HEALTH NOTES.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5249, 9 March 1928, Page 1

HEALTH NOTES.

FOOD. NEEDS OF THE BODY. (Contributed by the Department of Health). The body .has often been compared with a blacksmith’s] forge, the lungs being the bellows and food the coal. The comparison is a good one, for food is actually burned in the by the air that jve breathe.

Most food is capable of being used as body fuel, and by far the greater part of it is so used, Consequently food is measured in fuel-units, callied calories. Many people eat too much—that is, too many calories. Some eat too little—that is, to.o few calories. In both cases the person is usually unaware of the fact, because he unconsciously measures this food by weight or bulk instead of by its food value. Some foods are concentrated 1 , containing many calories; of food value in a given bulk; others are bulky, containing few calories in a given bulk. F«r instance, olive oil is concentrated, and most vegetables are bulky. A third of a.n ounce of olive oil contains 1000 calories, which is as much as is contained i* a pound or more of tomatoes, lettuce, .celery, cucumbers, asparagus, or water melon; but a perspn wii®! has eaten ,a third of an ounce of olive oil does not find it as “ filling ” as a pound of water melon.

The ordinary sedentary man needs about 2500' calories per day. But the larger the person or the more muscular the work he does the more food he needs ; this assumes that other things are equal, especially the proportions of fatty and muscular tissue. It is a great mistake to eat more thap the body needs, 1 and so grow stout. Life insurance experience has clearly shown that weight,, especially in relation to age, is an important factor in longevity. The average person becomes overweight after maturity. One’s normal weight is about that weight usually attained at maturity —say, at the age of 25 —and ought to be maintained without change, except for a few pounds thereafter. MODERATION IN DIET'. One ’reason w.hy many people eat great quantities of food without realising it is the common delusion that mny articles, such as sweets, fruits, nuts, peanuts, often eaten between meals “do not count”; another common mistake is to overlook accessories such as butter and cream, which may contain more actual food value than all, the rest of the meal put together. Ice cream and other desserts also have more food value than is usually realised. The ordinary person takes these extras as Rip Van Winkle took his flagon, after solemnly swearing off by saying to himself “I won’t count this one.” But Nature counts every calcry very scrupulously. If the number of calories taken in exceeds the number used by the body (or excreted unused) the excess .accumulates in fat or tissue.

A person who is n< t heavy enough can usually gain weight by following the general rules of hygiene, especially in the matter of increasing the fuel or energy foods, but he should not force himself to eat beyond his natural capacity to digest anl assimilate, and over-fatigue and exhausting physical exertion should be carefully avoided. With advancing age the consumption of meat and all ilesh foods should be decreased and that of fruit and vegetables, especially those of bulk character and low food vaue, such as lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, turnips, watercress, celery, parsnips, cauliflower, and cabbage, should bb increased.

Generally the quantity of food should be slightly decreased during hot weather, when few cailories are needed to sustain the heat of the body. Each individual 1 must decide for himself by actual experience what is the right amount of food to eat. In general, that amount is right which will, maintain the most favourable condition of weight. Each individual should know what his own partcular normal weight is and try and maintain it within five pounds. If the weight, endurance, and general feeling of well-being are mainta'ned one may assume that sufficient food is taken.—Abridged from “How to Live,” authorised by the Hygiene Reference Board of the Life Extension Institute, to whom acknowledgment is made.