The Road to Wellville/Chapter 6

by the The Postum Cereal Company

Cereals, Their Place in the Diet

here’s a reason” for the universal diet of cereals and milk. Taken together, the right kinds of cereals and milk provide those fundamental food values which are necessary to sound nutrition. Since neither milk nor cereals can be depended upon as sources of vitamins C and D, other foods must supply them.

The vegetable protein of cereals is splendidly supplemented by the animal protein of the milk. Economy is served also, because cereals and milk supply a well-balanced meal at low cost.

Milk taken alone has some shortcomings. By happy coincidence, the shortcomings of milk are the strong points of the cereals. Cereals that contain the germ or bran, or both, are excellent sources of phosphorus, iron and the B vitamin. Together with milk, they will go far toward furnishing the day’s requirements. Cereals which have a considerable proportion of bran, supply the needed bulk to prevent constipation.

Grape-Nuts’
Contribution
to Body BuildingGrape-Nuts is a combination of wheat and malted barley, baked into loaves, then sliced, re-crisped by slow oven baking, and finally crumbled into tiny brown morsels of natural cereal sweetness, that come in sanitary sealed packages, ready to serve.

Grape-Nuts provides vital elements for the health and growth of the body; dextrins and other carbohydrates, iron, phosphorus, protein, and the vitamin B. With this admirable combination of food elements, supplemented by the addition of milk. Grape-Nuts is a food of the highest nutritive value.

During the baking of the Grape-Nuts, the starch of the wheat and barley is thoroughly cooked, during which process most of the starch is converted into the easily digestible dextrins and maltose.

Grape-Nuts is a good source of the mineral iron. By consulting the table on page 28, it will be seen that it stands high on the list of the foods that are valuable as sources of iron—one serving furnishing eight per cent of that needed for the day.

Its phosphorus insures a mineral supply for the health of teeth and bones. Its proteins are necessary for muscle and body-building. The vitamin B it contains promotes health, appetite, and digestion.

As has been shown, thorough mastication of hard foods is essential to sound tooth development and maintenance. Only in this way is circulation in the inner part of the teeth and surrounding tissues assured. So, in addition to its many nutritional advantages, Grape-Nuts is valuable mechanically, for its crispness encourages thorough mastication, so necessary to the health and beauty of teeth and gums.

Think what a food like this means to the average housewife and mother! She plans the daily diet of her family, striving to select, from an infinite variety of foods, the ones which will answer most of the needs of the children as well as those of the adults. It is a formidable task for anyone not an expert dietitian—particularly in these days when over-refinement of many foods has caused the loss of vital elements. But Grape-Nuts, delicious, easy to digest, and ready-to-serve, supplies a variety of basic elements of nutrition required each day by the healthy body. Served with milk or cream, it is an admirably balanced ration, adapted to the needs of adults and children alike.

One of the duties of a good food is to be appetizing—and how delicious Grape-Nuts is! Its brown, sweet crunchiness is irresistible.

Grape-Nuts may be served not only with milk or cream, but with fruits, fresh or canned. Many serve it with apple sauce, with stewed prunes or apricots, and a glass of milk on the side. However eaten, the one-ounce ready-to-serve portion of Grape-Nuts, with the wholesome, long cooking of the starch already accomplished, offers varied and invaluable services in body-building.

Post ToastiesIn Post Toasties, the double-thick corn flakes, we have the white corn grits, cooked, dried, steamed, and rolled into flakes, crisped and seasoned with salt and sugar, 100 calories to the one-ounce portion, at a cost of about a cent. There is also 8.1 per cent of protein and 0.4 per cent of fat with the energizing starch of the grain. Here is a crisp, delicious source of body energy, and an appetizing carrier of milk, that will often be relished.

While Post Toasties, double-thick corn flakes, are primarily valuable as a source of energy, still, when their 8.1 per cent of protein is supplemented by milk, they become efficient assistant builders, as well as prime energizers. They are the obvious choice for the summer and spring breakfast, to offer an appetizing variety at any season, and for the winter and autumn supper dish when a lighter cereal is wanted. They may be used to tempt the delicate appetite and for an “in-between-meals” snack, eaten dry or with fruit. They are delicious before retiring.

For adults, any time, with milk or fruit, Post Toasties are an admirable food, and their convenience often means a cereal and milk served when otherwise there might be no cereal at all. Also, Post Toasties are delectable in certain macaroons and cookies that may be substituted for undesirable sweets in the nursery menu. They may be crushed and used for crumbing cooked dishes in kitchenette homes where stale bread and the hoarding of leftovers have no place. Post Toasties, being double-thick corn flakes, stay crisp in milk or cream.

It has already been said, but it will stand saying again, that the carrying off of the body wastes, after the food has delivered up its store of nourishment, is just as important to health as putting in the supply of body fuel. Constipation is often responsible for many such conditions as headache, lassitude, irritability, coated Post’s Bran Flakestongue, bad breath, and eventually many other more definite and chronic states of ill health. Constipation is to be reckoned among civilization’s greatest menaces.

