We are told in the Spirit of prophecy that there is a certain epitaph which could be appropriately placed over thousands and tens of thousands of graves: "Died—the victim of poor cookery." We are also told that it is "a sacred duty for those who cook to learn how to prepare healthful food. Many souls are lost as the result of poor cookery."—"Counsels on Diet and Foods," p. 257. It is a recognized fact among those who have studied disease and its causes that more than half of the disease that afflicts the human population is due to eating unwholesome food. No one thing over which we have control exerts such a marked influence upon our physical welfare. Even our spiritual progress is impaired, because derangement of the physical body influences the mind and the soul.
Since food is so inseparably connected with our physical and spiritual well-being, what can be more deserving of our careful consideration and study? People have become so accustomed to eating for pleasure or merely to satisfy hunger, that little more than the attainment of these ends is thought of. The selection of foods best adapted to the building and maintaining of strong, healthy bodies as fit temples for pure and noble thoughts is either ignored or lightly considered. But "the Lord desires His people to appreciate the necessity of having food prepared in such a way that it will not make sour stomachs, and in consequence, sour tempers."--14., p. 251.
Food preparation should be approached scientifically. The scientific principles which underlie the preparation of healthful food should be well understood. The practical application of these principles will yield inestimable returns in health and enjoyment of life. God regards the science of healthful cookery one of value above all other sciences.
* Parallel discussion with Section XIV, "Healthful Cookery," in the book, "Counsels on Diet and Foods."
"The one who understands the art of properly preparing food, and who uses this knowledge, is worthy of higher commendation than those engaged in any other line of work." "In order to learn how to cook, women should study, and then patiently reduce what they learn to practice. People are suffering because they will not take the trouble to do this."—Id,, pp. 251, 253.
Many cooks of long experience have become skilled in the art of combining ingredients and flavors to make palatable and attractive dishes, many of which are far from wholesome and nutritious. Food properly prepared should not only please the appetite, but should nourish the body. This requires skill on the part of the cook, and a knowledge of the food needs of the body and relative nutritional values.
The purpose of food is to promote growth, repair waste, supply energy, and regulate body processes. The nutritional elements in foods that do this are proteins, fats, carbohydrates, minerals, vitamins, and water. Much research has been done in the last thirty years to determine the amounts of these various constituents that the average person requires each day for optimal health, and suggestive standards have been set. Surveys of the eating habits of hundreds of American families reveal the fact that the American diet is decidedly below the recommended standards of optimum adequacy in many respects. Calcium and vitamins A, B, C, and G are generally regarded as the substances most frequently deficient. Clinical data also show a pronounced correlation between previous food habits of patients and incidence of degenerative disease. Dr. E. V. McCollum, of Johns Hopkins University, makes the following comment on the relation of food to health, and points out our greatest dietetic errors.
"We know that if the diet does not provide the right substances and in the right amounts, the physiological processes do not run smoothly and life does not last so long as when the system is supplied with proper food. Old age appears sooner than is necessary, and the body becomes prey to disease which might under more favorable conditions have been avoided."
"We are eating too much refined cereal products such as white flour, refined corn meal, polished rice and cereal breakfast foods, potatoes, and sugar, and not enough of the protective foods."
The "protective foods" are milk, fruits, and leafy vegetables. It is the preponderant use of the refined, devitalized food in our dietary, such as degerminated cereals and the excessive sweets, that is crowding out the foods containing the life-giving elements which God intended we should have. Scientific study and advice certainly emphasize the counsel given us long ago to "eat largely of fruit and vegetables." It becomes apparent that care needs to be exercised in the selection of food, but this is not enough. The preparation of food is of vital importance. Food values may be improved or impaired by cooking. Cooking is supposed to render most foods more digestible, but in this it often fails. Some foods are better eaten raw. Fresh fruits and vegetables are practically our only source of vitamin C, and this is easily destroyed in the cooking process unless protected by certain fruit acids. This illustrates the scientific basis upon which the following instruction is based.
