The difficulty which confronts the housewife is to provide a meal suited to the needs, tastes, or idiosyncrasies of the various members of her household. Peculiarities of taste, unless these peculiarities have been intelligently acquired, may result in digestive disturbances. As an illustration: one may cultivate a dislike for meat, milk, or eggs, as is often the case, and if the proteins for the family is largely supplied by these, the individual who omits them from the meal, eats too large a proportion of starches and sugars, and not sufficient protein—legumes, nuts, etc. If this is long continued the blood becomes impoverished and anemia is produced. The relief lies in _cultivating a taste for all foods_. In active work, more heat is liberated, thus more fat, starches, and sugar are required for the resupply. As previously stated, if an excess of starch (glycogen) is stored in the liver, or an excess of fat in the tissues, this excess is called on to supply the heat and energy when the fats and carbohydrates daily consumed are not sufficient for the day’s demands. This is the principle in reduction of flesh. It is interesting to note that habits of combining foods are, perhaps unconsciously, based on dietetic principles. Meats, rich in protein, are served with potatoes or with rice, both of which are rich in starch. Bread, containing little fat, is served with butter. Beans, containing little fat, are cooked with pork. Starchy foods of all kinds are served with butter or cream. Macaroni, which is rich in starch, makes a well-balanced food when served with cheese. Pork and beans, bread and butter, bread and milk, chicken and rice, macaroni and cheese, poached eggs on toast, and custards, form balanced foods. A knowledge of such combinations is important when one must eat a hasty luncheon and wishes to supply the demands of the body in the least time, giving the least thought to the selection; but hasty luncheons, with the mind concentrated on other things, are to be strongly condemned. It has been estimated that the average daily need of the adult is forty-five ounces of solid food, one-fourth animal and three-fourths vegetable. Twice as much water as solids should be taken. The laborer, engaged in heavy muscular activity, needs and can assimilate more than the sedentary office worker. Those who work but a few hours a day require less food, as a rule, than those who work long hours. Cold weather demands more heat-producing foods; a hot climate, inducing inactivity of body, diminishes the need for food. The invalid needs less food than the healthy. The inhabitant of the frigid zone needs much fat; he who lives in the tropics but little fat. The old need less food than the growing youth or the hearty adult. The poor must often take what he can get while the rich eat to satiety. Yet all these food needs vary with the individual and with the sex and activity.