There is a great divergence of
opinion among doctors as to the quantity of food that we should take. One
doctor holds that we should eat to the utmost of our capacity, and he has
calculated the quantities of different kinds of food that we can take. Another
holds the view that the food of labourers should differ in quantity as well as
in quality from that of persons engaged in mental work, while a third doctor
contends that the prince and the peasant should eat exactly the same quantity
of food. This much, however, will be generally admitted, that the weak cannot
eat just as much as the strong. In the same way, a woman eats less than a man,
and children and old men eat less than young men. One writer goes so far as to
say that, if only we would masticate our food thoroughly well, so that every
particle of it is mixed with the saliva, then we should not have to eat more
than five or ten tolas of food. This he says on the basis of numberless
experiments, and his book has been sold in thousands. All this shows that it is
futile to think of prescribing the quantity of food for men.
Most doctors admit that 99% of
human beings eat more than is needed. Indeed, this is a fact of everyday
experience, and does not require to be proclaimed by any doctor. There is no
fear at all of men ruining their health by eating too little; and the great
need is for a reduction in the quantity of food that we generally take.
As said above, it is of the
utmost importance to masticate the food thoroughly well. By so doing, we shall
be able to extract the maximum of nutriment from the minimum of food.
Experienced persons point out that the fæces of a man whose food is wholesome,
and who does not eat too much, will be small in quantity, quite solid and
smooth, dark in colour, and free from all foul smell. The man who does not have
such fæces should understand that he has eaten too much of unwholesome food,
and has failed to masticate it well. Also, if a man does not get sleep at
night, or if his sleep be troubled by dreams, and if his tongue be dirty in the
morning, he should know that he has been guilty of excessive eating. And if he
has to get up several times at night to make water, it means that he has taken
too much liquid food at night. By these and other tests, every man can arrive
at the exact quantity of food that is needed for him. Many men suffer from foul
breath, which shows that their food has not been well digested. In many cases,
again, too much eating gives rise to pimples on the face, and in the nose; and
many people suffer from wind in the stomach. The root of all these troubles is,
to put it plainly, that we have converted our stomach into a latrine, and we
carry this latrine about with us. When we consider the matter in a sober light,
we cannot help feeling an unmixed contempt for ourselves. If we want to avoid
the sin of over-eating, we should take a vow never to have anything to do with
feasts of all kinds. Of course, we should feed those who come to us as guests,
but only so as not to violate the laws of health. Do we ever think of inviting
our friends to clean their teeth with us, or to take a glass of water? Is not
eating as strictly a matter of health as these things? Why, then, should we
make so much fuss about it? We have become such gluttons by habit that our
tongues are ever craving for abnormal sensations. Hence we think it a sacred
duty to cram our guests with rich food, and we cherish the hope that they will
do likewise for us, when their turn comes! If, an hour after eating, we ask a
clean-bodied friend to smell our mouth, and if he should tell us his exact
feelings, we should have to hide our heads in utter shame! But some people are
so shameless that they take purgatives soon after eating, that they might be
able to eat still more or they even vomit out what they have eaten in order to
sit down again to the feast at once!
Since even the best of us are
more or less guilty of over-eating, our wise forefathers have prescribed
frequent fasts as a religious duty. Indeed, merely from the point of view of
health, it will be highly beneficial to fast at least once a fortnight. Many
pious Hindus take only one meal a day during the rainy season. This is a
practice based upon the soundest hygienic principles. For, when the air is damp
and the sky cloudy, the digestive organs are weaker than usual, and hence there
should be a reduction in the quantity of food.
And now we will consider how may
meals we may take in the day. Numberless people in India are content with only
two meals. Those who do hard labour take three meals, but a system of four
meals has arisen after the invention of English medicines! Of late, several
societies have been formed in England and in America in order to exhort the
people to take only two meals a day. They say that we should not take a
breakfast early in the morning, since our sleep itself serves the purpose of
the breakfast. As soon as we get up in the morning we should prepare to work
rather than to eat. We should take our meal only after working for three hours.
Those who hold these views take only two meals a day, and do not even take tea
in the interval. An experienced doctor by name Deway has written an excellent
book on Fasting, in which he has shown the benefits of dispensing with the
breakfast. I can also say from my experience that there is absolutely no need
to eat more than twice, for a man who has passed the period of youth, and whose
body has attained its fullest growth.
--- By M. K. Gandhi
