Omaha daily bee., 1902-06-15
TIPS ON THE TASK OF EATING
Eustace Miles Discusses the slow-0hswing
and No-Breakfast Plans.
EXPERT OPINION ON A COMMON HABIT
New and Old Plans Considered, with
n lint on the Risk of Rad
teal ChanEes-Fruit I'm
High Favor.

OCopyr1ght, lSOzi by Eustace Miles.)
How extremely hard It is for many, how
extremely unpleasant, sometimes almost
heroic, to refuse meat or fowl or fish at an
ordinary meal. A person may feel that
his heaviness after a meal, and indeed his
general unftness at most times, is due
to mistakes in diet, but he has not the
strength Of mind, or 1t may seem like the
heartlessness toward his family, to decide
on giving up that which may be disagreeing
with him. Aud, even II he does give 1t up.
he is very likely to go wrong by emitting
that which would take the place of the
nourishing flesh foods. Is there any way
out Of tho dlflculty7
There are apparently two ways out Of the
difficulty, though personally l should urge
that the trial Of the feshless foods with
some proper substitute for meat, which
must never be forgotten) is best worth an
experiment in every case.
Many readers will remember that Mr..
Horace Fletcher urges every one to eat
everything slowly, and even to chew what
he drinks, TO swallow nothing voluntarily,
as we usually swallow things, so long as
there is any taste IN them.
One great advantage Of this slow W
plan is that It excites a large amount OF
saliva. This will go down into the m
and help to digest not only the starch out
probably also every article Of food, though
we can not tell exactly what articles or to
what extent. The saliva will give a neces-
sary sense Of fullness, which perhaps the
same meal eaten fast would never give.
Need of AlkaIis To-day.
The saliva is alkaline in its tendency. AS
a rule, our blood is acid under modern
conditions. 1t is full Of waste products
And generally acidity shows itself, not only
in the blood, but also In the faces and man
ners Of ordinary people. There is some
thing extremely vinegar-like in city HE.
The alkaline saliva will help to counterfeit
this. Saliva is much more wholesome
than the inorganic" bicarbonate OF soda.
Slow eating will undoubtedly increase the
self-control and its effect will be good
upon the manner generally tor surely
slow eating is good breeding); 1t will also'
undoubtedly, increase the sense OF taste.
Instead Of missing nine-tenths of the flavor
of each food, we shall get full pleasure
from 1t, and the taste will become to us q
faithful sentinel. There are certain things
which It will refuse to pass, and generally
we shall get an instinct in our choice Of
foods which we may safely trust. Mr..
Fletcher finds that he can trust his taste
instinct absolutely.
His instinct leads him to eat less than
before, because he digests practically all
that he does eat. And thus he saves
money and nervous energy, energy which
otherwise would be wasted, to digest the
nourishment and excrete the excess and the
waste products, and he saves time also.
Very few Of us, I imagine, give up only
thirty-fve minutes a day to our meals,
and are ready to work or take exercise i'm
mediately after eating. Mr.. Horace
Fletcher can do this, although he is over
so years of age, and in early life was by
no means a healthy man.
There is another important point to
which he called my attention at Cam
bridge; he has no particular desire for
stimulants. He can take them without g.
probable discomfort and even with some
enjoyment. He takes them for their taste
rather than for their effects. Confess;
Which do you take them for chiefly? /
should doubt there being many people who
take alcohol for it's taste rather than for
its effects. He also says that the expert
ence of those who have tried his plan has
been that any tendency toward undesirable
Vaccinations disappears. There comes an
increasingly noticeable freedom from worry,
fear, anger and the unwholesome feelings
in general. He thinks that in his plan lies
one of the solutions Of the great problem
Of impurity.
Dewcy's NoaBreakfast Plan.
There is another way in which 1t Is
possible to avoid the giving up OF the flesh
foods. That way has been called the no.
breakfast plan. 1t does not interfere with
the social evening meal. DR.. Dewey, an
American, may be called the inventor OF 1t
among western peoples. He urges every
one to adopt it, and he has hundreds OF
successful followers already. 1t Is prob
able that it is most likely to be successful
II the last meal be taken somewhat late in
the evening before.
The theory, which we must carefully dis
tinguish again from the results in any given
case, is that a long time is needed TO-
digestion and assimilation. Many tables Of
digestion are given, but they only tell how
long It takes for the food to be digested
within the stcmach. The stomach Is not
the only organ in which the food has to
digest. Nor is the food assimilated at the
moment when 1t has been digested. 1t
might be nearer to the mark to say that
oon,oIata suncaza will fake nearer TO hVe