FOOD BOLTERS

Hokitika Guardian, 7 August 1920, Page 4

FOOD BOLTERS

fly Walter M. Gatligluin, the wollknown Dietetic Expert.

The natural stato of man is eucrasy, or the perfect working of all the bodily functions. This condition is rare among civilised people. Thoroughly normal digestion is practically impossible for a great mass of the population.

.Most ailments arise from, or are associated with, imperfect digestion and assimilation of food. Dyspepsia is the primary source of. much human misery, discomfort, and inefficiency. No sufferer from derangements of the digestive system is an optimist, and a selfpoisoned body influences the brain and moral conduct.

Irritabiltity, irascibility, gloominess, lethargy of the iniud, and hopeless pessimism are the common handicaps of the dyspeptic. For centuries physicians have attempted to diminish this common malady, and enormous fortunes have, been made by the inventors of popular remedies. Indigestion is probably quite un known among wild unmals. It occurs among animals domesticated by man and no longer dependent entirely upon unerring instinct in the selection of food.

One of the phenomena, of civilisation in mankind is the impairment of primitive instinct. A civilised child has no true instinctve discriminaton in the choice of food. Unless checked and instructed, a young child will eat the most injurious substances.

A dyspeptic tendency is frequently induced in infancy by the improper quantity and quality .of the diet. In childhood the common habit of “bolting” all kinds of food is usually left uncorrected. Nine persons out of ten are “bolters.”

ft has been reckoned that the average time allowed by, busy people for the actual eating of an ordinary dinner is fifteen minutes. Neglect of proper mastication through tlie had practice of hasty feeding is one of the commonest causes of indigestion. Another factor of this disorder is neglect of the®tooth in early and adult life. A third cause is the widespread ignorance of the barest rudiments of tho physiology of digostion and a complete disregard of the first principles of the science of diet.

Dyspepsia of long standing is not curable by means of drugs. Some ol the common medicines contain sedatives that temporarily relieve the discomfort, but leave the true source of the ailment untouched. Over-eating and ovef-drinking, injurious feeding, lack of robust exercise and fresh air, defective teeth, and hurried meals arc the causes and instigators of chronic indigestion. People of the dyspeptic type assure the doctor that they cannot digest tin's or that food. They forget that the stomach, like every organ of the body, is capable of cultivation. Naturally, a large piece, of cheese eaten after a croud dinner will cause indigestion in many people. But if cheese I s eaten as a staple part of the meal and in moderate amount, beginning with a small quantity, even the dyspeptic stomach may be trained to digest it.