The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1880-12-23
The Quantity Of Food,

How much food children or adults
need must depend upon many condi-
tions, as health, powers of digestion,
climate, age, exercise, etc. In many
families in civilized communities, dis
eases and death are caused by eating
excessive quantities of food. Some
children and adults have no other pur-
pose in eating than to crafty their ap
petites. They live to eat, but do not
eat to live. So we find that the appe-
tite is no guide to the amount of food
actually needed. Many mothers pre-
sent to their children those articles of
diet that tempt them to eat more than
they need, or can do them any good, but
may do them harm. Nearly all per-
sons, young and old, eat and eat, until
they can eat no more! In this way the
stomach is compelled to digest more
food than the body needs. Not only is
the stomach overworked, but the lungs,
liver, bowels, kidneys and other organs
are compelled to work harder and more
constantly than nature intended. In
this way these several organs are weak
ened and diseased.
For children who have passed the
period of infancy, and for adults, GER
tain principles regarding the quality of
food really needed may be given. l.
Those persons who exercise their limbs
and body need more food than those
who lead q sedentary life. Those who
have led an active life and are compelled
to live a sedentary one soon feel the
necessity of diminishing the amount of
food they daily take. Farmers sons,
who have for several years labored upon
the land and eaten as heartily as such
persons must, soon find that their health
fails ON continuing to eat heartily after
their active life has been exchanged for
q sedentary one. The laborer may eat
heartily and easily digest his food, but
not the student. Whatever the laborer
may consume with impunity the stu
dent finds injurious, impairing the ac-
tivity of his mind and inducing discom-
fort and suffering in his body. Those
who exchange the duties and exertions
of active life for those of an inactive
must learn before it is too late to deny
themselves the pleasures of fully gratify-
ing their appetites. Reason and the ex-
perience of others, if not their own, and
not their appetites, must determine the
amount of food they take. The inact-
i've person should feel, when he ceases
eating, that he can eat much more. He
should never indulge in eating when he
has in his stomach a feeling of fullness
and oppression.
If children are very hearty eaters
their food should be of the simplest
and least stimulating kind, and thus
preventing their eating more than the
system really needs. The first reason for
consuming food should be necessity, and
the second may be the qualification of
the appetite. Usually children have
appetites so strong that they need no
stimulants, no condiments, as spices,
pepper, or mustard. These articles
should be reserved for the failing ap-
petite of debility and age. They are
not nutritious, and are useful only by
way of increasing the appetite and
promoting the full digestion of what is
eaten. They may stimulate the nerv-
Gus system, and so should be avoided
in all inilammatory tendencies of the
system. The excessive use of sirups,
sugar and molasscs may induce fer
mentation in the stomach and long
canal. In moderate quantities they
are useful, and sometimes are strongly
needed. Articles preserved in sirups
should be sparingly taken, as they are
usually not easy of digestion. The
lessons we wish to give are: l..
That health and growth demand that
the. amount of food should vary with
the amount of exercise. 2. That the
kinds of food should be such as may
supply the needs of the system. 3.
That the amount of food should be no
more than can be easily digested. -
! Prairie Farmer.