Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1888-01-11
TWO MEALS PER DAY.
To Interrupt Work at Midday Is n
Great Mistake.

Now, say that breakfast time is Z
O'Clock. 1t takes full hour afterward
before il is safe to interfere the nervous
energy essential to digestion. By 10
O'Clock healthy person ought to be IN
good condition for work. At about IL
O'Clock the air out of doors reaches the
highest point of purity, OF IN other
words, the oxygen in the atmosphere
is approaching the maximum. 1t con-
tinues In this state until l O'Clock p.
NJ. The electricity following the sun
Is then at its height.
So We have at midday the inner and
outer conditions for the greatest brain
and bodily power. To interrupt work
at such time is a mistake which the
Anglo-Saxon race does not realize,
because il has inherited the custom OF
stopping to take provisions between u
and 2 O'Clock in the day.
All kinds of mental and physical
work proceeded by better sustained at
tention. The difference between an
Isaac Newton and an ordinary mortal
Is shown in the ease with which the
occupation of the day is thrown aside
in order to do what is described as
''fortifying the inner man." Newton
could concentrate his mind upon a
subject so as to be oblIvious of all else,
including eating and sleeping, for
twenty-four hours. think there Is an
appropriateness in comparing the too
frequently loaded stomach to an en-
glne which is all fired and working
splendIdly when the fire is buried
under new Goals and the steam cooled
down by deiuge of water. L am con-
vinced that there ought to be an in
If I.saN,
the two meals of the day. If there
must be brief rest from labor at noon
it will be found healthier to do any
thing else than eat and drink.
Nature Is quicker to forgive the mis-
take of sleeping. bathing or walking
too much than the fault of depressing
the whole man with an unnecessary
load of food. The theory that the
stomach demands something to sustain
it after a few hours from the last time
it took food is as Wild as that horse
should be put to work in a very little
while after 1t has had hard service.
BENEFITS OF FASTING.
The stomach is not dependent upon
work for its health, except as, of
course, it and the whole body must
have the blood made from its digested
food; but this blood does not need re-
plenishing so often as is supposed, con-
siderlng that it remains in the system
and continues an endless circuit.
Disease is occasioncd by the over
fatigue of the digestive system, such as
overwork kills the horse. Many per-
sons of mature judgment obtain re-
lief from bodily troubles by fasts of
three days. / have often tried this eK-
pertinent. and have always found that
the stomach gains in tone. L have
even done the seven day fast, studying
and working the whole time, and be-
lIeve it did me good.
Fasting for long periods has to be
done intelligently or it may do more
harm than good. l can fully appreciate
the danger of advising any particular
course of action outside the line beyond
which everyday people should go; but
there is good ground for advising them
to become accustomed to two meals.
When Christ sat at the well in Sama.
ria waiting for his cold victuals It was
6 O'Clock p. NJ, Roman reckoning. He
is never mentioned as having eaten al
noon. The eating habits of his disci.
| pies were the same. The only excep
| tion to the general record was st.
Peter, who is said to have eaten a noon
meal on the roof at Joppa; but, Judging
from what appears elsewhere concern.
! ing him, l believe he was then only
/ breaking his fast for tae day.
The Chinese habit of eating only
twice a day is confined 10 those who dc
not work in the fields. The latter men.
| toned eat three times.
To break off the habit of eating the
noon meal, it only requires about foul
DAYS persistent fasting. After that
the craving for food Will become more
and more moderate, and ultimately
disappear.