In such cases,
experiment alone can decide which are the most digestible articles of
food. A person whose food troubles him must deduct one article after
another, till he learns, by experience, which is the best for digestion.
Much evil has been done, by assuming that the powers of one stomach
are to be made the rule in regulating every other.
The most unhealthful kinds of food are those which, are made so by bad
cooking; such as sour and heavy bread, cakes, pie-crust, and other
dishes consisting of fat mixed and cooked with flour. Rancid butter
and high-seasoned food are equally unwholesome. The fewer mixtures
there are in cooking, the more healthful is the food likely to be.
There is one caution as to the _mode_ of eating which seems peculiarly
needful to Americans. It is indispensable to good digestion, that food
be well chewed and taken slowly. It needs to be thoroughly chewed and
mixed with saliva, in order to prepare it for the action of the gastric
juice, which, by the peristaltic motion, will be thus brought into
contact with every one of the minute portions.
It has been found that a solid lump of food requires much more time
and labor of the stomach for digestion than divided substances.
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