A general balance of food should be maintained in each day’s diet: 1/5th meat or meat alternatives, 1/5th fat, and 3/5ths carbohydrates, with a serving of fruits and vegetables and plenty of liquid, completes the necessary variety. WHERE THE CALORIE COMES IN Before assimilation, the food we eat must be oxidized or burned. The heat resulting from this oxidation is measured in terms of calories, or heat units. While the number of calories supplied by the diet is important, the proper balance as to the classification of the food is of prime importance. We cannot build up the diet on calorie values alone without consideration of the food elements. Rubner’s Chart of Calorie Requirements Man at light work 2500 to 2800 Calories per day Man at moderate work 3000 to 3500 “ “ “ Man at very hard work 4000 to 5000 “ “ “ Woman at light work 1800 to 2400 “ “ “ Woman at moderate work 2400 to 2800 “ “ “ Child from two to six 1200 to 1800 “ “ “ Child from six to fifteen 1800 to 2500 “ “ “ Aged Man 1800 to 2000 “ “ “ Aged Woman 1600 to 1800 “ “ “ (The above is computed on persons of average weights.) PROTECTIVE FOODS The responsibility for the correct development of a family rests more and more surely at the door of the one who plans and cooks the meals for that family. Nutrition experts are continually making careful tests and giving us valuable information through the newspapers and women’s national publications. With such easy access to the fundamentals of correct eating, it comes close to criminal negligence for a mother to feed her family improperly; the present percentage of under-nourished children is appalling, and many of these are in the homes of the well-to-do. The most important “food finding” of the year has been the information given the public regarding Protective Foods, sometimes called dietetic ferments or the foods rich in the vitamines that promote growth and those rich in the vitamines that protect one from deficiency diseases such as scurvy, beriberi, pellagra and less dangerous skin diseases. Milk and its products, butter and cheese, are foremost growth promotors. In this class comes also the yolk of eggs, glandular meats, and grains with the living germ still intact. Leafy vegetables, such as spinach, lettuce, cabbage, chard, cauliflower, kale, all greens, water cress, onions, string beans, and a few others are classed with protective foods. While Professor McCullom does not yet definitely list the tomato under protective foods, it is found to have valuable protective qualities, often being substituted for orange juice in preventing scurvy in baby feeding. The protective substance of the tomato is not easily destroyed. Experiments are continually being completed which add new foods to this important group.