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Diet and Health
215
after eating, digestion is hindered. When one is excited, anxious, or
hurried, it is better not to eat until rest or relief is found.
The stomach is closely related to the brain; and when the stomach
is diseased, the nerve power is called from the brain to the aid of the
weakened digestive organs. When these demands are too frequent,
the brain becomes congested. When the brain is constantly taxed,
and there is lack of physical exercise, even plain food should be
eaten sparingly. At mealtime cast off care and anxious thought; do
not feel hurried, but eat slowly and with cheerfulness, with your
heart filled with gratitude to God for all His blessings.
Many who discard flesh meats and other gross and injurious arti-
cles think that because their food is simple and wholesome they may
indulge appetite without restraint, and they eat to excess, sometimes
to gluttony. This is an error. The digestive organs should not be
burdened with a quantity or quality of food which it will tax the
system to appropriate.
Custom has decreed that the food shall be placed upon the table in
courses. Not knowing what is coming next, one may eat a sufficiency
of food which perhaps is not the best suited to him. When the last
course is brought on, he often ventures to overstep the bounds, and
take the tempting dessert, which, however, proves anything but good
for him. If all the food intended for a meal is placed on the table at
the beginning, one has opportunity to make the best choice.
Sometimes the result of overeating is felt at once. In other cases
there is no sensation of pain; but the digestive organs lose their vital
force, and the foundation of physical strength is undermined.
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The surplus food burdens the system and produces morbid, fever-
ish conditions. It calls an undue amount of blood to the stomach,
causing the limbs and extremities to chill quickly. It lays a heavy tax
on the digestive organs, and when these organs have accomplished
their task, there is a feeling of faintness or languor. Some who are
continually overeating call this all-gone feeling hunger; but it is
caused by the over-worked condition of the digestive organs. At
times there is numbness of the brain, with disinclination to mental
or physical effort.
These unpleasant symptoms are felt because nature has accom-
plished her work at an unnecessary outlay of vital force and is thor-
oughly exhausted. The stomach is saying, “Give me rest.” But with