--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Allen, James X. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 13 number: 2 published: 1909-12 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'James X. Allen, "A Short Talk About Eating," *Improvement Era* 13, no. 2 (December 1909): 132–135.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1302unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera1302unse start_page: 132 end_page: 135 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1909-12) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1302unse publication_year: 1909 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1909, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # A Short Talk About Eating A Short Talk About Eating. BY JAMES X. ALLEN, M. D. Do not get scared; I do not intend a scientific lecture on the physiology of digestion: only a few plain suggestions that all will readily understand. During my experience as a practicing physician, a period extending over half a century, I have observed that a large por- tion of the troubles I have been called upon to remedy, or to ame- liorate, have been induced by faulty eating. The principal errors to which I wish to call attention are (1) eating too much; (2) eat- ing too rapidly; (3) eating, at times, unadvisedly. Many persons eat by far too much. The majority of stomachs can perform a reasonable amount of work and do it well, but when imposed upon by being overloaded, is it any wonder that, as the saying goes, they kick? You crowd lessons upon your child, and the probabilities are that you have a doctor's bill to pay; or what may prove to be much worse, a child with impaired vision, nerv- ous debility, an invalid, unfitted for the battle of life. You im- pose excessive burdens upon your beast, and it may hold out for a season, but sooner or later your animal loses both flesh and vim, and you have need to turn it to grass for a season. Neither can a man retain his flesh or courage when worked beyond his capacity. Naturally, would you think a man's stom- ach is stronger than the man? Or again, is any one part greater than the whole? I once knew an old gentleman of whom some people said, "He is a crank." However, he had passed three- score and ten. He was healthy, cheerful, hopeful, and had a good word for everybody, with malice toward none. This patriarch had A SHORT TALK ABOUT EATING. L33 a saying which he was wont to repeat: "Eat when you are hun- gry and don't eat when not hungry." It may be that this rule is not susceptible of universal application, although it appeared to have worked well in the case of my venerable friend. One cause of the major part of gormandizing is the manner in which food is served. Ordinarily we fill up pretty much on the coarser food, and should we stop here, we would be all right, but here comes a second dish which is more appetizing than the first course, and we are tempted to overdo a little. This may not be so bad, but there is a third temptation in the shape of a delicacy, not to be resisted. The result is that we overburden the stomach, and is it surprising that it has "a kick" coming? While I am a lover of nature, I am not quite as strenuous in that regard as was Brother William M'Guire, formerly of Little Cottonwood, of this state; he was so far nature-struck that he re- tired with the chickens and rose with the lark. I cannot go that far, but I do think that we derive some lessons from the brute creation. For instance, I have an old mare; she is fat and healthy. She never complains of indigestion, and is always ready for work. I notice that she eats very differently from what I do; or I eat differently from the way she does. I give her a little green and a little dry hay at the same time; she eats the sweetest first, the green hay, and if not quite full enough she will fill up on the less palatable hay. In that way, she stops when her need is satisfied. She eats the most delicate food first, and never overeats on the coarser food. We do the veiy opposite to what the mare does. She never has the dispepsia, while but few of us escape having it. The singer is careful not to eat much when going before the public, and the orator is equally careful when about to ascend the rostrum. The man or woman who is engaged in manual labor, or who takes sufficient physical exercise, is not so apt to suffer from over-eating as are those of sedentary habits. Every exercise of physical energy assists, more or less, the stomach in its work of digestion; as it also contributes to the work of propelling the waste products through the intestinal canal, thereby keeping the body in a healthy condition. It follows from the above observation that a person of seden- tary habits will suffer more from gormandizing, (and may not in- 134 IMPRO VEMENT ERA . dulge same extent) than may one of a more active life. to the Do not indulge the habit of nibbling between meals. The stomach needs a rest just as much as do your limbs or your brains. If you stop and think for a moment I doubt not but you will see the point. "Some people live to eat; and some eat to live." Reader, to which class do you belong? The tippler does not call for the second, third and fourth glass of liquor because he needs it, but to satis- fy the craving of an abnormal appetite. It is just so with the epicure; he eats not to satisfy the demands of his system, but to assauge the cravings of a vicious appetite. Most people eat too rapidly. Our teeth are for the purpose of cutting and crushing our food, and the more minutely we disin- tegrate it in the mouth, the more readily will the gastric juice penetrate and digest it. Not all foods are digested in the stomach, but that fact does not interfere with the further fact that all foods must be reduced to a liquid state before they can be appropriated by the absorbents for the nourishment of the anatomy. Whether digested in the stom- ach or in the intestines, the same law holds good. The office of the saliva is to moisten the food, thereby render- ing it easy of deglutition, and if one will take the time required for thorough mastication, there will be no need of foolishly taking a sip with every mouthful of food in order to get it down. Where it is convenient to do so, chewing the food should be divided about equally between the two sides of the mouth, as the secretion of saliva is triple as much by the glands on the side in use, as on the side that may be idle. Where mastication is hurried and incom- plete, little dumplings are apt to find their way into the stomach where they are sure to make trouble. Chew well, and thoroughly disintegrate the food in the mouth, and the stomach and intestines will take care of the rest. I have heard men say, "Life is too short; I cannot spare an hour for dinner," the answer to which is, "Can you spare time for indigestion, for cramps, colic? Can you spare time to be sick, to die?" Did you ever take two cups of warm water, and drop into one cup a lump of sugar, and into the second cup the same amount of crushed sugar and notice the difference in time A SHORT TALK ABOUT EATING. 135 taken by them to dissolve? What would be abetter illustration of the stomach's action; get two. glasses with the same amount of alcohol in each; drop into the first a lump of camphor and into the second glass the same amount of pulverized camphor, and notice the difference in time that will be required for them to be dis- solved. This will give you some idea of the difference between the action of the stomach on well masticated food and on that of little dumplings, with this difference: the sugar and the camphor will dissolve, only give them time enough; but the dumplings may never dissolve, but may, besides fatiguing the digestive apparatus, conduce to appendicitis, obstruction of the bowels or other maladies. Formerly it was customary for gentlemen of means to employ professional fools, whose duty it was to keep the diners in mirth- ful mood while at the banquet table. These mirthful diversions prolonged the sittings and were conducive to health. All depress- ing stories, as well as sermonizing, should be barred from the table. Joy aids digestion, while melancholy and grief retard it. Children universally eat too rapidly; let them chatter and laugh while at the table, and you will not suffer, while the little ones will be the better for it. A good, hearty laugh is the next thing to a good chop, and it helps to digest the chop. Some persons eat unadvisedly. To eat a full meal before ascending the pulpit or the rostrum is a mistake. Sound thinking demands additional blood to the brain. A good meal makes the same when the two requisition on the heart for the stomach; and calls made simultaneously, the supply is not equal to the are demand, and the result is more or less confusion. Many persons go to bed with an empty stomach; while many others take a light lunch before retiring for the night. There is no infallible rule in this case: that custom is best for you which leaves you feeling best. Late banquets are never to be encouraged, you eat a big meal of slowly digestive food on retiring for the night and the result is restlessness, perhaps troublesome dreams, and possibly nightmare. You lie down with a full stomach, roll upon your back, the weight of the stomach compresses the abdominal artery, circulation is obstructed, and you can guess what follows. Ogden, Utah.