Basic HTML Version
Diet and Health
211
The meals should be varied. The same dishes, prepared in the
same way, should not appear on the table meal after meal and day
after day. The meals are eaten with greater relish, and the system is
better nourished, when the food is varied.
Preparation of Food
It is wrong to eat merely to gratify the appetite, but no indiffer-
ence should be manifested regarding the quality of the food or the
manner of its preparation. If the food eaten is not relished, the body
will not be so well nourished. The food should be carefully chosen
and prepared with intelligence and skill.
For use in breadmaking, the superfine white flour is not the
best. Its use is neither healthful nor economical. Fine-flour bread
is lacking in nutritive elements to be found in bread made from
the whole wheat. It is a frequent cause of constipation and other
unhealthful conditions.
The use of soda or baking powder in breadmaking is harmful and
unnecessary. Soda causes inflammation of the stomach and often
poisons the entire system. Many housewives
“And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb
bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth,
and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding
seed; to you it shall be for meat.”
Genesis 1:29
.
[301]
think that they cannot make good bread without soda, but this is an
error. If they would take the trouble to learn better methods, their
bread would be more wholesome, and, to a natural taste, it would be
more palatable.
In the making of raised or yeast bread, milk should not be used
in place of water. The use of milk is an additional expense, and it
makes the bread much less wholesome. Milk bread does not keep
sweet so long after baking as does that made with water, and it
ferments more readily in the stomach.
Bread should be light and sweet. Not the least taint of sourness
should be tolerated. The loaves should be small and so thoroughly
baked that, so far as possible, the yeast germs shall be destroyed.