Part 9

BREAKFAST

Oranges, apples, pears, or soaked prunes An egg and a small portion of either plain boiled wheat or rice A very ripe banana, with nuts and raisins

NOTE: Sweet fruits may be taken instead of the acid fruits suggested, and milk instead of eggs.

LUNCHEON

One or two fresh vegetables, such as carrots, onions, turnips, cabbage, or beans Celery or any coarse plant A potato or a very small portion of corn

If not very active, the luncheon may consist of two glasses of buttermilk and a spoonful of wheat bran.

DINNER

Choice of two fresh vegetables A baked potato Choice of fish, eggs, or buttermilk Corn bread or a very small portion of coarse cereal

All fresh, watery vegetables should be cooked in a casserole dish.

A sufficient quantity of water should be drunk at each of these meals to bring the moisture up to about sixty-six per cent of the meal--two to three glasses.

These meals are mere suggestions, and are therefore subject to many variations.

All green salads may be substituted for one another; all starchy products--grain, potatoes, and legumes--may also be substituted for one another.

ATHLETICS

The diet for the athlete really differs but little from that which should be taken by every person in normal health, the object in all cases being to secure the greatest degree of energy from the least quantity of food. In order to do this, the laws governing the selecting, the combining, and the proportioning of foods should be observed. When the digestive, the assimilative, and the excretory organs are properly performing their functions, the object should be to gain the highest efficiency in food with the least amount of loss or waste. Every diet, therefore, should be made an athletic diet.

In dealing with the public at large, the work of the practitioner will be confined very largely to prescribing for those who, by violation of Nature's laws, have become dis-eased, or in some way physically abnormal, and in these cases, of course, a remedial or counteractive diet first becomes necessary.

In dealing with the athlete as a special class, however, we must consider him as a normal creature, somewhere between the ages of twenty and forty. We must also consider that his digestion and assimilation of food, and elimination of waste are normal. Under these conditions, the diet should consist of highly nitrogenous and proteid compounds, leveled or balanced by the requisite amount of carbohydrates and fats.

If the athlete is training for action in summer, the quantity of fat should be reduced according to temperature or climate. When the thermometer ranges in the seventies and eighties, one ounce of fat each twenty-four hours would probably be sufficient, while if the mercury is down in the twenties or thirties, from two or three ounces may be required to keep up bodily heat.

The following are suggestions for summer athletic diet:

BREAKFAST

Fruit or melon *Corn, or boiled wheat, with nuts and cream Eggs, whipped, with sugar and cream--lemon juice flavor

LUNCHEON

Break from four to six eggs into a bowl, adding a heaping teaspoonful of sugar to each egg; whip five minutes; while whipping, add slowly one teaspoonful of lemon juice to each egg; to this add half a glass of milk to each egg, and drink slowly

*Corn or a potato

DINNER

Fruit, berries, or melon A salad of lettuce, tomato, and grated carrots; serve with dressing of lemon juice, grated nuts and olive-oil One fresh vegetable An egg or tender fish A baked potato Buttermilk

Cut lightly from cob with a sharp knife and scrape down with a dull one; serve uncooked with a little salt, sugar and cream.]

The following are suggestions for winter athletic diet:

BREAKFAST