Part 8

4 The crowning mistake of the doting mother is often made in feeding her child from the conventional table, on such things as weakened coffee or tea, meats, and condiments

5 The custom of giving children an excess of sweets has ruined millions of little stomachs, and has given them a heritage of dis-ease and suffering before they have entered their 'teens

6 All condiments, such as pepper, salt, vinegar, pickles, and all pungent things should be eliminated from the diet of children--the taste of the child is very susceptible to cultivation, and with very little encouragement it will accept things that have no place in the human economy, and which are positively harmful

7 When a child begins teething, it may be given a small piece of hard water-cracker with safety

If the above rules are observed, it is reasonable to assume that normal hunger of the child will guide it very correctly in selecting, proportioning, and combining its food through the period of childhood until it enters the period of youth.

OLD AGE

There seems to be two critical periods in every life--the ages of thirty and sixty. If the sixtieth year can be turned with good digestion, normal assimilation and excretion, it is fair to assume that with reasonable care the century mark may be easily reached. It is also reasonable to assume that experience will have taught most thoughtful people what to eat and what not to eat, but the mortality tables of nearly all civilized countries, of which the writer has made a careful study, prove that a majority of people do not reach their sixtieth year, and but a very small per cent of those who do are blessed with good digestion. Therefore an old age diet is quite as important to the student as infant feeding.

For purposes of convenience, I will put all cereal products, legumes, and white potatoes in the starch or bread class, and henceforth they will be referred to as such.

The majority of disorders that mark the difference between youth and age may be traced directly to the overconsumption of meat and bread, especially cereal starch. The hardening of the arteries, the stiffening of the cartilage, the enlargement of the joints, and the general lack of flexibility throughout the body is due almost wholly to the overconsumption of these two staples.

Uric acid is always present in gouty and rheumatic conditions, but it is there as Nature's defense against our sins, and not as a primary cause. Meat is not the cause of uric acid as has been popularly taught. Uric acid is one of the constituent elements of all animal bodies, and when the normal supply in the human body is supplemented by that which is contained in the body of the animal upon which we prey, we are oversupplied. This is as far as meat-eating contributes toward uric acid poisoning.

When the body is young and growing, it can consume and appropriate a considerable quantity of starchy or structural material, but when it is fully grown, or has turned forty, it can subsist healthfully upon a diet containing only from three to five per cent of starch, and as one becomes older the more soluble forms of starch should be taken, such as the starch contained in green peas, beans, and corn, which, immature, is readily soluble and assimilable. The starch in the banana is also easily appropriated and easily oxydized, and will be found to agree with many who cannot eat starch in any other form without producing fermentation.

After the fiftieth year the diet becomes more and more a factor needing special attention in the daily regimen, both as to selection and quantity; and with advancing age the quantity of food should be gradually reduced until the minimum which will support life healthfully is reached.

In old age the diet should be governed by the same general rules as those of younger people; that is, elderly people should select, combine, and proportion their food according to temperature of environment, labor, and age. Those performing manual labor can use and eliminate food material which would produce uric acid and other poisons in the body of the sedentary worker.

THREE PERIODS OF OLD AGE

Old age may be divided into three periods. From fifty to sixty the diet should consist of a very limited quantity of bread products (not more than two per cent); fresh green vegetables, fresh mild fruits, nuts, a normal quantity of milk and eggs, a limited quantity of sugar, and a moderate amount of fats.

From sixty to seventy the amount of cereal starch should be reduced to one per cent, or not more than two per cent, while the other articles named may be taken as suggested from fifty to sixty, gradually eliminating starchy foods, and increasing foods containing proteids, casein, and albumin.

Between the ages of seventy and one hundred, the same general suggestions as those above laid out should be followed, eliminating entirely all cereal products. The more soluble forms of starchy or carbohydrate foods, such as potatoes, bananas, and green peas, beans, corn, etc., may be taken. (See Lesson XIII, Vol. III, p. 632.)

The necessary amount of fats, albumin, casein, and proteids must be governed by activity and temperature of environment.

The following are suggestions for one day's menu, in spring and summer, age between fifty and sixty. Choice of menus may be exercised, but each menu should be taken in its entirety.

MENU I MENU II

BREAKFAST

Melon or subacid fruit One or two very ripe bananas, One egg--coddled with figs, cream, A potato or a very little and nuts coarse bread Choice of fruit--non-acid A glass of clabbered milk or Two glasses of milk buttermilk Two tablespoonfuls of raisins, with cream and nuts

LUNCHEON

Choice of peas, corn, beans, Choice of carrots, parsnips, or creamed onions beans, squash, or asparagus Eggs or buttermilk A baked sweet or a white A baked potato potato A salad or something green, A glass of buttermilk with nuts Cream cheese, dates, and A banana, with cream, nuts nuts and dates A very small portion of green salad, with grated nuts

DINNER

One fresh vegetable--spinach, A green salad cooked ten minutes Two fresh vegetables One egg or a very small A sweet or a white potato, portion of fish with sweet butter A baked potato A glass of sour milk Choice of dates, figs, or raisins, with cream cheese and nuts

In cases of constipation, two or three tablespoonfuls of coarse wheat bran (cooked, if desired) should be taken with the breakfast and the evening meal, and a spoonful just before retiring, taken in a glass of water. Such fruits as plums, peaches, or berries should be taken daily, just after rising and just before retiring.

The following are suggestions for fall and winter menus, for a person between the ages of fifty and sixty: