Omaha daily bee., 1902-06-15

uouIs lnah 10 Two OF tnree IN the case Ol
many articles Of food. DR.. Dewey says
that n we allow between each meal and
the next such an interval that we may
never be dealing with two sets Of food
at the same time, then two meals a day
will be ample for us. We shall use up less
energy in digestion and absorbing our food
and In getting rid of waste. We shall
therefore have more energy for muscular
work or brain work or both. In the early
morning, he says, we should do our best
work. The day is fresh, and we should be
fresh also.
We should have a store OF energy ready
after the night Of rest, and that energy we
should use for our regular occupation. why
should we use Il for digestion, especially
when we remember that none Of the food
may be ready for actual service in the body
till hours after breakfast? II is found that
laborers can get through their mornings
work without breakfast as we'll as seden-
tary business men. and he notes from the
bible: Unhappy art thou, oh, land, when
thy princes eat In the morning"
The Persians at their best used to eat
no breakfast. The main meal, he holds,
should be at 10 or 1. At that time some
work has already been done; we have more
time TO give up to a careful enjoyment OF
the luncheon, we have better appetite and
we have saved some expense by lessening
one meal. We will also have saved some
expense by lessening the amount at each
meal.
THE result" says DR.. Dewey, will be
all around Improvement" He maintains
that there is no disease which cannot DO
removed, or at least be benefited by the
plan. indigestion will disappear; so will
depression and heaviness; in fact all sorts
of illnesses have been found to give way
to this treatment
First Failure.
I tried the no-breakftst plan twice with
out much success, but at last, on the third
attempt, 1 found that It suited me, though
I was unable to go without food later
than IL 80. On one day 1 tried to play
racquets from 1890 to 1870. but the result
was a failure; l felt quite slack. At first
l had found 1t better to take breakfast at
10 or IL. 1t is interesting to notice that
with this plan also the desire for stimu-
lants disappears. 1t seems quite likely that
one cause for the desire is that there still
remains in the stomach a certain amount
Of undigested and perhaps fermenting ma
terial, which creates a thirst or hunger of
a peculiar kind.
But II should not be forgotten that indi-
viduals differ and that as yet scarcely one
single universal law about diet has emerged
from masses and masses of statistics coll
lected from every country under the sun
by myriads Of careful and often painful re-
searches.
1t is not entirely a matter Of science, for
imagination goes a long way. A person
imagines that he will starve IL he does
not eat breakfast. That by itself is enough
to make failure possible. And there Is in
deed a real feeling OF hunger. 1t has been
compared to the feeling of thirst for alco-
hol. 1t has been a ~habit-hunger, which may
disappear after the FIRST few days, SO that
the person would rather not eat. But still
at the time 1t is a real sensation and is
likely to make the person anxious.
Besides this, customs are not altogether
to be transgressed with impunity. House
holds have their laws, and to violate these
laws may bring trouble. Again, to rely on
any one habit of living makes a man some
what of a slave. He who can live healthy
anyhow is in some respects better of.
And experiments have not always sue
ceeded. l do not know that there have
been any failures Of the chewing plan,
but one we'll known American physician
gives a verdict against the no-breakfast
plan. He draws his conclusions from many
establishments scattered all over America.
He prefers the two main meals, and he puts
them at different times; he would have a
morning and an evening meal.
Small Meals Taken often.
Nor can we possibly dare to assert tina
there is none whom several little meals
at short intervals would not suit better
than the Dewey plan. Anyhow we have
no right to state that his plan is bound
Am Ia.1 ALaA AZ L. $500 a.
succeed at once.
But there is this favor of both the slow
chewing and no-breakfast plans, they do
not neglect pleasant taste, and the power
that 1t has to attract pc Ie. This fact
is too much neglected. 1t Is of no use to
give people dull or nauseous masses of
stun-sticky and glutinous, or watery, or
hbrous-even II we do give it a certain
amount of %prickliness and stimulus by
means Of peppers and condiments. Such
stun is better left alone. The food must be
pleasant; 1t must be more pleasant than
the customary food; It must be far more
pleasant.
Mr.. Fletcher and Mr.. Dewey com in
here. They say: Choose your foods; choose
those OF which you like the taste" 1t
is interesting to know that Mr.. Fletcher
has come down to the simple or feshless
foods, not from any human motives. but
because his instinct now prefers them.
He has no desire for any other. He says:
Eat slowly; and 1t matters little what
you eat" / think both of them minimize
the Importance of a careful choice of
foods, especially until the right instinct
shall have been developed. Then doubt
less the taste and inclination will tell
precisely what is the best food at any given
time.
Gradual Change Desirable.
One Of the strongest objections brought