cooked out. If all of the fat is poured off it may be used
on the potatoes and vegetables.
Pour off all of the fat, because this free fat is very apt
to be indigestible.
THICKENED MEAT GRAVIES
If you desire the meat gravies thickened, pour off all
of the fat except just enough to blend with sufficient
flour to thicken. One tablespoon of flour and a cup of
hot water or milk is a good proportion. The flour can
be browned a little in the hot fat, not scorched fat.
Gravies made in this manner are not unwholesome for
children. It is the gravies that have free fat floating on
the surface that are indigestible both for children and
adults. If a little yeast extract is added, the gravy is
enriched not only in flavor but in Anti-neuritic Vita-
mins. (See "Vitamins," p. 22.)
RECIPES
145
COOKING MEATS
Meats for soup should be put on in cold, unsalted
water and cooked very slowly for several hours.
Boiled meats and stewed meats should be put on in
boiling water containing a slight amount of salt.
Meats for children had best be broiled, boiled, baked
or stewed. If they are lean they can be pan-broiled-
that is, on a hot pan, with no fat.
FISH TIMBALES À SURPRISE
Flake cooked white fish, mix stiff with a little white
sauce and a few bread crumbs so that it will not separate.
Grease the timbale or patty pans well, line with the
fish mixture about half an inch deep; place in the
center some cooked salmon, pour over a little white sauce
and place a layer of the white fish mixture on this. Put
the timbale or patty pans in a pan of hot water and
bake until brown on top and thoroughly heated through-
out.
(If you use canned fish, bring to a boil for two or
three minutes before mixing the timbales.),
Serve with white sauce.
MEAT SUBSTITUTES
RIBBON LOAF
(Washington Sanitarium.)
1 cup navy beans
1 cup pink or kidney beans
1 cup evaporated milk
Salt
146
DIET FOR CHILDREN
Cook beans separately till tender and quite dry. Salt
while cooking. Rub through a colander. Add one-half
cup of evaporated milk (or cream) to each kind of beans.
Place beans, in alternate layers, in a pan and brown
slightly in a moderate oven.
Serve with butter-parsley-lemon sauce.
HOMEMADE PROTOSE
("Home Dietitian”-Wood-Comstock.)
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup mashed beans
2 cups water (or, better, potato water or other vege-
table broth)
1½ tablespoonfuls cornstarch
1 teaspoonful chopped onion
Pinch of sage
Salt to taste
Mix ingredients thoroughly, and steam in double
boiler three hours, stirring occasionally. Let cool. Run
knife around edge and turn out. Cut in slices. It may
be served cold with tomato sauce or used in any receipt
calling for protose. This will make about one and one-
half pounds of protose and twelve servings.
COTTAGE CHEESE AND NUT ROAST
(Food Thrift Series No. 2, United States Department of Agri-
culture.)
1 cup cottage cheese
1 cup chopped English walnuts
1 cup bread crumbs
2 tablespoonfuls chopped onions
Juice of 12 lemon
Salt to taste
RECIPES
147
Cook the onion slowly in a little water until tender.
Mix the other ingredients and moisten with the water
in which the onion has been cooked. Pour into a shal-
low baking dish and brown. Number of servings, ten.
NUT AND CHEESE LOAF
1 cup grated cheese
1 cup chopped nuts
1 cup bread crumbs
1 cup chopped sweet pepper
1 well-beaten egg
1 tablespoonful melted butter
A little grated onion (if you like it)
Brown the crumbs, add the melted butter and other
ingredients, the egg last. Add a little milk if too dry.
Bake in a shallow pan until crisp and brown. Serve
with cream gravy and tomatoes. If you do not like the
green pepper, use some other vegetable such as celery,
mushrooms, cucumber, etc.
SPINACH CROQUETTES
1½ cups boiled spinach
1 chopped hard-boiled egg
1 egg, well beaten
½ teaspoonful salt
Chop the drained spinach. Add the chopped and the
raw egg. Mix thoroughly, make into cakes, dip in bread
crumbs and brown in butter in the oven. Serve with
onion sauce. (One cup of chopped boiled onions to a
cup of white sauce.)
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148
DIET FOR CHILDREN
SOUPS
POTATO-SOUP STOCK
("Home Dietitian"-Wood-Comstock.)
5 or 6 large potatoes
2 or 3 onions (preferably red)
2 quarts cold water
i
Scrub thoroughly and cut up without paring potatoes
or removing outer onion skins. Let cook slowly until
done, adding more water if necessary. Press through
a colander or strainer. The potato broth and purée, of
which there will be about two quarts, may be used as
a basis for other soups, tomato, corn, bean, etc.
In the making of this soup stock there may be cooked
with the potato and onion any other vegetables, as
carrots, tomato, cabbage or lettuce leaves, celery tops,
etc.
A cream-of-potato soup can be made from this stock
by adding one pint of evaporated milk. Flavor with
chopped parsley or thyme.
CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP
(Wood-Comstock.)
2 cups of cold potato soup stock
2 cups strained tomatoes
1 cup evaporated milk
Heat gently, but not to the boiling point. Add no
soda.
Cream of corn, bean and pea or other vegetable soup
may be made in this same manner.
Cream soups may also be made with white sauce as a
RECIPES
149
basis, one-third part of vegetables with their juices and
two-thirds white sauce is a good proportion. This pro-
portion can be varied.
VEGETABLES
COOKING VEGETABLES
Steamed vegetables retain more vitamins and mineral
salts than when cooked in any other way. So do this
if possible. When cooked in water, use as little water
as possible and salt slightly, as this helps the vegetables
to retain their own salts. Watch to see that they do not
burn, and if any juices are left, serve on the vegetables,
or add to the soup stocks. Do not under any condition
throw them away.
Wash greens very thoroughly in several waters. Lift
them out of the water instead of pouring the water off,
so that the sand and grit which has sunk to the bottom
of the pan will remain there. Cook only in the water
which adheres to them, and do not add soda as alkalis
will destroy the vitamins.
If chopped before cooking, they will cook very much
more quickly and more vitamins will be preserved. Cook
in a tightly covered vessel as this also preserves the vita-
mins. Don't cook over 20 minutes. A little butter or
cream, or cream sauce, and lemon juice can be added
after they are cooked.
Have one or more of the following often:
Spinach, dandelion, beet, celery or turnip tops, Swiss
chard, lettuce, watercress, kale, endive, cabbage, Brus-
sels sprouts, collards.
In many of the vegetables, especially potatoes, most
of the vitamins and mineral salts are close to the skin.
Remember that.
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150
DIET FOR CHILDREN
In baking potatoes, scrub them well with a scrub
brush, and see that some of the potato peel is thoroughly
chewed and swallowed. The skin itself has no virtue.
Like Judy O'Grady and the Colonel's lady, it's what's
under the skin that counts. When baked potatoes are
done, to prevent sogginess, cut or pierce with a fork so
steam will escape.
In cooking potatoes to mash, scrub well and put the
peelings in the soup stock (see recipe). They may also
be boiled in their skins, or, better, steamed, and mashed
afterward.
To serve vegetables with cream sauce, if much juice
is left, canned milk or cream may be added and butter
and flour blended together used to thicken, or the white
sauce may be used.
Avoid over-cooking vegetables. They need not be
mushy except for the babies who have to have their
vegetables strained. They are better flavored and bet-
ter for the teeth when a little firm.
Have agate or enamel ware for acid fruits and veg-
etables.
RAW VEGETABLE TONIC
Use any kind of raw vegetables you have, but especially
include cabbage, spinach, carrots, onions and lettuce.
Grind or chop fine. If grinder is used, put a dish under
the grinder, so as not to lose any of the juice. Place in
a gauze sack and press out the juices with a meat or
vegetable or fruit press. These juices will contain most
of the mineral salts and vitamins of the vegetables.¹
1 Give a wineglassful diluted or undiluted once a day or
oftener in any anemic condition, or goiter. Can be served on
cooked vegetables.
RECIPES
151
VEGETABLE BROTH
("The Home Dietitian"-Wood-Comstock.)
Parings from 6 potatoes
Parings from 3 or 4 carrots
2 red onions
1 cupful tomato
2 tablespoonfuls oatmeal
The tops of a bunch of celery
1 cupful or more of spinach
Celery salt
Pinch of thyme or bay leaf
Salt to taste·
DESSERTS
Scrub thoroughly all vegetables before paring. Put
to cook in cold water. Cook all the vegetables together
with the oatmeal, slowly, two or three hours, adding
enough water so that there will be about one quart of
broth when done. Or, after cooking for one-half hour,
they may be placed in a fireless cooker. Strain, and add
seasoning. Reheat and serve. Number of servings, six.
Valuable especially for mineral salts.
APPLE INDIAN PUDDING
2
2 cups quartered apples
½ cup molasses
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 cups milk
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
2 tablespoonfuls butter
1 teaspoonful salt
Cinnamon and nutmeg
..
Scald milk, pour on cornmeal; add remaining in-
1
152
DIET FOR CHILDREN
gredients; pour into buttered dish and cook in a slow
oven about three hours.
!
ROSE APPLES
("Pastries and Desserts"-California Home Economics Associa-
tion.)
Cook whole or quartered apples in syrup of 2 cups
water and 1 cup sugar. When partly done add a hand-
ful of red clove candies or some rose vegetable color-
ing. Serve with a spoonful of ice cream or whipped
cream. Pears may be cooked in the same way. Sprinkle
with cocoanut.
CUSTARDS
2 cups milk
2 to 3 eggs
1/3 cup sugar
Speck salt
1/2 teaspoonful vanilla
Nutmeg or cinnamon if desired
(2 eggs give a delicate consistency [will unmold in
small cupfuls]; 3 eggs, custard is firm enough
to turn out of large mold. When using yolks
alone use 3 or 4.)
Scald milk in a double boiler. Beat eggs slightly,
add sugar and salt and the scalded milk gradually. Cook
at a moderate temperature to prevent curdling.
To Bake Custard: Set baking dish or cups contain-
ing custard in a pan of hot water in a moderate oven.
The water in the pan should not be allowed to boil.
To Steam Custard: Place custard in cups in a steamer,
place towel under cover to absorb moisture.
*
RECIPES
153
To Test Baked or Steamed Custard: Thrust a knife
blade into the center of the custard and if it comes out
clean it is done.
If custard curdles it can be beaten smooth with a
Dover-type egg beater provided it is done immediately.
Soft Custards. Use general proportions, cook in a
double boiler, stir constantly until mixture coats the
spoon. Cool and flavor. Do not allow the water in the
bottom of the double boiler to boil.
RICE PUDDING
(Care of Children Series No. 3, Bureau of Publications No. 30.
U. S. Dept. of Labor.)
1 quart of milk
1/3 cupful of rice
1/3 cupful of sugar
½ teaspoonful of salt
½ teaspoonful of ground nutmeg or cinnamon, or
the grated rind of 4 of a lemon
Wash the rice thoroughly, mix the ingredients, and
bake three hours or more in a very slow oven, stirring
occasionally at first.
The above recipe makes quite a large pudding. It
is often convenient to make a smaller one, and enough
for a child's dinner can be made in the double boiler,
allowing 2 level or 1 rounding tablespoonful each of
cereal and of sugar (or other sweetening) to a cupful of
salted and flavored milk. Cook an hour or more with-
out covering.
These puddings, if made thin, may be poured over
stewed prunes or other cooked fruits, and are a good
and economical substitute for the cream or soft cus-
tard often used for that purpose.
154
DIET FOR CHILDREN
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FROZEN CUSTARD (FRENCH ICE CREAM)
For each half-cupful of milk allow one-fourth cupful
of sugar, one or two egg yolks or one whole egg, and a
half-cupful of cream. Make a custard out of all the
ingredients but the cream. When it is cool add the
cream and flavoring, and freeze.
!
1
PART III
DIET IN DISEASE
It is my purpose in this little book, mothers, to give
you the diets for your children to keep them in normal
health. Not what to do for them when they are ill, for
that is the province of your physicians. However, I
want to give you enough on the diet in diseases to tide
you over until you can see your personal physicians and
get specific directions.
Never expose your children to infectious diseases,
Mothers! The old idea that they were bound to have
the diseases of childhood, and the sooner they had them
the better, is terribly false. It is just the opposite. They
do not have to have them necessarily, and the later they
have them, if they are contracted, the greater is the
chance for recovery.
155
CHAPTER I
THE MALNOURISHED CHILD
IS THIS YOUR LITTLE GIRL-AND YOU?
"No, mother! I tell you I don't want any lunch! I
want to stay here and swim. I had some candy a little
while ago.
"Lucile! I tell you to get dressed! I don't know
how you feel, but I am hungry. Hurry, now.”
"Now, mamma, I tell you I am not hungry! I want to
stay and swim and I'm going to."
"Oh, Lucile, you are so stubborn! Just like your
father. Well, all right; stay if you insist. I haven't
the strength to argue with you. I am going to have my
lunch. Remember what you have to do this afternoon!
You have to study your French lesson for to-morrow.
You have your toe dancing lesson, you must practice
your piano lesson, and you have to try on your dress if
you want it done for the party this evening."
This conversation is carried on in the open-topped
dressing room next to mine in the bath house.
I wait expectantly to see the child as she comes from
her dressing room. I have a mental picture of her. The
high-pitched, nervous, petulant voice of the child and
the high-pitched, nervous, petulant voice of the mother,
combined with the facts that I have gleaned from their
conversation, have painted a vivid picture of her, and I
am anxious to see if it is verified.
It is.
157
158
DIET FOR CHILDREN
.....
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A girl of eight emerges. Stooped shoulders, sunken
chest, prominent abdomen (the fatigue posture), thin
little arms and legs, pinched and wan little face—a typ-
ical picture of malnourishment. She is at least fifteen
pounds underweight.
The cause? The conversation tells.
Lack of home control, irritable and unpleasant home
atmosphere, insufficient and improper diet, faulty food
habits, overfatigue, insufficient sleep. Enough, surely, to
make any child a wreck.
Swimming when she should have been eating whole-
some food; taking dancing lessons in the afternoon when
she should have been taking a nap; late hours and insuf-
ficient sleep; dictating her own course of conduct; man-
aging her own affairs when she is too young and inex-
perienced to have responsibilities.
Does your child belong to the pathetic army of mal-
nourished children? Are any of the causes that operated
to make this little girl come to her pitiable condition
among the causes of your little one's malnourishment?
Or has your child some physical defect such as adenoids
or enlarged tonsils, carious teeth, running ears, defective
eyes etc.?
Does your child have a daily rest period of at least
an hour in a darkened room, lying down quietly, with-
out toys, and sleeping? Does your child have 10 to 12
hours' sleep in a well-ventilated room at night? Is your
child's diet adequate and nourishing and growth-pro-
moting?
Do you let your child have its own way because you
haven't the strength (?) to argue with it-in other
words, because you have a mistaken idea that it is easier
for you to give in than to see that it obeys?
Are you careful not to give too many "DON'TS!"?
!
THE MALNOURISHED CHILD
159
Do you realize that a child is an active, investigating ani-
mal and that he must have something to interest his
growing faculties? Otherwise he may be doing some-
thing you don't want him to do?
Do you know that the first principle of discipline is
that a child must believe in your truthfulness? That
if you tell him a thing he is doing is not desirable and
that if he continues to do it, you will have to punish
him for it-that you must always keep your word? And
that you must have the punishment fit the offense and
follow immediately?
Do you know that you must not punish in anger, and
the punishment must never under any circumstances
be a slap on the face or head or a pull on the ear?
Will you get the lesson from the following little story?
Jackie came to the table with dirty hands. His
mother expostulated, "Jackie! Look at your hands! Go
and wash them. Why do you always come to the table
without washing your hands? You know I never let
you eat your meals with dirty hands." Jackie observed,
"Yes, mamma, ONCE you did.”
1. Insufficient and improper diet. Faulty food
habits.
2. Physical defects, especially obstructive adenoids
and tonsils.
3. Irritating and unpleasant home atmosphere; lack
of home control.
4. Insufficient sleep.
5. Overfatigue.
6. Faulty health habits.
These are the causes of malnourishment. Think them
over, mothers.
Résumé
160
DIET FOR CHILDREN
F
{
Insufficient
Oh, that I could write with a pen as large as
and Improper Big Bertha and as far-reaching in each stroke!
How woeful and terribly widespread is the igno-
rance on the fundamentals of the diet of children!
Diet
Aside from the infectious diseases, by far the largest
per cent of the disorders of children are traceable di-
rectly to improper foods, insufficient foods and faulty
food habits.
"How can I make my little girl eat, doctor? It is
coax and tease her all the time to eat the things she needs.
She won't eat this, she won't eat that, she is finicky, ir-
ritable and nervous. She is very much underweight,
but I cannot get her interested in eating."
This is from one of my correspondents. The following
is from another:
"Doctor, I am writing this, not to thank you for hav-
ing given me instructions by which I have reduced my
weight, but because you have saved the life of my little
girl.
"She was slowly, but surely, going to death. I had
had her examined again and again by a good physician.
He said there was nothing organically wrong with her,
but that she must eat more of all nourishing foods. We
did not understand anything about food values and we
thought she was eating a lot. Still she did not gain,
but was steadily losing, and we were in despair.
"Then came your 'Key to the Calories.' God bless
you! And God bless the calories! She has gained five
pounds in weight in ten days and is herself counting her
calories and making a little game of it.
"We found she had been taking only one-third of
the number of calories that she needed, and we thought
that she was eating a lot! She is a different child
already.'
""
THE MALNOURISHED CHILD
161
Some
Valuable
The first mother who wrote can get some very
valuable lessons from the second mother. The Lessons
first lesson is that the child was taken to a phy-
sician to find out if there was anything organically
wrong with her. The second is that the mother got the
child's interest in its own welfare. And the third is that
she studied herself and got a knowledge of the elements
of nutrition.
I might add that the physician who did the examin-
ing could also get a lesson from this letter, and the next
time be more specific in his directions to a parent re-
garding so vital a thing as the diet of a child in this
state.
The first mother might also get a very wrong impres
sion from the second mother's letter. It is this, that a
knowledge of the blessed calories was all that was neces-
sary. Oh, no! Oh, no, indeed! I am emphatic about
this because there is so much misinformation broadcasted
about calories.
A knowledge of the caloric value of foods is simply
one of the essentials of a modern scientific knowledge of
nutrition. Simply one, BUT a big one. In the case of
this little malnourished girl it was a knowledge that
saved her life.
There is an extremely rapid growth of the nerv-
ous system in childhood. In undernutrition there
is not only a lowered resistance to infections, but
there is also a great tendency for this rapidly growing
nervous system to be upset, and disorders such as dis-
turbed sleep, hysteria, St. Vitus Dance (chorea), bed-
wetting, and many other disturbances of a similar nature
may be brought about. When the nutrition is improved
these disorders often disappear.
Rapid Growth
of Nervous
System
162
DIET FOR CHILDREN
J
It is also found that where there is under-physical de-
velopment there is very apt to be a retardation in the
mental development. Poor nutrition is a decided handi-
cap to normal mental growth. How can we expect an
undernourished anemic and nervous child-these char-
acteristics usually go together to apply himself to
study?
Perhaps there is a nutrition class in your school,
or some child welfare organization near you. If
so, let your malnourished child join this, if he is old
enough, and the inspiration he will get from other
children who are trying to gain, and the instruction that
he and you also will get (for the mother or guardian
has to attend and take an interest also) will be exceed-
ingly helpful.
If there are no nutrition classes, perhaps you can get
the Parent-Teacher Association, in coöperation with your
local health board, interested in forming one. The Child
Health Association, 370 Seventh Avenue, New York
City, will give instructions how to do this. They also
have a wonderful collection of interesting booklets and
cards teaching health habits, gotten out especially for
the children.
Nutrition
Classes
It has been demonstrated that the very best way to
get results with children in health improvement, as in
other things, is to get them interested through their
natural play and game instinct. The game of health
becomes the most fascinating game they have ever
played.
If there are any physical abnormalities, we will pre-
sume naturally that you are going to have these attended
to, so the child can be, as Emerson says, "Free to gain."
Free to gain! What a picture that brings up!
THE MALNOURISHED CHILD
163
The Program
Here's the program to make it materialize:
1. Thorough physical examination by compe-
tent physician to discover diseased conditions and to
remedy them, if possible. These should be repeated at
least every year.
2. Right mental, moral and physical surroundings
for happiness. An unhappy child is not likely to gain.
Have a cheery, positive attitude and talk health and
strength, the conditions he is going to manifest, rather
than the ill health and weakness which he is manifesting.
Eliminate all nagging, scolding and fault finding.
3. The elimination of overwork and overplay which
leads to overfatigue. Don't let him get too tired to eat!
It may be best to take him out of school if his condition
of malnourishment is extreme.
4. Long hours of undisturbed sleep-11 to 12. No
movies or excitement in the evening.
5. Long hours in the fresh air and sunshine with as
few clothes on as possible, so as to expose the skin to
the direct rays of the sun. (Do this gradually.)
6. At least one rest period one-hour long, lying down
and sleeping if possible, in the afternoon or forenoon,
or both.
7. Last, but very important, the furnishing of suf
ficient nourishing food at regular intervals.
All of these must be done if the child is free to gain.
You must realize that the irritability and the Tantrums
nervousness and "tantrums" of the malnourished
child are due to the fact that his entire system is starving
and his nervous system is extremely unstable. (The
normal child's nervous system is not very stable, re-
member that.) He is not mean because somebody on his
father's side is mean! (He may be mean if you or
164
DIET FOR CHILDREN
father are mean though! He is a good imitator and you
make him nervous. He can't help it. You can.)
You must realize that very great patience and tact.
and kindness combined with firmness will have to be exer-
cised to get him out of that state. You will find, when
the child is better nourished, he will have an altogether
different disposition. He will advance mentally as well
as physically.
Some Eating!
His food needs must be sufficient not only to
supply his growth and energy, but enough more
to make him gain the weight he should have; so he has
to eat even more than the normal child eats, and that
means some eating!
The undernourished child may have to have two and
perhaps three times the amount of food that the normal
child needs. Analyze his diet and see if he is getting
sufficient of the protective foods. If not, increase these
as well as his energy foods. However, you must do this
gradually. Do not try to do it all at once. The number
of egg yolks the golden food-can be increased to two
or three or more, a day. They can be beaten in the
cream sauces for the vegetables or taken in eggnog,
custards, etc. Egg yolks are rich in the vitamins, phos-
phorus, iron and fat; and they seldom disagree.
Cod-liver oil acts wonderfully in some cases.
If he is an excess candy and ice-cream and rich pastry
eater, these instead of being increased must be decreased,
and never allowed between meals. Give him more milk,
unless, as I have told you before, he is taking so much
milk that he does not have sufficient appetite for solid
foods. Remember he should have at least three glasses
a day, so get that amount in him in some form. Cook
his cereal in milk if necessary.
THE MALNOURISHED CHILD
165
Compute approximately the caloric value of the food
he has been having by the calorie table (Page 60). You
will probably find that he is getting much less than he
should have, and, remember that even though the num-
ber of calories he has taken should tally with the number
that is given in the standard table for his age, if he is
underweight he needs much more than the normal child.
It is wise to keep a record of his foods and his activities
for at least two days, then you can get a better idea.
Let me repeat, begin increasing his calories
gradually; see that he gets the proper amount of
protective foods; gradually increase the milk and
the egg yolks of the protective foods, unless he is already
getting too much of them. Gradually increase his whole-
wheat bread and butter and cream and other energy
foods.
Repetition-
We Learn
by It
Cook the cereals in milk if necessary to get the full
allotment of milk, and add a little more cream on them
when served. Give a mid-morning and mid-afternoon
lunch-of milk preferably-so that he won't have to over-
distend his stomach at mealtime, unless you find that he
will eat better and more during the day by limiting him
to three meals a day.
Prohibit tea and coffee. No growing child should have
them. Prohibit candy and pastry eating between meals.
See that he has plenty of rest and sleep and happy
home surroundings. Carry out this program, and your
malnourished child will be out of the shadow of death.
(This sounds very strong, mothers, but it is true. For
malnutrition undermines the resistance to many diseases,
especially tuberculosis.)
I am going to give you a letter I received from
one of my little followers: I am going to run it
A Loving
Testimony
166
DIET FOR CHILDREN
just as I received it. (Please, typographers and proof-
readers, leave the spelling "as is.") If you don't think
it is the dearest, cunningest letter you ever read, mothers,
and if you don't get the lesson from it, there is no hope
for you! Do you want your children to have rosy
"chiks"? Follow Laura's program!
Dear, Dear, Dr. Lulu:
I must send you my many thanks for the phamlets which
I received a month ago. And sinced that I gained 8 pounds, and
mother gained 6 pounds. Oh; what a joy it is to count calories.
I beg Mothers who have children they should send for the
phamlets and let their children have fun to count calories.
Calories! My Dear Morther had an afull time to make me eat
things. But now I know what and how much I have to eat. I
value Dr. Lulu's phamlets next to my prayer book. I read your
part every day in the Newspaper. I know the calories almost
by heart. Also I must tell you Dear Dr. Lulu I have rosy chiks
too. I take a quart of milk every day and plenty of vegetables
and fruits. My calories run between 2,000 and 2,500 every day.
Dear Dr. Lulu will you please give my correct weight. I am
10 years old 59 inch in hight, weigh 80 pounds.—Laura.
Cunnin'? The "phamlets" have in a brief form some
instructions on gaining and losing. If Laura can ac-
complish so much on the "phamlets" your little girl or
boy can certainly do as well and more easily with your
help now, and the "Kalorie Kids." They're coming!
They'll help! Did you notice Laura's mother gained 6
pounds? Thin mother, thin child. Inheritance! No!
Same type of food. Same habits of eating. IMITATION.
HOW TO AVOID (HAVING) A FINICKY CHILD
The finicky child usually is, or has the potentialities of
becoming a malnourished child. So let us have a little
on the subject of how to avoid having a finicky child.
THE MALNOURISHED CHILD
167
It is characteristic of childhood (and normal) to be
more or less capricious, and to want to show off. The
way children can do this most effectively, they often
find, is in the matter of eating. Often when a new
food is offered a child, even before he has tasted it he
will look at it disdainfully and perhaps shove it away
saying he doesn't like it!
And now, mothers, here is where you will make
your big mistake if you don't see that that food is
eaten or that a little punishment goes with the non-
eating of it. But don't scold! And don't coax and don't
say "Eat it for mother's sake"-or daddy's sake. That
is bad psychology. Explain that he needs that food for
his own sake, to make him grow strong and big. Per-
haps the use of some comparison will appeal to him. He
wants to be as strong and healthy as some of his favorite
characters in stories or life or the movies, if he is at the
age when he is seeing moving pictures. And he certainly
wants to be strong so he can play and have lots of
fun!
If he still continues to refuse it, do not let him have
his favorite foods (and this will apply especially to the
dessert) unless at least a small amount of the food is
eaten. But don't scold, mothers! Mealtime must be a
happy time.
If this doesn't work, let it pass. Next time deprive
him of some little visit or some play, with the explana-
tion, which has a large degree of truth in it, that if he
won't eat the food that will make him strong he will
have to rest more and sleep more. You can use the com-
parison of a tiny baby who gets nothing but milk and
he has to lie in his crib and sleep most of the time. (This
comparison is a little loose, but he won't recognize it.)
Don't
168
DIET FOR CHILDREN
!
If this doesn't work perhaps the suggestions which fol-
low will help you.
Everybody
Likes
Everything
Be careful when children eat at the family
able, that no one at the table expresses a dislike
of a food the child needs. If father does not like
spinach, nor never did, let him fib manfully how he
adored it in his youth! That is why he is so strong
now, or if he is not strong now, how he wishes he had
eaten it! Better yet, let him learn to like it even now.
Children usually like what their parents like, but of
course must not have the foods that are not suitable for
them.
The following letters from two of our mothers will
give you some good suggestions. I will give them with
my comments just as they ran in the newspapers:
My dear Dr. Peters:
I have been quite successful in the feeding of three children
and the middle one is fussy. The ages are nine, five, and two.
Their dislikes are not discussed, ever, and they are not coaxed
or forced to eat anything they do not want. They are taught to
say, quietly, "I do not care for any spinach, thank you." Then
if it seems appropriate to the occasion, I say, just as quietly,
"Well, dear, what you have had does not make much of a meal,
so unless you feel like having your spinach, or something that is
just as good, mother can't let you have any dessert, or candy, or
take you downtown, or let you go next door, or whatever the next
treat is to be."
Then if they turn to and eat a big helping of the despised
article, I just say, "That's fine; now we can do so and so and
