Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1886-07-07
some Tacts About Suppers

OOm0 EoC&S ANVIL upper
Abon. suppers then: only those who
dine early require anything of the sort.
As / believe and trust that most of my
readers ore early diners, the few remarks
/ have to make about the evening meal
may not be thrown away.
Well, then, it is a fact, which no one
would attempt to g~ainsay, that the
stomach must have an interval of rest
between each meal. The period Of
rest should be granted to it gratuitously.
1t should not require to take it. But
mark me: it niH do so il weary. If we
might %personify the stomach, we could
imagine it saying to the owner
"That midday meal was far too heavy
1t was more than I could manage; 1
have worked away for four hours, and
have not yet completed digestion there
is still food here that needs to be re-
duced to chyme, but my iucies are ex-
pended; my nervous and muscular en-
ergies are exhausted !; | can do no more"
And what is the result? Why, that
a portion Of ipdigestible food remains
in the stomach, or passes through the
pyloric opening, %unreduced to chyme,
fermenting and causing acidity, fiatu-
lence, eructations, and many indescrib-
able feelings of discomfort.
But the mischief does moi end here,
for by-and-by supper time. The
mistaken notion that it is the correct
thing to eat at regular times, whether
hungry or not, prevails, and more food
finds its way into that unhappy stom-
aeh. Everybody knows what a ferment
is. Well, in eating before the stomach
is quite unloaded, You are mixing good
food with that which is digesting. Can
you wonder il q restless night follows
or a night Of lethargy rather than
sound s%leep-that you toss and tumble,
or either wake too soon, without the
~capability Of going to sleep again, or
doze longer than usual, and get up at
last with a heavy head and an irritable
temper?
But stay, though; perhaps you have
an appetite for supper. Have you?
What! despite the hearty dinner you
discussed? Very we'll; if after that
dinner you took a good spell Of exer-
else in the open air, or if you had some
heightened pleasurable excitement,
such as enjoying the conversation and
company of friends, hen this appetite
of yours may be a wholesome one.
But, on the other hand, if you enjoy
yourself doing positively nothing after
dinner; if you have never left the house,
nor breathed a gallon of pure fresh air,
then l say ten to your appetite is u
false one batliimic one born of q
slight degree of nervous irritation, not
to say fever.
"Bullimic" is q technical word, I
know, and J. am going to explain it.
"Bullimia," then, is an unnatural crav-
ing for food. One may suffer from q
slight attack of it now and then, or it
may become chronic, and is then known
to the profession as "bullimic dyspep-
sia. The patients suffer from hunger;
and unless they eat Immediately after
the desire for food on, they get
faint and low-spirited, and especially
complain Of a painful sense of sinking
about the region of the heart and stom-
ach. The desire for food returns al
most Immediately after q good meal
Or. Guipon). l may say parenthetic-
ally that the most useful remedies for
this kind of dyspepsia are minced raw
beef, charcoal, cod-liver oil, and pep
sine, with occasional mild aperients if
the system cannot be kept free by the
matutinal tub, open-air exercise, and
fruit eaten in the morning.
1t but remains for me to say that I
consider it a nervous affection, and that
occasional attacks of it are brought on
by errors in diet and dieting.
The question is asked constantly of
medical men: "What shall ! take for
supper?"
The truth is that too much belief is
placed in that usually nonsensical say
ing, "The system must be supported"
Nervous invalids or that class Of persons
whom l called in a former article "onlv
middlings," are constantly engaged
supporting their systems; therefore,
and in consequence, they give them
selves no chance to get well: their
whole lives are spent in one continued
ferment of fever. Were they only to
reduce the diet for even a week or fort
night, and to eat and live by rule, they
would be simply astonished at the
change, and would ask our editor to
thank the Family Doctor" for his sug-
gestions.-Family Doctor, in CdsseVs
Magazine.