Democratic Sentinel, Volume 10, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 April 1886 — WHAT TO EAT. [ARTICLE]

WHAT TO EAT.

Food and Its Relation to Health'—Freach and English Customs. The first meal of the day, or breakfast, is now in this country —with those in health, at all events—a fairly substantial one. although some people try —but, thauk goodness try in vain—to assimilate French and English customs in regard to breakfast. France and its folks are different from England, with its solid men and women; its climate is different from ours; its notions as regards eating and drinking can never be engrafted on English bone and muscle. Yes, breakfast ought to be a hearty one, eaten early in the morning, and eaten slowly, so as to preclude the possibility of eating too heavily, which would materially interfere with the business of the day. A man or woman who is no break-fast-eater must either be a heavy—over-heavy—supper-eater, or be in a bad state of health. A person who requires the stimulus of a cup of tea, or any other stimulus or stimulant whatever, before partaking of solid food is not in the heyday of health. I like to see a man have his breakfast first, and then feel around for his cup of coffee, tea or chocolate. I have known the strongest and healthiest of men positively forget all about the liquid part of their breakfast, and leave the table without it. 1 have known men who scarcely ever touched a drop of liquor of any kind from one week’s end to another, and who, nevertheless, were in ruddy and robust health. What a person eats for breakfast often gives me a clew to the state of his health. One example: if, while sojourning at an hotel I see a man come down to breakfast between 10 and 11, and sit down to deviled kidneys with plenty of sauce (piquant), and perhaps one poor puny egg to follow, I would be willing to aver that he carries a white tongue, and that his liver sadly needs seeing to. Ham and eggs, bacon and eggs, or a beefsteak or underdone chop, with boiled eggs to follow, and then a cup of nice tea, is a sensible breakfast for a man who is going away out into the fresh air to walk, or ride, or work till noon, but not for a person who has to sit all day in the same position at manual labor. I emphasize the word manual because intellectual or mental work conduces to appetite. An author hard at his desk, if his ideas be flowing freely, if he be happy at his work, and time flying swiftly with him, soon gets hungry, which only proves that we must support the body well when there is a strain upon the mind, so that no extra expenditure of tissue may lead to debility. Cheerful conversation insures the easy digestion of a good breakfast It is a pity that in this country the custom of inviting friends to the matutinal meal is not more prevalent It may seem a strange thing to say, but I would ten times sooner go out to breakfast than to dinner. One is, or ought to be, freshest in the morning; he then needs no artificial stimulus to make him feel bright, witty, happy, as he so often does after the duties of the day are over. The midday meal, or luncheon to those who dine in the evening, and who have work to do in the afternoon, should be a light one. lam not quite sure that I do not quite approve of the city “snack.” It puts one past, it sustains nature, it leaves the mind free to think and to do its duty, and, above all, it enables the stomach to have a rest before the principal meal of ,the day. Now, about this meal; I have to say that, if partaken of alone by one’s self, it ought to be an abstemious one. Even in company it need not be a heavy one. No matter how many courses there are there is not the slightest necessity of making too free with them. But it is a fact, which every one must have felt, that even a moderately heavy meal is quickly and easily digested, if accompanied with and followed by witty or intellectual and suggestive conversation. “■l’m a dyspeptic; I must not dine •out,” I have heard a gentleman more than once remark. Well, my impression is that it does dyspeptics a good deal of good to dine out, if they can eat in moderation and judiciously, never being tempted to call in the aid of artificial stimulus to enable them to do as men of more robust physique are doing around them.— Family Doctor in Cassell's Magazine, London.