you won't get all tired out and hungry." They are given candy
by the box to put away and eat one piece after each meal, and
they often forget it's there. I have never made a treat of candy
or cake or late hours, so it's no party, and no temptation.
One summer the two oldest got sick with too much fruit eat-
ing, and the doctor said I would have to watch them to keep
them out of the orchard. She was wrong. I put it up to them
THE MALNOURISHED CHILD
169
on a common sense basis and heard from the neighbors how they
politely declined some grapes and generously offered to show
their tummies all broken out red because they had had too many
already!
Of course all this presupposes considerable early training and
patience and in my case I owe everything to a course in Child
Psychology. I wish to go on record as saying that it does not
presuppose an unusual child. Any child is reasonable if given
a chance, but so pitifully few are given that chance. One more
item, and I am through. I never lie to a child and I always
answer their questions.
Everybody knows no two children are alike and no one child
ever acts alike twice. My house is no haunt of angels, but the
neighbors are crazy about my children, and my children are
crazy about me. The five-year-old one said to me the other day, “I
would 'cerkainly' rather be with you than with any one else in
the world.”—M. S. D.
There is much food for thought in this letter, moth-
ers. That course in Child Psychology; oh, if all parents
could have that! So many expect a child to have the
reasoning faculties and the same development that an
adult should possess.
Here is another very helpful letter from one of Another Help
our mothers. I really believe that if children are
not allowed to refuse foods they need, right from the
start of eating solid foods, and that is as early as the
sixth month (see Page 86), there would be no finicky
child problem.
Dear Doctor:
I know from experience that your correspondent whose child
has not learned to eat vegetables has a difficult task before her.
Having had two children who were difficult to teach to eat certain
articles of food, I venture to offer a few suggestions in the hope
that they may be helpful.
I do not believe that faulty discipline is always to blame when
L
170
DIET FOR CHILDREN
肯
​children display a distaste for some foods. In the same family,
under the same discipline, some children will eat anything will-
ingly, while others at a very early age will display a dislike for
one or more foods. To overcome this difficulty the mother will
have to exert unlimited patience and ingenuity. She will have
to make herself a play-actor, and even a playwright, for if the
child does not eat the food willingly it might better not be eaten
at all. [No, this isn't right, mother. We've got to make 'em eat
some things willingly or no. Otherwise some of them would
starve for some of the needed elements.-L. H. P.]
To begin with, a child loves small things, as small dishes,
small spoons. Serve a very small portion of the unwanted food
at a time and do not repeat the same food more frequently than
is absolutely necessary.
Plan with the child to surprise father at mealtime, by having
the food all eaten without complaint, and do not neglect to tip
father off so that he will be properly surprised. If the child is
old enough, raw vegetables will sometimes be eaten with relish
while you are preparing them. [This is all right if at their usual
mid-meal lunch time.-L. H. P.]
A small mountain of mashed potatoes, with a mashed carrot
sun rising over it, is sometimes devoured without ever realizing
that carrots and potatoes are being eaten. Do not give your
victim too much time to wander away from the idea that he is
eating a mountain and a sun.
Small metal toys, such as rings and animals, may be buried
and tunneled for. (Be mighty careful here, mothers, that the
toys are clean and are not swallowed, too!) Play that you are
a mother bird bringing food to a little one in the nest. The
child can be taught the call of a large variety of birds in this
way. Of course, this would necessitate the mother feeding the
child, but it works. [Later the child can be taught that he is an
old enough bird to feed himself.-L. H. P.]
A child will often eat with relish vegetables that he has seen
growing and has helped to gather. Frequently, by a little effort,
we can acquaint ourselves with some new vegetable of the same
class to take the place of the one especially disliked. As the
child grows older he will learn to like a great variety of vege-
tables if you do not let him get away with too much "choiceness."
In our own family every child of six and over is required to eat
at least a small portion of every food that comes to our table, with
THE MALNOURISHED CHILD
171
three exceptions. One boy is exempt from onions, one from fish,
and one girl from turnips. [This is all right if the food does
not happen to be milk or whole-wheat bread or other needed foods.
I can sympathize with the girl who can't stand turnips. They
are about the only food in the entire pharmacopoeia that I don't
like.-L. H. P.]
I hope I have been able to offer help of some value to your
correspondents and that I have not taken too much of your valua-
ble time. I find your articles very interesting and helpful.
-M. W. B.
Isn't that a splendid letter? I included her compli-
ments to our service for I can see the writer is a woman
of great discernment.
To avoid having a finicky child, the main thing, let
me repeat here, is to catch 'em young enough.
In the next chapter we'll take up the child who isn't
finicky enough.
'
Rough
Language
CHAPTER II
THE FAT CHILD
YOUR child is not fat, mother, because you are
fat, or his father is fat, or some one else in the
family is fat. Your child, if he is healthy, is fat because
he eats too much. Just as you are, mother, if you are
fat. Rough language? It's true! And if you are fat
there is no doubt that you serve too many fattening
foods, and your child, who is a good imitator, likes the
same excess of fattening foods that you do because he
sees you eating them.
The reduction of overweight in children is practically
the same as the reduction of overweight in adults-that
is, furnishing the body fewer calories of energy foods
than are necessary for the activities, and making the
excess fat serve to help supply the energy needs.
Too Good
to be True
;
There are no foods which in certain combina-
tions make fat and in other combinations actually
consume fat. This statement you may read in adver-
tisements, but there is no truth in it. Too good to be
true! Any food is fattening or is an irritant if it is
more than the system needs. Some foods are much more
fattening than others. Ah,
Ah, yes! The concentrated
foods, such as sugar and the fats, are very much more
fattening than the watery foods, such as vegetables and
fruits. But, measured by calories, 100 calories of let-
tuce (approximately 16 ounces), for instance, is just as
172
THE FAT CHILD
173
fattening as 100 calories of butter (approximately 12
ounce).
One thousand calories of any food is equivalent in
energy value to one-fourth of a pound of fat. If every
day the diet has 1000 calories less than the system needs
to maintain its internal and external activities-in other
words less than the maintenance diet-theoretically and
practically, one-fourth of a pound of fat will be called
upon to supply these needs. Five hundred calories less
than the maintenance diet will make the system supply
one-eighth of a pound a day.
But! this precaution-especially in the reduction of
children: The growth and protective foods must not be
included in the 1000 or 500 calories of food not taken.
Milk must not be omitted because it is needed for
its complete protein and its calcium. A quart of milk
has 640 calories. If whole milk is taken, then the child
can cut down its butter to one-fourth of a pat a meal (¼
level tablespoonful), for he will get the vitamins and
fat in the cream that he would get in the butter. If
skimmed milk or fat free buttermilk are used-a quart
of either is one-half that of whole milk, or 320 calories-
he can have half a pat of butter at a meal.
Fat children are usually excessive bread-and-butter,
candy and dessert eaters. I was a fat child for a period,
so I know from personal experience, as well as from ob-
servation. I remember an incident of my childhood once
when I was at a neighbor's house on baking day. Shortly
after eating five slices of warm bread, liberally buttered,
I announced that I had to hurry home to get my dinner!
No wonder I was a plump piggie.
The bread and butter must be limited, but not cut
out entirely-one slice at a meal is a safe allowance. It
{
174
DIET FOR CHILDREN
is best to serve bread well toasted throughout, for it
will take longer to eat. Bread toasted has the same
food value as it has untoasted, so the toast must also be
limited.
!
Candy, sugar, and sweet desserts must be very strictly
limited, and perhaps prohibited until he loses his ab-
normal craving for them. The child can have all the
water to drink that he wants, and he should have a lot,
especially between meals. It is not fattening. Ice-cream
sodas and other syrupy drinks must be rare treats instead
of the daily dozen.
Two More
Precautions
1. Rapid reductions must be avoided, because
too rapid reduction must mean that some of the
growth needs are not being supplied. One pound, or at
the most one and one-half pounds a week, is a good aver-
age loss.
2. In case of a severe cold, if you find his cold
seems to hang on, it is best to put the child back on
his maintenance diet. Be careful that he does not eat
enough to gain.
REDUCTION RULES
1. Sufficient food to supply all the needs of the
system, except some of its fuel or energy needs.
Count the number of calories that have been consumed
a day, and cut down the energy foods 500 to 1000
calories from this. If this does not result in a
loss of weight, cut them down still further. Get the
child, if old enough, interested in counting his calories
himself and make a game of it. The Kalorie Kids, on
page 291, will help him. Have a little reward for each
week when he loses. Insist on very thorough mastication
THE FAT CHILD
175
as that helps to control the appetite and is beneficial in
other ways, as you know.
2. If there is constipation on account of the reduc-
tion of the total quantity of food, it is wise to give every
day at a regular time 1 to 3 tablespoons of non-medicated
granulated agar, which you will have to get at the drug
store, or some bran. These can be taken mixed in a
cereal or stirred into cold water and drunk.
3. Weighing should be done on the same scale at the
same time of the day in relation to meals and elimina-
tions and in the same weight clothes.
Once a week is often enough to weigh unless you
realize that there is a normal daily variation in weight
due to varying retentions of water. Sometimes, when
there might be a real loss of fat, the scales would show
an increase in weight due to this retention of water.
This is apt to discourage unless you understand it.
4. Some vigorous exercises every day and much active
play. Have him join a gymnasium if possible.
5. Keep a chart so there will be a picture of the weight
going down. There is a model for you in the last part
of the book.
6. No physics and no medicines to reduce. They are
not necessary. If the child is fat because of trouble
with some of his internal secretory glands, he should be
under the care of a specialist, who will give the necessary
medicine. The patent medicines are very dangerous.
Now, while it is true that it may be better for
your child to be a few pounds overweight for his
height, than the table allows, when he gets over 15 to
20 per cent overweight, his resistance to disease is low-
ered just as the resistance is lowered in underweight.
Pneumonia and other respiratory diseases are more
Why Should a
Child Reduce?
176
DIET FOR CHILDREN
severe in over-fat children, and the same overeating and
underexercising which result in obesity are the chief
causes of diabetes.
Now, aside from the question of disease, there is an-
other side to this overweight in childhood, a very pa-
thetic, and, to the child, a very tragic side.
I am going to give you excerpts from some of the let-
ters that I have received from some of these fat chil-
dren. They will tell you much more effectively than I
can what it means to them. I shall also give you some
letters showing the results gained by following the in-
structions similar to those I have given you.
1
1
Dear Doctor Lulu:
I am a girl of 15 years, height five feet two inches, and weigh
142 pounds. Will you tell me just what I should eat for break-
fast, lunch and dinner in order to reduce?
Oh, Doctor, please have pity on me and answer this as soon as
possible as I am getting so fat that I shall be ridiculous. Any
boys that I shall meet will say, "Gee, but you're fat!" And I
cannot bear to hear that from a boy.-J.
2
Dear Doctor:
I am 18 years old and fat. I am self-conscious, and imagine
every one is looking at me and making fun of me, which no doubt
they are. My Dad is built big and every one tells me it will be
useless to try to reduce. All my girl friends are enjoying them-
selves at parties and dances while I have to be content to stay at
home. I am telling you this because you will understand just
how I feel. Every one else laughs at me and I am sure you
won't. . . .-C.
3
Dear Doctor:
My mother reads your column every day, so to-day I come to
ask you if you know of some way of reducing my thighs and
THE FAT CHILD
177
abdomen. Most young men have no abdomen, just a mere flat
stomach, and as my companions tease me when I go in swimming,
I would like to reduce what they call my "Provision" and my
thighs, and as I am very fastidious I wear the latest style in
suits which have very narrow pants, and with my fat thighs I
split my pants right away. Remember I mean fat "abdomen"
and fat "thighs"-not hips, thighs. Hoping you won't think
wrong of me because of the nude sketches, but as I know you are
a doctor I know you won't. Yours sincerely, A. B. C. JR.
4
Dear Doctor:
A dear little (?) friend of mine 12 years old weighs 187
pounds. Her parents suspect that she has diabetes and she is
much troubled with severe pains. Her flesh is much puffed out
as in dropsy. She is such a lovable child, a real little gentle-
woman, and I should give so much to see her enjoy the natural
play of childhood instead of sitting about envying other little
girls.
Her mother told me that as a family they eat from 20 to 24
loaves of bread a week and other foods in proportion, and there
are only four of them in the family. So you can easily see where
the trouble lies. -MRS. BETTY.
•
5
Dear Dr. Lulu:
I am 11 years old, and weighed 136 lbs., which was too much.
I wrote to you for your book on reducing, and as soon as I
received it began according to directions. In seven weeks I have
lost 11½ lbs. I am feeling better and everybody says I look
better. I keep strict account of the calories I eat each day, and
I do not have to go hungry as many people think.
Please publish this in the paper for the benefit of others.
Yours truly, DOROTHY.
6
Dear Dr. Peters:
Please excuse me for not writing you sooner. Every week
since I wrote you last I have lost a pound, except the last one,
178
DIET FOR CHILDREN
and then it was a pound and a quarter. I certainly hope I keep
on losing. I now weigh 1484. I am in the B grade now, and
I got "1"-Excellent-in all my subjects except Gym and Pen-
manship and in those I got "2"-which means Good. Ever since
I have started dieting I have stopped having so many colds, and
I haven't had tonsilitis for nearly a year now. I wasn't absent
from school a single day this last term, which is a new record
for me.-AGNES.
[She weighed nearly 200 when she began to reduce. Her normal
was 115.-L. H. P.]
If you did not know before, mothers, you know now
from these letters the real danger and the real unhap-
piness the fat child suffers. You know from the last
two letters that it is unnecessary. And I am sure you
will do your best to prevent and to remedy excessive
overweight in your children.
I have gone into the subject of reducing more thor-
oughly than I have space to do here in my little book,
"Diet and Health with Key to the Calories" (Reilly &
Lee, Publishers, Chicago, Ill.). If you have an obese
child, mother, I wish you would get that, please. It will
be profitable-for both of us!
CHAPTER III
FASTING
YEARS ago we used to say that when we were ill, we
should eat to keep up the strength. Later, because many
times food was given which was not suitable and seemed
to retard recovery, then the opposite extreme was advo-
cated, and fasting was advised as the only thing to do in
fevers or any other disease and the saying, "If you eat
when you are ill, you feed the disease and not yourself,'
became popular.
""
The statement is often made that the digestive func-
tions stop in fevers, and that any food taken does not
nourish, but rots, and so is nothing but a poison. That
is nonsense. The digestive functions do not stop any
more than the other functions stop. They may be re-
tarded. Yes, we'll grant that; but they do not stop any
more than the heart functions or the lung functions or
the ear functions stop, unless they are the ones directly
involved, and then they may, of course.
The fact that animals do not eat when they are sick is
often cited as an example for us to follow. But we can-
not always reason from animals. It is possible that if
they did eat some at that time, many of them might live
instead of die. The fact that there is no appetite is also
cited as an indication that fasting is the proper thing
to do, but as far as the appetite always being an indica-
tion, we know that is not true, for in the very diseases
which would be benefited by a short fast or a great
179
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180
DIET FOR CHILDREN
limitation of food, the appetite is oftentimes markedly
stimulated.
The fact of the matter is we know now that the prin-
ciple of eating to keep up the strength, in illness as well
as in health, is the correct one. However, the food must
be of such a nature that it is easily digested and does
not cause any strain on the kidneys, heart, liver and
other organs. Clinical experience has taught us that
we don't "feed the disease" when we do this, but we
do feed the patient and prevent the patient's body
feeding the disease.
A short fast of one to two days with nothing given but
plenty of water is undoubtedly of benefit in cases where
there is an autointoxication, overweight or high blood
pressure. Agar should be taken, and perhaps some par-
affine oil, to furnish bulk and lubrication so the bowels
will move, and an enema had better be taken night and
morning also in these cases.
Undernourished children and adults should not be sub-
ject to a total deprivation of food for any longer period
than 12 to 24 hours, for they have no reserve fat to be
called upon to supply the increased burning going on in
the body.
Sometimes physicians order a longer fast than this in
certain cases-surgical, diabetic and others—but it
should not be taken except under the orders and personal
supervision of the physician.
Prolonged
Fasting
The recent deaths in a Chicago sanatorium con-
ducted by a fasting faddist, and the deaths we
hear of quite frequently of people who have fasted for
prolonged periods, show that this is an unnatural proc-
ess. During fasting it is the body which not only feeds.
the disease but itself as well, as I have said.
FASTING
181
Kellogg condemns prolonged fasting very much. He
claims that the disadvantages of prolonged fasting far
outweigh any advantages, and that the advantages may
more easily and more comfortably be obtained by a sci-
entific regulation of the diet. Muscles and organs, in-
cluding the heart, waste; the body loses its iron and
vitamins, for they cannot be produced in the animal
body, and the fasting person feeds on his own body.
The faster is not only a flesh eater but a cannibal! There
is a condition of high toxity and acidity brought on by
this cannibalism.
The so-called fruit fast or green-leaf vegetable fast of
500 to 1000 calories for the day will give all the advan-
tages of fasting without the disadvantages.
:
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CHAPTER IV
FEVERS
THE principles I am going to give you on diet in fevers
will apply to the infectious diseases of childhood and
to pneumonia, acute rhumatism, common colds and any
disease whose toxins (poisons) produce a rise in tem-
perature.
To Keep Up
the Strength
!
When there is a fever, there is an extra amount of
burning going on in the body. Unless the proper food
is furnished for fuel for the burning, then the patient's
own tissues are going to furnish it. This not only causes
a great weakening and loss of weight, but also causes a
starvation acidosis. (Reread the chapter on fasting.)
We realize now that many of the symptoms we for-
merly thought were due to typhoid fever were really
due to the starvation acidosis brought about because too
little food was given. The percentage of recovery in this
disease is much greater, now that the needs of the system
for proper food are supplied. And the length of the
illness and convalescence has been very much shortened.
Now what must we supply the system "to keep
up the strength"?
1. ENERGY food in the most easily digestible form.
2. VITAMINS.
3. MINERAL salts in good proportions, for there is a
great loss of these in fevers; iron and calcium particu-
larly.
182
FEVERS
183
4. PROTEIN in easily digested form if fever is pro-
longed. Fats and protein are not well cared for when
the system is deranged. So the fats and proteins must
be given carefully when given.
5. Pure water in liberal amounts.
The best forms for these foods are:
1. FRUIT JUICES, fruit purées, fruit soups.
2. VEGETABLE purées-especially of spinach for its
iron and calcium-and vegetable juices and broths.
(See recipes.)
3. GRUELS, Sweetened with malt sugar (it contains
iron, calcium and vitamins) or milk sugar. Can beat an
egg yolk in them later.
4. MILK, buttermilk, koumis, and other fermented
milks, and wheys.
The fruit juices and vegetables for the short fevers,
then if the fever continues the gruels and milk should be
added because of the need for more protein.
The dextrinized cereals, those in which the starch has
been changed to the easily digested dextrin, may be
used at first when cereals are used. Wheat flakes, corn-
flakes or shredded wheat, zweiback gruels, or oven toast
thoroughly browned till crisp way through in the
oven, later oatmeal and rice and other cereals may be
used.
The concentrated vegetable juices, broths and purées
give vitamins, mineral salts, carbohydrates and some pro-
tein, and a little combined fat. Milk should be added to
the fever patient's diet as soon as possible for its com-
plete protein and its mineral salts. Perhaps at first it
had better be taken skimmed and boiled. The cream can
be added gradually. Boiling the milk makes it more
easily digested because the curds of boiled milk are soft
and flaky, while the curds of fresh milk are larger and
184
DIET FOR CHILDREN
more solid. The vitamins will be supplied by the fruit
juices and vegetables.
Fruit Juices
į
Fruit juices are very important in feeding the
sick for many reasons.
FIRST: They are well liked usually.
SECOND: They contain a large amount of water. This
is very necessary in fevers.
THIRD: Vitamins.
FOURTH: Though acid, when oxidized the alkaline salts
are liberated and thus they help keep down acidosis.
FIFTH: For the energy value in the fruit sugar, dex-
trose. It is easily assimilated.
SIXTH: Antiseptic properties.
SEVENTH: Laxative.
How Much?
How much should our patients with prolonged
fever have to eat? As many calories as though he
were well and engaged in moderate activity!
Kellogg says this, and there is no physician in the
United States who has had a longer or more extensive
experience in treating disease than he has had. Many
other experts agree with him.
This would necessitate very frequent feedings when
the patient is on fruit or vegetable juices—every hour or
oftener, perhaps, depending upon the patient's needs.
For constipation in fevers, Kellogg advises bran or
agar taken in sufficient doses to produce a daily empty-
ing of the bowels. He says bran is not irritating, as
many people suppose, for it is thoroughly softened by
the intestinal moisture. He also advises mineral oil.
This, of course-and the diet also, for that matter-
would be regulated by the physician in charge of the
case.
CHAPTER V
ACIDOSIS
:
You remember when I talked on the general uses of the
mineral elements and the necessity for getting the right
mineral elements and in right proportions, I spoke about
their importance in keeping the blood and the tissue
fluids in their normal slightly alkaline state. We must
talk a little more on that subject.
The blood and tissue fluids probably never become ac-
tually acid in life; but if they become less alkaline than
they should be, a condition which we term acidosis is
brought about and the health is impaired, more or less,
depending upon the degree of acidosis produced.
The alkalinity of the blood may be lowered in
two ways: First, when there is an excessive pro-
duction of acid in the system; and second, when there
is the normal amount of acids, but they are not gotten
rid of by the system because of some disorders of the
eliminating system. The severe forms of acidosis are
seen in severe diabetes, kidney disease, and some of
the serious gastro-intestinal disorders in children. These
must be cared for under the personal direction of a
skillful physician, for they are very dangerous.
The mild acidoses are caused by the excessive pro-
duction of acid in the system through prolonged incor-
rect diet. And of course if this goes on long enough,
the different organs of the body will be injured so much
The Blood
Alkalinity
185
186
DIET FOR CHILDREN
that they may become diseased and severe acidoses may
result. The mild acidoses and autointoxication mean
about the same.
Alkali-
Forming
Foods
Acid-
Forming
Foods
Certain foods contain more acid-forming ele-
ments than other foods. If these acid-forming
foods are not well balanced by the alkaline-form-
ing foods, then we can expect the overproduction of
acid with its injurious effects.
Meat, white of eggs and cereals, especially those which
have gone through the modern milling processes and have
had the germ and the bran which contain most of the
alkali or basic minerals removed (this would include
white bread and pastries made of them) are the main
acid-forming foods. Excess sugar and candy and excess
fat will also tend to cause acidosis.
A diet which includes too many of the acid-forming
foods also tends to cause constipation and putrefaction,
with the evils that these conditions produce.
Milk and vegetables and most fruits are the al-
kali-producing foods. Fruit acids, when burned.
in the body, liberate the alkaline salts with which
they are combined; so that the effect of fruits is to in-
crease the alkalinity of the body rather than to dimin-
ish it.
While prunes, plums and cranberries are not listed
among the base or alkali-forming fruits, their laxative
effect (especially of prunes and plums) would tend to
counteract their slight acid properties by helping to pre-
vent constipation with its long retention of the waste in
the bowels. The acid salts of these fruits are largely in
the skins, and these can be removed if they are taken
when there is a tendency to acidosis.
ACIDOSIS
187
If you and your children have a diet consisting
mostly of white bread, meat and pastries, even
though you have potatoes also, you have a pre-
ponderance of acid-producing and vitaminless foods.
You are suffering, or eventually will suffer, from
acidosis; and if the acidosis continues it will lead to
many serious diseases.
Bread, Meat,
Potato Diets
-Common
Among the symptoms of acidosis may be short-
ness of breath, nervousness, mental depression,
drowsiness, rheumatic pains, neuritis, skin disorders,
sometimes asthma, and in the more severe forms, con-
vulsions and unconsciousness.
Symptoms
An exclusive fruit or milk or green-leaf vege-
table diet or a combination of these for a few
days or longer is advised for cases of acidosis. (Remem-
ber, the serious types of acidosis should be under the
care of a physician.)
Then continue to include milk and the green-leaf vege-
tables and fruit in your diet. Take them in good-sized
amounts, cut down your meat to the minimum. Avoid
cane sugar and candy and fat in excess. Eat more po-
tatoes and less white bread. See that the bowels move
freely every day, not by drugs, but by the correct diet,
regular habits, exercise and the inclusion of non-medi-
cated agar or bran, or liquid petrolatum, if necessary.
Remember that acidosis can be caused by overeating
for the needs even of the right foods. It can also be
caused by prolonged undereating (by causing a starva-
tion acidosis), if the body has no surplus fat.
What to Do
CHAPTER VI
!
Intestinal
Flora
AUTOINTOXICATION AND THE INTESTINAL FLORA
THE term "auto" means self: autobiography, a biogra-
phy written by oneself; autointoxication, the intoxica-
tion or the poisoning produced in oneself. The term
"autointoxication" is applied to a poisoning of the sys-
tem due to the overdevelopment of harmful putrefactive
bacteria in the intestines. This is brought about when
excess amounts of food are taken in general, or in par-
ticular, because this causes an improper balance in foods.
Under these conditions the foods are not properly di-
gested, the proteins putrefy, carbohydrates ferment, and
the fats become rancid. This forms a mass in which
the putrefactive bacteria predominate excessively in the
intestinal flora. I shall have to explain about the intes-
tinal flora.
Germs, as I have explained to you before, are
microscopic plants, and they live everywhere ex-
cept on things that are sterilized. Some of these micro-
scopic plants are apparently normal inhabitants of the
lower part of the small intestine, and the large intestine,
and their presence helps in the digestion of food. These
microscopic plants in the intestines are known as the in-
testinal flora.
In the normal healthy stomach, the hydrochloric acid
is powerfully germicidal. That is, it kills most of the
ordinary germs that are eaten with the food and drinks,
188
AUTOINTOXICATION
189
and if it does not kill them, it stops their growth; nor
do they grow normally in the upper part of the small
intestine. In the lower part of the small intestine and
in the large intestine, the few germs which escape in the
hydrochloric acid of the stomach find conditions suitable
for their growth.
Now under normal healthy conditions, the harmless
and beneficial germs develop very rapidly and help digest
the food. They also hinder the growth of the harmful
putrefactive type. (You remember I told you that
germs divided ever twenty minutes and in a few hours
there are a billion trillions of them.)
One Thing
Leads to
Another
After improper habits of eating such as bolting
the food, overeating or undereating, or unbal-
anced diet, the first effect may be seen in the
stomach. The normal hydrochloric acid cannot work
effectively, stomach digestion is delayed and fermenta-
tion may take place, resulting in a sour stomach and gas.
The food, in turn, not being properly prepared in the
stomach, produces abnormal conditions in the upper part
of the small intestine, so that this becomes a ground for
the development of the putrefactive and the abnormal
fermentative type of bacteria.
All along the intestinal tract the harmful products
formed by the putrefactive bacteria and fermentation
and decomposition of food are absorbed into the blood.
This produces the condition we call autointoxication or
self-poisoning combined more or less with acidosis.
This self-poisoning may be mild or severe, and if it
continues for any length of time it produces a dimin-
ished vitality in the tissues and the foundation is laid for
many diseases. Bilious attacks, all sorts of aches and
pains, gout, rheumatism, sick headaches, nervous exhaus-
190
DIET FOR CHILDREN
tion, constipation, excess gas. Finally anemia and nu-
merous other disorders may result.
