Classifications of Food for A Healthy Living

Food is anything which, when taken into the body under proper
conditions, is broken down and taken into the blood and utilized for
building, repairing or the production of heat or energy.

There are various forms of foods, which can be divided into two classes:
First, nitrogenous foods or proteins. Second, carbonaceous, foods, under
which caption come the sugars, starches and fats. Salts and water are
not usually classified as foods, though they should be, for life is
impossible without either.

The chief proteins are: First, the albuminoids, which are represented by
the albumin in eggs, the casein in milk and cheese, the myosin of muscle
and the gluten of wheat. Second, the gelatinoids, which are represented
by the ossein of bones, which can be made into glue, and the collogen of
tendons. Third, nitrogen extractives, which are the chief ingredients in
beef tea. They are easily removed from flesh by soaking it while raw in
cold water. They are rich in flavor and are stimulating. They have
absolutely no food value. Beef tea, and other related extracts, are not
foods. They are stimulants. In truth they are of no value, and those who
purchase such preparations pay a high price and get nothing in return.

The sugars and starches are grouped under the name of carbohydrates,
which means that they are a combination of water and carbon. There are
various forms of sugar. About 4 per cent of milk is milk sugar, which
agrees better with the young than any other kind of sugar. It is not so
soluble in water as the refined cane sugar, and therefore not so sweet,
but it is fully as nourishing. Honey is a mixture of various kinds of
sugars. Cane sugar is taken principally from sugar beets and sugar cane.
There is no chemical difference between the products of canes and beets.
Sugars can not be utilized by the blood until it has changed them into
other forms of sugar.

The use of sugar is rapidly increasing. Several centuries ago it was
used as a drug. It was doubtless as effective as a curing agent as our
drugs are today. Until within the last sixty or seventy years it has not
been used as a staple food. Now it is one of our chief foods. Not so
very long ago but ten pounds of sugar per capita were used annually, but
now we are consuming about ninety pounds each annually, that is, about
four ounces per day. Many people look upon sugar as a flavoring, which
it is in a measure, but it is also one of our most concentrated foods.

That this great consumption of sugar is harmful there is no doubt.
Physicians who practiced when the use of sugar was increasing very
rapidly called attention to the increasing decay of teeth. Sugar, as it
appears upon the table is an unsatisfied compound. It does not appear in
concentrated form in nature, but mixed with vegetable and mineral
matters, and when the pure sugar is put into solution it seeks these
matters. It is especially hungry for calcium and will therefore rob the
bones, the teeth and the blood of this important salt, if it can not be
had otherwise. The most noticeable effect is the decay of the teeth.

I have read considerable literature of late blaming sugar for producing
many diseases, among them tuberculosis and cancer. Improper feeding is
the chief cause of these diseases, but to blame sugar for all ills of
that kind is far from arriving at the truth. Cancer and tuberculosis
killed vast numbers of people before sugar was used as a staple. If we
wish to get at the root of any trouble, it is necessary for us to bury
our prejudices and be broad minded.

People who eat much sugar should also partake liberally of fresh raw
fruits and vegetables, in order to supply the salts in which sugar is
deficient. Lump sugar is practically pure, and therefore a poorer
article of diet than any other form of sugar, for man can not live on
carbon without salts.

Grape sugar and fruit sugar are the same chemically. Another name for
them is dextrose, and in the form of dextrose sugar is ready to be taken
up by the blood.

Children like sweets, but it is just as easy to give them the sweet
fruits, such as good figs, dates and raisins, as it is to give them
commercial sugar and candy, and it is much better for their health.
Children who get used to the sweet fruits do not care very much for
candies. The sugar in these fruits is not concentrated enough to be an
irritant and it contains the salts needed by the body. Hence it does not
rob the body of any of its necessary constituents. Because the fruit
sugar, taken in fruit form, is not so concentrated and irritating as the
common sugar, the child is satisfied with less.

Sugar is an irritant of the mucous membrane and therefore stimulates the
appetite. This is true only when it is taken in excess in its artificial
form, and it does not matter whether it is sugar, jelly or jam. For this
reason jellies and jams should be used sparingly, because it is not
necessary to stimulate the appetite. Those who resort to stimulation
overeat. When much sugar is taken, it not only irritates the stomach,
but it even inflames this organ.