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111
To enable food to perform its work it must be chewed and
digested, hence children require not only sufficient, suitable food,
but regular meals and sufficient time for meals with subsequent rest
for half an hour. Children should not eat standing and be hurried
back to school directly they have finished the. last morsel. The
bowels must also be relieved each day.
Three necessary kinds of Food which must all find their place
in the daily supply:—
(1) Starches and sugars. Such as potatoes, rice, sugar, etc
(2) Fats.
(3) Meat and meat substitutes.
In selecting articles for diet we must consider:—
(1) Their digestibility.
(2) Their food value.
(3) Their cost, i.e., the amount we can buy for a given sum.
The real (strength giving) value of common food materials is
best estimated by enquiring how much we can buy for say is.,
judged on this basis
Flour, bread, oatmeal and sugar are the four cheapest
articles of food.
Other really cheap foods are peas, lard, dripping, margarine
and herrings.
A satisfactory diet must contain all three great classes of food
stuffs. Some articles of food, such as milk, contain all three.
Meat and Meat substitutes.—‘Pieces" of lean meat can be
bought for 3d. a lb. and are just as nutritious as a joint which costs
twice as much. Hence pieces" made in a stew or meat pudding
are twice as good value as a joint.