On a too high animal-protein diet, especially
the proteins of meat and fish, the putrefactive bac-
teria are very prone to become excessive. In these cases
the intestinal flora must be changed. An exclusive fruit
diet for two or three days will do this or an exclusive
milk or buttermilk diet. Buttermilk artificially made,
of the Bulgarian or acidophiles types, is especially effec-
tive. The lactose or milk sugar of the milk encourages
the growth of the harmless lactic-acid germs and dis-
courages the growth of the putrefactive germs.
Kellogg advises milk sugar, two or three ounces, to be
taken during the day also.
If you or your children are suffering from autointoxi-
cation, correct your condition and don't let it happen
again. Avoid excess meat and fish, have a properly
balanced diet containing a large element of the green-
leaf vegetables and milk-the protective foods-and have
some good vigorous exercise every day, especially of the
trunk. The prevention of constipation by exercise and
by fruits and cellular vegetables-and the addition of
agar or bran or mineral oil if necessary-is very im-
portant.
Change
Your Flora
:
CHAPTER VII
ASTHMA
ASTHMA is sometimes due to dietetic errors. It has been
proved in certain cases of asthma of children that they
were consuming excessive amounts of milk, eggs and
oatmeal and thereby getting too much protein in their
diets. In these cases, cutting down the excess milk, so
that not more than a pint was taken, and omitting the
white of the eggs resulted in freedom from asthma. Of
course, other hygienic measures, fresh air, night and
day, correction of faulty postures and a correct diet in
all respects were part of the treatment.
•
Asthma in children and adults is sometimes due to the
absorption of some of the invisible protein which floats
in the air and is inhaled, such as certain grass and
flower pollens, the dandruff of dogs and cats, rabbits
and horses. Felt hats which have rabbit fur in their
make-up (and this is frequent) will cause asthma in
susceptible people. Sometimes mattresses have rabbit
fur in them and they cannot be used. Feather pillows
are sometimes the offenders.
Eczema also at times is a form of protein poisoning.
We often find that children with eczema later have
asthma. Sometimes in cases of asthma, it may be neces-
sary to do as in eczema, find out which protein is the
offending one by the laboratory tests. (See "Eczema,
page 218, and "Food Idiosyncrasies," page 235.)
"}
Sometimes enlarged thymus glands produce asthma.
Read about that on page 207.
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"Mucus-
Forming
Foods"
CHAPTER VIII
OBSTRUCTIVE ADENOIDS AND TONSILS
ASIDE from insufficient and improper diet as a cause of
malnutrition, the nutrition workers have found that
physical defects-especially obstructive adenoids and
tonsils—are big factors as a cause of malnourishment.
Dr. W. R. P. Emerson especially emphasizes this.
Obstructive adenoids and tonsils are a great cause,
and it is highly probable they are not only a cause,
but also an effect of malnourishment. In fact there is
no doubt that improper and insufficient diet is a factor
in undermining the resistance so that these conditions,
as well as other diseased conditions, develop. In the
experimental laboratory it has been demonstrated that
deficient diets will produce a catarrhal condition of the
mucous membranes in animals. Why not in man?
(Thumb and finger and pacifier sucking by babies
and children also undoubtedly stimulate the growth of
adenoidal tissue, mothers.)
Quite often I am asked to give a list of "mucus-
forming" foods. There ain't no such animal,
mothers. Any perfectly good food, if eaten in
excess, or diets which are deficient, either in quality or
quantity, may undermine the resistance so that all the
tissues, including the mucous membranes, suffer. But
there are no specific mucus-forming foods.
192
OBSTRUCTIVE ADENOIDS AND TONSILS 193
I do not want you to get the impression that
I do not approve of having obstructive adenoids
and tonsils removed. There is nothing so striking as the
immediate improvement in children who have had their
adenoids and tonsils removed when they have obstructed
the breathing.
Obstructive adenoids and tonsils not only are sources
of malnutrition, but of chronic colds and infections, and
they tend to deform the face and chest and oftentimes
markedly retard physical and mental development. I
certainly believe they should be removed if they fail
to improve under local treatments and correction of the
diet, and if your family physician, in consultation with
a nose and throat specialist, advises it.
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Surgical
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Causes
CHAPTER IX
BED WETTING (ENURESIS)
TOWARD the end of the first year, voluntary bladder
control should begin, and by the second year it should
be established. Of course this bladder control has to
be taught to babies by placing them at frequent regular
intervals on a vessel at first held in the mother's lap.
This can be begun as early as the third or fourth
month.
Enuresis in older children may show lack of
the earlier training, and in this case you have to
begin with them as you would a baby and train them
aright.
Very, very often children who are bed wetters are
undernourished, and the nervous system is unstable for
that reason. When the condition of undernourishment
is corrected the habit ceases. Less often, but still quite
frequently, the overnourished fat child suffers from
enuresis.
Other things causing the habit are local irritations,
such as pinworms, or a very tight foreskin in boys.
Those of course have to be attended to. The urine may
be irritating by being too acid or too alkaline, or there
may be other irritating factors in the urine, so a uri-
nalysis should be made.
Bladder-
If the child is old enough to understand, teach
Control Drill him that he can control the bladder himself in
the following manner: Once or twice a day, when he is
A
194
BED WETTING (ENURESIS)
195
urinating, have him stop two or three times during the
process. Have him void, count one, two; stop, count one,
two; void, count one, two; and so on until the bladder is
empty. And explain, and be very patient with him,
mother, so he will understand the reason for this little
drill. Let him know that he is doing this so that he
can get control of the bladder muscles himself. This
is a very important part of the training in an older
child. Reward him for being faithful to the training.
Punishment usually makes a child worse, by making
him more nervous. Rewards are better. Never punish
your children, mothers, for this habit, for which you
may yourself be to blame, unless you are sure that the
habit develops from the child's carelessness or indiffer-
This of course would only apply to the wetting
in the daytime. You could not consider that it would
be due to carelessness while asleep.
ence.
Restrict the liquids after 4 P.M., and allow no exciting
plays or stories after this time. Put to bed early. Have
him void just before. Have him sleep alone if possible.
Have fresh air in the room. Take up at 10—again at 2
and at 6-set the alarm clock so you can do this exactly
on time.
No tea, coffee, stimulants or salty or highly seasoned
foods and no concentrated sweets should be allowed, for
these cause the water to be retained by the system. Later
it accumulates in the bladder and causes pressure on
the bladder opening.
Regulate the diet according to the principles I have
given you. Reread the chapter on the normal diet, the
fat child and the malnourished child.
1. Remove cause.
2. Bladder-control drill.
Résumé
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DIET FOR CHILDREN
196
2.
1
3. No punishment.
4. Restrict play and liquids after 4 P.M.
5. Early to bed.
6. Take up at 10, at 2 and at 6.
7. Regulate diet.
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CHAPTER X
CONVULSIONS
BECAUSE the nervous system is very responsive and
delicately attuned in childhood, convulsions-a manifes-
tation of a disturbance of the nervous system-are much
more common in them than they are later in life.
There are many causes of convulsions in children, the
most frequent one being an irritation of the stomach or
intestines from improper things eaten.
There is nothing that strikes so much terror to the
entire household as convulsions. While they may be due
to a very simple cause, your physician should be called
to be sure that they are not from a more serious cause,
and to give the treatment that will prevent further
attacks.
For the attack, mothers, you can give a hot
mustard bath-one tablespoonful of mustard to a
gallon of water, as hot as you can comfortably put your
elbow in for five to ten minutes. Place a small towel
dipped in cold water, or an ice bag, on the head. A
mustard pack may be more convenient to give, using some
large towels wrung out of the mustard water and wrap-
ping the child in these. Leave on until the skin is red-
dened well. As soon as possible give him an enema with
warm soapsuds and a dose of castor oil. You may find
this will bring surprising things. One little girl I
treated was harboring over a cup of watermelon seeds.
For the
Attack
1
197
198
DIET FOR CHILDREN
Diet
J.
Nothing should be given but water for six or
seven hours, then cereal gruels or boiled milk and
water, or fruit juices, for twenty-four hours. Gradually
increase the diet to normal.
St. Vitus
Dance
(Chorea)
*.
It is not fully known what the cause of chorea
is, but prolonged undernourishment, unhappy ir-
ritable home surroundings and prolonged over-
excitement are predisposing causes. It not infrequently
is associated with rheumatism. The régime I have out-
lined for the malnourished child and the attention of a
skillful physician are necessary.
!
CHAPTER XI
CONSTIPATION
CHRONIC Constipation in children is due to the same
causes as it is in adults. Irregularity of habit, under-
eating or overeating, lack of sufficient roughage or cellu-
lose in the food, insufficient exercise (hardly ever this in
children) and constant physic taking, are the most com-
mon causes.
First we will take up irregularity of habit.
Defecation is partly voluntary and partly involun-
tary. As soon as the bowel contents reach the rectal
canal the nerves are stimulated and a desire to defacate
is experienced. If the desire is not gratified at the
time, and if this is repeated often, the nerves are blunted
and the stimulation is lost.
Babies can be taught as early as the second month to
control the bowels if they are placed on a little vessel
held in the mother's lap twice a day. This regularity
taught in babyhood is the best training for the bowels in
childhood. If children are taught the importance of
going to the toilet at some regular time, preferably after
meals-because eating starts the intestinal movements-
there will not be so much danger from constipation.
If the inclusion of the proper amount of laxative
food in the diet every day does not result in regular
bowel movements, then bran or agar or mineral oil can
be added. Agar is a Japanese seaweed, and it is not
digested. It absorbs water so that it forms a good moist
bulk in the bowels. Get the non-medicated, granular
199
200
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DIET FOR CHILDREN
7
form. You have to get it from the drug stores. Add
a tablespoonful or more if necessary to the children's
cereal, or have them take it once or twice a day in a
glass of water. (See recipes.)
Enemas and physics should not be used habitually,
they simply tend to make more constipation.
The laxative foods are foods which are rich in cellu-
lose. They are most all fruits, especially figs, prunes;
among cereals, oatmeal, whole and cracked wheat, cooked
bran, bran bread, shredded wheat. Practically all of the
fresh vegetables are laxatives.
Miscellaneous: molasses, malt sugar, honey and butter-
milk.
+
CHAPTER XII
DIABETES
DIABETES is a very serious disorder and the child or the
adult suffering from it should be under the care of a
specialist.
Joslin says that 75 per cent of his cases of diabetes
were overfat before the disease manifested itself, and
he believes and we all agree that the prevention of
overweight is one of the greatest preventive measures
against diabetes that we have. That is one of the rea-
sons why I write so much on the prevention of over-
weight.
Diabetes is almost always caused by a disorder of the
pancreas of such a nature that its internal secretion-
which has to do with the oxidizing of sugar in the sys-
tem-is not produced normally. The sugar is not con-
verted into the form that can be used by the system and
it is eliminated in the urine. This not only deprives the
system of its needed sugar and starches (for they are
converted into sugar in digestion), for energy food, but
it keeps the tissues and organs saturated with sugar in
a form which acts as a poison.
The thing for you to do, mothers, is to prevent the
excess candy and pastry eating, or excess eating in gen-
eral, which leads to overweight and the disabling of the
pancreas and other organs so that they cannot perform
their work. In this way you will prevent diabetes in
your children (and in yourself) in the large majority
of cases. We always find that children develop diabetes
201
202
DIET FOR CHILDREN
more often after Christmas and other holidays than at
other times. The reason is obvious.
It is quite significant that with the increased per
capita consumption of sugar in the United States there
is a marked increase in diabetes.
Banting and MacLeod of the Toronto University
(Canada), have discovered-through animal experi-
mentation--a remedy for diabetes almost miraculous in
its effect. It is called "Insulin," and it is an extract
of sheep's pancreas. When it is taken, the system can
utilize the starches and sugars and the patients can
eat enough to gain and keep up their strength. It is
not known yet whether it will regenerate the pancreas
and cure the disease, and it has to be taken by injec-
tions which are more or less painful, indefinitely. So
the thing to do is to prevent the disease. That we can
do to a great extent.
In general, the diet for diabetes has to be very low
in carbohydrates-the sugars and starches. The acid
fruits, green leaf vegetables and nuts-except peanuts
and chestnuts-are the foods that have the smallest
amount of carbohydrates. The foods highest are bread,
potatoes, cereals, legumes, macaroni and the sweet
fruits. Diabetes is not a case for home treatment, so
do not try to do this, mothers. Do what you can to
prevent its forming.
The insulin remedy is only distributed to physicians
who are experienced and competent in the treatment of
diabetes. Write to your County or State Medical So-
ciety, if necessary, and they will furnish you the list of
them.
A
CHAPTER XIII
DIARRHEA
DIARRHEA is an indication that there is some irritation in
the bowels that nature is trying to get rid of. So never
under any circumstances give anything like opium or
medicines containing opium-such as paregoric-to
check the diarrhea, and thus lock the irritant in. Some-
times physicians order these medicines later, but they
should not be given except under a physician's orders.
If the diarrhea is severe your physician should be
called. If you cannot get in touch with your physi-
cian, or while you are waiting for him, do as follows:
Stop all foods for 12 hours. Give nothing but plenty
of plain boiled water often-every hour or oftener.
After that, milk and water boiled together-no sugar-
for three or four minutes may be tried for 12 or 24
hours. If the diarrhea does not stop then, cereal gruels
made with water can be tried.
Most diarrheas of children are benefited by a dose of
castor oil in the beginning. This helps get rid of the
offending material. (Before the sixth month one tea-
spoonful of castor oil, after six months a tablespoonful.
It flows more easily given from a warm spoon.)
Very gradually resume the normal diet.
If the diarrhea is a sudden and bloody diarrhea, ac-
companied by violent vomiting and evidence of pain in
the abdomen, drawing up of the legs, etc., do not under
any conditions give castor oil or any other carthartic. It
is imperative in this case to get in touch with your
203
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204
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DIET FOR CHILDREN
physician, for it may mean an acute obstruction in the
bowels, which a cathartic would make worse. Call your
physician's attention to all the points I have mentioned,
and any other symptoms. These cases are usually sur-
gical.
CHAPTER XIV
DIRT EATING AND NAIL BITING
OCCASIONALLY children will eat things such as dirt,
clay, pencils, chalk and plaster. It is generally thought
that this abnormal craving indicates the system's need
for inorganic material. It may be possible that this is
so, for we seldom see a child who is healthy and nor-
mally fed develop these habits.
Of course, children are great imitators and I think it
is possible that some perfectly healthy children might
take up this habit if they saw their companions doing
it. Like other habits, it will require patience and firm-
ness to break, if it has been allowed to continue for any
time.¹
Children can be taught from infancy not to put any-
thing in their mouths except good food. If they are
taught this valuable lesson they are going to escape
many disorders. (See the chapter on "Poisons.") Un-
dernourished children that have the dirt-eating habit will
undoubtedly stop when they are better nourished. Re-
read the chapter on the malnourished child.
Nail Biting
The nail-biting habit usually begins when a
child is two or three years old. Once acquired
it is one of the hardest habits to control and it may per-
sist throughout life. It is not a sign of degeneracy at
1 The habit must be broken, for aside from the danger from the
foreign matter, the material may be contaminated with disease
germs and eggs from intestinal worms. (See "Worms.")
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206
DIET FOR CHILDREN
--
A
I
all, though, of course, degenerates may bite their nails.
I know quite a few brilliant men and women who occa-
sionally diet on nails.
Sometimes children and adults, too, will bite their
nails down to the quick so there is hardly any nail left.
Oftentimes their fingers become infected, and there is
no doubt that many times infections are carried to the
system. Children who have pin worms may keep them-
selves reinfected in this manner.
The thing to do, of course, is to discourage the habit
in the beginning. If smartly slapping the hand every
time you see it in the mouth does not work, then a card-
board cuff such as we use to stop the thumb and finger
sucking will have to be used.
Thumb and
Finger
Sucking
Take a piece of cardboard long enough to ex-
tend nearly to the pit of the arm and the wrist.
Make it wide enough to make a loose cuff. Sew
the edges together and put on over the shirt, if the
child is wearing long-sleeved ones; if not, then over the
dress sleeve. Fasten on securely. This cuff will allow
the child to use his arms but will not permit the hands
to get to the mouth. It has to be kept on night and day.
When the nail-biting habit has become established in
an older child, this cuff may also be used, and perhaps
putting adhesive straps over the end of the nails until
they are grown out and the visit to a manicurist as a
reward may be effective. Early teach the use of the file,
for it is an effort to get the nail smooth that usually
starts the biting. See that the nails are kept well mani-
cured.
CHAPTER XV
GOITER (ENLARGED THYROID) AND THE THYMUS GLAND
(NOTE. Nothing I have written upon, with the excep-
tion of my instructions for attaining normal weight,
has created more interest than the articles on the thymus
and the thyroid glands. I have noticed from many of
your inquiries and the comments upon the articles that
have come to me, that some of you are confusing one
gland with the other. Because of this and of the great
interest in this subject, I will include the articles here.)
The thyroid gland is a gland in the neck which persists
throughout normal life. We'll have more on this after
I tell you about the thymus.
The thymus gland is a gland which is situated
in the chest just below the neck. It extends down
over the top of the heart slightly. In man, this gland
attains its greatest size soon after birth; after the second
year of life it greatly diminishes in size until, in adult
life, there is only a vestige left of it. Occasionally the
thymus gland will persist until puberty-the beginning
of adult life-and occasionally it may persist throughout
life. If it persists longer than normal the patient has a
condition known as status lymphaticus.
The thymus glands of sheep we know as the neck
sweetbreads. (The pancreas, an intestinal gland back
of the stomach, is also called sweetbreads:) It has been
stated that the thymus gland persists throughout life in
The Thymus
1
Data
1
?
Pete
207
208
DIET FOR CHILDREN
#
!
..
Katka Ma
".;
pag nalaga anak han
Goiter
hybernating animals; that at the hybernating period the
gland enlarges and becomes laden with fat, and this
store of fat helps to maintain the energy during the
winter sleep.
The function of this gland is not fully known. But
as it is a lymphoid tissue, something like the lymph
glands and the spleen, it probably helps to make the
white corpuscles of the blood. Therefore it may be a
blood-forming organ which is necessary in early life.
There is also some connection apparently between the
thymus and the generative organs, for in animals that
are castrated the gland does not disappear or atrophy
(shrivel up) in its normal time, while removal of the
gland hastens the growth of the testes (generative
glands).
It occasionally happens that the thymus gland is en-
larged beyond normal and does not atrophy as rapidly
as it should. In these cases coughing and obstruction to
the breathing-thymic asthma-usually result. Au-
topsies have disclosed sometimes that persons who have
died suddenly under anæsthetics have had enlarged
thymus glands.
Children or adults who have difficult breathing,
asthma, persistent cough and other chest symptoms,
should have an X-ray taken of the chest. This picture
may show the cause of their symptoms to be an enlarged
thymus gland. (Not infrequently pins and other for-
eign bodies show up in such X-ray pictures, as well as
enlarged thymuses.)
The X-ray is also used for the treatment for an en-
larged thymus gland.
The thyroid gland is a gland which persists
throughout life. It is located in the front of the
GOITER AND THE THYMUS GLAND 209
neck-not in the chest, as is the thymus gland. The
thyroid gland has two masses connected by a narrow
bridge and is situated astride the windpipe. Unless the
thyroid is enlarged it is not noticeable. When it is en-
larged we call it a goiter-from the word gutter mean-
ing throat.
The internal secretion which is given off from the
thyroid gland, taken up by its numerous blood vessels
and distributed to the body, has a great deal to do with
the body's functioning. The active principle in this
internal secretion of the thyroid gland is an iodin com-
pound.
It has been discovered that simple goiters-enlarge-
ments of the thyroid gland with no other symptoms-
are due to a deficiency of iodin in the thyroid, and the
enlargement of the gland is an effort of Nature to make
up this deficiency. It is a futile effort, however; unless
sufficient iodin is taken in the foods, in the water supply,
or medicinally, the gland cannot produce it of itself.
Adolescent girls are particularly prone to simple
goiter, especially if they live in the so-called goiter belts.
(Boys suffer from goiter much less often than do girls;
one to six is the proportion.)
In North America the goiter belt comprises the entire
basin of the Great Lakes, the basin of the St. Lawrence
river, and that portion of the United States and Canada
known as the Pacific Northwest. Whether the goiters in
these regions are due to a deficiency of iodin in the soil
and, therefore, in the vegetables grown in that soil; or
whether the water is deficient in iodin in those sections,
is not fully known. When there is no iodin deficiency in
the soil or water, there may be a disturbance of the iodin
absorption by the body, due to some abnormal digestive
condition.
:
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DIET FOR CHILDREN
We do know this much, however, that in simple goiter
there is an iodin deficiency finally, no matter what the
initial cause of it may have been; and the thyroid gland
apparently enlarges in an endeavor to overcome this de-
ficiency. This has been demonstrated by animal experi-
mentation, for animals-especially fish, sheep and hogs—
develop goiters and can be cured when iodin in suitable
amounts is given in their foods.
Goiter is aggravated by improper hygienic conditions,
extreme irritation of the nervous system, and anything
that makes undue demand upon the physiologic functions
of the thyroid gland, such as prolonged overwork, over-
play or overexcitation of any kind.
In Ohio and Switzerland there has been great success
in preventing goiter in adolescent boys and girls by giv-
ing very tiny doses of an organic iodin salt once a week.
This treatment is also effective as a cure for simple
goiters, in adults as well as children.
I cannot give the name to you, for you to use without
your physician's personal diagnosis and prescription,
because if it should happen that the case you wanted the
remedy for was not a simple goiter, it might make the
condition worse instead of better. Your physician is
the one to make the diagnosis and prescribe this treat-
ment if he finds that it would help you.
A balanced diet containing foods rich in iodin should
be taken in liberal amounts in cases of simple goiter.
(See Page 207.)
Kellogg thinks that a concentrated extract prepared
from a combination of several vegetables might be of
value. (See Vegetable Tonic and Vegetable Broth in
"Recipes.")
GOITER AND THE THYMUS GLAND 211
Oatmeal is advised for a cereal, in simple Brose
goiter, for it has been found in the experimental
feeding of animals that oatmeal seems to have a favorable
effect on the thyroids. Brose gruel of the Scotch, made
of oatmeal stirred in boiling water and cooked only until
the mixture thickens, might be the best way to take it.
While in this way its starch is not all cooked, it seems
to be nonirritating. This is the way the Scotch take it,
and they are notably hearty people. It encourages in-
testinal activity, so it relieves constipation.
Too much fat should not be eaten because an excess of
fat has been shown by animal experimentation to upset
the thyroid gland. (Cod liver oil is an exception. It is
rich in iodin and vitamins, and will help to cure simple
goiters.) Diet not balanced in other ways, too much
candy and sweets, too much meat, etc., also may upset the
iodin absorption.
Goiter
Now while we know that simple goiter is due to Exophthalmic
a deficiency of iodin, we do not know quite so
positively what is the cause of exophthalmic goiter.
Considerable evidence has shown that the thyroid can
be disordered from infectious diseases, poisons, decayed
teeth, diseased tonsils, etc. And it can become disor-
dered from prolonged absorption of the putrefactive
products of the intestines.
The diet in exophthalmic goiter should be one that will
furnish a large amount of the vitamins and mineral salts,
and one conducive to a complete evacuation of the bowels
every day. Because the excess thyroid secretion causes a
very great increase in the breaking down and burning
of the body tissues, the diet must be very liberal to
supply this great activity-else the body tissues them-
¡
212
DIET FOR CHILDREN
•
selves burn. This is the reason the exophthalmic goiter
patients are so thin.
-
Exclude meats, fish, and all meat and fish products
from the diet of exophthalmic patients. Tea, coffee, al-
cohol and tobacco stimulate the thyroid gland and must
therefore be prohibited. Milk, cereals, fresh vegetables
and fruits must be taken liberally, but foods rich in iodin
must be omitted. This is just contrary to what we advise
in the simple goiter cases, you see. Oatmeal, while of
special value in simple goiter, should be avoided in
exophthalmic goiter. The calories can be increased to
almost double what would be taken normally, but re-
member that while the food intake should be very liberal,
the high protein foods-meats, fish, egg whites and con-
centrated cheeses-should be omitted. Granulated agar,
two or three tablespoonfuls a day, or mineral oil in the
same amount, can be taken if constipation is present.
Much rest and freedom from overwork and worry, and
other hygienic measures are important. Very often a
large part of the goiter has to be removed surgically be-
fore relief can be obtained.
(About this animal experimentation: It's a shame, isn't it,
that a few animals should be sacrificed, if necessary, to discover
means of preventing and curing disease in the human family and
the animals themselves?
(It's all right for us to slaughter them by the millions for furs
and feathers and foods and leathers-all of which we could do
without-but to use a very few in animal experimentation to
find out something, and to produce something that is going to
save our children and ourselves, and the animals themselves, from
the torture of disease and premature death-that's a shame,
isn't it? It's a shame according to antivivisectionists. I cannot
believe you are one, unless you have read only antivivisection
literature and believe the falsehoods their leaders broadcast-
and continue to broadcast even though they have been proved to
be falsehoods-about the treatment of animals for these purposes
and the usefulness of the knowledge and products acquired.)
CHAPTER XVI
RICKETS (RACHITIS)
RICKETS is not nearly so common now as formerly, but
still there are many cases. The exact cause of rickets
is not known. We know that dietary deficiencies can
cause it and we also know that even when apparently
adequate diets are given, rickets will develop when there
is a lack of sunshine and fresh air. Bottle-fed babies are
more subject to rickets than breast-fed babies. Too long
exclusive milk diet, even human milk, may cause it.
In rickets, the entire organism is affected, the nerves
may show their irritation in producing apathy or ir-
ritability, the muscles are flabby and the ligaments loose.
The abdomen becomes distended (pot-bellied) the bones
do not develop nor harden normally; there is bulging at
the ends and bending of the shafts of the long bones;
the legs bow, the ribs form little knobs on them known
as the rachitic rosary, the fontanelles do not close on
time, or may close too early.
Some of the deformities may last throughout life, and
if the pelves of the little girls are affected, it may pre-
vent normal childbirth later in life.
I tell you these things, mothers, so that you can see
the importance of prevention as well as cure.
Rickets is more liable to develop during the winter
months because babies are not out in the sunshine so
much then, and the cow's milk and human milk are less
rich in Vitamin A, because less green foods which fur-
nish the vitamins are taken.
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214
DIET FOR CHILDREN
Dr. Alfred H. Hess, who has had extensive ex-
perience in the study and treatment of rickets,
advises pure cod-liver oil for babies during the winter
months as early as the end of the first month. He ad-
vises beginning with five drops a day and increasing a
drop a day until one or two teaspoonfuls are taken. It
can be taken after a feeding or between feedings. Dr.
Richard Dennett, another eminent child specialist (Pedi-
atrist), tells me that he believes cod-liver oil is just as
necessary for all babies as is orange juice, and he gives
it in small doses throughout the year, summer and
winter.
Cod-liver
Oil
Colored babies, probably because the pigment in the
skin prevents the beneficial sun rays penetrating, are
more liable to rickets than white babies. In the colored
section of New York, Doctor Hess found that cod-liver
oil given to these babies very markedly reduced the cases
of rickets among them.
