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Not many years ago, if the question had been asked, "What kinds
of food ought one to ear?" most people would have looked a little surprised
and replied, "Whatever you like, if it does not make you sick." People in
general thought of food as something that tasted good and made them feel
more comfortable when they were hungry. Very few realized that different
kinds of food served different purposes, and the mistake was often made of
using too little or too much of some one kind. This was just about as
reasonable as it would be to buy two hats when you had no shoes, or to go
without underwear for the sake of a new coat.
We are learning that our food is useful to us in three ways. The
first is to give us energy for work and to keep us warm. When a room is
cold, we make a fire. The burning of the coal or wood produces heat. If the
fire were under the boiler of an engine, it would turn the water into steam
that would furnish the power to run the engine. If you work hard, you need
plenty of the kind of food that gives energy; for if you do not have enough
food of this sort, the energy will have to come from some of the fat that is
stored up in your body. Then you will become thin and lose strength. On the
other hand, if you work little and eat much, you may grow too fat, or you
may clog the machinery of your body and so put it out of order and make it
incapable of doing good work.
The second way in which our food should be of use to us is as
material for building up our bodies and keeping them in repair. When a man
is building a house or repairing one, he needs wood or stone or brick; he
needs glass and putty and nails and plaster, and many other materials. When
a house is in use, something is always giving out and must be repaired. If
the proper materials for repair cannot be obtained, then one part of the
house after another ceases to be useful, and after a while the whole house
becomes worthless. It is the same with the body. The muscles, bones, nerves,
blood, and all the rest of it must have the proper sort of materials to make
them grow and to keep them in good working order. We may eat entirely too
much food, but if it is not of the proper sort, our bodies will become worn
out and will refuse to do their work.
Besides providing fuel and materials for growth and repair, food
must also act as a sort of overseer of the machinery of the body. If you
stop to think, you will realize that in your body there is a great deal of
machinery. To digest your dinner, for instance, is an important business and
not at all a simple matter. To carry on this business the muscles and blood
vessels of the stomach and the whole digestive apparatus must be kept in
good running order. Machinery needs great care. Each part must be kept in
the proper position to fit into the other parts and work with them. There
must be no friction, everything must work smoothly and regularly and
everything must be taken to the place where it is needed. When a man sets
out to repair his house, he must not only provide the proper materials, but
he must see that they are set in the right places and he must see that what
is useless and worn out is carried away as rubbish.
All this is the work of the food in the body, and it is high time
that we began to think more wisely about it.It is worth remembering:
That food is useful to us in the three following ways:
1. Fuel food to provide power for work, and to keep us warm.
2. Building food to provide material for building and repairing the
body.
3. Regulating food to keep the machinery of the body in good
running order. |
