GENERAL CARE OF THE BODY: EATING AND WEIGHT CONTROL
There is more to food than the simple matter of satisfying one’s hunger pangs. Some people enjoy food so much that they practically live in order to eat. Others care little about it and simply eat in order to live. I have seen patients from both these groups whose diets are inadequate, sometimes even incompatible with good health. This chapter gives information about good diets and eating habits for everyone.
When to eat
Doctors advise three square meals a day, with or without additional snacks. The latter depend on you—your weight, whether or not they spoil your appetite for the food you should have, and how much you want them. Some people are miserable when deprived of their coffee break or afternoon tea or a bedtime raid on the refrigerator. On the other hand, some people are undernourished because they drink countless cups of tea or coffee instead of eating regular meals, or they spend restless nights because they indulge in sandwiches or snacks before going to bed.
Why three meals? Why not just eat when you feel like it? Mainly because it is more practical in our present civilization. (And, incidentally, some primitive people eat a morning, noon, and late evening meal.) Energy-producing foods can be spaced better when you have three meals a day; if you eat one huge meal, you are apt to feel like a hibernating python when you have finished! Three meals a day make it easier to plan an adequate diet and to make sure you are getting it.
The relative size, of the midday and evening meals is up to you. The only point I stress is: if you have your dinner at noon, allow enough time for it. The average lunch hour is not long enough for the trip to your home or a good restaurant, with a few stops on the way to attend to errands, and a hearty dinner. Doctors no longer advise people to chew each mouthful a specific number of times; but I do urge you not to bolt your food. Chewing mixes it with saliva and gets your digestion off to a good start; having enough time to relax encourages the whole digestive process considerably. Besides, many women might be better cooks if their families did not gulp down their best efforts like seals swallowing a piece of fish—as a housewife complained to me recently.
When I write about three meals a day, I am thinking of a man or woman in reasonably good health. Persons with certain illnesses, like coronary artery disease or high blood pressure, may be better off eating four or five smaller meals a day.
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