36 APPLIED PHYSIOLOGY 



to eat. The sense of taste is a sure guide as to the kind 

 of food that is needed. Man never tires of bread and 

 meat, but he does tire of spices and sweet things, which 

 are not proper foods. Hunger, or the appetite, is a sign 

 when food is needed. Grown people get hungry about 

 every six hours, and children more often. When enough 

 food has been eaten there is a feeling that the hunger is 

 satisfied. If we should always heed these two signs, it 

 would be much better for us. 



65. False appetites. But we can teach the taste and 

 appetite so that they are no longer sure guides. After a 

 full dinner has been eaten, and when the appetite has been 

 satisfied with plain food, a dessert made of sweets, spices 

 and jellies is brought in. This at once makes a new appe- 

 tite, and man satisfies it for the sake of his pleasure. So 

 he does two wrong things to his body. First, he puts too 

 much food into his stomach ; second, he eats too much 

 sugar. The sugar overworks the liver, and he is very 

 liable to have a bilious attack. We need a little more 

 sugar than fat, but we often eat many times as much. A 

 natural appetite is satisfied with three meals a day, but the 

 false appetite leads us to eat cake, candy, and fruit at all 

 times. We seldom want to eat bread or meat between 

 meals. This shows that the cells of the body are not call- 

 ing for food. By eating at all hours we keep the stomach 

 at work without rest, and it soon tires itself out. 



66. Too fast eating. When we eat too fast, the food 

 cannot be chewed fine, but is swallowed in lumps. Then 

 the stomach must do the work which the mouth should do. 

 Besides, it does not have time to give notice that its wants 

 are filled, and so we eat too much. When we need to 

 wash food down with water, we are surely eating too fast, 

 but drinking at meals to satisfy a natural thirst is proper. 