You can consider cod-liver oil as a food, mothers, a
food rich in Vitamin A, which prevents and helps cure
rickets and certain inflammations of the eye. It also
has a beneficial effect on growth.
Recently it has been discovered that egg yolks
are as effective in preventing rickets as cod-liver
oil, but they are not quite so potent as a cure. Raw egg
yolks can be begun as early as the second month. (Be-
gin with a quarter of an egg yolk-in the entire amount
of the formula-and increase a quarter yolk every other
day until one complete yolk is taken-in the entire for-
mula.)
Egg Yolks
This has been done on an extensive scale in the Home
for Hebrew Infants, New York, under Doctor Hess, and
with splendid results in the prevention of rickets and
RICKETS (RACHITIS)
215
undernourishment. He states that there have been no
bad reactions. Sometimes, there is a little yellow dis-
coloration of the skin, but this does no harm. To the
breast-fed baby who is inclined to rickets, the egg yolk
can be given in divided doses, mixed in a little water
or orange juice, three or four times a day; or when they
begin to have their cereals and puréed vegetables, it can
be mixed in those.
Egg yolks, as you know from our chapter on vita-
mins, are extremely rich in iron, phosphorus and Vita-
min A. The white of the eggs should not be used, for
in some experiments that were carried out with animals,
the white of the egg seemed to increase the rickets rather
than to help it.
To prevent and cure rickets:
1. Correct diet-solid foods by 6th month.
(See directions.)
2. Direct sunlight, not through glass.
3. Egg yolks.
4. Cod-liver oil.
See a Pediatrist if possible, either in private practice
or in the Children's Clinics.¹
1 Physicians sometimes use the quartz-mercury-vapor lamp. It
gives off the same healing rays as the sun, in a concentrated
form.
Résumé
CHAPTER XVII
TUBERCULOSIS
THE cure of tuberculosis depends upon an adequate diet,
constant fresh air, sunshine and rest. The medication,
all doctors will tell you, is secondary.
Tubercular children as a rule are undernourished
children, so the chapter on the malnourished child, as
well as the chapter on the normal diet, should be care-
fully studied.
Lack of foods containing vitamins, especially the Vita-
min A, the one that is found in cream, milk, butter and
yolk of eggs and green leaves, is now thought to be a
contributory factor in undermining the tissue resistance
so that the tuberculosis germs have a better field to de-
velop in. These foods, then, should have special em-
phasis-but they also have to have special emphasis for
the normal child, too. I think you realize that now.
It is thought that five to seven per cent of all cases of
human tuberculosis are contracted from bovine or cow
tuberculosis. This is more apt to attack the bones and
the glands. The larger proportion of tuberculosis in
children is due to this bovine type. So the importance of
pure milk is very great. We have talked on that when
we spoke of milk. The diet should have sufficient bulk
so as to avoid constipation.
The sun treatment (heliotherapy), gradually exposing
the body to direct sunlight, is a very vital part of the
treatment of tuberculosis. Your physician will give you
directions for that as well as for the diet and other meas-
ures needed.
216
CHAPTER XVIII
SCURVY
SCURVY is not uncommon in babies and children who have
been fed on boiled or pasteurized or canned milk and
have not had enough foods containing the anti-scorbutic
vitamin in their diets. Scurvy can develop in adults.
also on deficient diets, as I told you when I discussed
vitamins, and it is probable that many half-ill people are
on the verge of it.
About the first symptom of scurvy is tenderness of
the bones and muscles. The baby shows by crying that
it is painful for him to be touched. He is pale and loses
weight. Later his gums are swollen and spongy and he
has hemorrhages underneath the mucous membrane of
the mouth. The tendency of the blood vessels to break
and hemorrhages both in the tissue and externally are
characteristics of the disease. Severe scurvy may cause
a form of paralysis.
The cure of scurvy is simple, like a miracle! It simply
consists in giving orange juice or strained tomato juice,
fresh or canned; or, if these cannot be secured, fresh
cabbage juice, in sufficient amounts. See "Feeding
After the 6th Month" for directions.
It is better to prevent scurvy by far, of course, and
the prevention is the same as the treatment.
217
Eczema
CHAPTER XIX
SKIN DISORDERS
THE skin is one of the organs of the body by which
waste is eliminated (got rid of). The lungs, kidneys
and bowels are the others. The skin may be irritated by
any general disorder of the body and especially any dis-
order which disturbs the elimination. When this hap-
pens, there is a lowered resistance to external irritations,
such as excess heat or cold, chemicals, plant poisons (poi-
son ivy, etc.), and bacteria-which are always present
on the skin—and pimples, boils, hives and other skin
eruptions may gain a foothold.
It has been found that in many cases of obscure
eczema certain of the foods are not being utilized
properly, and some particular protein will be found to
be especially irritating and the patient has become.
sensitized to this food. This condition is now called
a food idiosyncrasy. It may be temporary or lasting.
Usually before this has happened, there has been some
irritation of the intestinal tract, perhaps produced.
by overeating or the eating of improper things. This
has not only crippled the production of the digestive
juices, but it has also weakened the digestive tract so
that the undigested proteins pass through it, gain access
to the blood and then to the skin and other organs. And
because they are not normal, they irritate.
Occasionally excess free fat has also been found to
cause eczema, as I told you when I discussed fat. So
."
:
218
SKIN DISORDERS
219
:
2
I
the thing to do in eczema is to try to find the offending
protein and to cut down the excess fat if it is taken. It
is often found that egg protein (the white of the egg)
is the offender, and when eggs are stopped the eczema
will begin to clear up.
Certain meats, especially veal and pork, sometimes
certain cereals and occasionally cocoa, chocolate, straw-
berries and potatoes have been found to be the irritating
factors.
Laboratories are now giving protein tests to determine
which protein is the offending protein, when it is sus-
pected these disorders are caused by the protein. (See
"Food Idiosyncrasies.")
Many eczematous babies are overfat babies, and limit-
ing their food so that they do not gain so rapidly will
cause the eczema to clear up. Nursing babies who are
eczematous have to be treated through the mother. The
mother must leave off different proteins until she finds
out which one is causing the trouble.
The eczema of undernourished children is exceedingly
difficult to get rid of, until they are brought to normal
weight. The dietetic treatment has to be combined with
external treatment, and if severe should be under the
care of a physician; for when eczema is extensive it is
dangerous. Eczema on the face of a baby has to be cov-
ered with a mask to keep on the medication and to keep
the baby from scratching.
·
Who hasn't had hives at some period in his life? Hives.
(Urticaria)
Hives is such a well-known sport in childhood that
no description is needed. Strawberries, meat, pork, shell
fish and coffee are the most frequent offenders. Just as
in some forms of eczema, some irritation of the digestive
tract has lowered its efficiency so that certain food prod-
220
DIET FOR CHILDREN
Acne
!
ucts enter the circulation in an unfit stage to be used by
the system. As these come to the skin a spasm of the
blood-vessel walls occurs, and the fluid part of the blood
and the white corpuscles go through the walls into the tis-
sues. This is what causes the transitory white swellings
or wheels and the itching which characterize the dis-
order.
Some English investigators have thought that during
hives there is a deficiency of lime salts in the blood, mak-
ing the blood thinner so that it goes through the walls
more readily.
Treatment. The treatment for hives is to get the in-
testinal mucous membrane in working order again. A
dose of castor oil, or some other favorite physic, followed
by a diet of bread and milk, or better, shredded-wheat
biscuits or triscuits, for a day or two will do the work.
This diet will furnish plenty of lime as well as other
needed elements. Sometimes an exclusive fruit juice
diet is also effective. The diet should be gradually
brought to normal. (Then kept normal.) (There is a
simple ginger cookie containing one teaspoonful of
tasteless castor oil to the cookie on the market. If the
child cannot or will not take castor oil get some of these.)
Acne is one of the most common of the skin dis-
orders. It is especially prevalent at puberty and
at adolescence.
""
Different investigators have found that there is al-
ways associated with acne a rod-shaped germ which they
have called "bacillus acne. As in other parasitic dis-
orders, there are some special conditions which favor the
growth of the parasites.
During adolescence-three or four years after puberty,
the beginning of adult life-there is a great develop-
SKIN DISORDERS
221
I
mental activity of all of the tissues of the body.
There may be an overproduction of the skin oil (sebum)
at this time, and this excess oil may harden in the skin
and form plugs which block the pores, and the acne
germs and other skin germs multiply under them, caus-
ing an inflammation and pus..
You can see from this that keeping the blackheads
from forming would be a part of the treatment. Boys
suffer more from acne than girls because as a rule they
don't keep their faces so clean.
It is usually found that girls and boys suffering with
acne are heavy eaters of candy, rich desserts, greasy and
fried food, and often are excessive meat eaters. All
of these habits, of course, must be stopped.
When I spoke of the digestion of fats, you remember,
I told you if there is an imperfect digestion of fats it
may irritate the skin. Excess eating for the needs, by
causing an excess of putrefaction in the colon with the
resulting absorption of the putrefactive products, is
often manifested in the skin. Tea, coffee, alcohol and
nicotine are on the list of things to be omitted from the
diet.
Special attention must be given to elimination, and
the diet should be such that a good evacuation of the
bowels is produced at least once a day, preferably two
or three times. (See "Constipation," Page 199.)
A skin specialist had better be consulted for acne, if
possible.
Some of the things advised are:
1. Laundry-soap scrub two or three times a week.
2. Steaming the face after the scrub, and the extrac-
tion of the blackheads with a clean comedon extractor
(they are inexpensive), never with dirty hands, as this
makes them worse.
222
DIET FOR CHILDREN
3. Opening up the postules-pimples-and squeezing
out the pus gently. Rough work makes them start up
again. Follow this with a scrub and an antiseptic to kill
off the wandering acne germs and others. (Strong boric
acid solution, 2 teaspoonfuls to a cup of hot water is a
good one.) A compress wrung out of this can be laid on
the face at night, also.
4. Sulphur ointment at night after the scrubbing will
help some cases.
5. Sometimes touching the pimples once or twice a
day with camphor phenrenique before pus has formed
will abort them. (Camphor phenrenique is camphor
gum and carbolic acid in equal parts.)
6. Correct diet, good physical exercise every day, the
correction of any faulty health habits and the local
treatment ought to do the work.
CHAPTER XX
WHOOPING COUGH
THE difficulty in feeding children with whooping cough
is that they vomit so readily.
Every precaution should be taken to make the diet
very nourishing and as digestible as possible. The chief
thing to remember is that after a spasm of coughing, if
the child has vomited, a warm drink of milk, milk gruel
or creamed soup should be given. If this is vomited,
some more should be given.
If this is done, there will not be so great a loss of
weight and anemia produced.
The reason it is so hard to get rid of whooping cough
sometimes is because the child has become undernour-
ished because of frequent vomiting.
It is important that the foods are not taken very cold
or very hot, as the extremes of temperature may irritate
and cause the spasm. If the child does not chew thor-
oughly, it would be best to grind or purée the vegetables
and any hard foods.
A snug abdominal binder extending from the armpits
to over the hipbones is a great comfort. It helps to sup-
port the walls while coughing and tends to lessen the
attacks. While the coughing is very violent it is best to
keep the child in bed for two or three days, in a well-
ventilated room, and after that you should have him out
in the open air and sunlight practically all the time.
Remember that it is very contagious.
223
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CHAPTER XXI
WORMS
!
I FEEL that I must include a little something about worms
in our book, because it is so commonly thought that
worms are caused by candy eating or have something to
do with the diet. Worms have always been an affliction
for the simple reason that there has been such wide-
spread ignorance as to the cause of them.
Worms are not caused by any foods-candy or any
other food unless that food is contaminated by worm
eggs. All living things arise from eggs or seeds. Worms
belonging to the animal kingdom, come from eggs.
Therefore, the person who has worms has in some man-
ner eaten or drunk some worm eggs, somehow, some-
where, sometime. I shall have to modify that last
statement a little for tapeworms.
There are three stages to the tapeworm: the egg stage,
the encysted or embryo, and the adult stage. There is
a beef, a fish and a pork tapeworm.¹ The fish tapeworm
is comparatively rare in this country. If you have a
tapeworm, it is because you have eaten the flesh of some
animal that had eaten the tapeworm eggs.
The eggs
had hatched in its intestines and the embryo worms had
migrated through the intestinal walls to the muscles and
had become encysted there. You have eaten this muscle
as undercooked meat, and the encysted worms became
the adult tapeworms in your intestines. Hard lines, but
it's the nature of the beast.
Worms, while quite common in childhood, are not
1 Other animals have tapeworms which may infest man.
The
encysted stage of the dog tapeworm may occur in man and cause
a serious disease. Don't let dogs lap children's faces and hands.
224
WORMS
225
anywhere nearly so common as is usually supposed. No
matter what symptoms a child develops some one sug-
gests that it has worms.
There is only one way to know if a child has worms or
not. That is to examine the stool (bowel movements)
frequently. If it has a tapeworm, there will be segments
from the tapeworm; if it has pinworms, there will be
little worms, looking like a third- to a half-inch piece of
white thread; if they are round worms, you will find
worms from five to ten inches long, looking like angle
worms, but pointed at each end. (You won't mistake
them for anything else! They are the wormiest worm
you ever saw.)
These three types of worms are the most common in
children.
If you cannot find the worms, an examination of the
stool under the microscope will disclose the eggs, prob-
ably millions of 'em, if the child has worms.
For the tapeworms and round worms strong
medicines have to be given on a fasting stomach.
As they are not without danger, you must see your
physician for these. The pinworms can be home treated.
and I will tell you about those.
Treatment
Once a day give an injection in the rectum of a solu-
tion made of two ounces of quassia chips boiled in a
quart of water for twenty minutes, adding sufficient
water to keep it to a quart from time to time. Inject a
cupful of this warm, and after it is expelled use another
cupful.
You can give a good cathartic, preferably castor oil,
in the beginning.
The chief reason pinworms-the most common worms
of childhood-are so difficult to get rid of is because,
226
DIET FOR CHILDREN
1
with children particularly, there is not absolute cleanli-
ness. When they go to the toilet, they do not always
wash their hands afterward, and in wiping or scratching
themselves they contaminate their hands with the worm
eggs-hundreds of them. (The eggs are microscopic and
cannot be seen without the aid of the microscope.)
These eggs are then often conveyed to their mouths
directly or to the foods which they handle. They are
swallowed and a new hatch comes on. The mothers and
others who take care of wormy children better watch
out. They'll get them, too, for the same reason.
To prevent round worms, see that all fruits and veg-
etables eaten raw are thoroughly washed and that foods
are not handled by persons affected unless they are
scrupulously clean.
First: Careful Government inspection of the
You should also
personally inspect all meat in the home. Discard
any that has little foreign-looking specks in it. It is
called "measley" beef and pork.
Second: Thoroughly cook all meats, even smoked and
salted meats, in case some infected meats should get by
the inspectors.
The
Prevention of
Tapeworms meat at the slaughter houses.
Third: Disposal of feces (bowel movements) of those
having tapeworms, so that animals do not have access
to it.
Fourth Become a vegetarian if you like. Some ex-
perience better health on a vegetarian diet. Others do
not.
Personally, I favor a mixed diet and a good inspection
service in my health department.
A whole book could be written on worms (I'm going
to write one sometime: it is a most fascinating subject),
:
↓
PANNUNG WARMING
سکه --- ، د :
**
WORMS
227
but here, of course, I can only teach a little something
so that you will know the cause of them and in this
way prevent them.
If you child has tape or round worms, for which
worm medicine must be given, he should be under the
supervision of a physician, because worm medicines
unsupervised are dangerous.
There is no special diet for the children with worms.
You have to oust the worms, and then the diet should
be the same as for any child.
A child who has worms is very liable to be under-
nourished with all the train of symptoms that under-
nourishment means.
PART IV
CHAPTER I
FOOD POISONING (INFECTIONS, PTOMAINES, BOTULISM)
I MUST speak briefly about food poisonings and how to
avoid them.
Foods may be poisoned or infected and so made unfit
for food, from many sources.
Fruits and vegetables, especially those which grow
near or in the ground, such as lettuce, radishes, celery,
strawberries and others, may be contaminated with the
fertilizer or human excreta, and these may contain germs
of diseases such as typhoid or dysentery, or the eggs of
intestinal worms.
Foods may be contaminated by those who handle
the food if these handlers are diseased. Then there are
the ever-present dust and flies and other insects. You
can see from this how very important it is that foods
which are eaten raw should be very thoroughly washed
before being eaten.
Oftentimes perfectly good fruit and vegetables have
been given the credit for causing intestinal disturbances
when in reality those disturbances were due to contami-
nation rather than the food itself.
Thorough cooking will destroy ordinary germs. It
will destroy worm eggs and worm embryos also, but
we don't want them, dead or alive.
Food handlers who are diseased or are carriers
are a grave menace. A carrier is a person who
has had an infectious disease, has recovered, but still
"Carriers"
231
232
DIET FOR CHILDREN
ľ
continues to carry the germs to which he himself is ap-
parently immune.
You have all heard of "Typhoid Mary." She was a
cook, and while apparently healthy herself, she was the
source of several severe epidemics of typhoid and many
deaths. They finally had to put her in prison, for while
she knew she was the carrier of death, she was ignorant
or indifferent and persisted in taking positions as a cook.
All food handlers in public places are under the super-
vision of the health department, but too often the health
departments do not receive the support they should from
the community and are short-handed and cannot do their
work efficiently. So every precaution for clean food
must be taken in the home.
Ptomaine
Poisoning
When meat, fish and other proteins spoil they
become putrid. This is due to the activity of
the putrefactive germs, and it is nature's way of re-
leasing the elements of the proteins, so they can be
returned to the soil and air. During the process of
decomposition, poisonous products are formed, called
ptomaines. If you eat these foods in this stage you will
suffer ptomaine poisoning.
There are different kinds of ptomaines for the differ-
ent kinds of proteins. For instance, there is a fish pto-
maine, a meat ptomaine, a shell-fish ptomaine, a cheese
ptomaine, etc.
Rosenau, in his "Preventive Medicine and Hygiene,
says that the term "ptomaine poisoning" is a misnomer.
He states that in three years' study of the subject, he
found that the cases of so-called ptomaine poisoning
were not really due to decomposed proteins, but were
caused from foods infected with poisonous germs other
than the putrefactive germs.
??
FOOD POISONING
233
However, it is very wise to remember that there is a
poisonous decomposition which goes on in meat, fish,
cheese, milk, etc., if they are not properly cared for by
refrigeration. Never serve any protein or any other
food which you suspect is not good. Recooking such
foods will not destroy the ptomaines. NEVER eat such
foods to save them. You may save a few cents at the
time, but doctor and undertaker bills run into dollars.
Botulism is a severe poison caused by eating
foods infected with botulism germs. The word
"botulism" is taken from the word "botulus," meaning
a sausage; because the first authenticated cases of the
disease were produced by eating infected sausages, and
it used to be thought that the botulism germ would grow
only in sausages and meat. It is now known it also
grows in vegetable protein. Botulism is much more
common in Europe than it is in America.
Botulism also affects cattle, horses and fowls, and the
disease is known in them as blind staggers, forage, poison-
ing, limberneck, etc.
Botulism
Rosenau states that it may be responsible for various
types of paralysis in domestic animals, including dogs.
There have been quite a number of human cases re-
cently, and there seems to be a need of education on the
lines of protection against it.
The poisons from this disease affect the central nervous
system. Usually the gastro-intestinal tract does not
seem to be affected.
Botulism germs do not grow in the human body and
their effects are produced by the poisons that develop
in the food which they contaminate. Most of the cases
of botulism have been traced to sausages and canned
food, especially fish and meat. However, other canned
234
DIET FOR CHILDREN
foods may be contaminated if they are decomposed at
all, or if in the canning sufficient heat is not used to kill
the germs if they are present. The home canned foods,
especially string beans, were responsible for a large
number of fatal botulism cases recently. Best boil (at
least 10 minutes) all canned foods containing protein
before serving.
Do not eat any food that shows gas; nor even taste
the food, because merely tasting the infected food has
proved fatal. Botulism does not always produce an
odor, so you cannot depend upon the odor of the food.
There is no danger from botulism from fresh food.
It is the pickled, the canned or preserved foods that
may have the infection. You should be just as careful
to recook home-canned goods before serving as you are
with the commercial canned foods.
Botulism grows only in foods that have protein in
them, so fruits, having so little protein, are not liable
to be infected. These germs may also affect cooked foods,
especially meats, fish, which have been allowed to stand
too long at room temperature; and such meats and
fish should not be eaten after twenty-four hours, unless
they are recooked and allowed to cool again, if you want
them cold.
Treatment for the botulism poison is a serum treat-
ment which your health department would supply.
Remember the point I have made, that if the canned
foods are sound and are thoroughly sterilized when can-
ning, there is no danger from botulism. The commer-
cial canners are taking special precautions now. See
that you do the same.
3
CHAPTER II
FOOD IDIOSYNCRASIES AND BAD FOOD COMBINATIONS
ARE you one of those persons who cannot take eggs or
some other food which to everybody else, apparently, is
perfectly harmless, without having a marked reaction in
your skin or the gastro-intestinal tract or the mucous
membrane of your nose or lungs?
When certain foods seem to poison you in this way
we say you have an indiosyncrasy for those foods. Other
terms that are used are anaphylaxis or sensitization, or
food allergy.
It has been found that this unusual and poisonous
action is due to the protein in the food. The system in
some manner has been sensitized to certain proteins.
Sometimes these sensitizations seem to be an inherited
characteristic, and so will run in families. Other times
the sensitization is brought about by some previous dis-
order which has crippled the absorptive membrane of
the gastro-intestinal tract. And because it is not in good
working order, the proteins are absorbed before they are
digested and ready for their absorption, thus acting as
a foreign substance in the blood and causing poisonous
effects, varying in intensity.
In many cases of eczema it has been found that there
is this hypersensitiveness to certain proteins, and this
is the primary cause of these forms of eczema. The
scratching and external irritation and the infection
which is very liable to take place on nonresistant tissues
helps keep up the condition. See Eczema, Page 218.
235
1
236
DIET FOR CHILDREN
i
1
There are many people who stop eating some
necessary food because at some time when that
food is perhaps immoderately indulged in, or their men-
tal states were not conducive to good digestion, they
have had some distress. I'll take that up under bad
food combinations.
Fancied Idios
These fancied idiosyncrasies must not be confused with
the true idiosyncrasies. Foods most apt to cause the
true idiosyncrasies are fish, strawberries, pork, eggs, and
milk, and certain cereals, especially oatmeal and buck-
wheat.
Laboratories are now giving protein tests so
that a person who is hypersensitive to some pro-
tein, and does not know which it is, can be tested to
find out.
Protein Tests
The skin is scraped off a tiny spot on the arm or leg
and the purified protein to be tested is rubbed upon that.
If the system is hypersensitive to the protein a little.
inflammation will show very soon. If it is not sensitized,
there is comparatively no reaction.
BAD FOOD COMBINATIONS
Have you heard so much about bad food combinations
that you give yourself a great deal of concern about
them? Don't do it.
Practically the only combinations of foods that you
must fear are the combinations that do not furnish the
needs for your system. Under normal conditions, you
can eat practically any kind of combination, provided
that during the day you get a balanced diet, and further-
more provided the foods are thoroughly masticated and
not eaten to excess.
FOOD IDIOSYNCRASIES
237
A large majority of the so-called bad food combina-
tions are not bad at all in themselves, and if they do
cause disturbances it is due to the powerful suggestion
to which the digestive apparatus responds. Many of the
so-called bad food combinations are simply superstitions.
There are many people who are starving themselves and
bringing on a starvation acidosis for fear of eating cer-
tain foods or combination of foods.
When these people join some cult that teaches them
to stop thinking about themselves and to eat what is
set before them, they oftentimes rapidly recover. Their
recovery is due to the fact that the system is getting the
elements it needs and the cult gets the benefit of the
miraculous cure instead of the good food.
Then, there are those people who are influenced
by the nonsense that some pseudo-scientists-those
who have some diet system to sell-put forth in their
ads and writings. Many of them state that certain
foods if combined with other foods will form chemical
mixtures in the stomach which will explode! Their
knowledge of combinations, of course-which you can
have for the price-won't do that. Perhaps, after read-
ing such things, you have been afraid that your tummy
might explode some day, and in consequence, you would
half starve yourself or worry so that your food would
not digest.
Pure
Nonsense
Just remember that these advertisements are written
for the purpose of frightening you so that you will invest
in the system advertised. That explosion statement is
pure nonsense and has no scientific base at all. There
are no good foods that will explode in your stomach.
Just forget that. It may be possible that some com-
binations may disagree with you, and if you find they
238
DIET FOR CHILDREN
do and you are absolutely sure that it is not due to the
power of suggestion, then discontinue those combinations
and realize that perhaps it is a little peculiarity of your
own system.
Overeating of any good food or any combinations of
food may cause distress, not because of the combinations
or the food, but because you have eaten in excess.
Those who are undernourished and are trying to gain
may have some distress when they are increasing their
food allowance, but it is better to suffer a little local
distress in the stomach than the general distress that
will come from the starvation acidosis.
Unbalanced
Meals
Now, in one sense of the word there are bad
food combinations. For instance, if you serve at
the same meal noodle soup with lots of noodles, potatoes,
rice, bread, and a bread or cereal pudding, you have a
bad combination, because it is topheavy in starch and
energy foods, therefore unbalanced. If you serve meals
without complete proteins or without balance in other
ways you have bad combinations. You should give
thought to these forms of bad combinations.
Now I'll take up a little the so-called bad combinations
which are not so bad.
Those who have stated that starches and acids
should not be eaten together, say that because the
saliva which acts upon the starch in the mouth has to be
slightly alkaline, the acids would neutralize this alka-
linity. But if we are to go by this advice, then we would
not be able to eat acid fruits with hardly any food, with
the exception of meat and eggs, because all foods con-
tain some starch or sugar.
By far the greater part of the starch digestion is car-
Starches
and Acids
FOOD IDIOSYNCRASIES
239
ried on in the small intestine. So you need not worry
about eating acid fruits and starch foods at the same time
if you want to, provided, again I repeat, you thoroughly
masticate the food and do not eat in excess. Fruit acids
stimulate the flow of a more strongly alkaline saliva so
that they really actually help in digesting all starches
even in the mouth.
It is true that milk curdles when fruit acids
are added to it. But there is no fruit acid that is
anywhere nearly so acid as the hydrochloric acid of the
gastric juice of the stomach. And instead of fruit acids
making milk indigestible, as a matter of fact they make
it more digestible. But avoid excess, of course.
(Experiments have proved that taking milk with foods
will prevent large curds forming in the stomach, more so
than merely sipping it. Boiling the milk also prevents
it from forming large curds.)
Acids
and Milk
The Bible says "Thou shalt not seethe the kid
in its mother's milk." Certain religions are par-
ticular in this respect, even having separate dishes and
being very particular that milk shall not touch meat.
But unless you have a religious scruple against this, you
can have milk when you have meat. There is only this
point to remember, that milk has a high percentage of
protein and meat has a high percentage of protein, and
when you take them both, you may increase your protein
