1345. Of Dinner.—It is injurious to eat when greatly heated or fatigued. It would very much conduce to the health of laboring men, if they could rest fifteen or twenty minutes before dinner.
The diet should always be more spare, with a larger proportion of vegetables and ripe fruits, during summer. Fruits are most wholesome in their appropriate season. The skins, stones, and seeds, are indigestible.
Rich soups are injurious to the dyspeptic. Much liquid food is rarely beneficial for adults; but a small quantity of plain, nourishing soup is an economical and healthy beginning of a family dinner.
Meats should always be sufficiently cooked. It is a savage custom to eat meat in a half-raw-half-roasted state, and only a very strong stomach can digest it.
Rich gravies should be avoided, especially in the summer season.
1346.—Of Drinks.—Most people drink too much, because they drink too fast. A wine-glass of water, sipped slowly, will quench the thirst as effectually as a pint swallowed at a draught. When too much is taken at meals, especially at dinner, it hinders digestion. Better drink little during the meal, and then, if thirsty an hour or two afterwards, more. The practice of taking a cup of tea or coffee soon after dinner is a good one, if the beverage be not drank too strong or too hot.
Dyspeptic people should be careful to take but a small quantity of drink. Children require more, in proportion to their food, than adults. But it is very injurious to them to allow a habit of continual drinking as you find in some children. It greatly weakens the stomach, and renders them irritable and peevish.
The morning meal requires to be lighter and of a more fluid nature than any other. Children should always, if possible to be obtained, take milk—as a substitute, during the winter, good gruel with bread, or water, sweetened with molasses, is healthy. Never give children tea, coffee, or chocolate with their meals.