Are there any young people who take the time and the trouble to properly and thoroughly chew their food?

I have had the privilege and the pleasure of raising four children and I know what a chore it is to try to get them to properly masticate their food. They never have time — there is just too much going on all the time. Then, too, when it comes to mealtime they are probably too hungry to chew their food properly.

No matter how well you plan your meals, eating is always a 'rush, rush' job as far as the kids are concerned. After all, school, sports, music and dates take priority over eating. Proper nutrition, which is actually the most important thing in the life of youth, doesn't even appear on their list of important things. Teaching nutrition to children is vital for developing healthy habits.

Seldom have I seen or known of a young person who took time to properly chew his food — especially raw vegetables and fruits that contain a considerable amount of cellulose fibre. Well, it is important to remember that the nutrients in the fruit or vegetable are locked within the framework of this cellulose jacket. Thus, if food is not properly masticated, I am sure that a large portion of the nutrients contained therein is excreted in the stool .... simply because the cellulose structure is not broken down sufficiently to release the locked-in essential minerals and vitamins.

Horace Fletcher, the man who set down the rules and principles of mastication, advised that every mouthful of food be chewed at least 32 times, once for each tooth — 32 teeth, 32 chews. Now, tell me, who in this day and age has the patience or the time to chew each mouthful 32 times? I wager not one person in 100. I do not claim that Fletcher was 100% right, because my reading and experience do not indicate that such thorough chewing is necessary, but no one can deny that this theory is worthy of some thought.

When dealing with young people, it is vital to remember that large quantities of raw fruits and vegetables are necessary for proper nutrition and time is required for chewing them. You can't consume a meal of raw vegetables, fruits, grains and nuts in just minutes. My experience indicates that a minimum of one hour is required, but how can you get young people to take that amount of time to eat a meal?

Authorities claim that, on a mainly vegetarian diet, one must consume three to four pounds of raw fruits and vegetables a day to acquire the needed protein, minerals, vitamins, fats and carbohydrates to maintain good health. Thus, juices can play a vital role in keeping the young properly nourished, because no one could ever get a young person to consume that amount of raw fruits and vegetables.

I am not suggesting that we make our meals primarily juices but to help undo the damage of modern living habits and environmental hazards, such as pollution in its many forms, no one can deny that juices are an important consideration in trying to keep ourselves healthy and out of the doctor's office and the hospital. Yes, there are many good reasons why a pint or two of juice a day could make the difference between health and disease.

It has been my experience that children and young people are not particularly partial to raw vegetables. Oh, yes, they take to the soft, sweet fruits but vegetables, such as turnips, parsnips, carrots and such are not too popular. I don't know of any of the wide variety of vegetables that young people are really fond of so a glass or two of fresh juice a day might well be the answer.

I tried to feed my children well but the truth is I didn't know what a good diet was at that time. How could I have known 45 years ago? Did anyone teach or guide me? Oh, yes, the various government agencies passed out information, but it was of a dubious nature .... and I do mean dubious. All they ever taught was what the food processors, the dairy industry and the meat packers wanted them to teach.

If you think this is an exaggeration, I assure you sincerely that it is the truth. Even today, 45 or 50 years later, I maintain that the last place to go for information on nutrition is to our government agencies. This is not the way it should be, but facts are facts and that's the way it is.

I appeal to parents .... Parents, teach your children about nutrition and teach them the value of natural, whole, raw foods. Then give them fresh juices to ensure the necessary supply of vitamins and minerals that are lacking when they don't eat the large quantities of vegetables they need.

Pediatricians, I am told, are the busiest doctors in the whole medical hierarchy, which would make it appear that nature no longer knows the secret of breeding normal healthy children. No, no, no, I am not blaming the medical profession for this! Heaven knows, they have enough to answer for now without blaming them for something of which they are not guilty.

Truly, our society is being burdened with ever mounting numbers of sick children, but I don't ask you to accept this statement holus-bolus. I suggest that you check it out for yourself so that you will learn you can trust me.

