Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1936-10-17
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.
"Vienna. Va.

"vienna, Va.
Dear Sir: Some time ago I read an
article written by you to the effect that
peaches and cream-with nothing else
was q good meal, q well-balanced meal.
Perhaps these were not your words, but
this was the thought it conveyed to me.
and rejoiced because some one agreed
with me along this line.
ST find any fruit eaten without bread
or any accompaniment is much better for
the stomach. I know an invalid who
insists she must have her bread or some
starchy food to eat along with all foods;
any suggestion from others are offensive
to her.
Her stomach troubles her a great deal.
She always takes her glass Of tomato
Juice for breakfast and sometimes at
other meals, and instead of drinking it
right down, she eats bread and sips the
juice. have suggested to her to try the
juice alone, but she replies, That might
do for you, but not for me-
"Is it not strange that any one who Is
i'll would not know that doing wrong has
made them i'll. generally speaking; would
not be willing to turn from the things
they are doing and 60 right the other
way-but they always think there must
be some kind Of medicine that would cure
them, when just the simple living would
bring the desired results.
"You have written many things that
have enjoyed, but this one about
peaches and cream felt must not let
60 untnanked. Gratefully yours,
m. c. B."
Dietary habits are the most difficult
in the world to change.
They are formed in childhood and
made into habits over the years, and
this whether they are right or wrong.
But who is to decide right and wrong
in this matter? Every one eats and
every one thinks he knows what is good
for him" Every cook thinks himself or
herself a dietician: every ultimate con-
sumner believes that he eats the right
thing"
TOO many cooks spoil the broth" So
went the old saying. 1t is equally true
that too many diet schemes tend to make
the average person too food-conscious.
In the old days the mother said to the
children. Eat your victuals and say no
more about II"
nc IlIllCky CIlilQ was UOt nclQ III UluC1
esteem then; the pernickety adult was
regarded as an even worse nuisance.
Surely something of these old attitudes
has come down today. so that all too
many persons honestly believe that any
attention to what one eats, or how. is
a lamentable weakness. not only of the
physical. but Of the mental, and even
spiritual, man.
It is the most difficult thing in the
world, really formidable undertaking, to
talk any one into changing eating habits
of any kind.
Let us say you have run onto some
thing in the dietetic line which is good"
for you, and you think. in q sort Of cru
sading zeal, 1t may be equally beneficial
for friends.
Feel sure that the least word from you
in its favor will set them against it
forever.
II you honestly desire them to adopt
the new regimen. whatever 1t is. treat
them as mothers often do their children,
by opposites.
Tell them not to do 1t, or even laugh
at il.
Then, contrary-wise, they may look
into the thing.
Try to argue them into 1t. they freeze
up. set themselves dead against 1t for
ever, determine to retain their indiges-