Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-16
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

This is the season of the year when
many persons inyoluntarily go on diet
Not consciously do they deprive them
selves Of their accustomed and stated
amounts OF food. but nature steps in
and takes away some OF their appetite.
Hot weather Is more powerful than
fashion.
Summer plays no Tavorites. male or
female. but tries to see TO 1t that the
demands for food are reduced impair
TALLY.
Animals eat to keep themselves warm,
to maintain their energy and to repair
tissue waste.
Since no heat is needed. in a large
sense, owing to the weather, every
ounce of food which IS eaten over the
requirements for strength and tissue
building Is wasted.
1t is worse than wasted, because 1t
goes to It's ancient purpose OF making
heat, and this causes the consumer to
become overheated, uncomfortable and
fretful.
Habit is so powerful, however, that
many persons insist on eating In hot
weather just as they do in cold.
las long as it tastes good" that
is the unwritten law by which millions
OF human consumers of foodstuftS
gauge their appetites.
Whereas they carefully portion out
the f0od to their dogs and cats, they
permit themselves to eat as much as
they want.
And this means as much as they can
holland this means to eat as long as
the food tastes good to them at the
time.
Thus the taste buds Of the mouth,
rather than the common sense OF
rational creature, are put In fun, direct
and undisputed control Of one OF the
most important functions OF the human
body.
The very people who ought to eat
the least. middle aged men and women
who already are too fat ale the very
ones who eat at every meal until things
stop tasting good to them:
Since the members Of this class need
no food at all in Summer to keep them
warm, and very little for tissue repair,
and none for growth. the only reason
they have for eating. in addition to
taste, is the necessity for energy.
There are, however. 1t must be ad-
mitted, two other perfectly good rea-
sons for eating, which do not have
standing on a strictly intellectual basis.
however. The first Of these is the social
side of the thing.
1t is question whether civilized
man eats so much for the three main
demands as for the social implications.
At any rate, he has managed TO COM
bine them.
The second reason is that OF keeping
ones self from feeling empty, with an
all gone" feeling, or even mildly III.
Those who do not experience these SEN
sations are very fortunate and should
have no trouble at all in keeping their
food requirements down to the very
minimum in Summer, much to their
own benefit and that OF their pocket
books
Those who must eat to keep away dis
agreeable sensation are in a different
boat end are law unto themselves. 1t
is probable that these persons eat
best-for Reconsideration they eat
often.
For them the old three square
meals" should be broken up into six
or seven or even eight meals day.
But this does not mean that they
should eat twice or three times as much
food as the average person.
Exactly the opposite plan is neces-
sary. They should eat very small
amounts every two or three hours. or
st most four or Ave hours Children
who demand this sort OF feeding have
been complained Of for centuries, but
they know more about their own in
sides than any one else, and nature