I have the feeling that the children of the past 25 or 30 years are the most sinned against young people that the world has ever known and if I can do anything to alleviate this sorry situation, I am ready and willing. Thus, I appeal to all parents of growing children to give their offspring a fighting chance to make their way in the world .... and good health stands first and foremost among the essential ingredients. So prepare a glass or two of fresh mixed juices daily for your children and in this manner take up the slack caused by the normally poor diet enjoyed by most young people.

Why not have a juice break after school each day? You could teach the kids to make it themselves or at least prepare the vegetables and fruits for juicing. Thus, they would be taking part in the preparation and contributing a share of the effort.

The ingestion of 'live juices' would be a great contribution to the health of the growing children. Further, you will be helping to undo the harm of the pop and cola drinks. You will be teaching and at the same time proving the value of good nutrition .... and that is good!

There are tens of millions of bottles of coke, soda, ginger ale and many other kinds of soft drinks consumed every day. Well, why not drink health-giving fresh juices instead of those death-dealing soft drinks? To compare fresh vegetable and fruit juices to pop is like comparing gold to garbage! If you drink soft drinks, I want to warn you that everything about them is detrimental to your health.

Now let me tell you what happened at Cornell University when an experiment was started in an effort to establish just how much harm the cola and other soft drinks do to the teeth of humans. The project had to be abandoned because the teeth of those taking part in the experiment became too sensitive and painful to permit the continuation of the tests. However, another experiment was conducted with laboratory animals and they were given large amounts of the various cola drinks. The result? The molars of the animals were eaten back practically to the gum line.

It is my belief that there are no harmless soft drinks, cola or other. It is just a matter of which soft drink does the most harm. Then, of course, the more you drink, the greater degree of harm.

Here are the ingredients as listed on the 'Orange Crush' and 'Pepsi-Cola' labels. Orange Crush: Carbonated water, sugar, orange juice, citric acid, sodium benzoate, natural flavours, colour, sucrose acetate isobutyrate, salt, sodium isoascorbate, brominated vegetable oil. Pepsi-cola: Carbonated water, sugar, color, phosphoric & citric acids, caffeine, flavor.

Please, parents, make it a point to study the ingredients as listed on those bottle caps or labels. The first thing you will notice is the very small print, as though the bottlers were ashamed of the ingredients and were doing their best to hide them. This clearly proves what I have been telling my readers for over 25 years — that the processors and bottlers know that they have much to hide.

Check these ingredients out in a book on toxicology and you will quickly learn that they have good cause to use the smallest print and try to hide the list of ingredients on an obscure part of the label. I was astounded when I studied the deadly ingredients in these popular Leverages. I've never taken a drink of one since and I never will again as long as I live, because I know how much harm they can do.

It's hard to believe that the Food and Drug Administration allows the manufacturer to get away with that type of pseudo-deception. However, I am sorry to say, this appears to be a 'dog-eat-dog' world and the old Latin phrase 'caveat emptor' still governs our society. Yes, sad but true, 'buyer beware' is the rule we must live by today.

Now I do not advise the use of processed juices either because my studies reveal that their original nutrients have been impaired. I definitely oppose the use of chemically treated drinks or any drink that contains an additive, whether it be for coloring, for flavoring or for preserving.

It has been definitely established that soft drinks containing cyclamates and saccharine are downright harmful but I believe there are drinks on the market that are even worse. These are the purely chemical fruit-flavored drinks that contain little, if any, fruit. For example, here are the ingredients that make up one of these monstrosities:

"Sugar (may also contain dextrose), gum Arabic and/or corn dextrin, vegetable oil shortening, citric acid, tricalcium phosphate, trisodium citrate, natural orange flavour, artificial flavour, food colour, Vitamin C (198 mg per 100 g.)."

Due to the millions of dollars spent on advertising these drinks, they enjoy wide sale and, to make matters worse, the songs and jingles used in their promotion are geared to appeal to children. One of the manufacturers even has the colossal, unmitigated gall to say that these drinks taste better than the fruit itself! There ought to be a law or vigilantes to stop such skulduggery.

If you want something to drink, be safe and drink live fruit and vegetable juices. Why take risks? Why harm your body? I stress, use only live, fresh fruit and vegetable juices. Teaching nutrition to children is important!

Adam Brookover

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