THE WIDOW'S BITE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 6, Issue 150, 8 May 1942, Page 19

THE WIDOW'S BITE

(Written for "The Listener’ by DR.

MURIEL

BELL

Nutritionist to the Department of Health)

OT a cold in the head, nor a printer’s error, nor the kind of bite that you may think — not the one to which our Biology Professor made jocular reference when he told us that it was the female of the malaria-conferring species of mosquito that did the biting! No, the reference is to the bit of food that the widow eats — or any other woman who lives by herself. One might equally well refer to the bachelor’s bite -for it is so well known that a man living by himself pays too little attention to the choice of his food, that the medical profession has coined the phrase "bachelor scurvy" (by a transposition of words, why not, I ask, refer ‘to them as "scurvy bachelors"?). However, to get back to the widow’s bite, too often we do hear the tell-tale story, "As long as I have my cup of tea and my bit of bread and butter, I don’t want anything else." If you have never heard anyone say this, then perhaps I shall have to tell you that it is the common experience of anyone who does dietetic work in any of the hospitals, to hear this phrase; and that in studies made by the Department of Home Science, the diets of women who live by themselves tend to be frightfully poor. Women will often say that "it is not worth while cooking for oneself only.’ There is the temptation for such persons to think that because it is a bit monotonous to cook small pieces of meat in the ways that small pieces of meat have to be cooked, they can go without meat,

and perhaps, even moreimportant, without the vegetables that go with the meat.

A diet of bread and butter is a deficient diet. On the other hand, a diet of wholemeal bread accompanied by milk, forms rather a good foundation for a meal, But please add some green vegetables and some fruit. You can manage, good lady, to get along with much less preparation of'food than most people indulge in, but please get out of this bread-and-butter habit. See that your food measures up to the standard given below. In May, 1941, at the National Nutrition Conference for Defence, the American Nutritionists issued a list of the foods considered necessary for good health. Put into simple language, these are: One pint of milk for adults (more for a child). A serving of meat (cheaper cuts are just as nutritiéus). One egg, or some suitable substitute such as beans. Two vegetables, one of which should be green or yellow. Two fruits, one of which should be rich ‘in vitamin C (found abundantly in citrus fruits and tomatoes). Breads, flour and cereal-most or preferably all whole grain, Some butter, Other foods to satisfy the appetite. (Next week: "Sore Throats," by Dr. Turbott.)