Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 January 1888 — DIETETIC RULES. [ARTICLE]

DIETETIC RULES.

Solid and Liquid Food that Benefits or Injures Health. This subject should comprise everything that we take either as food or as drink. I must here warn my readers against taking drinks that are not foods but poisons. These drinks are all the fermented ones, such as ales, wines and «pirits. There are o her drinks that people often indulge in that are harmful to the body. I now reter to tea and coffee. If these are taken in large quantities, or at all strong, they exert la most injurious effect on the human body. True, tney do not make a man go home and assault his wife, but they deaden his faculties, paralyze thought, unsteady the nerves, and in many ways make man less of a man than he should be. The dietetic rules I advise my patients to follow are these: T ake three meals a day only, about five hours apart; eat the food slowly, chew it well, stop at the first feeling of satisfaction, ■eat brown bread always and drink cocoa chiefly. Three meals a day are as many as any one in robust health can dispose of; two might sufliee, but I find three fair meals allow me to be always clear and bright and ready for work soon after meals, and keep my body in good condition. I advise them to be taken about five hours apart, as food requires from three to four hours to digest. I'think it only fair to give the stomach a little rest in between. Some may find this long at first, but a little practice will soon make it right for them. The practice of taking food every two hours or so is most injurious, sets up a false craving and puts persons in a -low way if they cannot get food at these short intervals. The reason for eating slowly is to gently fill the stomach, and when it has had enough it will cry “stop. ”, Thorough mastication of the food is most important, as it prepares it for stomach digestion. The saliva has also a wonderful property of changing some of the starch of the food into sugar, which is thus soon absorbed, and gives immediate force to the system. When our stomach has received as much food as the body requires it makes us feel satisfied; to eat more is doing ourselves injury, as we then eat more than the stomach can digest and than our bodies require. We may as a rule trust our appetites to be our guides if we will but eat plain food, but if we add season ings, pickles, sauces, etc., we create a false appetite and overeat. As long as a person is plain bread and butter hungry he may eat. Any person who values his health will never eat any other'bread but the brown wlieatmeal or wholemeal bread. It is a perfect food in itself and contains all the elements for heating the body, supplying it with muscular force, and it has in it all that is requisite for our bones and bony structures. It also causes daily • action of the bowels, a most important function this, and when natural a great aid to keep well. Cocoa should be firunk at least once a day, as it has none of the injurious properties of tea or •coffee, and if drunk weak and not too sweet, is not at all bilious. At breakfast one may have brown bread and butter, one cup of cocoa and an egg if desired, while a little fresh ripe fruit is an important addition. Another breakfast is oatmeal or wlieatmeal porridge and milk; to insure mastication eat the porridge with a little bread finish up with stewed fruit and bread. No drink is required if this last breakfast is eaten. The use of bacon, ham, fish or meat at breakfast is not advisable, as these things more or less waste the vital powers and are not necessary. Those who are engaged at the desk all day may take a light lunch at noon, consisting of brown bread and fruit or a salad, or a poached egg, or some milk pudding; for drink they may have cocoa, milk or lemon water. Those who dine now may eat four ounces of lean beef, mutton, poultry, game or fish, and two vegetables always, such as greens and potatoes. As a second course there are the vrious milk puddings or stewed fruit and bread. Batter puddings, suet dumplings, Norfolk dumplings and Yorkshire puddings should only be indulged in by persons of strong digestion and laborious occupation. For drinks take lemonade. At tea time we may take weak tea, coffee or cocoa, brown bread -and butter, with some kind of green stuff, as a.salad, tomatoes, cucumbers, fresh or stowed fruit, or milk pudding. Fish, potted meats, etc., are not required at this meal, and do more harm than good. This should be the last solid meal; at nine or ten p. m., a drink of cocoa, lemonade, or other fruit drink may be taken, but no solid food. Suppers mean restless nights, dreams or nightmare, tired feeling in the morning, nasty taste in the mouth, no desire for breakfast, and more or less miserable feelings. —lion's ew ife.