Dangers of ConstipationBoth our foods and our habits promote this evil. We have inherited an alimentary canal ten times the length of the body. It calls for the exercise that men and animals got perforce when they had to hunt their food. But now the food is delivered by motor and served minced, softened, and denatured with all offending roughage removed. The combination of refined foods and a sedentary life has almost paralyzed the colon, and deprived it of all ambition to do its work. It is too often prodded to activity with cathartics, which only tend to produce a reactionary sluggishness after each use.

ExerciseA laxative diet is not all. Large amounts of laxative, coarse foods, succulent green foods, and enough water, are necessary to counteract modern habits, but exercise must supplement even the most laxative diet. See Appendix for suggestions.

DietThe diet for healthful elimination is simple: much water drinking (morning and night and between meals); Post’s Bran Flakes eaten as a cereal or baked into bread or muffins; decrease of meat consumption, saving appetite and capacity for succulent bulky fruits and vegetables that carry cellulose (fibre that remains undigested and gives bulk to the food residues), as well as the activating minerals and vitamins.

It seems impossible that the solid turnip is 90 per cent water, but such is the case, and carrots, beets, spinach, greens, string beans, celery, lettuce, cucumbers, radishes, raw cabbage, all come in this class of Nature’s mild laxatives. Among the fruits, the figs, prunes, and berries are prominent, though oranges, apples, grapes, and other fresh fruits all promote elimination.

The cellulose of fruits and vegetables may break down, but the cork-like cells of the outside of grains, and the cellulose of seeds and berries and the coarser fibres of vegetables are more resistant and so provide the needed bulk for elimination. Not only does wheat bran possess this characteristic, but it carries with it valuable minerals and vitamin B. Post’s Bran Flakes is designedly made to carry enough of the wheat kernel along to make it both palatable and nutritious, with enough bran to furnish the right amount of bulk. Post’s Bran Flakes contains over 11 per cent of protein, 1.5 per cent of fat, nearly 4 per cent of fibre, and 4 per cent of minerals. These minerals include important amounts of iron and phosphorus. So, served with milk (carrying abundant calcium), two or three heaping tablespoons of this cereal gives us a running start up the Road to Wellville every morning.

Used as a cereal, and also in breads and muffins, supplemented with exercise and the succulent fruits and vegetables mentioned, even the unnatural tendencies of civilization may be successfully counteracted, unless the intestine is really paralyzed or there is definite stoppage. Then, too, these measures tend to make good elimination habitual, to animate the colon to natural action, whereas cathartics tend to make constipation progressively worse.

In making Post’s Bran Flakes, the wheat berry is thoroughly cleaned before the bran is removed and is flaked and seasoned with salt and malt syrup, so that the flakes are highly palatable. Secreting such a bran product in other cereals is not necessary, for the little brown, crisp flakes are an appetizing food in themselves. Mixed with Post Toasties (double-thick corn flakes), used as soup croutons for dinner or the children’s luncheon, or served with coddled soft eggs instead of toast, we can get the needed roughage with pleasure as well as profit. And used for making macaroons with brown sugar and cocoanut, they make an assistant laxative for the nursery that will never be suspected of ministering to any purpose but joyful eating. See page 90 for recipe.

Post’s Bran ChocolateIn the day’s food requirements there is a very definite place for sweets. This is especially true with respect to children. Children will have candy, and so we prepared in Post’s Bran Chocolate a candy for them. Post’s Bran Chocolate is the wise selection of conscientious mothers who daily have to face the candy problem. It enables the mother to satisfy the child’s “sweet tooth” and at the same time provides a delightful and nourishing food.

The name tells exactly what Post’s Bran Chocolate is: a combination of pure milk chocolate and healthful Post’s Bran Flakes; chocolate for the sweet tooth and bran for prevention.

Post’s Bran Chocolate is not a medicine in any sense of the word, but a delicious health confection the entire family will want to eat, because of the margin of safety provided by Post’s Bran Flakes. There is a genuine treat in store for those who travel to Wellville when they crunch their teeth into this bran and chocolate goodness. It has a delicious flavor all its own. The crisp, crunchy bran flakes taste like fresh nut kernels. They make this a safe and toothsome treat for grown-ups and children alike.

Postum Cereal and Instant PostumFood is a builder. Every food element discussed in the previous pages has something definite to contribute to the body. That is as it should be, if our road is the Road to Wellville. Yet it is unfortunately true that a vast majority are disregarding the signs which point to Wellville by taking into their bodies, meal after meal, an element which does not build.

This element is caffein—a drug. A valuable drug, it is true, in the treatment of certain diseases, if used under the direction of a physician. But no drug has a place in the diet. It should be recognized, and used, for what it is.

The average cup of coffee contains from one and one-half to three grains of caffein—a full medicinal dose, such as might be administered by a physician in certain heart conditions. Tea contains the same drug. Neither of these beverages has any food value. They are merely convenient ways of conveying this drug element.

