I have a small collection of old nutrition texts and cookbooks and occasionally leaf through them out of interest. Yesterday as I was unpacking boxes I stumbled upon one titled, The Science of Food and Cookery. The book was written by dietitian H.S. Anderson in 1921. What I found most striking about the book was the emphasis on whole grains. The language the writer uses is a bit out of date but she states that eating the germ or the whole grain is key to gastrointestinal health (preventing constipation). Quotes like this one seem incredibly relevant, ” The natural result of living on a more or less exclusive diet of white bread, white rice, refined sugars, demineralized breakfast foods, and vegetables that have been depleted of their mineral salts often manifests itself…in maladies.” It sounds like a quote that could almost have been written today. Replace the word maladies with disease and it sounds like something I might write. Crazy right? In the end, you should LITERALLY take a page out of a 1920’s Nutrition book and eat more whole grains.
