FOOD HABITS 115 



good rule not to read the newspapers or to settle unpleasant 

 affairs before a meal. Pleasant conversation, exchange of amus- 

 ing experiences or anecdotes, are more helpful at mealtime 

 than heated discussions. 



There should never be a feeling of hurry about a meal. It 

 is better to take two meals a day quietly and restfully than 

 three meals in a hurry, if time is so pressing. 



Rapid eating makes it impossible for sufficient saliva to mix 

 with the food. 



Then it makes impossible the breaking up of the food 

 particles, so that the gastric digestion is interfered with. 



Rapid eating makes impossible the adequate stimulation of 

 the taste and smell nerves, necessary to bring about secretion 

 of gastric juices. 



The time saved by eating rapidly is generally more than paid 

 for by later indigestion. 



What has already been said about the use of water at meals 

 and about rapid eating will warn us to chew our food thoroughly 

 and to avoid washing down each mouthful with a drink. 



149. When to eat. A young infant has to take food every 

 few hours; he takes but a little at a time, the food is liquid 

 and quickly digested and absorbed, and the child is soon hungry 

 again. Some people have relatively small stomachs, which can- 

 not hold much food at one time ; they may have to eat at more 

 frequent intervals. Others can get all they need for a day in 

 two meals, and many men and women have been quite healthy 

 and happy with but a single meal a day. 



In the course of experiments made in recent years, in order 

 to find out the best rations for human beings, many of the 

 experimenters discovered that they were in better working 

 condition when they had only two meals a day than when they 

 took three meals. This improvement may have been due to 

 the fact that they reduced the total amount of food, or it may 

 be that by taking only two meals they gave their digestive 

 organs longer intervals of rest. 



