HOME HEALTH GUIDE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 7, 12 September 1944, Page 7

HOME HEALTH GUIDE

GOOD TASTE

(By the Department of Health)

If a child learns to like the taste of the right kinds of there won't be much trouble with his teeth.

This; is a simple little fact that parents would do avcll to remember. What a person likes in the Avay of food is very much a question of habit and it is, important to realise that taste is a habit that is learned and becomes fixed at a very earjy age—mostly during babyhood or in the toddler stage,.

Habits that are learned earliest are hardest to change. For that reason it is essential that the young child should learn the right kind' of taste habits.

What are good and bad habits ? Mildly sweet things "like mother's milk, and bitter-sweet or slights ' acid things like fruit and vege* table juices j will develop good taste habits. When a baby learns to chcw he does, it to extract the flavour. He doesn't, worry about physical ijcr'ks for his but he gets them just the same. And don't forget he starts to chew long before the teeth arrive. Sec that he, practises his chewing on the right kind of foods. It will make liim develop his, jaw and a good taste at the same time. Sickly-sweet things flavoured with sugar form the, worst taste habits j | and soft pappy things are almost as bad. See your child gets the good taste habit early. Give him the right food and he'll do the rest. Good tastes mean good teeth. MEALS AND EMOTIONS

(By the Department of Health). Experiments have shown that food, when taken by a person in a highly emotion condition will be of little benefit, since normal digestion is upset. Emotions such as l'car ? anger, joy, sorrow and so on are not merely mental phenomena. An emotion is a disturbance, of mind and body, and is not only reflected in certain external movements, such as blinking and starting back when afraid, hanging on the head when ashamed, or by changes in respiration heartbeat and blood pressure. In addition to these expressive movements emotional excitement produces important glandular changes. It is be-? coming more evident that these masses of tissue which we call glands, exert, a great influence c-U our everyday life, especially with regard to bodily functioning digestion and general self-control. It has been demonstrated that' when under the influence of pain, 1 fear and anger the secretion of salivary and gastric fluids is prevented. A dog when given food will salivate normally but if a cat appears within his vision salivation ceases immediately. The emotion of anger in a human being prevents, the digestive movements of the stomach and intestines. Whereas a person eating agreeable food will produce an active secretion of gastric fluid the wrong type of food will have little influence. As part of the routine of a normal healthy life, we must restrict ourselves to healthful foods and take our meals in a happy frame of mind.