A rule in eating.
That men in health may prevent diseases, it was advised, that one meal should not be eaten, till the other, which was eaten before, was passed off clean out of the stomach; which never is done till the appetite of hunger is found to call for another supply: By means of which constant observation, the food will be converted to good chyle, and from good chyle, which is a milk-like substance, good blood will be bred, and from good blood generous spirits will be produced, on which a healthy constitution will ensue; but, on the contrary, when too great a quantity of food is taken for pleasure only, which the stomach cannot well digest, the chyle will be raw and corrupt, which will foul the blood, and render the body disordered and unhealthy.
Benefits of sobriety.
Others say, that abstinence and sobriety free from most diseases, especially catarrhs, coughs, wheesings, giddiness, pain in the head and stomach, sudden death, lethargies, gout and sciatica, an ill digestion being the cause of all these; it also prevents pains in the splene, stone, and gravel, and a dry itch; it makes the body vigorous and nimble, maintains the five senses in a good state, preserveth the memory, quickens the wit; and quencheth all undue lust in mankind; and, in short, all misers, who eat and drink but little, do live long.
Rule for diet after fifty.
Two meals a day is said to be sufficient for all persons after fifty years of age, and all weak people; and the omitting of suppers does always conduce much to the health of the weak and aged: since, if no supper be eaten, the stomach will soon free itself from all tough, slimy humours wherewith it is slabbered over on the inside, and thereby the appetite will be renewed, and digestion made more strong. Moreover, all that are troubled with sweating in the night, any ill taste in their mouths, belching and troublesome dreams, must avoid suppers; for in sleep the fibres of the stomach relax, and are not able to contract themselves so strongly, as when awake, to embrace the food, and by tituration reduce it into a pap fit to pass into the intestines, out of which the nourishment is sent to other parts.
Temperance prolongs life.
It was said by Dr. Curtis, that tho’ those who use a spare diet cannot well bear long labour; yet such people, when their exercise is suitable to their strength, do live longer than those of a robust constitution, that think large feeding adds strength; especially such as, being strong, use no exercise proportionable to it, to consume the superfluities which a full feeding doth occasion: So that the only way for those to live long, who have much wealth, and need not labour for a livelihood, is to live temperately; and this temperance doth consist in not letting the common custom of meals invite you to eat, except your appetite concur with those times. We must not indulge the cravings of a depraved appetite, as those do who eat to please their fancy, and not the necessities of nature; and, when we do eat, we must not think that the more plentifully we eat, we shall be the more strengthened; for it will not prove so: A little well digested will make the body stronger then the being glutted with superfluity, most of which will be turned into a corrupt juice, and must be cast out by physic, or else sickness will ensue. The easiest physic is that which the Germans call the Hunger-cure, if continued a due time.
Children, when ill managed.
It is the opinion of learned men, that the early distemper of the bodies of children, called the rickets, proceeds from the faults of their mothers, in making them gluttons from their cradles, gorging them with food till they lothe it, out of a mistaken opinion, that this is the way to make them thrive and grow strong: which excess is not only the cause of this disease, but of the immature death of many; and in others it lays the foundation of many distempers, which afflict those afterwards who live to years of maturity. And as they gorge them with food, so they vainly think to cherish them with strong drink, than which nothing can be more pernicious to the health of children, whose diet should be little and often, and their drink cooling. As it also should be when men arrive at the time of becoming children again in old age, that is, in an helpless state, which should be prevented as much as can be, by a cooling, moistening diet, in opposition to the hot, dry, and withered state of age; for it is heat and dryness that are the cause of most old men’s miseries, especially the wasting of the substance that fills the parts with moisture, and keeps the body plump and smooth; they who stile wine the old man’s milk, being greatly mistaken, for milk cools and wine heats.