Miss Nuha Salman is a specialist in "nutrition" from Beirut College for Women, and The Woman's Voice is pleased to present her in a series beginning today, in which she will treat, in turn, the importance of the nourishing elements in food: energy, protein, minerals, and vitamins. She will then take up the effect of cooking on the nutritive elements, and turn finally to Lebanese food in particular and its nutritive value...
The seven basic foods are the foundation of health and growth in every individual.
Nutrition is a new field of study, developed during the last quarter of the twentieth century, when scientists and researchers awoke to the many diseases threatening the existence of mankind and to the spread of malnutrition. After great and sustained efforts they widened the field of nutrition and enrolled it among the applied sciences. In this age of ours, health is considered one of the principal measures of a people's cultural level. And health is nothing but the fruit of good nutrition, so great is its importance for the individual's growth and development, the health of his body, his mental activity and intelligence, the lengthening and gladdening of life, resistance to diseases, and the acquiring of immunity against them; it also prevents the retarding of growth and the coming of old age.
Food is the sole source that supplies the nutritional requirements — energy, protein, mineral salts, and vitamins. And since the foods available to man are many and varied, choosing among them has become a difficult and complicated matter. The nutrition experts therefore decided that the only way to solve this problem is to divide the foods into seven basic groups. This is simply a dietary arrangement that helps the housewife supply the family with sufficient provision of food. The classification reveals the principal kinds of food and guides one to the choice of a balanced diet, wisely distributed over three meals a day, so that every member of the family is furnished with the nourishing elements needed to maintain his health and activity. As one nutrition scientist has said: the seven basic foods are the foundation of health and growth in every individual...
1 — Green leafy and yellow vegetables
Serve some of these foods once or more every day, for this group is rich in vitamin A and in carotene, owing to the yellow and green pigment it contains; it also contains other minerals and vitamins, and some of its members contain ascorbic acid (Vitamin C).
2 — Citrus fruits, tomatoes, and raw cabbage.
It is desirable to serve moderate amounts of at least one of these items once every day, for they are necessary because of their high content of vitamin C, that is, ascorbic acid. Orange juice is considered a vital part of the diet of infants and children.
3 — Potatoes, fruits, and the other vegetables
Serve from this group once or more a day. Potatoes are consumed in great quantities in most countries of the world, and they are a rich source of vitamin C if cooked in their skins.