Part 13

There are exceptions, however. Some phases of indigestion result in a gnawing sensation in the stomach, which is often mistaken for a desire for food. This is not a normal appetite. Water will usually relieve it.

Often loss of appetite is the result of a clogging of intestines or liver, or to an excess of bile, which, not having been properly discharged into the intestines, has entered the blood stream. An excess of bile and poisons, indicating a torpid liver, often expresses itself in a dull mental force, the toxins deadening the nerve cells. Nature does not call for more food until she has eliminated the excess of waste.

It is commonly stated that the body will call for what the system requires. This may have been true of the aborigines, who ate their food in its natural state, and, to a certain extent, it is true to-day, but condiments and stimulants, to make the food “appetizing,” have unduly stimulated the nerves and perverted the natural taste; foods containing their natural amount of spices or extractives no longer tempt one. Those whose nerves are highly keyed, form the habit of seasoning the food too strongly, making it too stimulating. This undue stimulant calls for more food at the time of eating than a normal appetite would demand. The taste being cultivated for the stimulant, the habit of eating too much food is formed.

There is a difference between the cultivated and the normal appetite. A child rarely shows a desire for stimulants or condiments, unless unwisely encouraged by an adult, who does it,—not because it is good for the child, but because the individual himself has cultivated a taste for it. It is as easy to form healthful tastes and habits of eating as unhealthful ones, and care should especially be exercised in the formation of healthful habits by the growing child.

The simple foods, in their natural state, are in the right condition to be digested, with the aid of heat to break the cellular coverings of the globules of some of them, but time, energy, muscular activity, nerve force, and money are spent in combining, seasoning, and cooking foods in such a manner as often to render them difficult of digestion.

Deep breathing of fresh air, to throw off the poisonous carbon dioxid and to supply an abundance of oxygen to oxidize the waste, thus putting it in condition to be expelled from the system; brisk exercise to accelerate the circulation, that the blood may carry the oxygen freely and that the tissues may liberate the carbon dioxid and other waste; and a copious drinking of water, are the best tonics for loss of appetite or for a lack of vitality.

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It is economy, therefore, to keep the digestive organs and the circulation and tissues strong, in order that all foods eaten may yield returns, instead of hampering activity.

The food which furnishes the most tissue-building substance and yields the most heat and energy, with the least refuse, is the economical food. In the selection of food for any individual, the result to be gained from the food must be borne in mind. If one is doing heavy muscular work, more protein to rebuild tissue, as well as more carbohydrates and fats to produce energy, are required than if one’s habits of work are sedentary. In mental work, where the brain is continually active, proteins are required to re-supply the brain tissue, but the fats and carbohydrates may be lessened. This would seem to contradict the theory that where one’s habits are sedentary and the brain alone is active, the proteins are not required. In sedentary occupation, the carbohydrates and fats are stored within the system, clogging it and producing torpid liver, constipation, and obesity,—unless the brain is sufficiently active to use all of the fuel in brain energy.

In a dietary study of the following tables, the question should be to provide the largest quantity of nutriment at the lowest cost, with due attention to palatability and variety. In the selection of meats, for instances, while beefsteak may cost twice as much as beef stew, it must be borne in mind that beefsteak contains very little waste, and it contains a large proportion of albuminoids, or the tissue building proteins, while, in the beef stew, the bones and the connective tissue predominate; the proteins yielded from the beef stew are a large proportion gelatinoids and extractives,—not the tissue building albuminoids. This would not hold in comparing the cheaper and the more expensive cuts in the same kind of beefsteak; the cheaper cuts often yield quite as much nutriment as the more expensive ones. Round steak is just as nourishing as porter-house and much cheaper.

Much is said about the bacteria present in the atmosphere, the microbes in the food, etc., that one is puzzled to know, not only what to eat, but how to breathe, and, in fact, which way to turn to avoid them; but microbes and bacteria have been present in the atmosphere and in matter everywhere since time began. They are a part of the natural surroundings, and the body, if kept in strong vitality, has sufficient resistive power to enable one to live unharmed by them. The danger lies in allowing the system to run down and the vital force to ebb, so that the body becomes an easy prey to them.

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There is no doubt but that the habit of eating governs one’s convictions of what the system requires. One is inclined to think that a desire for a food is a requirement of Nature; yet it may simply be the continuance of a habit. The vital organs form habits just as one forms a habit of walking, sitting or of carrying the head or the hands, and habit re-asserts itself.

If a mother feeds her babe every three hours the child will usually wake and call for food about this period. If she has formed the habit of nursing the child every two hours, it will call for food in about two hours, even though all symptoms indicate that the child is over fed.

It is important that both child and adult establish regular and hygienic habits because the digestive juices secrete themselves at the regular periods established. A right habit is as easily formed, and as difficult to change, as a wrong one.

If one forms the habit of eating a certain amount of food, the stomach calls for about the same amount, and when one first begins to change the quantity it protests, whether the change be to eat more or less.

Few people form the habit of drinking sufficient water,—particularly if they have been taught that water at meals is injurious. In this busy life, few remember to stop work and drink water between meals, and if not consumed at the meal time the system suffers. Many people look “dried up.”

The habit of drinking two glasses of water upon first arising, and six more during the day is an important one.

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There is no doubt but that a large number of people overload the digestive organs. This, as well as the bolting of food, insufficiently masticated, cannot be too strongly denounced. All food should be chewed to a pulp before swallowed.

As a relief from overeating, many theorists are advocating two meals a day, but the work of the average man is planned into morning and afternoon sessions, and the three meals have been arranged accordingly.

Where two meals a day are eaten, the first meal should be at nine or ten o’clock in the morning and the second meal at five or six o’clock in the afternoon; whereas, for the average person who eats two meals a day, the custom is to go without food until the midday meal, and then to eat two meals within six hours, with nothing more for eighteen hours.

The argument in favor of two meals a day has been that the digestive system is inactive during sleep, and, therefore, the system is not ready for a meal upon arising, but the latest experiments (Pawlow) show that digestion continues during sleep, though less actively. It must be borne in mind that the average evening meal is eaten about six o’clock and that there are about four waking hours between this meal and the sleep period; also, that the average individual is awake and moderately active an hour before the morning meal. This gives five waking hours between the evening and the morning meal. About the same time, five hours, elapses between the morning and the midday meal, and between the midday and the evening meal, so that three meals a day divide the digestion periods about evenly.

More frequent meals, served in lighter quantity, with greater regularity, so that the system is not overloaded at any one meals, is rational for delicate, or undernourished nerves and tissues. The little child is fed regularly every three hours.

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Daily exercise and the habit of full breathing are absolutely necessary that the waste of the system may be fully liberated, that the nourishment may be carried freely to every tissue, and that sufficient oxygen may be carried through the blood to oxidize the waste, or, to put it into condition to be thrown off.

The necessity of oxygen as food is evident. The body will subsist about forty days upon the food stored within it, without re-supply, but it can endure only a few seconds without oxygen, because heat, occasioned by the union of oxygen with carbon and hydrogen, is necessary to keep up the physical activity termed “life.” The necessity of habits of full, correct breathing cannot be too fully emphasized. The quantity of oxygen, daily consumed, should fully equal the sum of all other food elements.

Oxygen is necessary to cause combustion of fats, starches and sugars, just as it is necessary to cause combustion of carbon in wood, or coal.