too much unless you take smaller quantities of them.
But they won't explode if taken at the same meal, I
promise you!
Milk
and Meat
It is almost impossible to have a meal without
having two starches. The combination that is
usually spoken against is two highly starch foods, such
Two Starches
240
DIET FOR CHILDREN
as bread and potatoes or rice and potatoes. Here again
the only question is not whether they will form harmful
combinations, but whether the starches will be in excess
in the meal. And if we have two starchy foods, such as
potatoes and rice at the same meal, then only one-half
the quantity usually eaten of each should be taken. If
that is done, take them both if you want to. However,
one high starchy vegetable, when bread is also served, is
the wiser plan. If you like a certain starchy food and
take it in liberal servings, don't take any other starchy
food.
Overweight children and adults had best limit their
starches to one form-because this will tend to limit the
intake more and if bread is eaten, then omit potatoes,
and vice versa, because in order to reduce weight, the
starches and sugars and fats are the foods that have to
be cut down.
Certainly you can eat two kinds of fruit to-
gether!—the more the merrier. What is more de-
licious than a fruit salad made with all the different
fruits you can find?
Two Kinds
of Fruit
Because fruit is very quickly digested-if
thoroughly masticated-and vegetables require
longer stomach digestion, because of their fat and
protein, it has been thought that fruit should not be
taken at the same meal with vegetables; but as we should
have vegetables, and in generous amounts for two meals a
day, that would mean that we could not have fruits at
meals except at the one meal when we had no vegetables.
Here again is the question of eating a little less of
each, if both are served at the same meal. It does oc-
casionally happen that fruit taken with other foods
Vegetables
and Fruits
FOOD IDIOSYNCRASIES
241
seems to disagree with some people while it does not dis-
agree when taken alone. If you find on repeated at-
tempts that this is true with you, then take your fruit
alone. But get it in some way. This will apply to other
combinations.
Emphatic
Again
Now let me emphasize again for all the com-
binations that it is not that they will form any
poisonous compounds in the stomach, with possible ex-
plosions, but that there is a tendency to overeat, and to
get a poorly balanced meal, if there are many combina-
tions served. The daily menus should be rather simple,
but varied from day to day and meal to meal to be sure
to get the elements needed by the system.
Don't forget thorough mastication. Don't expect your
stomach to do the work of the teeth without its growling
more or less, and don't overburden it (unless you are too
thin; then you have to accustom it gradually to handle
more food and you may have to stand its protests, but
it will sooner or later be happy again).
Perhaps you have an idea some combination is indi-
gestible for you because at some time when you have had
it, you ate while you were mentally upset by anger,
worry, sorrow, excitement, etc. The mental states do
affect the digestion greatly. You have heard of the
classical experiment of Cannon. With the X-ray he
was watching the peristaltic movements of a cat who was
contentedly eating. A dog, of perfectly good character
but unknown to the cat, was ushered into the room. Im-
mediately the cat stopped eating, arched her back in
preparation for an attack if necessary, and the peristaltic
movements of the intestines stopped. That is what hap-
pens to us when we are mentally disturbed.
¦
CHAPTER III
CANDY
Do You Run
a Private
Still?
1
No book on diet for children would be complete without
a chapter on candy, for when we think of candy we think
of childhood, because it is during childhood that the most
candy is consumed. The F. F. F.-Friendly Fat Fra-
ternity-also consume much-much too much. Candy
is so common in childhood that we use the phrase "As
easy as taking candy from a baby" as a comparison.
In reality there is no foundation for that phrase.
Those of us who have ever tried to take candy away
from a baby know that there is no ease connected with
it. If you want to precipitate a rough house, start tak-
ing candy from a baby, no matter what age! This brings
up a picture to our minds which shows the craving for
candy by children, if it has been cultivated in them.
For the craving for candy is a cultivated habit.
Is the candy habit dangerous? There is no doubt that
it is! Candy is a habit-forming food as much as alcohol
is a habit-forming drink. I know, for I have had the
habit-candy habit-and if an alcoholic craves alcohol
more than I did candy-and even do yet at times-I am
sorry for him.
It has been maintained by some writers that
candy eating in excess causes an alcoholic fermen-
tation. There is an alcoholic radical in cane
sugar, so perhaps we do carry around a little private
still in our tummies, and it is possible that this may
account for the craving candy engenders.
242
CANDY
243
One hundred years ago the average consumption of
sugar per capita in the United States was ten pounds
a year. In this present writing, it is nearer 100 pounds
a year! A large part of the increase is undoubtedly due
to increase of candy consumption. Holt states that the
proprietor of one series of chain stores told him that he
alone sold over 60,000 tons of candy in 1922.
We can easily say that this excess sugar consumption
is one of the causes of the prevalence of overweight in
the United States, and overweight is a forerunner to
many disorders, notably diabetes, kidney and heart dis-
ease, apoplexy and sudden death, and a few other little
things like that.
In Boston, in 1922, there were some efforts made to
introduce a bill into the legislature prohibiting the sell-
ing of candy in the school districts, but it was unsuc-
cessful. The commercial interests were undoubtedly the
inhibiting factors. It would have been a good bit of
legislation, undoubtedly, and might have had far-reach-
ing results; for other cities and towns would have been
encouraged to do likewise had this Boston attempt been
successful.
Under normal conditions the sugar in the food passes
mainly into the intestines unchanged, and it is digested
in the intestines. Sugar eaten in excess, however, is
very apt to undergo acid fermentation in the stomach
and cause a direct irritation of the stomach.
Candy in excess is bad for adults-by causing these
irritations directly, by unbalancing the diet and causing
disorders in that manner, and by causing excess fat with
its aforementioned large family of diseases; diabetes be-
ing the favorite child.
244
DIET FOR CHILDREN
Diabetes and In children excess candy eating has far more
Holidays
serious consequences than in adults. For not only
may it have effects that I have enumerated for the adults,
but it very often cloys the children's appetites so that
the foods that they need for growth and development are
not taken. In a child with a diabetic tendency excess
could precipitate that disease. We know that many
cases of diabetes have their start during the holidays
when excess candy is eaten.
It used to be thought that candy was the cause of
much dental decay by direct fermentative action in the
teeth. We know now that the action of candy in causing
dental decay is not so much by direct action as by indi-
rect action. In this way: it causes the diet to become un-
balanced and insufficient so that the lime, phosphorus,
iron and other mineral elements are deficient. For this
reason there are not enough of them to be deposited in
the teeth, so they soften and decay.
The irritation caused by excess candy may also hinder
the absorption of the mineral elements even if there
are sufficient of them supplied. It also may have effects
on the vitamins (see "Vitamins," Page 31).
Candy is a food, a very concentrated food, but an
energy food only. Most candy has no protein, no vita-
mins, no mineral elements, no anything but energy value.
Pure molasses and maple candies are exceptions, for
molasses and maple syrup do have some of the essen-
tial salts in them. Molasses and refined syrups are
by-products in the manufacture of sugar and they
contain practically all of the mineral matter of the
cane.
White sugar is demineralized because it will not crys-
tallize if the minerals are left in it. There are no pro-
teins, no fats, no vitamins, no mineral elements, in white
CANDY
245
sugar. It is a pure carbohydrate food and good for a
concentrated energy food if not taken in excess.
The cheaper candies may also have adulterants that
are harmful. Nut candies, of course, have the good pro-
tein and fat and the mineral elements of the nuts and
are good foods taken as foods, and as part of a meal.
You must be very careful, mothers, not to give
or allow any one to give nut candies to your
babies. The candy melts and the nuts are left to be
swallowed unchewed, causing irritations of the digestive
tract, or, what is very much worse, being swallowed the
"wrong way" and getting into the windpipe or the lungs.
The physicians who make a specialty of removing for-
eign bodies from the lungs say that they discover pieces
of nuts among other things (safety pins, buttons, bits
of toys, etc.) which they remove from babies' lungs.
They warn earnestly against the practice of giving ba-
bies nut candy. A baby really shouldn't have any candy
of any description, ever.
Neither children nor adults should have candy be-
tween meals. Children especially should not for the rea-
sons I have given. After the building needs of the body
are supplied, then a little pure candy is unobjectionable
if taken at the end of the meal.
A Warning
The craving for sweets can be satisfied very much
more wholesomely by honey, prunes, dates, raisins, dried
figs, etc. These contain sugar in an easily digested form
and they also contain vitamins and some iron and some
of the other essential salts. A delicious confection is
made by grinding these dried fruits with some nuts and
compressing into cakes. It is important that these foods.
as well as all foods for that matter-are thoroughly
masticated.
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DIET FOR CHILDREN
There is one stigma that has been placed on candy that
does not belong there. That is, that candy causes worms.
It does not cause worms. Not unless it is contaminated
with worm eggs. That is true of any food. (If worms
intrigue you, see Page 224.)
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CHAPTER IV
CEREAL GRAINS
ALL of the grains resemble each other in their dietary
properties. They are good energy foods and have a vari-
able amount of protein which is splendid for the body
if it is combined with complete proteins. When the bran
and germ are removed they lose the larger part of the
valuable elements-minerals and vitamins.
WHEAT
Wheat is the most important food grain in America
and Europe. Most of it is made into bread. Most of the
valuable minerals and vitamins are contained in the bran
and the germ as they are in all grains. When they are
left in the flour, it spoils quickly, and weevils and other
insects, realizing they are valuable foods for their babies,
lay their eggs in it. The commercial value is affected,
so modern processes of milling have been perfected to
remove this good baby food.
But this, of course, makes a demineralized and devita-
minized food. The kernel of wheat that is left, while
still a good food for energy, cannot be depended upon
for minerals nor for vitamins. However, even the whole
wheat, while it contains every food element, is not a per-
fect food alone for man or animal. Mainly because its
protein is not a complete protein. All cereals are alike
in this.
Animals fed solely upon cereals will not thrive, but
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DIET FOR CHILDREN
if some of the live part of the plant, the leafy part,
and some food like milk, for the complete protein, are
added to them, then the animal will thrive.
This does not mean that the grains are not good foods.
They are especially good energy foods, and they are a
valuable part of the diet.
Whole-wheat
Bread
Until there is a greater demand for whole-wheat
bread so that the whole-wheat flour is used up be-
fore it has time to spoil, the demineralized and devita-
lized flour will continue to be manufactured on a large
scale. (My first notes read "demoralized" instead of
demineralized. Not so bad?)
For children particularly, whole-grain bread should be
secured if possible.
Baking powder and soda will destroy the vitamins in
bread, so yeast, which contains a vitamin-the anti-neu-
ritic vitamin-makes more wholesome bread for a steady
diet than baking powder or soda. Fresh bread is not so
wholesome as bread which is a day old, largely because it
is soft and is not so thoroughly masticated, and so is apt
to cause fermentation in the stomach and intestines. For
this reason fresh bread is never advisable for children.
Toasting bread makes it more easily digested, because
the starch is converted to dextrin, which is the same thing
that happens in its first stage of digestion, so it is in a
way predigested. This, of course, applies only to the
part that is toasted. Bread which is simply toasted on
the outside and soft on the inside has little value over
untoasted bread.
To be thoroughly dextrinized, bread should be oven
toasted-that is, slowly dried and toasted throughout in
the oven. In this way it is very wholesome, not only
because it is easily digested, but because it has to be
CEREAL GRAINS
249
thoroughly masticated in order to be swallowed and this
gives the needed exercise for the teeth and jaws. That
is the reason we advise this type of bread for our chil-
dren.
A slice of bread toasted has the same caloric value as
it had before it was toasted. So often my overweight
followers tell me they can't understand why they are
fat-they never eat bread-only toast!
Macaroni and similar foods made from the hard
Italian wheat have a relatively high percentage of
protein (15 per cent). Combined with milk or milk and
cheese to add their complete proteins, they are excellent
foods and can take the place of a meat dish.
CORN
Macaroni and
Similar Foods
The same thing that I have said about the milling of
wheat applies to corn. A large part of the vital parts
are taken away from the flour and used for animal feed-
ings, as are the bran and germ of the wheat. But we
are feeding the wrong animals! Our children (and we
ourselves) need them, and the time is coming when their
value will be known and there will be sufficient demand to
keep the supplies moving so fast they will not spoil.
RICE
Rice in Asia occupies the same place as wheat does in
America and Europe. It is used as the main starch food
there. The rice, like the other grains, becomes infected
with insects unless the bran and the germ layer are re-
moved. This removal of the bran and germ is called
polishing.
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DIET FOR CHILDREN
In Asia, those who live largely on polished rice and
fish devolop the disease beriberi, a severe inflammation
of the mucous membrane of the stomach and intestines,
and of the nerves. I have told you of this under vita-
mins.
The fact has become pretty well known that polished
rice is a very deficient food, and now some manufacturers
are putting on the market a brown rice and giving the
impression that this brown rice is unpolished. Accord-
ing to McCollum, ordinary brown rice is a polished rice
and differs from the white rice only that it has not re-
ceived a coating of glucose and talcum. Stating that the
rice is unpolished is a fraud. Polished rice is a good,
wholesome energy food, but of course cannot be depended
upon for vitamins nor mineral salts. Rice is NOT a high
protein food. It averages about 9 per cent protein, and
its proteins, like the proteins of all the cereals, are not
complete; so rice should not be served as a protein food,
but as a starch vegetable, unless combined with milk or
milk and cheese.
OATS
The oat differs from the other cereals in that it has a
large percentage of protein, but its protein, like the other
proteins, is incomplete. The germ of the oat is now be-
ing removed by the modern process of milling. You
know what that does to it.
Oatmeal is a splendid cereal for children because of
its high protein and iron and lime. Add milk to com-
plete its protein.
CEREAL GRAINS
251
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BUCKWHEAT
Buckwheat is largely used for pancakes and griddle-
cakes. The coloring matter in buckwheat affects some
people by sensitizing the body to light, and they de-
velop what is known as the buckwheat itch.
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CHAPTER V
EGGS
MCCOLLUM classes eggs among the foods he has called
protective foods because of the complete proteins in the
white and yolk, and because the yolks contain the very
valuable growth-promoting and the anti-ophthalmic vita-
mins, and they have a high iron and phosphorous con-
tent.
The egg yolk is the sole food for the growing chick
and the white is the part that develops into the structure
of the chick; so the egg must, of necessity, have many
very vital elements.
Raw eggs are more easily digested if lightly beaten
because this breaks up the rather tenacious white of the
egg. When eggs are cooked for children, they had bet-
ter be soft-boiled or coddled, poached or shirred. Hard-
boiled egg yolks are more easily digested than the hard-
boiled whites of the eggs. The dark green color some-
times noticed on the outside of the yolk of a hard-boiled
egg is due to the chemical change of the sulphur and iron.
It is not harmful.
The yolks very seldom disagree and, as they are such
a valuable food, they should be included in the diet for
children often. In malnourishment and anemia, they
are a very valuable means of increasing the calories of
energy food, vitamins and iron without increasing the
bulk appreciably. (See "Rickets," Page 213.)
The white of the egg is pure protein known as albu-
min. Of course, it is an animal protein, and with other
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EGGS
253
animal proteins (except milk) tends to intestinal putre-
faction if taken in excess. Some children, and adults,
too, become sensitized to the whites of the eggs. I have
discussed that under "Eczema" (see Page 218). If the
child should be one who cannot take the egg white with-
out a skin eruption, then use the egg yolks; for, as I told
you, egg yolks very seldom disagree in any way.
Eggs spoil rather easily and stale eggs are dangerous,
so let's have them fresh. Keep them, with the milk, in
the coldest part of the refrigerator.
The shell of the egg is porous and impurities can be
absorbed, so see that the eggs are clean before putting
them away.
Eggs are affected by the diet and health of the hens.
So give the hens of your dealer absent treatment. It
will work-maybe.
Duck and goose eggs are a little richer than are hen's
eggs and are stronger flavored, but they are good foods
if you like them.
Sometimes children who will not take milk plain,
will take it in the form of eggnogs. In this way you get
two good foods in 'em. You see I am always thinking
of the finicky child. The normal healthy child will eat
nails.
Egg
Substitutes
According to Kellogg, most egg substitutes have
no egg in them, but are made from skimmed milk
mixed with flour and dried. Others are made from the
blood of animals, and they are not wholesome.
CHAPTER VI
FRUITS
J
FRUITS should be part of the daily diet for all of us. We
have long known the value of lemon juice and orange
juice as a preventive of scurvy, but it is only in recent
years that we have realized the importance of fruits as
a daily part of the diet, rather than as an occasional
treat. Fruits are a splendid source of vitamins, espe-
cially the anti-scorbutic (scurvy vitamins). They are
also valuable sources of mineral salts.
Fruits are not only a delicious food, but they act as
a stimulant to the digestive juices and to the muscular
walls of the stomach and intestines, thereby acting more
or less as a laxative. They also have an antiseptic action
and help to prevent putrefaction.
The sugars of fruits are the most easily digested of
the sugars and they are practically ready for immediate
absorption. Their juices are especially valuable in
fevers. (See directions for feeding in fevers.)
While most fruits have an acid reaction, their salts
when oxidized in the body yield the alkaline salts, and
in this way help to keep the normal alkalinity of the
body. The only fruits that are listed as an exception
to having this alkaline effect are the plums, prunes and
cranberries, and their acid salts are largely in the skins,
so discard those where there is a tendency to acidosis.
(See "Acidosis," Page 185.)
Fruits instead of being harmful in rheumatism are
helpful.
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FRUITS
255
Fruits are best taken fresh because boiling de- Stewed
Fruits
stroys most of the vitamins, with the exception of
the raspberry and lemon juices-their vitamins seem to
withstand heating. If sugar is added to stewed fruits it
had best be cooked with the fruit, because in this way
the cane sugar is changed to dextrose. This brings it to
the second stage of digestion so that it is more easily
assimilated.
Preserved fruits are a concentrated and excellent
energy food, but because they are so concentrated they
should not be given to children until the growth needs of
the body are supplied. They would have the same effect
of cloying the appetite that candy has.
Dried and canned fruits do lose a large part of
the anti-scorbutic vitamins, but their value in
other respects remains the same, so they are still val-
uable foods when the fresh fruits cannot be obtained.
Dried and
Canned Fruits
The tomato, while we ordinarily think of it as a veg-
etable, is really classed as fruit. Because it is so rich
in all three of the known vitamins, even when canned, it
now occupies a very high place in the scale of food values.
It is so rich in water that it cannot be counted upon for
an energy food as it takes about a pound to give 100
calories.
Dried fruits can be exceedingly dirty. It is best to
wash them thoroughly, then steam a little in a colander,
and dry in the oven.
Fruits eaten raw should be very thoroughly cleaned,
especially those which have been exposed to street dust
or unclean handlers.
Botanically, nuts are classed with the fruits, Nuts
but they are totally different in properties. They
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DIET FOR CHILDREN
are a splendid source for fats and proteins (with the
exception of chestnuts, which are mostly carbohydrate),
while the fruits are very low in fats and proteins.
The protein element varies from 10 per cent in the wal-
nut to as high as 18 per cent in the almond. Nut protein
is of a very high grade.¹ The fats in nuts are easily di-
gested because they are in the combined emulsified form.
The peanut is classed as a legume with the beans, peas
and lentils, but we naturally think of it as a nut on ac-
count of its name. It has as high as 20 per cent protein
of a very good grade.
As very little meat is advised in the diet of children,
the protein of nuts, especially in the form of nut butter
thinned a little with milk or cream or water, is a very
valuable addition to their diet. If given as nut meats,
see that they are thoroughly masticated. We will have
to remember that nuts are a concentrated food and
should not be eaten after a meal, but be considered as
part of the meal. They are especially recommended for
pregnant and nursing mothers for part of their protein.
needs.
1 Recent experiments show that the protein of nuts is a com-
plete protein. See Proteins, Page 11.
CHAPTER VII
MEAT
THERE is a difference of opinion among the physicians
about giving meat to young children. Many of them
teach that it is better for children under seven years
not to have any meat, while others advise small amounts
of scraped beef and other tender meats as early as the
second year.
It is true that meat, being a high animal protein food,
is more liable to putrefaction in the intestines than other
proteins, and it is also true that meat has waste products
which vegetable proteins do not have.
Cattle and pigs may be infected with tapeworm em-
bryos and pigs may also be infected with trachina, which
is a very tiny but pernicious worm. If the meat from
these infected animals gets on the market and is eaten
without very thorough cooking, it may infect the con-
sumer. If there are enough meat inspectors and they
are efficient, meats of this character do not get on the
market.
Pork in any form except bacon is not advisable for
young children, but beef and other meats are often ad-
vised. They are easily digested and they often stimulate
the appetite so that more food is taken. They should
not, however, take the place of milk in the diet.
Vegetarians, or, rather, the lacto-ovo-vegetarians,
those who take milk and eggs, have proved that it is
possible for us to get along-and thrive better in many
cases-without meat and fish. But special care has to
257
258
DIET FOR CHILDREN
be taken to see that sufficient animal protein in the form
of milk and eggs is taken, because most vegetable pro-
teins are not complete.
We have to remember that children need a greater
proportion of protein than do adults, because they have
to supply the protein for growth as well as repair. (See
Proteins, Page 11.)
McCollum has proved that with the omnivorous
type of animal, one that eats everything-and
man is omnivorous-it is very difficult to derive the diet
solely from the vegetable kingdom. That is because the
digestive tract is not large enough to care for the amount
of leafy foods necessary to balance the diet, and to sup-
ply the deficiencies of the seed and root.
This fact is the reason a diet composed solely of raw
foods is not practical.
Raw Food
Diet
It occasionally happens that if children take
much milk they will not take enough solid foods
and malnutrition results, for milk is deficient in iron.
In these cases giving less milk and adding a little meat
-which has iron-to the diet may be the wisest course.
(I have told you meats often stimulate the appetite so
that more food will be eaten.)
The glandular organs of animals, the liver, sweet-
broads, brains, kidneys, not only have the complete pro-
tein, but also contain vitamins. And according to
McCollum they are a better form of meat than the purely
muscle meats..
When Meat
Is Advisable
Excessive meat eating with its train of harmful ef
fects has been one of the serious dietetic mistakes of
adults, and it is very essential not to permit children to
get an excessive liking for it. (It is probable in many
MEAT
259
cases that the mistake of adults has not been so much
the excess meat, but the lack of sufficient vegetables and
fruit.)
Meats are high in phosphorus and iron, but not high
in lime and vitamins. They are digested into acid-form-
ing elements and must be combined with the foods that
are not acid-forming. The usual potato is an ideal com-
bination with meat, because potato has high alkaline-
forming elements, especially potassium. But this isn't
enough. A green-leaf vegetable in liberal amounts
should always tag along as a protector.
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CHAPTER VIII
MILK
As milk is the one indispensable food of infancy and
childhood and almost as indispensable for adults, it is
important that you know a good deal about it.
I have already explained about its complete proteins,
especially adapted for growth, and I told you about its
wonderful calcium and phosphorus and vitamins. I
haven't spoken of its carbohydrate content, and that is
important too. Its carbohydrate, in the form of milk
sugar, is easy to digest and it has a favorable influence
on the bacterial flora of the intestines. I have explained
about the bacterial flora on Page 188. Milk is just as
beneficial for adults as it is for children.
Illogical
Reasoning
You will sometimes be told that milk is an un-
natural food after the teeth are in, and that
nature didn't intend the cow to furnish milk for
humans, but for their calves (the cow's). If we use
that line of reasoning, then we wouldn't eat anything.
The wheat grain couldn't be considered food for hu-
mans; nature intended it as a seed to produce more
wheat. And how about eggs?
Nature intended us to use our common sense (if she
endowed us with any) and eat the things that we have
found best for us; and the fact that she has designed
milk so that it supports human life for almost a year
after birth would seem to indicate that it must be a
mighty good food. It is a good food.
260
MILK
261
The longest-lived and most virile peoples in the world,
the pastoral Arabs and other pastoral people of Europe
and Asia, subsist largely on milk. When Metchnicoff
first called attention to this he thought their longevity
and virility were due to the lactic acid bacteria in their
soured milks. We know now that it was the milk itself
and not its souring bacteria that was effective.
A pint a day for adults and a pint and a half to a
quart, usually, for children should be the allowance in
the household. Buy less meat and more milk, mothers!
It is really less expensive even when it is most expensive.
Milk Must
Be Pure
Now I have told you the importance of milk,
I must tell you the importance of its being good.
milk. The following is a quotation from Roseneau's
"Preventive Medicine and Hygiene":
"Milk is probably responsible for more sickness and
deaths than perhaps all other foods combined. (He
means, of course, impure milk.) There are several rea-
sons for this: (1) Milk conveys a greater variety of in-
fections than any other food. Bacteria grow well in
milk; therefore, a very slight infection may produce
wide-spread and serious results. (2) Of all foodstuffs,
milk is the most difficult to obtain, handle, trans-
port, and deliver in a clean, fresh and satisfactory con-
dition. (3) It is the most readily decomposable of all
our foods. (4) Finally, milk is the only standard article
of diet obtained from animal sources consumed in its
raw state.'
You can see from this the importance of clean, fresh
and pure milk, especially for babies and children. One
drink of stale milk may cause such a severe diarrhea
that the child may have its intestinal tract irritated for
a long while, and thus its resistance lowered; and one
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DIET FOR CHILDREN
drink of a milk containing disease germs may give the
baby or child the diseases which the germs are respon-
sible for. Because milk is so easily contaminated, do
not ever buy from open cans. Selling milk from open
cans really should be prohibited.
Do not forget, mothers, that milk can be contaminated
after it leaves the milk cart. First, if the bottle of milk
is left on the doorstep, cats and dogs may lap the top-
this frequently happens-and flies, perhaps carrying dis-
ease germs, may light on it; so unless you carefully
wash the top with boiling water or sterilize it by wiping
with peroxide of hydrogen, when the milk is poured over
the lip of the bottle it may become contaminated. Sec-
ond, it may become contaminated by diseased persons in
the household who handle it, unless they are very careful.
All food must be protected from dust and insects—
and especially must milk.
Milk will also absorb odors which may not be harmful,
, but disagreeable. Unless milk is kept in the original
bottle, it should be kept in a seamless, non-rusting dish.
It should be placed in a refrigerator, on or touching the
ice. If not possible, then in a basin of cool running
'water.
Grades
of Milk
If milk is to be kept over a day and you have no ice
chest, it is best to boil it and cool it as rapidly as possible
under running water. If you use it the second day, boil
it again before using.
Milk is graded in most cities by the standard
recommended by the New York Milk Commission.
The grades are: Certified, Grade A, Grade B, Grade C.
The certified milk, being the highest grade, should be
secured if it is possible, especially for the babies. Certi-
fied milk is milk of the highest quality, of uniform com-

