Rural Hygiene

by Henry N. Ogden

Muscular and psychic reactions.

Another factor in the power of the body to utilize the food values is the condition of the body at the time of the meal. If the individual is exhausted or even tired, no complete digestion is possible, and particularly is this true if the exercise has involved excessive perspiration. So in hot weather, a heavy meal should not be eaten until after a half hour's rest and after copious water drinking to compensate for that loss of perspiration.

Studies on the digestion of foods and on other matters pertaining thereto have shown that the smell of food, or the mere suggestion of food, stimulates the organs for the production of the digestive juices. It is directly and literally correct, therefore, to say that one's mouth waters for this or that food because the thought or anticipation of the food, if pleasant, will actually cause the saliva to form and flow in the mouth. This is true of the other digestive juices as well, so that an appetizing fritter, for instance, showing the rich, brown crust will stir up the bile, and when the fried cake reaches the opening into the intestine, the bile will be there ready to act. This has been demonstrated by putting into the stomach of sleeping dogs various kinds of foods and finding that no digestive juices whatever were produced, although with the dog awake and seeing the food before eating, the juices began to flow in the usual fashion.

It follows, then, that the enjoyment of food is quite as important as any other digestive function, and on the contrary, the eating of all sorts of foods with no interest or attention is the best way to induce subsequent indigestion. The fact, then, that a business man eating at a quick-lunch counter does not get the full enjoyment and benefit from his meal as compared with those who sit leisurely over a well-appointed table does not result altogether from the difference in the viands, but rather in the different attitude toward the meal. It would undoubtedly be a great gain in every household if more attention could be given to a cheerful intercourse at meal times—not for the better relationship which would follow, but merely for the effect on the digestion.

After meals, violent exercise is not desirable because thereby vitality is taken away from the muscles of the stomach and intestines and is used up in the other muscles; but it is vigorous exercise after heavy meals only that is condemned, since moderate exercise after ordinary meals is not objectionable. Nor is there any evidence, unless the meal has been excessive, that mental exercise after a meal does any harm. The amount of mental tissue used up in the ordinary processes of mental work is not great enough to call for any large diminution of the supply of blood to other parts of the body.

Consumption of water.

A move in the right direction to-day undoubtedly is the tendency to increase the quantity of water to drink. The body is nine-tenths per cent water, and while a large part of the water in the tissues is made chemically by combinations of hydrogen and oxygen, there must be a constant replenishing of the liquids of the body.

The ordinary person ought to drink, or consume with his food in some way, at least two quarts of water a day, and many difficulties with the liver, kidneys, and other organs would be avoided if this amount of water daily were imbibed. Probably the contention that water should not be taken at meals is not particularly tenable except as the continual swallowing of water increases the tendency to swallow food without chewing, a childish habit sure to lead to distress later. But, to eat one's dinner or part of one's dinner and then drink a glass of water cannot reasonably be assumed to interfere with any digestive process. It is quite likely, in fact, that the greater dilution of the mass in the stomach will tend to easier absorption later on.

Condiments and drinks.

There are certain kinds of foods which, though not strictly included in the four elements of food already named, yet are so common as to deserve special mention. Chief among these are the condiments and drinks, particularly coffee and tea. So far as the nutritive value of such materials as salt and pepper, vinegar or spices, goes, they are practically negligible, and yet, undoubtedly, these flavors play an important part in the suggestion of pleasure and therefore in the excitement leading to the excretion of the digestive juices. If one ate salt pork and boiled potatoes always, eating would be a tiresome affair, and it is quite likely that such a sameness of food would fail to excite subsequent digestion, merely from the monotony of the affair. Salt, however, has a particular rôle in that the human body craves this mineral, and, while its exact value in the body is not clearly known, a certain amount of it must always be provided. The wild tribes of Africa, for instance, away from deposits of salt consider it their most valuable possession and will go to great lengths to procure it. Animals, in the same way, go great distances for a supply of salt.