Ralph doesn't have any pep, we're told. But he has enough to scream down a telephone to ask mom if he can mooch dinner at his friends' place, then be rude not to eat what they served him.
He can't go skating the next day because he didn't eat some peas (I don't like them either, Ralph).
What follows is the standard 1950s advice about what to eat, from a time when no one was allergic to food, no one mentioned religious dietary restrictions, and stores weren't loaded with cheap junk (outside of maybe TV dinners). A pretty basic film.

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I am on a very strict diet, I can not eat any meat, i.e. chicken, pork, or beef that has salt in it. I had Thyroid cancer 17 years ago, and now they have seen lung nodules in my lungs..
The Doctors want to find out if these nodules are cancerous so I can not have anything with salt because you can't tell if they use salt with iodine in it, so they are starving my body of iodine, then they will inject me with nuclear iodine which will go directly to these nodules, when I get the PET scan scheduled, these nodules will light up if they are cancerous.
The bottom line is that I am starving, because everything or almost everything has salt in it.
I went to one big box store and saw that their Chicken is injected with chicken broth and salt, they claim it will make the chicken breasts more juicy, more plump, but it's known why they do that, it's to increase the weight, with water and salt, so they can make more profit.
I am in this diet for 4 days, and I can't wait until this is over in another week.

Enjoyed watching this, it recalls a time when convenience and fast foods weren't yet a staple, and before the post-modern obsession over cholesterol and saturated fat. Neither vegans nor low-carb/paleo fans will care much for this one.

Make sure to eat your margarine. I'm sure Apollo Ono and other world-class ice skaters chomp sticks of it every day.

The best part of this film is that it reminds me of how I used to "suck up" a second dinner at the neighbor kids house - most days! At our house "Peg Bundy" put on a pot of something (anything she could throw together in one pot) and we were fed it as soon as we got home from school because dad worked afternoons and she wanted to clean up that kitchen ASAP so she could go out to her friends to chew the rag then come back home in time to watch her westerns. So each day, after "dinner" I hippity hopped down the street and made sure that I showed up at the neighbors house just as dad was coming home from work, dishes and silverware were clinking and clanking ....and I knew dinner was immminent. Anyway, I managed a standing invitation to dinner (they had one kid and wished they had 5 so another kid at the table was ....I guess, a fantasy to these nice parents)....anyway, full three course dinners like pork chops, roast chicken, steaks even....wow! And a dessert, too! Never a problem getting me to look enthusiastic! Heck I was hungry! For a meal like that drying dishes was nothing!


But there is a sinister edge to this film....and many others like it:

I got razzed at the neighbors cottage after a fishing trip because I didnt like fish. It had this odd metallic taste that I really hated. Just wouldnt eat it ...no thanks! (Even though in our Catholic household before Vatican II thats what was on the dinner table on Fridays).

So, just to be an agreeable kid I took a couple bites of perch - no...bluegill, and pretended I really liked it. I reviewed that scenario in my head as the ambulance was rushing me to the ER and they were intubating me as I gasped for every breath through lips as big as Flip Wilson's and a tongue so swollen I felt like a Holstein.

Heck...they didnt know. I didnt know. And I really never knew until 15 years later when somebody at the college cafeteria put out "Chicken Salad Sandwiches" that were actually mislabeled tuna salad sandwiches....another damned trip to the ER. That time I arrived fully cyanotic and was lucky I survived.

Fish shellfish shrimp and other water/muck dwellers can be severely allergenic and few people realize that there are more people allergic to sea food than there are allergic to peanuts. But it all depends on which industry pays the most homage to the media. So never, ever push food on a kid. If he dont like it ....there may be a good reason for it!