MILK MADE THE DIFFERENCE
THESE CHICKENS WERE HATCHED THE SAME DAY, BUT-READ
THE TITLE. OTHERWISE THEY HAD THE SAME RATIONS.
MILK
}
263
position, obtained under special sanitary conditions from
healthy cows and under the special supervision of the
Medical Milk Commission. This milk is fresh, clean
and unadulterated, and free from disease germs as far
as is humanly possible. On account of the expenses in-
curred to produce this milk, it is of course higher in
price than the other milks.
Grade A milk, both raw and pasteurized, is next in
quality to the certified. Get this if you cannot get the
certified. The other grades should not be used except
in cooking. Grade A pasteurized is safer for the babies
than the raw.
Pasteurized milk is so called in honor of Louis Pasteurized
Milk
Pasteur, the great French scientist, whose discov-
eries in bacteriology revolutionized our ideas of many
diseases and which form the basis of our preventive
medicine.
Pasteurized milk is milk that is heated to a tempera-
ture of 140 to 145 degrees Fahrenheit and kept there
for thirty minutes. (212 is the boiling temperature.)
Sometimes it is heated higher than that and not held so
long at the high temperature. The lower temperature
at a longer period is used most now, for it alters the
flavor of the milk less.
Pasteurization may be done at home by placing Home
the bottle containing the milk in a pan of water,
with the water coming to the height of the milk in the
bottle. Bring the water nearly to a boil and set aside
for thirty minutes; then take the bottles out, rapidly
cool, and keep cool.
Pasteurized milk loses none of its food value, with
the exception of part of the vitamins which protect
Pasteurization
264
DIET FOR CHILDREN
against scurvy. This is only of importance when it is
given to babies who are on an exclusive milk diet. Pas-
teurization kills the dangerous forms of bacteria which
may get in the milk, and unless you can get the certi-
fied milk, it is much safer to have it pasteurized or boiled.
The anti-scorbutic vitamins can be supplied by orange
juice, or tomato juice, or cabbage juice, or the juice of
other fresh vegetables.
Milk which is Pasteurized or boiled does not sour so
rapidly as raw milk, for the lactic acid bacteria which
cause souring are killed; and this must be remembered,
for these milks may be stale and unwholesome, without
tasting sour.
Milk sours because of the multiplication of the
lactic acid germs-present practically everywhere
-which are beneficial instead of harmful. They rapidly
destroy the putrefactive germs in the milk, so clean milk
which has soured to the solid stage is a wholesome food.
Buttermilk and artificially soured milks are also whole-
some foods and are more easily digested by some than
plain milk. As buttermilk is the product which is left
from the cream after it has been churned to butter, it
lacks the fat with its growth-promoting vitamins and it
has not the energy or caloric value of whole milk-only
half as much (10 C to the oz.). The energy value and
the vitamin value of fermented milks depend upon
whether they are made of whole or skimmed milk.
Sour Milk
Thunder-
storms
There is a common impression that a thunder-
storm will cause milk to sour. This is not true.
It is the hot weather and not the thunder which causes
the souring. The fact that the milk was at the point
of souring at the time and the coincidence of the thunder
MILK
265
gives rise to the impression. Milk that is cooled rapidly
after milking, and kept cool, will not sour during a
thunderstorm (unless it is ready to sour). Heating milk
which is nearly ready to sour will cause it to turn and
curdle.
Canned or
Evaporated
Milk
Canned milk is a milk of which part of the
water has been evaporated. It is of two types,
the sweetened and unsweetened. The anti-scor-
butic and anti-neuritic vitamins and some of the mineral
elements of the original milk are lost, but it is still a
good food because it is milk, and if the fresh milk cannot
be obtained it can be used, if necessary, for children must
have milk in some form. Needless to say, it is not the
best milk for children.
Starvation
Diet
Babies that are fed upon sweetened condensed
milk exclusively are fed upon a starvation food
as far as the bones and muscles are concerned, for when
it is diluted so that the baby can take it, the protein, fats
and mineral elements are too low and it is still too high
in sugar; so that while it will make fat babies, they are
not strong babies. Sometimes babies that are not doing
well on other milks will be benefited for a time upon
sweetened condensed milk, and physicians often pre-
scribe it to tide babies over until they can use the fresh
milk. However, if it is continued for any length of
time-unless other foods are being given to supply its
deficiencies-the babies are exceedingly apt to get
rickets, and while they will get fat, they haven't the
normal resistance to disease.
Dried Milks
The milk powders consist of either whole or
skimmed milk which has been deprived of its
water. Dried whole milk has all of the food properties
266
DIET FOR CHILDREN
I
of fresh milk except that a large part of the anti-scor-
butic vitamins have been destroyed.
Powdered milk has proved a very satisfactory method
of preserving milk. There is a brand of dried milk
(Dryco) which is put up under special sanitary condi-
tions, and children's specialists are advising this for
babies when it is difficult to get wholesome fresh milk.
The vitamins, of course, have to be supplied with the
addition of orange juice, or tomato juice, or the juice of
some other fresh vegetable.
Filled Milk
Whey
Filled milk is skim milk emulsified with some
vegetable oil, usually cocoanut oil. It is a good
food and equal in energy or caloric value to ordinary
milk. It lacks the growth vitamins of cream so is not
advised for babies and children.
Goat's Milk
Because goats very rarely have tuberculosis,
goat's milk is often recommended for babies and
children. It has a characteristic flavor which is disliked
by some. Goat's milk has to be modified for the babies,
just as does cow's milk, for its elements are in practi-
cally the same proportions. It will occasionally happen
that the baby will thrive upon goat's milk when it does
not thrive upon cow's milk. I understand that goats are
not difficult to care for, and if you have the time and
the place, you might as well have the goat.
MILK PRODUCTS
Whey is the water part of the milk after the
cheese is made. As it contains most of the milk
sugar and considerable of the mineral elements and some
vitamins, it is still of value. Its caloric value is but seven
MILK
267
calories per ounce, as compared to twenty calories per
ounce of whole milk.
Cream
Cream is the fat of the milk. It rises to the
top after standing because its specific gravity is
less than water. (That means it is lighter than water.)
The percentage of cream in milk depends upon the breed
of the cow, Guernseys and Alderneys being the richest.
For babies this higher cream milk is usually less digesti-
ble than that of the ordinary herd cows. (The herd
cows' milk is also considered preferable for babies be-
cause it varies less.) Cream is a wonderful growth
vitamin food and it is high in energy or caloric value,
and is usually very easily digested after babyhood.
Butter is made from the cream or fat of the
milk and it also contains a small per cent of the
other constituents of the milk. Butter is a very superior
form of fat, because it is made from milk which has such
valuable growth and anti-ophthalmic vitamins in it.
This means that a proper amount of butter fat in the
diet will prevent a serious form of eye disease as well
as promote growth and give energy.
A certain amount of butter should be used, but be-
cause it is good to taste sometimes it is used excessively
by children, and adults also. It is a free fat, and a free
fat used in excessive amounts will irritate, as I have
explained to you when I talked on fats.
Butter
Renovated butter is rancid butter which has
been washed with water and reflavored with some
sour cream. It is not wholesome. You can distinguish
between this renovated butter and ordinary butter by
boiling a small amount slowly in a small pan or table-
Renovated
Butter
;
DIET FOR CHILDREN
268
A
spoon, stirring it with a match or toothpick. If it foams
and sputters excessively you will know it is the reno-
vated butter. This is also a test for margarines.
Margarines
Cheese
I'll speak of margarines here because they are
sometimes used in place of butter.
Margarines are made of beef fat or vegetable oils some-
times flavored with milk or butter. They are wholesome
energy foods and can be safely used by the adult mem-
bers of the family, but should not be used by the children
unless they are getting a plentiful supply of whole milk,
and even then it is better for them to have the butter.
This is because the margarines do not contain the growth
vitamins. (Beef fat margarines may contain a little.)
Cheese is a splendid food because it is a con-
centrated product of the splendid milk, and there-
fore very high in complete proteins and the valuable
mineral elements, especially lime. A large part of the
vitamins have been lost except in the full-cream cheeses,
so we cannot count on cheese for vitamins.
Cheeses are concentrated food, therefore large amounts
will cause indigestion. They are such good protein foods.
that they should be depended upon more for protein,
and less meat taken. Old and strong cheese should not
be given to children, but cream and cottage cheese when
freshly made are wholesome and nutritious and should
be included in their diets.
Ice Cream
Ice cream is most wholesome and delicious if it
is made from clean milk and cream and other
ingredients. Ice cream varies so much in its proportion
of cream that its food value varies accordingly. It can
be very dangerous if it is made of impure materials. It
MILK
269
can cause a virulent type of diarrhea, and can also trans-
mit disease germs, for freezing does not always kill
them. Therefore, it is very important to see that it is
pure. It is so delicious that it is liable to be eaten in
excess, and if this is done it causes trouble, naturally.
If eaten in moderation and eaten slowly enough so
that it is melted before it reaches the stomach, it is an
excellent food and even invalids can digest it. The
chief objection to ice cream for children is that it is
consumed so often between meals that the appetite for
the growth foods is lessened. If it is made of pure ma-
terials and eaten in moderate amounts, it can be a treat
for them for dessert two or three times a week-any age
after two years.
BAD MILKS
Colored Milk
Milks may take on various colors at times—
blue, red, green, yellow. This may be due to con-
tamination by dirt, or it may be due to the growth of
microorganisms which produce coloring matter. They
are not disease germs, but they make the milk unwhole-
some and it should not be used. Red milk may also be
due to blood from a diseased udder, or to the food, such
as madder, the cow has eaten.
Slimy or ropy milk may be due to disease mat-
ter from the udder, or it may be due to a type
of bacteria which produces slime. In some countries
these slimy bacteria are introduced into the milk on
certain leaves upon which they are found. The product
is considered a delicate food. However, you had better
consider slimy milk unwholesome, and report it to your
health department-with appropriate words.
Slimy Milk
270
DIET FOR CHILDREN
If milk is bitter when first milked, it is proba-
bly due to some food the cow has eaten-lupins,
turnips, wormwood, etc. If it becomes bitter after stand-
ing a few hours, it is due to the growth of bacteria and
putrefaction. Don't use it.
Bitter Milk
Bacteria
in Milk
!
of Milk
Adulterations Skimming, watering, the use of thickening
agents and other chemical preservatives, all are
prohibited by law, but sometimes are still practiced.
Skimmed milk is a very wholesome food, but if sold
for whole milk, of course, this is a fraud. Skimmed
milk has all the minerals and growth proteins left in it,
but it cannot take the place of whole milk in children's
diet unless a plentiful supply of butter is given them
on account of the loss of the growth vitamin. It has
half the caloric or energy value of whole milk.
Dirty Milk
If you filter a pint of warm milk through a
little disk of absorbent cotton, the stain which is
left is an indication of how much dirt there is in it.
This simple test is one of the practical routine tests for
dirt used in the public health departments. These disks
are dried and kept with the records of the health depart-
ment. If you want to test your milk you can get some
of these disks from the health department, and if any-
thing but a yellowish stain appears, it would be a good
idea to send the test to your health department. Beware
of dirty milk-it is dangerous milk.
There are many bacteria in milk. Some of
them get in the milk before it leaves the udder,
others get in from the utensils, dust of the air, etc.
Most bacteria get into the milk with the dust that falls
from the udder and the belly of the cow during milk-
MILK
271
ing, so it is important that the regions around the udder
be washed before the cow is milked, and that a small-
topped milk-pail be used. Some bacteria get in from
dirty handlers and some get in from the household.
They multiply very rapidly unless the milk is rapidly.
chilled and kept chilled.
Bacteria are very minute vegetations. Most of them
are less than 25000 of an inch in diameter. They may
be very minute, but how they can multiply! Once every
twenty minutes to a half hour is the rate. One bac-
terium (germ) divides and produces two bacteria, simply
by splitting into two. If you want to realize how many
one germ will become in twelve hours, work it out. One
germ in half an hour is two germs; the next half hour
is four germs; the next eight; the next sixteen; the next
thirty-two; the next sixty-four. You continue the figur-
ing (I'm tired), and you will find that there are billions
at the end of twelve hours. If bacteria were not de-
stroyed about as rapidly as they are produced by outside
agencies and their own waste products, we would soon
be crowded off the earth by them.
Fortunately most bacteria are harmless and many
are beneficial. For instance, the lactic acid germs in
milk. It is only the undesirable citizens the disease
producers of the germ world that we have any quarrel
with.
The disease germs that have been known to
grow in milk are the germs of tuberculosis,
typhoid and paratyphoid, diphtheria, scarlet
fever, septic sore throat, Malta fever, foot-and-mouth
disease and dysentery. Milk-borne epidemics are not
rare. In Boston, from 1907 to 1911, there were five
outbreaks directly traced to infected milk, causing a
Diseases
Spread by
Milk
272
DIET FOR CHILDREN
total of over 4000 cases of sickness, including diph-
theria, scarlet fever, typhoid fever and septic sore
throat.
Milk becomes infected from human sources-at the
farm or dairy, in transportation, and at the household.
Milk may be also infected from the cows themselves,
especially from tuberculosis. Tuberculosis in cows is
not at all uncommon, and it is estimated that from 5 to
7 per cent of human tuberculosis is of bovine origin. A
very much larger per cent than this of tuberculosis in
children is caused by the bovine tuberculosis. It usually
takes the form of glandular or bone tuberculosis. Many
thousands of children suffer from this form and many
die from it.
The
Tuberculosis will be eradicated from cows when
Herd" Plan
"Accredited the "accredited herd" plan is made universal.
Under this plan, the Federal and State authorities
coöperate with the dairyman, slaughter all cows that
have tuberculosis and reimburse him for them.
I do not want to frighten you about milk, mothers,
only to the extent that it will make you be careful of
your milk supply. If you cannot get certified milk,
and are not absolutely sure of the purity of the milk you
do obtain, see that it is pasteurized or boiled, because
either of these processes will destroy the disease germs,
although, of course, it will not make poor or dirty milk
good nor clean.
HUMAN MOTHERS' MILK
Why do we advise so strenuously that you nurse your
babies when the scientific feeding of infants has been
perfected so remarkably in recent years? For this
MILK
273
reason, mothers: No matter what advances can be made
in artificial feeding, we probably never will be able to
reach anywhere near the perfection that nature
reaches.
Nature perfects a milk for each species, which is espe-
cially designed for the needs of that particular species.
For instance, she plans cow's milk for the special de-
velopment of the digestive apparatus and the rapid
growth of the baby calf. It is much stronger than hu-
man milk, having more than twice the amount of pro-
tein and four times the amount of calcium salts. This
is necessary because the calf reaches puberty in two
years, which is one-seventh the time required for the
human baby to reach puberty; and its food must be
stronger in order to start this rapid growth. The curds
from cow's milk are tougher and harder to digest than
human mother's milk, because the baby calf's stomach
digestive apparatus must be trained to digest hay and
other tough foods.
The whale and the seal mothers' milks are exceedingly
strong and contain a very large amount of fat, because
their babies need this strength and fat to protect them in
the icy waters.
Human mothers' milk is designed especially for hu-
man babies' digestive tracts, and for their development
at the period of life when they grow faster than at any
other period. Human milk contains protective sub-
stances against the ordinary infectious diseases which all
other animal milks do not possess, because these animals
do not have these diseases.
When a baby nurses it gets its milk directly
There is no
from the producer to consumer.
danger of its getting any cow diseases such as bovine
There's a
Reason
274
DIET FOR CHILDREN
tuberculosis or foot-and-mouth disease. There is no
danger of its getting diseases with which a cow's milk
may be contaminated by the people who handle it. It
does not have to be modified to suit the baby's require-
ments, because it is made to order for that baby origi-
nally. There are no bottles and other utensils to steril-
ize. If baby gets human milk his chances of living
through babyhood are six times greater than the baby
who must be bottle fed. His prospects for a healthy
childhood are MUCH greater and a healthy childhood
means better prospects for a healthy maturity. Oh,
there are many reasons why the human baby should
have the human milk designed especially for it. But
if it cannot have human mother's milk it must have
some other milk, remember.
MOTHERS' DIET
Just a little word right here, mothers, to help you
in the manufacture of a high grade of human milk.
If you will plan your diet to include the foods which
I have talked about as being important for the chil-
dren, you will produce a good grade of milk, provided
the other hygienic rules are observed. You must re-
member that you need mineral elements and the vitamins
and the high-grade protein before the baby is born,
also, so that you will supply it the needed elements and
will not rob your own system to do so. Milk, cheese (es-
pecially cottage cheese) eggs and nuts had best be de-
pended upon for most of your protein needs instead of
meat. Greens and fruit, of course, in liberal amounts. I
have explained the value of these, so you will understand
why.
WOR
MILK
275
Bad Business
Remember that while you really must eat for
two, both before the baby comes and afterward,
you do not have to eat for half a dozen. So many
mothers do overeat and bring on very bad conditions for
both themselves and their babies. It is only during the
last half of pregnancy that the baby grows appreciably,
and in reality very little more than the usual amount
of food need be taken. Excess foods fatten you and
your baby too. That makes labor harder. A gain of
fifteen to twenty pounds in your weight will cover the
gain of the babe and placenta (after-birth), water and
the membranes. Overeating is one of the most fre-
quent causes of injuring the kidneys and causing
eclampsia (convulsions of pregnancy).
Overeating while nursing the baby results in making
you fat and it does not improve your milk; in fact, it
makes it poorer in quality. If you are already much
overweight you can reduce with improvement to your
health both in pregnancy and while nursing.
The Leafy
Vegetables:
Protective
Foods
CHAPTER IX
VEGETABLES
Legumes:
Peas, Beans
and Lentils
THE late studies on nutrition have proved that
the leafy vegetables, such as spinach, beet and
celery tops, lettuce, dandelion, etc., have such high
qualities of vitamins and proteins and mineral
salts that McCollum has classed them with milk and has
given them the name "protective foods," because if they
are eaten in sufficient quantities they correct the de-
ficiency of the seeds (cereals and legumes) and the root
vegetables (potatoes, beets, turnips, etc.).
The green-leaf vegetables are high in iron, and you
know how important iron is in the food for the blood.
In the experimental laboratories, animals which are fed
for any length of time on a diet lacking green-leaf
vegetables, will show very poor nutrition; but when these
are added in liberal amounts, their recovery is astound-
ing. The reason for the high value of the green-leaf
vegetables is that they are composed of living growing
cells, while the other parts of the plant, the seed and
the root, are mere storehouses of food for the plant.
-tv
It used to be thought that because the legumes.
were high in protein, they could serve as a sub-
stitute for milk and for other animal protein, but
animal experimentation has shown that the protein in
legumes is an incomplete protein, the same as the protein
of seeds, and will not suffice to build up animal tissue if
used alone.
276
VEGETABLES
277
Like the grains, they are splendid, useful foods and
should be used for variety, but are not to be depended
upon for all the protein supply.
The navy bean has a characteristic carbohydrate con-
tent which is difficult to digest, and in many people they
ferment and cause much discomfort by gas. Remember
this when you give them to young children.
The soy beans, Chinese beans which are now also used
in America, are a very valuable source of protein and
fat. They have so little starch that they are especially
valuable as a protein and fat food when the starches have
to be limited, as in diabetes. The sprouted soy beans
are used in the Chinese chop suey. They are a good
source of the vitamins.
The potato is one of our most important energy
foods and has a good content of the alkali mineral
salts and a fair content of iron. It is justly one of our
most valuable foods and one that we never tire of. The
potato has also the anti-scorbutic and the anti-neuritic
vitamins, which apparently withstand heat more than
the anti-scorbutic vitamins in the other foods. After
potatoes were introduced in Europe and used in liberal
quantities, the number of cases of scurvy was markedly
lowered.
Potatoes have an unjust reputation as a fattening
food. Weight for weight potato is less fattening than
bread. Three ounces of potato is 100 C's compared to
two ounces of bread. The reason that they have gotten
this unsavory reputation for producing fat is because
they are usually accompanied by a very liberal amount of
butter or gravy, both of which are high in calories. So
it's the company they keep that has caused the scandal.
The protein of potatoes, while not very high-11 per
Potato
.
•
278
DIET FOR CHILDREN
cent of the total food value-is a protein of very good
value. More potatoes and less white bread is a good
food slogan.
Dried Potatoes
Dried potatoes have the same value as the fresh
potatoes as an energy food, but drying, of course,
destroys most of the vitamins.
Because a large proportion of the valuable salts and
the vitamins are right under the skin-largely with the
eyes, the part that is capable of growing-they should
not be pared before cooking even for mashed potatoes,
unless the parings are used in the soup stock. (See
recipes.)
Baked potatoes are usually considered the most whole-
some because they are mealiest, but if cooked until the
skin becomes very tough, a large part of the minerals
and the vitamins are still left adhering to the skin. This
objection, of course, would be overcome if the skins are
eaten. They are also good roughage, so that is a good
plan. The skin itself has no particular value, it is only
what sticks to it that is valuable.
Sweet Potatoes
The sweet potato has the same properties as the
white potato, but is higher in starch. It also has
some sugar, so, weight for weight, it is a higher energy
food than the white potato.
The Dasheen
The dasheen is a South American tuber which
has recently been introduced into the United
States by the Department of Agriculture. It is a little
richer in starch and protein than the potato and, as it is
so easily grown, it is going to form a valuable addition
to our diet. Its qualities are about the same as the po-
tato. Grow some in your garden.
J
VEGETABLES
279
1
Beets, carrots, radishes, turnips, onions, pars-
nips, etc., should be included in the diet often,
because they are not concentrated foods and they have
laxative properties, mineral elements and vitamins.
Most of these foods if ground fine are more delicious
raw than they are cooked. In this way all of their
vitamins and mineral salts are saved. (See "Vita-
mins," Page 22.),
The Root
Vegetables
***
CHAPTER X
SHALL WE USE NO SALT?
"CAN that which hath no savor be eaten without salt.
Or is there any taste in the white of an egg? My soul
refuseth to touch them. They are as loathsome food to
me."-Job 6:6-7.
There is no doubt we use excessive amounts of salt
for seasoning, and this excessive amount is very harm-
ful. As is usually the case when we find one extreme
is harmful, we are apt to go to the other extreme, and now
some people are advocating the elimination of all salt in
the food, both in cooking and at the table.
Kellogg believes that a salt-free diet, or at least the
very minimum of salt, should be used-and he brings
forth considerable evidence to support his views. There
are others equally authoritative on the subject of nu-
trition who believe that the lack of all added salt is
harmful, and that a moderate amount should be taken.
Hastings has recently shown that rats and mice will not.
thrive so well on a salt free diet.
Bunge believes that while one might live without the
addition of salt to the food, yet without salt we would
not be inclined to eat some of the foods that are neces-
sary for us. Sherman supports him in his views. They
both emphasize the fact that we take altogether too much
salt with our foods, and advise that we cut it down
markedly.
Most animal historians say that the herbivora (vege-
tation eaters) seem to require salt and will go long dis-
280
SHALL WE USE NO SALT?
281
tances to secure it if it is not supplied. The carnivora
(flesh eaters) do not require it, because they get sufficient
salt for their needs in the bones and organs and blood
of their prey. Most of us are omnivorous (omnis: all;
vorate: to eat greedily!)—that is, we eat both animal
and vegetable food. But we do not eat bones and fresh
blood, the chief supply of salt to the carnivorous animals.
Sodium chloride-the chemical name for com-
mon salt-occurs in the blood and other fluids,
and is necessary to maintain their normal pressure
and reaction. It is very necessary for the hydrochloric
acid of the stomach.
Sodium
Chloride
Very
Necessary
It is estimated that the body contains about three
ounces of sodium chloride. Very little of this is elim-
inated daily. However, this amount that is eliminated
must be re-supplied; and if we are going to eliminate all
added salt, then we must give very much more attention
to the foods that are rich in it.
Most minerals-inorganic elements have to go
through the plant laboratory to be made into organic
forms before they can be used by the animal system;
but salt, lime, phosphorus, and possibly iron, are some
exceptions, as proved by experimental studies in the
feeding of animals. This does not mean, however, that
the organic forms are not the best forms.
The amount of water retained in the tissues has a di-
rect relation to the salts we supply in our foods and the
body needs a lot of water.
Salt is eliminated by the kidneys and skin, so in dis-
orders of the kidneys and skin, and in some forms of
heart disease, when salt cannot be eliminated properly,
too much salt is retained in the tissues and an excessive
amount of water must be retained to dilute it. Nature
282
DIET FOR CHILDREN
endeavors to keep the tissue fluids and blood normal.
Under these conditions a salt-free diet is advisable. This
means no table salt either in cooking or at the table. In
epilepsy, the elimination of all salt is also being tried
now. One of the causes of high blood pressure is excess
salt. So as a preventive measure and as a treatment of
this disorder, the very minimum of salt is advised.
I do not believe there are sufficient data to support
the theory that all salt should be eliminated, except in
these abnormal conditions. It seems to me the wisest
course would be to do as Gautier, Sherman, Bunge and
other authorities advise—that is, to cut salt down to the
minimum, but not to cut it out entirely.
As it is well established that excess salt is harmful,
we should not allow our children to cultivate the craving
for it. For salt in excess is purely a cultivated taste.
As for cutting it out entirely, let us think about it a
bit. (And then don't do it.)
CHAPTER XI
POISONS AND THEIR ANTIDOTES
OCCASIONALLY children who are not taught not to put
undesirable things in their mouths will sample rat poi-
sons, matches, drugs, etc., if they are within reach. I
think we had better talk a little on that subject, al-
though the time might be better spent in telling you how
to train the children not to put undesirable things in
their mouths. Oh, well, we'll do that too.
The first thing the child is apt to put in its mouth is
its fingers or thumbs, and thumb and finger sucking are
pernicious, as many a misshapen face can testify. The
moment you notice this habit, go into ecstasies a little
over it if you want to, because it looks very cunning at
first, but at the same time remove the little hand, slap it
smartly so it hurts and say, "No, no." Continue this
every time it happens. This method must be used with
everything else the child puts into its mouth that it
should not, until it associates the pain, "No, no," and
the habit together. (If you put a pacifier in the baby's
mouth, your hands are the ones that should be slapped.)
In case a child gets a small object in its mouth and is
choking on it, turn quickly upside down and give the
slap smartly on the back. If the child is too large to
turn upside down, put over a chair with the head and
chest down.¹
1 If it should swallow the object, don't worry about it unless
it is a poison, of course; for if it can go down safely it can usu-
ally come out safely. Don't give a cathartic. That will rush it
283
284
DIET FOR CHILDREN
j
Never put poisons in medicine bottles without labeling
them. Also get some tiny bells and tie one around the
neck of any bottle containing a poison. This for the
nightwalkers.
Needless to say, all poisons should be kept out of the
reach of children. WASHING FLUIDS ARE POISONOUS!
DON'T POUR INTO A CUP OR GLASS WITHOUT THOROUGHLY
RINSING THEM AFTERWARD.
What to Do
in Case of
Accidental
Poisoning
Unless the poison is a strong acid or strong
caustic, vomiting should be started immedi-
ately. The quickest way to do this is to hold
the child with his back against you-perhaps
you shouldn't wait to get to the toilet or a vessel-
put your finger down his throat and hold it there until
he vomits. You can press one side of his cheek in be-
tween his teeth with a finger of the other hand so he
won't bite. If it isn't such an emergency case, give an
emetic (something to make vomit): Syrup of ipecac,
mustard water (a teaspoonful of ground mustard to a
pint of warm water), soapy or greasy water, etc. SEND
FOR A PHYSICIAN AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
FIRST: Emetic (unless caustic or acid-see below).
SECOND: Neutralize the poison. Remember alkalis neu-
tralize acids and acids neutralize alkalis. In the case of
strong acids and caustics this should come first, then the
vomiting. This is done so that the poison will not cause
a double burning after it is vomited.
through and perhaps do damage. Feed the child a dish of cereal
bran every meal if he is old enough. That will coat it. If he is
not old enough for cereals, feed the regular diet, omitting the
fruit juice for a few days. Watch the bowel movements for its
appearance to ease your mind. Your physician may decide to
have an X-ray picture to watch its progress if it is a pointed
object. It may be a week or so before it appears.
Name
#
Date
Day SMTWTFSSMTWTFS SMTWTFSSMTWTFS
Ibs.
•
"
יו
=
..
"
Calories
••
..
..
..
..
:
..
WATCH YOUR WEIGHT CHART
..
Average C's. 1st. week
2nd.
3rd.
4th.
..
..
..
Gain
Total
..
"
•
..
Loss
..
..
..
Total.
Remarks
••
..
DIRECTIONS
If
going
gain,
put your present
weight in the bot-
tom weight space
at the left, and
in each space
above mark in
one pound higher
than the preced-
ing.
you are
to
If you are go-
ing to lose, begin
at the top and
put one pound
less in each suc-
ceeding space.
Put a dot in
the square oppo-
site the weight
you have attained
and under the
day and date of
weighing. Con-
nect these dots
with a straight
line and have the
fun of watching
your weight go
up or down
you like it.
as
Make one of
these charts for
every four weeks.

