FATTENING FOODS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 July 1938, Page 4

FATTENING FOODS

KEEPING FIT IN WINTER. Many people are proverbially subject to such diseases as rheumatism, bronchitis, and pneumonia during the winter months; while this tendency certainly exists, much can be done in the way of intelligent eating and habits to avoid these dangers. In the first place, winter throws a bigger strain on the heat-regulating mechanism of the body. The body maintains its normal temperature partly by exercise and partly by the burning of calories of fuel contained in food. Therefore, it is necessary to eat food of higher fuel value; in other words, more “fattening” food. It is necessary to prevent the loss of body heat by suitable clothing and room temperature and by exercising the muscles of the body. In winter, food of a more fattening nature can be eaten without danger of becoming too fat. Nature arranges for this by increasing the appetite in winter.

Fattening foods are fats, starches and sugars. Of these, the sugars are quicker in action, but do not last as long, while the fats act as a slow combustion fuel. In winter, the average person should eat more butter, bacon, cream, fat meats, and similar food to build up a reserve against the cold. They should also take sweet, hot drinks when cold or when about to be exposed to cold. The best protection against a cold journey is a hot cocoa or chocolate drink with plenty of sugar.

Alcohol has a great reputation as protection against the cold, but this is largely undeserved. It is quite wrong to take alcohol before exposure to the cold. The effect is to drive blood to the skin, giving a false feeling of warmth, but greatly increasing the total heat loss. This is why drunken men so easily die as a result of exposure to cold. Alcohol in this respect interferes with the normal mechanism ■ by which the skin becomes pale and | bloodless.