CHAPTER VII 

 ABNORMAL ACTION OF THE STOMACH 



94. The appetite. Eating is designed to furnish the 

 body with proper nourishment, but many "live to eat," 

 and pay for their meals with a host of bad feelings. The 

 amount and kind of food, and the time of eating, must be 

 suited to the needs of the body. A wild animal eats and 

 thrives without thought of what .it eats, for nature has 

 given it certain signs which it follows blindly and yet 

 securely. Man possesses the same signs, and if they 

 were followed, indigestion would be rare. The sign of 

 the need of food is the feeling of hunger and thirst, or the 

 appetite. The kind of food required is indicated by the 

 sense of taste y and the proper amount of food is known by 

 the absence of hunger and by the sense of taste begin- 

 ning to fail. 



95. Natural taste of food. The simplest kind of food 

 tastes the best to a hungry person. He eats it with keen 

 enjoyment until his hunger is satisfied. If he leaves the 

 table now and goes about his work, his meal will digest 

 without producing unpleasant feelings. 



Food flavored only with salt has a natural taste of which 

 we never tire, and which gives reliable signs as to the 

 quantity needed, and the time of eating. If only this 

 kind of food is placed upon the table, the sense of taste 

 and the satisfied feeling at the end of the meal are reli- 

 able guides as to the amount and kind of food needed. 



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