POISONS AND THEIR ANTIDOTES
285
THIRD: Perhaps an emetic again.
FOURTH: If depressing, give stimulants. Strong green
tea is good, for its tannin is an antidote to many poi-
sons. If drug causes tendency to sleep, keep awake-
slap chest, cold wet towels-walk around, etc.
POISONS
Acids
Acetic
Hydrochloric
Sulphuric
Nitric
Carbolic
Lysol
Alcohol
Whisky
Brandy
Wine
Strong Alkalis
Ammonia
Quicklime
Caustic Soda
Potash
Lye, Washing soda,
Sal-volatile
Arsenic
Depilatories
Fowler's Solution
Rat Poison
Paris Green
ANTIDOTES AND FURTHER
MEASURES
Alkalis
Baking soda, milk of magnesia, or strong
soapy water. Then give oils: olive, sweet,
linseed, or cod-liver.
Epsom salts-2 tablespoonfuls in cup of
water. Weak alcohol (not wood alcohol)
or whisky solution. Then whites of eggs
and flour. Next make vomit. For external
burns alcohol 50%.
Emetic, friction, cold to head, heat to feet
and legs. Stimulants of strong tea or
coffee by mouth or rectum.
Strong vinegar and water solution, lemon
juice, tomato juice, etc. Then give oils or
milk, or white of eggs. Then emetic.
Emetic. Then milk, white of eggs-emetic
again. Give arsenic antidote (fresh mix-
ture of tincture of iron and calcined mag-
nesia). Give cathartic.
286
DIET FOR CHILDREN
Cough Mixtures
and Soothing
Syrups con-
taining:
Iodin
Paregoric
Laudanum
Belladonna
Atropin
Opium
Illuminating Gas: Same as for Cough Mixtures.
Lunar Caustic
(Silver Nitrate)
Poisonous
Mush-
room or Toad-
stool
Ptomaines
Botulism
Phosphorus
(Matches, Rat or
Roach Poisons)
Mercury
Calomel
Bichloride, or
Corrosive Subli-
mate
Tobacco
Emetic. Keep awake 12 or 24 hours. Strong
coffee or tea by mouth or rectum. Slap
chest with cold wet towel. Heat to feet,
cold to head. Artificial respiration if nec-
essary.
Starch or flour mixed with water or milk.
Emetic.
{
Common salt in water (2 teaspoonfuls to a
cup). Emetic.
Emetic. Stimulants. Cathartic. Enema.
The same as for poisonous mushrooms.
(Serum treatment for botulism.
Health
Department will furnish.)
Emetic. White of egg; magnesia in large
doses. (No milk or oil. They cause more
absorption in these cases.)
Emetic. Then white of egg, milk or 1 tea-
spoonful of tannin in a cup of water, or
strong tea.
Emetic. Strong green
tea. Cathartic-
castor oil or Epsom salts. Keep lying down.
Artificial respiration if necessary.
Keep
warm.
POISONS AND THEIR ANTIDOTES 287
i
ADULTERATED FOODS
On account of our Pure Food Law we do not have to
worry so much about adulterated foods now as we used
to. The foods which are adulterated with cheaper ma-
terials simply to make a larger profit are not particularly
harmful, but those that are adulterated by most any pre-
servatives are harmful, especially for children.
¿
2
:
:
་
PART V
THE KALORIE KIDS
FOR THE KIDDIES
ILLUSTRATED BY THE AUTHOR
THE KALORIE KIDS