"The Lord desires those living in countries where fresh fruit can be obtained during a large part of the year to awake to the blessing they have in this fruit. The more we depend upon the fresh fruit just as it is plucked from the tree, the greater will be the blessing." "It would be well for us to do less cooking and to eat more fruit in its natural state."—"Counsels on Diet and Foods," p. 309.
Overcooking vegetables in large amounts of water results in mineral and vitamin losses. Vitamins B and C are soluble in water. Vegetables that have been pared and allowed to stand in water for several hours, or cooked in liberal amounts of water, will have 40-50 per cent of vitamin B removed in the water. Fruits and vegetables are one of our best sources of iron; therefore losses of this mineral in vegetable cookery becomes outstanding in significance. Losses of iron in cooking are reported in "Food Preparation," by Sweetnian, as follows: Potatoes, Is per cent; navy beans, 32 per cent; peas, 36 per cent; spinach, 43 per cent. The food value of juices in which vegetables are cooked should not be overlooked.
Applying intense heat to fat, as in frying, will cause chemical changes in the fat, with the formation of irritating substances. Complicated mixtures of many kinds of foods hinder digestion and are many times positively injurious.
"The large amount of cooking done is not at all necessary."—"Counsels on Diet and Foods," P. 259. Food can be prepared "in a simple, healthful, and easy manner," if women will study to do it. "The serving of a great variety of dishes absorbs time, money, and taxing labor, without accomplishing any good."—Id.,p. 258.
We would do well to heed this instruction, for our stomachs, nerves, and pocketbooks would be benefited by its application. Economy should be a constant watchword in every phase of food preparation. Overeating, one of the greatest of dietary sins, is encouraged by serving too great a variety of food at one meal, especially food that is highly flavored to tempt the appetite. What we eat unwisely or in excess of bodily needs is waste, as much as what we carelessly throw away. "Food [should] be prepared in the most natural and inexpensive manner."—Ibid. This by no means indicates that the diet need be impoverished. The instruction is to "learn how to cook with simplicity, and yet in a manner to secure the most palatable and healthful food."—Id., p. 260.
Expenditure does not always ensure adequacy. Investigations of food expenditures in twenty college boarding houses managed without a dietitian showed that one or more minerals or vitamins were deficient in nearly all cases, and there was no parallel between the amount expended and the degree of adequacy. The five dietaries costing the most had more mineral deficiencies than the five costing the least. The investigators concluded that the deficiencies could have been met without increased cost if more careful selection had been practiced.
Rapid advance in the science of nutrition and foods in recent years has given us much information about diet. Marked improvements have been wrought in many respects, but we need a much more far-reaching application of this knowledge in everyday life. People are becoming more and more food-conscious. Nutritionists and economists are stressing the need of education in relative food values, which should increase the consumption of "protective foods." They are also trying to encourage home production and preservation of fruits and vegetables in rural areas. This harmonizes with the type of instruction given this people many years ago.
As a people, we have not appropriated all the blessings in store for us in carrying out the instruction we have received on the matter of selection and preparation of healthful food. May we no longer have the charge of indifference and neglect laid at our door. By voice and pen and daily living, may we encourage and promote this most important branch of education.
Bibliography
Sherman, H. C., "Chemistry of Food and Nutrition." Macmillan, New York City, 1937.
Sherman, H. C., "Food and Health." Macmillan, New York City, 1938.
McCollum and Simmonds, "Food and Health." Lord Baltimore Press, Baltimore.
Thoma, Katherine, "Food in Health and Disease," Chapter III. F. A. Davis, Philadelphia.
Sweetman, Marion Deyoe, "Food Preparation," Chapters V, VI, and XV. John Wiley and Sons, New York City.
Chaney and Ahlborn, "Nutrition." Houghton Mifflin, Boston.
