

ALCOHOL AND ITS EFFECTS 365 



the nutritive juices are held inside. Overdone meat has 

 lost much of its value. Much frying in fat, of such food 

 as eggs, meat, and potatoes, is not good, for it covers the 

 food with a greasy coating, which the digestive juices of 

 the mouth and stomach cannot penetrate. 



Here are some of the foolish things people do; then they wonder why 

 they have indigestion : 



(1) They do not take enough exercise, yet they eat large amounts of 

 food. 



(2) They do not eat enough food of the plain sort, but eat too much 

 of pickles, candies, cake, and pie. 



(3) They take violent exercise too near meal time. If this comes 

 just before the meal, the body is too tired to digest food properly; if 

 after the meal, the body has not time to digest food before its energy 

 is needed for other purposes. 



(4) They eat frequently between meals, never giving the stomach a 

 rest. If one is exercising hard, however, especially if he has not eaten 

 the slowly digestible food that "stays by," a "bite" between meals is 

 helpful. 



5. People often drink very cold ("iced") water, and so chill the 

 stomach. 



6. They do not eat slowly enough, so that the food is not mixed with 

 the saliva. 



371. Alcohol and Its Effects The story of the injury 

 alcohol has done to men is a long and sad one, but at pres- 

 ent we shall consider only its effect upon the digestion and 

 assimilation of food, and its injury to the digestive organs. 

 When alcohol is poured over proteids, outside of the body, 

 it makes them coagulate, or harden, so that they will not 

 decay or ferment. This is a good thing in the preserving 

 of animal specimens, but it is not what we want in the case 

 of a food. For food, as we have learned, is eaten, not 



