Those who labour under any particular disease, ought to avoid such aliments as have a tendency to increase it: for example, a gouty person should not indulge in rich wines, strong soups, or gravies, and should avoid all acids. One who is troubled with the gravel ought to shun all austere and astringent aliments; and those who are scorbutic should be sparing in the use of salted provisions, &c.
In the first period of life, our food ought to be light, but nourishing, and frequently taken. Food that is solid, with a sufficient degree of tenacity, is most proper for the state of manhood. The diet suited to the last period of life, when nature is upon the decline, approaches nearly to that of the first. It should be lighter and more succulent than that of vigorous age, and likewise more frequently taken.
It is not only necessary for health that our diet be wholesome, but also that it be taken at regular periods. Some imagine long fasting will atone for excess; but this, instead of mending the matter, generally makes it worse. When the stomach and intestines are over-distended with food, they lose their proper tone, and, by long fasting, they become weak, and inflated with wind. Thus, either gluttony or fasting destroys the powers of digestion.
The frequent repetition of aliment is not only necessary for repairing the continual waste of our bodies, but likewise to keep the fluids sound and sweet. Our humours, even in the most healthy state, have a constant tendency to putrefaction, which can only be prevented by frequent supplies of fresh nourishment: when that is wanting too long, the putrefaction often proceeds so far as to occasion very dangerous fevers. From hence we may learn the necessity of regular meals. No person can enjoy a good state of health, whose vessels are either frequently overcharged, or the humours long deprived of fresh supplies of chyle.
Long fasting is extremely hurtful to young people; it not only vitiates their humours, but prevents their growth. Nor is it less injurious to the aged. Most persons, in the decline of life, are afflicted with wind: this complaint is not only increased, but even rendered dangerous, and often fatal, by long fasting. Old people, when their stomachs are empty, are frequently seized with giddiness, head-achs, and faintness. These complaints may generally be removed by a piece of bread and a glass of wine, or taking any other solid food; which plainly points out the method of preventing them.
It is more than probable, that many of the sudden deaths, which happen in the advanced periods of life, are occasioned by fasting too long, as it exhausts the spirits, and fills the bowels with wind; we would therefore advise people, in the decline of life, never to allow their stomachs to be too long empty. Many people take nothing but a few cups of tea and a little bread, from nine o’clock at night till two or three next afternoon. Such may be said to fast almost three-fourths of their time. This can hardly fail to ruin the appetite, vitiate the humours, and fill the bowels with wind; all which might be prevented by a solid breakfast.
It is a very common practice to eat a light breakfast and a heavy supper. This custom ought to be reversed. When people sup late, their supper should be very light; but the breakfast ought always to be solid. If any one eats a light supper, goes soon to bed, and rises betimes in the morning, he will be sure to find an appetite for his breakfast, and he may freely indulge it.
The strong and healthy do not indeed suffer so much from fasting as the weak and delicate; but they run great hazard from its opposite, viz. repletion. Many diseases, especially fevers, are the effect of a plethora, or too great fulness of the vessels. Strong people, in high health, have generally a great quantity of blood and other humours. When these are suddenly increased, by an overcharge of rich and nourishing diet, the vessels become too much distended, and obstructions and inflammations ensue. Hence so many people are seized with inflammatory and eruptive fevers after a feast or debauch.
All great and sudden changes in diet are dangerous. What the stomach has been long accustomed to digest, though less wholesome, will agree better with it than food of a more salutary nature which it has not been used to. When therefore a change becomes necessary, it ought always to be made gradually; a sudden transition from a poor and low, to a rich and luxurious diet, or the contrary, might so disturb the functions of the body as to endanger health, or even to occasion death itself.
When we recommend regularity in diet, we would not be understood as condemning every small deviation from it. It is next to impossible for people at all times to avoid some degree of excess, and living too much by rule might make even the smallest deviation dangerous. It may therefore be prudent to vary a little, sometimes taking more, sometimes less, than the usual quantity of meat and drink, provided always that a due regard be had to moderation.