What to eat and when

by Susanna Cocroft

The Appetite

If one has no appetite, we have been told in the past to abstain from food until the system calls for it, or to eat but a very little of the lightest food at regular meal times. This is right, but it deals with the effect and not the cause of the lack of appetite.

The chances are that this lack is due to retained waste. Whenever there is too much waste in the system, the chances are that the digestive organs will not call for more food, and when the appetite is lacking the effort should be made to see that the system is thoroughly clean. Every muscle and tissue must be relieved of the excess of waste. The correction of the lack of appetite, then, is not only abstinence from food, but brisk exercise, plenty of fresh air in the lungs, free drinking of water, and the elimination of the waste through the intestines, skin, lungs, and kidneys.

One should not be led into forming the habit of irregular eating, however. The stomach forms habits and the supply of food must be regular, just as the nursing child must be fed regularly, or digestive disturbance is sure to result.

Care should be taken not to eat between meals nor to eat candy or indigestible foods.

The lack of appetite may be due to mental preoccupation which does not let the brain relax long enough for the physical needs to assert themselves. One should relax the brain in pleasant thought during the meal.

But the chief thing to bear in mind is to create the demand for food by relieving the system of its waste, by calling for more supply to the muscles through exercise, and by giving the system plenty of oxygen through deep breathing.

The appetite is partly under control of the will and may be trained. It is more or less capricious and may be satisfied with little, or it may demand large amounts of food. Grief or worry will destroy it, as will foul air, and overfatigue.

A voracious appetite may be due to an irritation of the nerves of the stomach or to a disturbance of digestion of one kind or another. This is shown by the fact that sometimes those with abnormal appetites are thin and undernourished because of non-digestion of the food. If the food is eaten slowly and well chewed, the desire for too great an amount will be lessened. The food will also be better digested.

The chalk-eating, clay-eating, salt-eating habits are well known. The desire is largely mental and may be treated by substituting healthful thoughts for morbid longings, and changing the monotonous or restricted diet for one more liberal.