Posted in Homestead

Everywhere you turn you are being told about good nutrition.  What foods to pick, how many servings of each, etc.  Here is a selection you should pay special attention to:

"Raw tomatoes, oranges, and raw cabbage are leading vitamin carriers, particularly of vitamin C, which most easily succumbs to cooking, and which you must take pains to include, or it will escape you.  And without itgeneral vitality suffers.

You should have green vegetables, which should be eaten four or five times a week.  Some green vegetables to be chosen from are asparagus, beet greens, Swiss chard, Brussel sprouts, dandelion greens, kale, lettuce, endive, romaine, string beans, and spinach.  Other vegetables to be given to children are beets, carrots, kohl-rabi, beans, eggplant, lentils, onions, peas, potatoes, squash, tomatoes, and turnips. 

Steaming vegetables avoids loss of nutrient into the water, which occurs when they are boiled.  However, since boiling may likely be morea more common process in many households. let us say right now that the water in which the vegetables are cooked should never be thrown away, but saved and used for soups, or prepared into sauce to serve over the vegetables. 

Bread.  Give preference to whole wheat, with white milk with raisins, corn and graham fruit muffins and rye for variety.  Finely ground whole wheat may be used to make cookies, gingerbread, and biscuits, as well as bread.  The whole wheat is more complete in itself."

You can read this and know that it comes from a nutrition guide or magazine that is promoting good nutrition through whole foods.  This is a sign of the times.  Our society has come a long way being able to determine what is nutritionally valuable and what is devoid.  Whole foods is the thing these days.  It's a new look on eating that will promote long lasting health benefits.  Or is it?

The above excerpt is taken from a Homemaker's Guide from 1929!  I was given this book as a gift from my good friend Judy, because she likes me.  =)  Of course, being a genuine reader and an antique book lover, it was THE perfect gift for me.  =)  I poured through the book and found much of what we are being told today was what was being told back then.  For those who's brains are not turned on yet, we are talking early depression era.  There is so much more in this book to chew on; discussing everything from ettiquette, to stain removal, and how to make things last.  That's something you don't see much now a days. 

So, the Doctors, Researchers, and Media aren't as smart as they try to have us believe.  They are regurgitating the lifestyle choices we have walked away from, knowing that they are truly more beneficial to a long and healthful life.  In an effort to keep people in the know and up to date with the latest findings these things are being broadcast and dispersed as new findings.  Who wants to admit that our ancestors knew better than us?  Who wants to admit that the constant effort of moving forward may not always be the most beneficial path?  Everything old is new again.

These are my thoughts.