Incidently, the little girl guzzling milk like it was going out of style continued to do so while the dairy industry learned that gobs and gobs of estrogens, estrogen analogues, growth hormone, and all kinds of designer hormones some with prolactin like qualities - you name it...were labled , outlawed, relabled as something else...but nonetheless continued to be fed to the dairy cows...more and more.....wo you could get more and more milk from each cow, every day! And so, the poor milk guzzlin' girl got a nasty breast cancer and died at 42. Her older brother who also bought into the milk thing had a radical prostatectomy at 62 and is now impotent and basically playing a waiting game (nowadays termed "battling cancer" [how cutesy]) the prospect that that prostate cancer will rear its ugly head somewhere...probably in his skeleton. But so what ..Mom did what she was supposed to do...push gallons of milk on the kids and let em grow up thinking they just HAD to have that quart a day...while the ADA kept its lobbyists in Washington...all to make sure that dairying is a lucrative business thanks to the wonders of biochemistry!

BTW Getting kids to eat asparagus is useless. To a kid, anything that tastes like boogers is not going to go over. I dont care how much you "sugar coat" it.

Great film that totally reminds me of the good old days. The little boy that wont eat anything except candy bars looks strangely just like I did in those days.

Margarine!! Make sure your white bread is fortified !! let's promote all the additives and preservative we can in the beginning. Is it any wonder , being brought up with this propaganda we have all the health issues we now have? The USDA and or FDA has worked hand in hand with giant Food Corporations right from the start to promote their idea of healthy food products. True , there is some honest information here , but that only confuses the issue more so. The pay off for desirable results have been going on since the beginning and have never let up. All of these old propaganda films are a treasure to have , it really does give one the understanding of just how corrupt the Corporation and Federal Government, hand in hand , has been over a long period of time. Gullible , we must have been or very trusting for falling for the "expert" who worked for the Corporation selling us their product.

Ken Smith sez "Unfortunately, there's not enough faulty information in this film to make it worthwhile."

Wait, you *want* these films to be faulty? Sorry, Ken, but I disagree.

Now, somebody will probably criticise me for criticizing Ken, but I don't care.

The film itself is mediocre, so better or worse than the average film of this type made during pretty much any decade after the invention of sound-on-film. The acting, though, is more awful than usual, sometimes to the point of hilarity.

That said, the film does have some good footage of home decor, fashion, etc, which ends up making this a 5-star video. But then, I'm far too easy to please. I gave "Errand of Mercy" 5/5, need I say more?

My fiance was like Ralph before he met me. Slowly but surely I have turned my meat and potato eater onto fruits and veggies!

Evidently, "Eat for Health" was still being circulated in Elementary Schools into the early 1960's, because as a little girl, I clearly remember that I saw it. It must have made a huge impression on me, although I always was a pretty good balanced food eater. Maybe that's one of the reasons: I couldn't imagine a kid not liking to eat peas!
--Kay Lhota

After listening to the narrator list each food group I came to the astonishing conclusion that all of these desirable foods are on my Burger King Double Whopper with Cheese! Yea!!!!!
The End.
Added Info: A tomato is a fruit.

Nice film that teaches and motivates children to eat properly. (In reality,it does seem, however, that Ralph's mother was also at fault in not supervising her son's eating habits) Since children of that generation grew up seeing black and white films and TV, I don't think the food looked as bad to them as today's viewers who are used to color.

This charming grade-school film from the 50s teaches children to eat from five food groups by counting on their fingers. Ralph just doesnÃÂÃÂt have much pep until he stops eating candy bars and starts counting out the food groups heÃÂÃÂs eating from on his fingers. This probably went over with its intended audience about as well as Posture Pals. Nevertheless, itÃÂÃÂs fun to watch them try. ItÃÂÃÂs also fun to see the silly visual aids and the terrible-looking food, especially the vegetables.
Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.

Ralph doesnt have any pep to go skating with his friends.. Why? He's not eating from all the 5 food groups! Had he known that, he would have discovered that 'eating is fun' and 'you can get more friends'. A highly bizarre showcase of food eating is shown, with children eating, yes, ONLY from one of the food groups. One child deliriously gulps down milk, another chows down on brocolli etc. Since this is in black and white, uhh, the colors don't exactly shine throught making the foods seem LESS appetizing. A VERY curious film, it's highly reccomended!