The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-07-06
EATING SHOULD BE A SIMPLE
 PLEASURE

EATING SHOULD BE A SIMPLE
 PLEASURE
 The artificial restrictions or con-
 ventions of civilization, like captiv- ity or domestication of animals,
 have had | profound effect on eat
 ing. Natural hunger no longer con-
 trols eating. We eat for other req
 sons than hunger and for no good
 reason at all.
 Social eating is universal sin. | Who dares to decline to eat the
 food offered by host or hsotess?
 How often do you partake of un-
 wanted food merciy as an experi-
 ment in taste, type of cooking or
 surroundings?
 Pavloy, famous Russian physiol-
 ogist, trained white mice to answer | the dinner bell. Not only did they
 come to their feed at the call of the
 bell, but they actually learned 10
 water at the mouth and secrete gas
 tric juice, as might you or I, at the call of the belly, even though no
 food was in sight or in smell. Not | only that, but successive genera tions of white mice studied by Paw
 lov and Boldyrcr learned more | quickly to answer the bell--at last
 report by Boldyreff they were anti
 cipating a blessed even and 1t was
 hoped Gas the papers say) that the next batch of mice would be born with the bell-conditioned reflex, | that is, prick up their ears and re- spond to the dinner gong without
 any teaching at all. That goes to
 show what artifice can do to in-
 stinct.
 Iyne O l pastime, just as some deadbrains chew gum or smoke. It is "some- thing to do." At present cocktail hokum is the substitute for such gum m-chewing or cigaret-smoking among the moron class. But alco- hol in any form, highball, cocktail wine or beer is delusive for one who desires to get fat, because such beverages fill you up but do not yield the calories. On the other hand alcoholic beverages are delu- sive for those who are too fat, be-
 cause within limitations alcohol burns more readily than does fat in the body, so that every little drink spares that mucn fat which you might otherwise use up to fur
 nish the energy or heat required in your daily life. Then, too, under the
 mellowing influence of slight intox- ioation you are likely to consume a greater excess of food than you would in your right mind. Restaur- ateurs know how true this is. { The bear and some other animals l eat to acquire a good store of fat to live in while hibernating. We can only conjecture whether primitive man had to store fat in his body. If the climate was frigid he did; if 1t was tropical he didn't: for food is always available where plants grow the year around. Of course you are i bound to store or accumulate su- perfluous fat when you eat more than is needed for your days work, play. exercise and for growth and repair of wear and tear. Although these functions demand fuel. 1t is not quite accurate to say that we eat to acquire a reserve of fat for emergency use. However, that is what many seem to do. Without any good reason they carry, ah, say, a hundred-gallon emergency tank of gasoline whenever they take fifty mile drive! Eating should be and is a simple pleasure for people who have the right ideas on how to live. Too bad 50 many of us civilized folk make of our eating rather business and a sin.
 If there is one thing that can re- store the pleasure to eating, to the mere enjoyment of the food itself and not the floor show or the drinks calculating to keep you from noticing how had the food is, 1t would be infiexible adherence to the
 rule never to eat unless you are really hungry.
 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Fumes Of Lead
 I work on a printing machine and have been feeling (some vague ] avmptonaGl. Ia this work detrimen-