Rees F 8888 4

1. Who are we!
Who are we!
Kalorie Kids! Kalorie Kids!
Kalorie Kids! True!
Who are we!
Who?
Lig
ار
2. What are we! What are we!
What are we?
Why!
WE ARE FOOD UNITS!
We Make you so spry!

Ra
A

THE KALORIE KIDS
Growth
Depends Right
KALORIES
سطور
3. What do we, What do we,
What do we DO?
+
Make you GROW! Make you PLUMP!
Make you STRONG! HEALTHY, too!
4. Kalorie Kids! Kalorie Kids!
How many d'we Need?
That Depends! On your Size!
On your Age! On your Deeds!


Mistr
$
he

THE KALORIE KIDS
27
&
F
5. To reckon how many K. Kids
For each day,
You find first of all!
How much

6. A Baby so cunnin'
you should Weigh!
Must have for the Day,
Forty to fifty, per Pound!
By the Weigh!
Lo
B
THE KALORIE KIDS

لام
21
& too
}
7. And Children must have
For each Pound they should Weigh,
Thirty to forty,
K. Kids for each Day!
8. And Mother and Dad?
We think of Them too!
From fifteen to twenty
Of us. That will do!
272
THE KALORIE KIDS

9. How many in Bread?
Butter, Milk, Nuts and Meat?
Eggs, Cereals and Fruit?
They're all hard to beat!
10. Ask Mother! She'll tell you.
All things she doth know!
The foods that will Nourish,
You must have to Grow!
1069
81116



20
THE KALORIE KIDS
*8. Y
>>>


11. How many in Vitamins?
So vital for Growth!
How many
many in Minʼral Salts?
Necessities, Both!
12. No Kalories in Vitamins!
No Kalories in Salts!
Oh, Kal'rie Kids! Kal'rie Kids!
We Fear you are False!


3€

THE KALORIE KIDS


13. Kalorie Kids! Kalorie Kids!
What shall we do?
We must have the Vitamins,
Growth salts, surely, too!
الله
14. Eat SPINACH, and CARROTS,
And CABBAGE and PEAS!
Fresh VEG TABLES, CEREALS,
Are Kalorie Kid Keys!
me

F
THE KALORIE KIDS


15. We unlock the Good Things,
So needful for Health!
And MILK, too! A pint or more,
Sure! You'll have Wealth!
16. WHOLE-WHEAT BREAD with
fine BUTTER,
NUTS, too, and FRESH FRUITS!
Have Vitamins! Min'ral Salts!
Kalories! Toot, Toot!

@

THE KALORIE KIDS
17. How about Kandy?
தி
KANDY
ATMY BIS
After
Meals
Only!
}
Oh, Kalorie Kids, Say!
All Kalories! No Growth Salts!
Keep us away!
18. No Growth Salts, No Vitamins,
In Kandy, Child Dear!
Dobe X
19
11
Eat your Bread! Drink your Milk!
KANDY SHUN! You'll grow Queer!



THE KALORIE KIDS

J

19. In Coffee and Tea,
Le
How many, Dear Kids?
NOT ANY! THEY'RE BAD, Child,
Quick, Quick! Fix the Skids!
20. For Children, especially
Tea, Coffee, are Bad!
کام

Fresh Milk by the Pintfuls drink—
You sure won't be Sad!
ہوں
THE KALORIE KIDS

J
མ
猕
​
X
21. Kalorie Kids! Kalorie Kids!
Perhaps we're too Fat!
You'll have to eat Less of us!
Drop us! That's that!
ROB
22. Kalorie Kids! Kalorie Kids!
Perhaps we're too Thin!
You'll have to eat More of us!
Good Health you Must Win!
Ques
ויחי


THE KALORIE KIDS
冬
​J
23. Kalorie Kids, Kalorie Kids!
You don't mean to say
Food Units look like you,
So Funny, So Gay?
Y
}



M
24. No, Children, we're Playing!
But Isn't it Fun?

You sure won't forget us!
You'll not from us run!
zze de
2D X
THE KALORIE KIDS

L
&s
14
26. We want to be HEALTHY!
Oh, Kalorie Kids Dear!
для
·47=
///

(loca
25. Kalorie Kids! Kalorie Kids!
We like you, we Do!
We Greet you! We EAT you!
You belong in Who's Who!
•
WE'LL DO WHAT YOU TELL US!
Don't Worry! Don't Fear!

ہوے

Now, CHILDREN, GET YOUR PENCILS AND PAPER
AND MAKE SOME KALORIE KIDS.
Here's his head. Front view.
Here's his body.
Front view.
Here's his R. leg.
Here's his L. leg.
Here's his R. arm.
Straight.
Here's his L. arm. Straight.
Here he is assembled.
3.
Here he is walking.
Here he is running.
Here he is sitting.
Straight.
Straight.
= Side view.
| Side view.
Bent.
Bent.
- 1
Bent.
Bent.
I
7
है
Now see what a lot of things you can make him do.
फू ইपैसे
ANTO








৯
D X

:
Would you like to dress some Kalorie Kids?
All right, that's easy!
First, make them in any position you want, then put clothes
on them and fill them in solid so the bones won't show. You
can put some flesh on the bones if you like. Just as they are
going to do for you when you eat them! Isn't it Fun?
It
鹨
​:


$21
A
Acne, 220
Acid-forming foods, 186
Acidosis, 37, 185
Adenoids, 192
as cause of malnutrition, 159
Adolescence, excessive diet of
fats during, 20
food needs during, 120
Adulterated food, 287
Agar, 199, 142, 175
Alcohol, 110
Alkali-forming foods, 186
American Child Health Asso-
ciation, 162
Amino acids, 11
Anaphylaxis, 235
Anemia, 43
Animal experimentation, 25
a shame? 212
Asthma, 191
thymic, 208
Autointoxication, 188-190
B
Bacteria, 7
Bacteriology of soil, 7
Balanced diet, 53
food sextet in, 9
Banting, 202
INDEX
Bed wetting (Enuresis), 194
Beef juice, 91, 144
Beriberi, 23
anti-neuretic foods, 29
preventive of, 29
Biological method, 25
Blood alkalinity, 125
anemia, 43
red blood cells, 43
elementary composition of, 6
Botulism, 233
Bread and toast, 137-140
first year, 90
caloric value of, 61
excess eating of, 124
toasting, 248
whole wheat, 248
Buckwheat, 251
Breakfast, 107
Brose, 211
Butter, 267
amount first year, 91
amount second year, 101
for older children, 118
renovated, 267
Buttermilk, 264
in autointoxication, 190
с
Calcium, 39-42
Calories, 56-66
calorimeter, 59
definition, 59
foods estimated in, 56
table of 100 C. portions of
food, 61
table of, needed daily, 60
Candy, 242-246
as cause of acidosis, 196
"craving for sweets," 245
effect on vitamins, 31
Cannon, 241
Carbohydrates, 9, 17
when can ignore calculation
of, 54
"Carriers," 231
Cellulose, 16
Cereal grains, 247
in first year, 91
after 22 years, 109
caloric value, 62
incomplete proteins in, 13
Catarrh, 19, 192
!
307
308
INDEX
Cheese, 268
calories in, 63
Chemical reactions, 36
Child psychology, value of, 169
Chittenden's standard protein,
15
Chorea (St. Vitus's Dance), 198
Cod Liver Oil, 24
in rickets, 214
in simple goiter, 211
vitamins in, 28
Coffee, 110
Colds, 182
obstructive adenoids and ton-
sils as cause, 193
Condiments, 110
Constipation, 199
in fevers, Kellogg on, 184
while reducing, 175
Convulsions, 197
Corn, 249
Dasheen, 278
Dennett, 214
D
Deficiency diseases, 23
Desserts, 113
Diabetes, 201
"and holidays,” 244
soy beans in, 277
Diarrhea, 203
Diet, balanced, 53
experiments in, 55
in disease, 155-227
tables of
6-12 months, 96-98
1-2½ years, 103-106
after 22 years, 127-133
raw food, 32, 258
Dirt eating, 205
Du Bois, 120
E
Eczema, 218
excess free fat in, 19
Eggs, 252
caloric value, 63
complete protein, 12
first year, 92, 97
Eggs (Cont.)
in eczema, 218
in rickets, 214
protective food, 252
second year, 101
yolks, 252
phosphorus in, 38
Egg substitutes, 253
Elements needed by system, 3
Emerson, 71, 192
Emetics, 284
Enuresis, 194
Exophthalmic goiter, 211
Experiments in balanced diets,
53
F
Fasting, 179-181
Fat child, the, 172
}
reduction rules, 174
why necessary to reduce, 175
Fats, 9, 18-21
energy producers, 17
needed: adult, children, 20
during adolescence, 20
when can ignore calculation
of, 54
Fatty acids, 19
Feeding
first year, 86-98
second year, 99-102
after 22, 107-114
Fevers, 182-184
Finicky child, the, 166
Fish, 110
❤
caloric value of, 64
Food, allergy, 235
amount of, necessary per day,
119
autointoxication, in, 190
bad combinations, 236-241
calories in, 61-66
caloric tables of amounts
needed, 60
child can and cannot have,
109
contamination of, 231
energy foods, 17, 118
fried, 19
function of, 4
INDEX
309
Food (Cont.)
growth and repair, 11, 117
idiosyncrasies, 235
infections, 231
laxative, 200
mineral elements in, 119
poisoning, 231
protective, 119, 276
protein tests for, 236
“quartet,” 117
raw food diet, 32, 258
requirements, 121
"sextet," 7, 117
testing, 27
biological method of, 25
vitamin bearing, 34-35
Foundation diet, 116
Fruits, 254
caloric value of, 63, 64
canned and dried, 255
first year, 92, 93
after 22, 112
preserved, 255
remove seeds and skins, 112
stewed, 254
value of, in fevers, 184
G
Gautier, 282
Gebhardt, 120
Goiter, 207-212
excess fat in, 20
iodin deficiency in, 38
H
Habits of eating, 102
Hastings, 280
Herbivora, 280
Hess, 214
Hives, 219
High Blood Pressure, 185
Holt, 14, 20, 31, 71
Human body machine, 8
I
Ice cream, 268
Idiosyncrasies, 235
"Ignition sparks," 22
Intestinal flora, 188
Insulin, 202
Iodin, 38
compound, 209
deficiency of, in goiter, 210
Iron, 42-47
amount in body, 45
foods high in, 46
milk low in, 45
store of, in liver, 87
J
Joslin, 201
K
"Kalorie Kids," 289
Kellogg, 52, 181, 210, 253, 280
L
Lactalbumen, 15
Lacto-ovo-vegetarians, 257
Laxative foods, 200
Legumes, 276
protein in, 13
Lime (calcium), 39-42
Lunches, 134
Macaroni, 249
MacLeod, 202
Mc
McCarrison, 29
McCollum, 28, 250, 258, 276
M
Malnourished child, 157-171
amount of food for, 164
causes of, 159
nervous system in, 161
program for, 163
Malnutrition, program for cor-
rection of, 163
résumé causes of, 159
Margarines, 268
Mastication, 82
hard foods for, 82, 124
need of teaching, 83
310
INDEX
;
•
J
ga.
Meat, 257
amount given, 111
caloric value of, 64
complete protein, 13
second year, 101, 105
Mental development, retarda-
tion in, due to malnutri-
tion, 162
Menu planning, 115-126
Menus,
6-12 months, 96-98
1-22½ years, 103-106
after 22 years, 127-133
Metchnicoff, 261
Milk, 260
allowance for child, 116
artificially soured, 264
autointoxication, in, 190
bad milks, 269
adulterations, 270
bacteria in, 270
colored, 269
dirty, 270
slimy, 269
canned, 265
composition of, 260
condensed formulas, 15, 265
contaminated, 262
disease germs in, 271
dried, 265
excess, 258
exclusive diet, in acidosis,
187
evaporated, 266
filled, 266
goats, 266
grades of, 262
herd plan, accredited, 272
human mother's, 15, 272
infected, 272
iron, low in, 45
lactic acid germs, 264
Pasteurized, 263
pure, importance of, 263
phosphorus in, 38
lime in, 41
sugar, 190
Mineral salts, 36-47
waters, Kellogg on, 52
Mother's diet, 82, 274
milk, 15
"Mucus-forming foods," 192
N
Nail-biting, 205
Navy bean, 277
Nem, 57
Nervous system, rapid growth
of, 161
Nitrogen, 11
Nutrition classes, 162
Nuts, 255
complete protein in, 13
caloric value of, 65
protein calories, 65
0
Oatmeal, 250
Obstructive adenoids and ton-
sils, 192
cause of malnutrition, 159
Old age, 121
P
Peanuts, 11, 256
Pellagra, 23
Phosphorus, 37
"PICNIC": symbol elements,
5
Pimples, 19
in acne, 220
Poisons and their antidotes,
283-287
emetics, 284
Pork, 257
Posture, 72
fatigue, 158
Potatoes, 277
caloric value of, 66
Precautions
at meal times, 124
in reducing, 173, 174
Protective foods, 119, 126, 276
Proteins, 11
calories of, in different foods,
61-66
complete and incomplete, 11,
13
INDEX
311
Proteins (Cont.)
cereal, incomplete, 13
Chittenden's stand, 15
danger excess in, 16
foods, 9
Holt's report on, 14
in asthma, 191
need of adult. 15
child, 14
tests, 219, 236
Pyorrhea, 26
Ptomaine, 232
Puberty, food needs at, 120
R
Rachitis (Rickets), 213-215
Rats, experiments on, 26
Raw food diet, 32, 258
Recipes, 137-154
agar salad, 142
bran-agar jelly, 142
bread, home ground wheat,
137
bread cone, 138
bran extract, 141
beef essence, 143
beef juice, 144
cottage cheese and nut roast,
146
desserts, 151-154
fish timbale, 145
gravies, 144
nut and cheese loaf, 147
popovers, 139
protose, 146
raw vegetable tonic, 150
ribbon loaf, 145
rice, 143
Scotch brose, 142
soups, 148
spinach croquettes, 147
vegetable broths, 151
white sauce, 139
Rice, 249
beriberi from diet of, 250
calories in, 62
Rickets, 213-215
Rosenau, 232, 261
8
St. Vitus's Dance (Chorea), 198
Salt, 280-282
Sample menus, 127
School lunches, 134
Season, food needs relating to,
122
Sensitization, 235
Sex, food needs relating to, 126
Scurvy, 217
iatent, 31
vitamins in, 23
Sherman, 40, 60, 280
and Smith, 34
Size, food needs relating to, 121
Skin disorders, 218-222
Sodium chloride, 280-282
Soups, 113
caloric value of, 65
Soy beans, 13, 277
Sprouted legumes and grains,
33
Starvation acidosis, in fevers,
182
from false ideas of diet, 237
Starvation diet, 265
Starches and acids, 238
Sterility, McCarrison on lack
vitamins causing, 29
Studies in food, Gebhardt, 120
T
Tables, list of:
elementary composition of
the body, 6
vitamin table, 34
approximate table of calories
needed daily, 60
weight-age tables, 73
about what a boy should.
gain on an average each
month, 80
about what a girl should
gain on an average each
month, 80
average time of eruption of
teeth, 84
table of feeding from 6th to
12th month, 96
312
INDEX
?
Tables, list of: (Cont.)
table of feeding from 12th to
15th month, 103
table of feeding from 15th to
18th month, 104
best foundation for each day
for each child, 116
sample menus for children,
127
suggested lunches, 135
poisons: antidotes and fur-
ther measures, 285
Table manners, 100, 125
Tantrums, 163
Tapeworms, 224
Tea, 110
Teeth, 81-85
effect diet on:
at Forsythe Dental Clinic, 26
eruption of (table), 84
inheritance vs. diet, 81
hard foods for, 82
molars, importance first, 84
Temperaments, diet required by
the different, 122
Testimonial letters, 165, 176-
178
Thyroid gland, 208
Thymus gland, 207
Thumb and finger sucking, 206
Tomatoes, 255
vitamins in, 31
Tonic, raw vegetable, 150
Tonsils, obstructive, 192
as cause of malnutrition, 159
"Tokology," 41
Tuberculosis, 216
bovine origin of, 272
possible deficiency disease, 23
Typhoid fever, diet in, 182
"Typhoid Mary,” 232
U
Unbalanced meals, 238
Undernourished child, 157-171
causes of, 159
food needs, 164
program to correct, 163
Urticaria (Hives), 219
V
Van Noorden, 52
Vegetables, 276
cabbage, 34, 35
dasheen, 278
calories in, 65
leafy, 276
McCollum,
classification as
"protective foods," 276
legumes, 276
potatoes, 277
raw, 32, 258
root, 279
sweet potatoes, 278
tonic, raw, 150
tomatoes (see under vita-
mins), 255
spinach, 29
dried, 33
vitamins, rich in (vitamin
tables) 34-35
Vitamins, 22-35
deficiency diseases due to
lack of, 23
essential for, 23
winter vitamins, 32
Funk, originator name, 22
how effected, 31
"live elements," 9
McCarrison on sterility due
lack of, 29
Mineral elements, association
with, 31
Table of, 34
Types of the three, 24
1) Anti-Ophthalmic or Fat
Soluble A, 28
2) Anti-Neuritic, or Water
Soluble B, 29
3) Anti-Scorbutic, or Wa-
ter Soluble C, 29
Von Pirquet, 57
W
Water, 48-52
amount necessary, 51
bad flavored, 50
boiled, 88
diseases transmitted by, 49
INDEX
313
Water (Cont.)
meals with, 51
Saline, van Noorden on, 52
soda, 52
weaning, 94
Weight, 69
gain in (Table), 80
monthly weighing,
tance of, 69
relation, height and age to, 70
Tables, 73-79
Wheat, 247
Whooping cough, 223
Wood-Comstock, 117
Worms, 224
candy eating in, 246
(non-relation to)
X
impor- Xerophthalmia, 23
Y
Yeast, vitamins in, 34
extracts, 33, 34

$
I
Ava Ramona samtalte math, Big Bad Bad
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
GRADUATE LIBRARY
SEP 1 4 1972
30 1977
NOW 2 6 19/0
DATE DUE
DEC 18 1981
DEC • 1981
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