Puerto Rican
Many Puerto Ricans have come recently to the large cities of the eastern United States. They are frequently poor, lack employment skills, and live in crowded, often unsanitary, quarters. Because of difficulty in speaking and understanding English, they are likely to patronize small food stores that are owned by Spanish-speaking people. They usually pay much more for the foods they purchase than they would in a supermarket. These and other factors account for a high level of malnutrition, especially among children.
Their staple foods include rice, chick peas, kidney beans, and other legumes, and a variety of viandas or starchy vegetables, such as plantain, green bananas, white sweet potato, and others. Dried codfish is often used. Although milk, chicken, and pork are well liked, they are infrequently used because of cost.
Fruits and vegetables have always been available to them in abundance, but they have made limited use of them.
Rice (arroz) is eaten once or twice a day and may be combined with a little codfish, legumes, and occasionally chicken (arroz con polio) or pork. The legumes are usually cooked and dressed with a highly seasoned tomato sauce (sofrito). The starchy vegetables are boiled and served with oil, oil and vinegar, or some dried codfish.
Mexican
The staple foods of Mexicans include corn, pinto or calico beans, and chili peppers; wheat is now replacing some of the corn. Milk is seldom used, and meat and eggs appear on the menu only two or three times a week. Mexican dishes are seasoned liberally with red chili powder, garlic, onion, and spices.
Dried corn is heated and soaked in lime water, washed, and pounded to putty-like dough called masa. Thin cakes rolled from the masa and baked on a hot griddle are known as tortillas. Cheese and ground meat with onion and lettuce may be used to fill tortillas in preparations known as enchiladas. Tamales consist of highly seasoned ground meat and masa wrapped in corn husks steamed, and served with chili sauce. Chile con came is a favorite meat and bean dish.
*100/234/5*
GENERAL HEALTH
Eat only when really hungry.
There are all kinds of theories regarding eating and drinking – when you should or shouldn’t eat or drink – theories invented by scientists.
They tell you that you should eat a large, heavy protein breakfast, with meat, liver, eggs, etc., the first thing in the morning. They tell you when to eat heavy meals and when to eat lightly. They tell you when and how much to drink. Etc., etc. All these are unsubstantiated pseudo-scientific theories. You don’t need any scientists or their theories to tell you when and how much to eat. Nature has provided a built-in mechanism within your brain which will tell you unmistakably when you should eat or drink. You should eat when you are hungry, and drink when you are thirsty. Contrariwise, you should never eat when you are not hungry (very few people are hungry in early morning, for example, no matter what “experts” tell you) and you should never drink when you are not thirsty. This is the only sure and safe way to solve this controversial question for you. Your requirements for food and drink are unique, different from those of everybody else. But you can never go wrong if you follow your hunger and thirst signals.
Food eaten without appetite will do you no good. It will, in fact harm you by overburdening the digestive organs with unwanted material and create indigestion, gas and other disturbances.
Eat slowly in a relaxed unhurried atmosphere.
Slow eating and thorough mastication are essential for good digestion. Good chewing increases the assimilation of nutrients and makes you feel satisfied with a smaller amount of food. “Fletcherize” your food – chew every mouthful at least 40 times! Saliva contains digestive enzymes. Therefore, well chewed and generously salivated food is practically half-digested before it enters the stomach.
Also, food should be eaten in a relaxed atmosphere and enjoyed. Biologically, only the foods eaten with genuine pleasure will do you any good. A peaceful, unhurried and happy atmosphere around the table will pay good dividends in improved digestion and assimilation of food – and, hence, in better health.
*100/103/5*
GENERAL HEALTH