If eating is followed by bodily discomfort or by gastric and intestinal distress, do not eat until comfort has returned. This rule is universally followed on the plane of instinct.

Pain, fever and inflammation each and all hinder the secretion of the digestive juices, stop the "hunger contractions," destroy the relish for food, divert, the nervous energies away from the digestive organs and impair digestion. If pain is severe or fever is high all desire for food is lacking. If these are not so marked a slight desire may be present, especially in those whose instincts are perverted. Animals in pain instinctively avoid food.

As physical distress acts in the same manner as the psychic states, in inhibiting the flow of digestive juices and in preventing the hunger contractions, we have in this the physiological basis for our rule not to eat when in pain and physical discomfort.

The absence of hunger in fever has been shown to be associated with the absence of hunger contractions. This should indicate the need for fasting. Any food eaten while there is fever will only add to the fever. The fact that a coated tongue, which prevents the normal appreciation of the flavors of food, prevents the establishment of gustatory reflexes and, through these, the secretion of appetite juice, should show the great importance of enjoying our food. The feverish person needs a fast, not a feast.

The less vitality one has, the less variety and the less quantity of food the body can take care of. The practice of stuffing the weak and the sick, to "build them up," is ruinous.

"Psychic secretions" are absent or nearly so in states of mental depression. This, then, is the physiological basis for our rule not to eat when in mental distress.

In the chapter on digestion it was learned that certain mental states enhance digestion while others retard and impair the process. The illustration is an old one, of the person, who sits down to enjoy a hearty meal, after a hard day's work. He is ravenous and enjoys his food. Just as he is about to begin eating some one brings him news of the loss of a loved one through death, or of the loss of a fortune. Instantly all desire for food is gone.

The body needs all its energies to meet this new circumstance, and it requires much energy to digest food. Food eaten under such conditions is not digested. It will ferment and poison the body.

A very interesting experiment once performed upon a cat will be of aid to us here in making this rule clear. The cat was fed a bismuth meal after which his stomach was viewed by means of the X-ray. The stomach was observed to be working nicely. At this point a dog was brought into the room. Instantly, fear "seized hold" of the cat. His muscles became tense and motionless, his hair "stood on end." The stomach was viewed a second time and seen to be as tense and motionless as the voluntary muscles. Digestion was at a standstill. The dog was taken from the room whereupon the cat became calm and settled, with the result that the stomach resumed its work.

"Anger, hatred, envy, grief, fear, doubt, anxiety," says Mrs. Viola Mizzell Kimmell, in her Right Eating a Science and a Fine Art, "are all deadly foes to the digestion of the most hygienic meal ever eaten. Even an ecstasy of delight or love drives hunger away and robs the digestive organs of the blood and energy needed for their work. Leisure, peace, quiet, are the ideal attributes of one during the entire process of digestion, if one eats in order to live a comfortable, efficient, clean life."

Scolding, nagging and quarreling at meals is ruinous to health. In many homes all of the petty disputes and differences of the day are pent up and reserved to be released in a torrent of irritability and nagging at the evening meals.

Every care and mental disturbance should be removed. Worries, fears, envies, jealousies, domestic misunderstandings, with their injured feelings and emotional strains, should be excluded from the dining room.

No unkind word should ever be uttered at the dining table. A harsh look that brings fear or anxiety is out of place at meal time. The gastric secretions are at the mercy of the emotions. "Joy exhilarates digestion; gloom depresses or vitiates it," says Dr. Gibson. Mince pie with cheer will be better digested than an apple with pessimism. A fault-finding, envious, jealous atmosphere at the table has a more ruinous effect upon digestion than most drugs. It is the height of folly to feed mentally distressed or emotionally taxed patients.

Also, don't worry about your food. Don't become a "diet bug." Eat and forget. Keep your mind out of your stomach. It is the most indigestible thing of which I know. If you have eaten something you should not, or if the combination was wrong, it will not help but will make matters worse to worry about it.