Fats

Fats are derived from the animal and vegetable kingdom; they are rich in carbon and hydrogen, but poor in oxygen. Emulsified fats are present in cream, nuts and the yolks of eggs. Oleins are mainly found in oils obtained from fruits, nuts and vegetables. Butter contains mainly palmitin. Suet, from beef and mutton, consists of stearin and palmitin. Lecithin is found in yolks of eggs and in some nuts; it is a highly complex compound, and a food for the brain and nerve substance. Suet and mutton fat contain much stearin, and are harder to digest by some people than other fats. However, the digestibility of a food depends much upon the individual requirements, and a little self study will soon convince each what forms of fat are best suited to his needs. As a rule, people of large bone structures require a greater amount of fat in their food than those not so constructed.

Fats are changed into fatty acids and glycerine by the secretion of the bile and pancreatic juice, and in combination with the intestinal juices form soluble soaps. In acute diseases fats should be taken only in the form of butter, milk, or cream, in limited quantities. Fatty foods are beneficial for children suffering with scrofula or rickets, and in all chronic, wasting diseases.

People who do much indoor work, or those who are not able to digest a sufficient amount of protein or cereals, require more fats. The latter can be made easily digestible if rightly combined and prepared in the form of soups, warm sauces, boiled custards and mayonnaise dressing. In this way the fat globules are equally divided in the food and can be better emulsified than if eaten in the solid form, or in combination with white bread or other unsuitable articles. Cream, and the lighter nuts, combine well with sweet foods, while oils, yolks of eggs, meat fats, and solid fats, combine well with foods which are rich in minerals and oxygen.

People who are unable to furnish their table with expensive fats, such as butter, olives, cream, olive oil, bacon, eggs, eel and other delicacies, should use the cheaper forms of fats, as corn, oats, herring, walnuts, cream-cheese, cottonseed oil, bran, leaf lard, vegetable butter, middle rib of beef, blood and liver sausages. Meat products, prepared from the internal organs of the animal, are rich in lime and fat, and, if prepared from fresh meats of healthy animals, they are often preferable to canned and cold storage products, or to meat which hangs in a meat-shop for a week. However, every one who buys these articles should investigate the source and manner of preparation for himself.

Sugar

Artificial sugar is not a necessary article of food for the healthy individual who is able to supply his body with fresh and dried fruits the year round.

True candies are: figs, dates, raisins and other tropical fruits. The delicious summer fruits are better eaten without sugar. Undoubtedly nature did not mean for us to indulge in sweets during hot days, or she would have provided us more plentifully with them. All the spring fruits are tart: people who wish to improve the taste of berries add sugar to them at the expense of health. Our forefathers, who did not enjoy such luxuries, had better health than our present generation. The sugar-cane in its natural state is a valuable food. It contains gluten and minerals, such as are found in other vegetables, and if eaten in this form it is more wholesome than refined sugar. The gluten and minerals are destroyed by chemical processes which are necessary to produce sugar from the cane and beet. Pure, crystalized sugar cannot sustain life, unless it is eaten in the proper proportion, with foods which contain gluten, minerals and fats.

Sugar which contains minerals cannot crystalize: it remains syrup, therefore the latter is more wholesome than sugar. In order to produce beets, which are richer in sugar and poorer in salts, certain methods of manuring are employed. The profit gained by this method is a financial one. The consumer is the loser.

If artificial sugar is united with cocoa or other bitter, sour, nutritious substances it will serve as a food; therefore, sugar in the form of a prepared food such as chocolate, gelatine and gruels is wholesome for those who require cooked foods. If the sugar industry were diminished, the canning and stewing of fruits would also be diminished, and we would have fewer tea and coffee drunkards. All this gluttony in stimulating beverages and sweet fruit sauces was not indulged in by the masses a hundred years ago, therefore the constitution of the average individual at that time was much stronger.

Many parents are impressed with the idea that their children require a large amount of sweets, in order to make them grow. We cannot force nature without paying the penalty. At maturity, we reap what has been sown for us, or what we have sown for ourselves.