 Uh-oh, what's going on here? Hey, that's larceny, son. Seems as though kids are always hungry. And he'll get away with it, just like you and I did. Look at this gal. She's been eating this way for years. She's in a fine shape. It's just a habit. It all boils down to the fact that we've eaten for so long, we think we're experts. And most of the time, we don't even know what we're eating. There's a full course meal, donuts and coffee. We all learn to eat at home. And homes all over the USA are very much like this one, except that in different parts of the country, different foods are preferred. In some homes, meat is eaten once or twice a day. In other homes, fish or hominy grits and gravy are eaten more often than meat. Some families eat their big meal of the day in the evening. Others eat their heavy meal in the middle of the day. American children don't have to think much about the food they eat because there is one thing that is found in most American homes, a strong guiding hand at the dinner table. Waves goodbye to her son and the boy who doesn't like carrots finds himself wearing a suntan suit. In the army, there are chowhounds and athletes. And mess call is almost as popular as pay call. Soldiers don't have to think about the food that they eat either, but in the army, there is no one to make you eat a food that you don't like. Often, the food items served in the mess hall will not be the same as the ones you were used to at home. If a man is from one part of our country, he may think that the army serves too much meat. But if he comes from another section, he may have exactly the opposite opinion. Some men complain that army food is too heavy. They'd like to have more salads. Obviously, it's impossible for the army to give every man exactly the kind of food that he likes. Having eaten about a third of the food that they took from the serving line, our friends scrape a tray full of the vitamins and minerals that their bodies need into the garbage can. Two or three times a day, the boys wander over to the PX. Naturally, they're hungry. They threw away most of their dinner. If these men were at home, their mothers and wives would put an end to their foolishness and fast. But the army meal planners aren't able to check up on each individual the way a mother does. That wasn't propaganda you heard when you were in basic. The army does have meal planners. They do their planning in the headquarters of the quartermaster corps in Washington. Every month, the quartermaster dietitians make a master menu. This menu is used by every mess hall in the army. Small changes are made when the foods that are listed aren't available. The master menu tells the mess steward what to serve for each meal and what quantities he will need for the number of men who eat at his mess. But before the menu can be sent to the mess steward, it goes to the nutrition section of the surgeon general's office for approval. At the surgeon general's office, the menu is received by medical department officers who have expert knowledge of the effect of food on your body. The nutrition experts take the menu apart meal by meal and check on the nutritional value of each day's food. They make sure that your diet has all of the vitamins and minerals that you need to do a day's work. Take this steak, for example. To you or me, it's a juicy piece of good red meat. But to the experts in the nutrition section, it means 625 calories, 77 grams of protein, 35 grams of fat, no carbohydrate, and a fair amount of minerals and good quantities of vitamins. Yes. These nutrition men have an entirely different attitude toward food than you or I have. At the Army Post or Air Base, the local menu board reviews the master menu to fit local food acceptability and availability of fresh meats, vegetables, and fruits. When most of us eat a meal, we think this food is sour or it's sweet. We like this. We don't like that. But when an army nutrition expert looks at the same meal, he thinks baked beans are a good source of protein. Whole wheat bread is rich in niacin and phosphorus. Butter has a high fat content. Tomatoes are high in vitamin C. Sugar is almost pure carbohydrate. Cream is rich in vitamin D. Fortunately, we don't have to think of all these things. We're lucky to have nutrition experts to think of them for us. All that we have to do is to eat all of the diet that they plan for us. And to make sure that we always get a balanced diet, there's a formula that works whether we're eating in the mess hall or at the rifle range or on a weekend pass at the best hotel in town. The formula is a simple list of seven basic foods. They are milk, vegetables, fruits, eggs, meat, fish, or dried beans, cereals or bread, and butter. These foods will give you a well-balanced diet if you eat them every day. The formula is easy to remember and is absolutely dependable. A pint of milk a day, either fresh or in cooked foods, two vegetables and a serving of potatoes, fruit twice a day, eggs several times a week, meat, cheese, fish, or dried beans each day, cereal for breakfast, and bread with each meal, and use butter on your bread. There's not much to that, is there? It's the kind of meal the army serves every day. And just to make sure that everyone gets enough to eat, the army throws in taste-tempting extras that add nutrients to the diet. You can't stay healthy if you don't feed your body properly. That's why the army takes nutrition so seriously. These men are taking part in a ration test out at Camp Carson, Colorado. There is no guesswork about the army's diet. Every new ration is thoroughly tested. For 30 days, six companies of men are fed various types of rations. Some of them are allowed to choose any food that they want from any of the rations in order to find out which foods are preferred by most men. Others are given a very strictly controlled diet. Everyone's physical condition is carefully checked before the test starts. Then, at regular intervals throughout the test, they are rechecked. During the 30-day testing period, the men take strenuous calisthenics. An accurate record is kept of the amount of work each man does. After 15 to 20 days on a well-balanced and strictly controlled diet, the men were amazed at their increase in physical endurance and their general feeling of well-being. There's rough mountain country near Camp Carson, and the men on the diet test became familiar with every inch of it. Climbing the face of a cliff is a job that uses every muscle in a man's body. It requires a delicate sense of balance. You really have to be in top shape to do work like this. And, brother, let me tell you that it's a darn good thing these fellows aren't trying to climb mountains on a bottle of soda pop and a box of cookies from the PX. Coming down from the top is a lot faster, but it sure takes a lot of know-how. At the end of the 30-day period, the tests given to the men at the beginning of the experiment are repeated. The tests are carefully controlled so that minor changes in physical endureances are discovered. The information from the entire 30-day test is carefully compiled, and a report is prepared. Copies of the report are sent to all of the War Department agencies that help in planning the army's diet. What army is this fellow in? He doesn't want to eat? Oh, I don't want no breakfast. Oh, yes, you do. You have to eat if you want to stay healthy. OK, just a cup of coffee, or maybe two cups of coffee. Oh, no, no coffee till you eat your breakfast. You've got to have an orange for vitamin C, bacon and eggs for protein. Well, maybe someday each of us will have a personal mess steward to manage our diets. Just maybe, mind you. But until that day comes, we'll have to depend on the dietitians and nutrition experts of the army. We'll have to be our own managers. Easy if you remember the rule of the seven basic foods. Make it your business to get a pint of milk in some form every day. Two vegetables and a serving of potatoes. Fruit, twice a day. Eggs, several times a week. Meat, cheese, fish, or dried beans each day. Cereal for breakfast. And bread with butter at each meal. These foods are available in every mess hall and will furnish a balanced diet if eaten every day. You don't need fancy foods or so-called health foods or anything, but plain, wholesome, every day foods to feel fit and to stay healthy. You've probably heard it a hundred times. An army marches on its stomach. Well, there's more truth than poetry to that one soldier. If you want to feel right, you've got to eat right.