Why do so many men and women persist in the stimulation of this drug? Why is it so many “can’t get along without their cup of coffee” without suffering a blinding headache?

The Danger SignalThis is the explanation. The body has a stop signal, fatigue, to warn when rest is needed. The natural impulse is to obey this signal. It was meant to be obeyed. But in this day of rush and hurry—in this day when so many are trying to carry too great a load of work or pleasure and are not supplying their bodies with the food elements for even a normal load—there is an increasing tendency to disregard the warning signal of fatigue.

Caffein has the power to deaden the fatigue signal. It seems to give new energy. But it cannot do that, because it has no food value. What it actually does is withdraw reserve energy from the body’s vital store. Bit by bit this reserve is robbed.

It is our reserve of vital energy which enables us to do our daily work easily. It enables us to do an extra amount of work, or to go for a night without sleep, if need be, without exhaustion. It is this reserve strength on which we call to fight a disease which strikes us. It is our real life insurance in emergencies. Without it, we are skirting perilously close to an abyss.

So the man or woman who overrides the warning signal of fatigue with mealtime doses of caffein—who by this means withdraws reserve energy instead of supplying new energy through rest and refreshment—is tampering with an essential scheme of nature. Nervousness, sleeplessness, headache, and indigestion may be only the apparent indications of more serious ills to follow.

Everyone wants a Hot DrinkIt is natural for everyone to want a hot drink at mealtime. It is desirable to have such a drink—for its warmth, for its flavor, for the zest for other foods. On the Road to Wellville, this drink is Postum.

Postum was originated to supply all the desirable qualities of a hot mealtime drink, without a trace of any drug. It is made of whole wheat and bran, skillfully blended and roasted to bring out the full, rich flavor of the golden grain. It is not an imitation of any other drink, but a wonderful drink in its own right—a drink that is preferred to any other in millions of homes!

There is a drink every member of the family can enjoy, every meal of the day, with no fear of ill effects. No need to deny it to the children—although most people wisely recognize that children must not have coffee and tea, even though they think they can stand these beverages themselves.

Postum comes in two forms: Postum Cereal and Instant Postum. They are exactly the same drink, made of the same material, but Instant Postum is carried one step closer to the cup by an added process in the factories.

How Postum is PreparedPostum Cereal is prepared much like coffee, by boiling, or in a percolator. Four heaping teaspoonfuls of Postum Cereal to a pint of cold water is the usual proportion. This should be boiled (or percolated) for at least twenty minutes (counting from the time boiling or percolating begins) to bring out fully the delicious flavor.

Instant Postum is made instantly. Measure a level teaspoonful of Instant Postum into a cup, then pour boiling water over it, filling the cup within an inch, or a little less, of the top. Stir it a moment, and the Instant Postum will be completely dissolved. Add sugar. Most people prefer less sugar than with coffee, as Postum is sweetened slightly in the manufacture. Then add cream, stirring it until it has a rich golden shade. Then taste it! No wonder this drink finds hundreds of thousands of new enthusiasts every year!

Some people prefer Postum made a little stronger or a little weaker than the proportions given above. It is the same with any drink. The strength can be varied to suit the individual taste by using a little more, or less, Postum than has been specified.

Children Love Postum Made this New WayPostum prepared with milk is especially good for children. Children are particularly benefited by milk, and many do not get the milk they need because they dislike the taste.

Also, they should have a hot drink, particularly on raw mornings. They can get everything they want and need in Instant Postum made the new way with hot milk instead of the usual boiling water. The milk is brought just to the boiling point, but not allowed to boil. It is then poured over Instant Postum in the cup and stirred. A little sugar, and it is ready to drink. And such a good drink!

It gives them the milk they need, a flavor they immediately like, warmth to cheer their small bodies on the way to school, and there is no more begging for “the drink which father has.” Surely this is the ideal drink for children, in every way!

Hundreds of schools have adopted Instant Postum made with milk, serving it at noontime.

For hot summer days, Iced Postum brings healthful refreshment. It is prepared in the usual way, allowed to cool, then served with cracked ice, sugar, and cream or lemon. An easier way is to dissolve the required amount of Instant Postum in just a little boiling water. This will cool quickly. Then dilute to the usual proportions with cold water, or cold milk, or cream.

A Test Everyone Should MakeRecently, tens of thousands of men and women have made a test which has turned them from the paths of mental depression and physical ills into the broad, straight Road to Wellville. This is the thirty-day Postum test.

It is suggested that you try Postum for a full thirty days, because in a shorter time it is not quite fair to expect the benefits of a change which involves so much. You may be turning from a habit of years’ standing. It is necessary to build up what you have lost, to replace the store of reserve energy which may have been drained low.

So make Postum your mealtime drink for thirty days, then decide, then look, and we think you will see the spires of Wellville shining in the sun!