Maintaining Health (Formerly Health and Efficiency)Alsaker, Rasmus Larssen
Science
Maintaining Health (Formerly Health and Efficiency)
Alsaker, Rasmus Larssen
Diet; Hygiene
Tea and coffee should never be given to children. They are bad enough
for adults. In children they retard bodily development. The stimulation
and sedation are bad for the nervous system. Coffee is as harmful as
tobacco for the growing child.
To warn against alcohol may seem foolish, but some parents really give
beer and whiskey to their infants. The beer is given as a beverage and
the whiskey as medicine to kill pain and soothe the children. Those who
have not seen children abused in this way may find it difficult to
believe that there is such a profundity of ignorance. These children die
easily.
Others quiet their children with the various soothing syrups. The last
analyses that came under my eyes showed that these remedies contained
considerable opium, laudanum, morphine and other deadly poisons.
Morphine and opium are not well borne by children and these "mother's
friends" have soothed many a baby into the sleep from which there is no
waking. Make it a rule to give the children no medicines, either patent
or those prescribed by physicians. Please remember that any remedy that
quiets a child is poisonous. Children who get proper care require no
medical quieting.
Condiments should not be used. Salt is not necessary despite the popular
belief to the contrary, though a small amount does no harm. Salt eating
is a habit and when carried to excess it is a bad one. Salt is a good
preservative, but there is little excuse for our using preserved foods
extensively. There are so many foods that can be had without being
preserved in this country that it would not be difficult to exclude
these inferior foods from the dietary. Children whose foods are not
seasoned do not desire seasoning, provided they are fed on natural foods
from the start. They want the seasoning because they are taught to eat
their food that way. If they are given fresh fruit every day, such as
apples, oranges, cherries, grapes and berries, they get all the
seasoning they need and they get it in natural form.
The objection is made that such feeding deprives children of many of the
good things of life. This is not true. Natural foods taste better than
the doctored ones every time. Nature imparts a flavor to food products
which man has never been able to equal, to say nothing of surpassing it.
Children are taught to like abnormal foods. What is better, to give
children good foods upon which they thrive, or denatured foods which
taste well to a perverted palate, but are injurious?
Instead of giving sugar or candy, give raisins, figs, dates or sweet
prunes. Small children may be given the strained juices of these fruits,
obtained either by soaking the raw fruits several hours or by stewing
them. Children who are given these fruits do not crave refined sugar.
They like these natural sugars better than the artificial extract. These
sweet fruits take the place of starchy food.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account