426 HEALTH AND DISEASE 



chewed and relished, with no thought of swallowing. There should be 

 no more effort to prevent than to force swallowing. It will be found that 

 if you attend only to the agreeable task of extracting the flavors of your 

 food, Nature will take care of the swallowing, and this will become, like 

 breathing, involuntary. The more you rely on instinct, the more normal, 

 stronger, and surer the instinct becomes. The instinct by which most 

 people eat is perverted through the " hurry habit " and the use of abnor- 

 mal foods. Thorough mastication takes time, and therefore one must 

 not feel hurried at meals if the best results are to be secured. 



Sip liquids, except water, and mix with saliva as though they were 

 solids. 



The stopping point for eating should be at the earliest moment when 

 one is really satisfied. 



The frequency of meals and time to take them should be so adjusted 

 that no meal is taken before a previous meal is well out of the way, in order 

 that the stomach may have had time to rest and prepare new juices. Nor- 

 mal appetite is a good guide in this respect. One's best sleep is on an 

 empty stomach. Food puts one to sleep by diverting blood from the head, 

 but disturbs sleep later. Water, however, or even fruit may be taken 

 before retiring without injury. 



An exclusive diet is usually unsafe. Even foods which are not ideally 

 the best are probably needed when no better are available, or when the 

 appetite especially calls for them. 



The following is a very tentative list of foods in the order of excellence 

 for general purposes, subject, of course, to their palatability at the time 

 eaten: fruits, nuts, grains (including bread), butter, buttermilk, salt in 

 small quantities, cream, milk, potatoes, and other vegetables (if fiber is 

 rejected), eggs, custards, digested cheeses (such as cottage cheese, cream 

 cheeses pineapple cheese, Swiss cheese, Cheddar cheese, etc.), curds, whey, 

 vegetables, if fiber is swallowed, sugar, chocolate, and cocoa, putrefactive 

 cheeses (such as Limburger, Rochefort, etc.), fish, shellfish, game, poultry, 

 meats, liver, sweetbreads, meat soups, beef tea, bouillon, meat extracts, 

 tea and coffee, condiments (other than salt), and alcohol. None of these 

 should be absolutely excluded, unless it be the last half dozen, which, with 

 tobacco, are best dispensed with for reasons of health. Instead of exclud- 

 ing specific food, it is safer to follow appetite, merely giving the benefit of 

 the doubt between two foods, equally palatable, to the one higher in the 

 list. In general, hard and dry foods are preferable to soft and wet foods. 

 Use some raw foods nuts, fruits, salads, milk, or other daily. 



The amount of proteid required is much less than ordinarily consumed. 

 Through thorough mastication the amount of proteid is automatically 

 reduced to its proper level. 



The sudden or artificial reduction in proteid to the ideal standard is 

 apt to produce temporarily a " sour stomach," unless fats be used abun- 

 dantly. 



