Are you one of thousands of homemakers in this country trying to do a great job feeding a family? If so, you know that your task is vital to family health and important to happiness, and it’s not easy. You have a 4-point feeding program:
– To serve nice meals.
– To keep your family well fed.
– Practice saving when necessary.
– To save time and energy where you can.
Nutrition is the science of nutrition at work: nutrition at work for you. Modern knowledge of food at work brings a new kind of mastery over life. When you and your family eat the right foods, they do much more than keep you alive and going. Proper nutrition helps you be at your best in health and vitality. It can even help you stay young longer, postponing old age. A person well nourished from childhood is more likely to enjoy a long life. But at any age, you’re better off when you’re better fed.
The three great jobs of food
1. Food provides materials for building and repairing the body. Proteins and minerals (and water) are what tissues and bones are primarily made of. Children must have these foods to grow; and throughout life the body continues to need supplies for its maintenance.
2. Food provides buffers that allow the body to use other materials and function smoothly. Vitamins do an important job in this line, as do minerals and proteins.
3. Food provides fuel for the body’s energy and heat. There is some fuel in every food.
Body needs, from A to Z
From vitamin A to the mineral zinc, a list of nutrients (chemicals known to be required by the body from food) would add up to more than 40. And there may be some that have yet to be detected. You can put nutrition knowledge to work without being presented with all of your body’s needs from A to Z. When daily meals provide enough for the following key nutrients, you can be reasonably sure of getting the rest.
protein
Protein was named from a Greek word meaning “first.” Almost a hundred years ago, it was recognized that it was the main substance of all the muscles and organs of the body, skin, hair and other tissues. No single substance could build and renew such different tissues, and protein has proven to be complex and varied.
The protein in different foods is made up of varying combinations of 22 simpler materials called amino acids. If needed, the body can make its own supply of more than half of these amino acids. But the remaining amino acids must come prepared from food. And to get the best use of these specials, the body needs them all together, either in a single food or in some combination of foods.
The best quality proteins have all of these especially important amino acids and valuable amounts of each.
You get top-notch protein from animal foods like meat, chicken, fish, eggs, milk, cheese. Some of these high-protein foods are needed every day; and it is an advantage to include a little in each meal.
The next best thing for protein are soybeans and nuts and dried beans and peas. When these do feature in main dishes, try pairing them with some high-quality protein if you can.
The rest of the necessary protein will then come from cereals, bread, vegetables and fruits. Many American-style dishes, such as beef and vegetable stew, egg sandwiches, macaroni and cheese, cereal, and milk, are highly nutritious combinations. Because in the remarkable chemistry of the body, high-grade proteins combine with less complete proteins in many complementary foods and make the latter more useful than if eaten alone.