370
Testimony Studies on Diet and Foods
to gluttony. This is an error. The digestive organs should not be bur-
dened with a quantity or quality of good which it will tax the system
to appropriate.
Custom has decreed that the food shall be placed upon the tables 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.
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 overworked 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
many the faintness is interpreted as a demand for more food; so in-
stead of giving the stomach rest, another burden is placed upon it. As a
consequence the digestive organs are often worn out when they should
be capable of doing good work.
The Ministry of Healing, 308-310
Overeating is especially harmful to those who are sluggish in
temperament; these should eat sparingly, and take plenty of physical
exercise. There are men and women of excellent natural ability who do
not accomplish half what they might if they would exercise self-control
in the denial of appetite.
Many writers and speakers fail here. After eating heartily, they
give themselves to sedentary occupations, reading, study, or writing,