DINNER

A salad of lettuce and tomatoes

Choice of two vegetables - asparagus, beans, beets, onions, peas

A small, baked potato

A very small portion of fish, or white meat of chicken

A salad

Asparagus, or peas cooked and served in the pod A baked white potato

Menus No. 1 are slightly heavier than Menus No. 2. Choice may be exercised between them, according to hunger, or according to activity or amount of work done.

One glass of water should be drunk at each of the dinner meals.

Two or three tablespoonfuls of wheat bran should be taken twice a week with both the morning and the evening meal. The bran should be cooked five minutes, and eaten with a spoonful of cream.

Summer Menu. Abnormal Appetite Obesity - Drowsiness

From one to two glasses of water should be drunk at each of these meals.

The accumulation of gas after meals can be largely controlled by extreme mastication, very slow, deliberate eating, and copious water-drinking at meals.

If constipated, take, immediately on rising and just before retiring, a half pound of grapes, swallowing the skins, seeds and pulp. Do not masticate the seeds or pulp. If preferred, half a cup of coarse wheat bran may be taken twice daily instead of grapes.

If the bowels should become slightly lax, the seeds of the grapes should be omitted at night.

Health is Nature's gift to the young; after that, it is a thing that must be earned.

Fall Menu. Abnormal Appetite Obesity - Drowsiness

First Day:

Breakfast

One glass of water A melon

Two or three extremely ripe peaches Three egg whites, poached very lightly A bran meal gem

One exceedingly ripe red banana (must be black spotted), with nut butter and thin cream

Luncheon

One egg, whipped, mixed with a large glass of milk (A half hour later, eat two or three exceedingly ripe peaches)

Dinner

Half a glass of water

Half a cantaloup

A lettuce and tomato salad

Two medium ears of tender corn

A small portion of tender fish

Note: I would advise a spirometer for measuring the capacity of the lungs. The normal lung capacity for a man 5 feet 7 to 10 inches in height should be about 300 cubic inches, and for a woman 5 feet 3 inches, 180 to 200 cubic inches. The ability to use surplus food, which the appetite will continue to demand for some time, will depend upon the amount of exercise and deep breathing taken, and the consequent lung capacity.

Second Day: Same as the first, slightly increasing the quantity of food taken at each meal, if demanded by Normal Hunger.

Breakfast

One glass of water Choice of melon, peaches, or plums An exceedingly ripe banana, eaten with thin cream

One whole egg, or a small piece of broiled fish A very small baked potato - sweet or white

Luncheon

One or two glasses of buttermilk An ear of corn

Dinner

One glass of water A small ear of tender corn - boiled Choice of fresh green beans or tender lima beans Spinach, or a salad or anything green A very small portion of broiled fish (If preferred, chicken may be eaten at this meal) A baked potato

Just before retiring, eat a few peaches or some grapes.

If sleepy or drowsy after meals, devote from one to two minutes to exercises

Nos. 3 and 5 (see Vol. V, pp. 1344 and 1345), together with deep breathing, before an open window or in the fresh air.

Fourth Day: Same as the third.

Fifth Day: Same as the first, repeating these menus for about thirty days, making such variations in vegetables and fruits as demanded by normal hunger.

These menus will seem insufficient in quantity measured by appetite, but appetite, which comes from irritation of the mucous surface of the stomach, is not a safe guide.

See menus for "No Appetite," p. 1081.

The greatest difficulty will be experienced the first week. After that, nature will begin her process of adjustment, and the patient will begin to reduce in weight and gain in strength; sleep will become more restful and the sleepy and drowsy feeling after meals will gradually disappear.

The following natural laws should be rigidly observed:

1 Limit the quantity of food to the actual needs of the body

2 Thorough and complete mastication

3 An abundance of deep breathing

4 A given amount of vigorous exercise every day

Winter Menu. Abnormal Appetite Obesity - Drowsiness

Dinner

A bit of anything green - celery, spinach, or lettuce eaten with oil, salt and nuts

Choice of any fresh vegetable named for luncheon

A baked sweet or a white potato

A few nuts, and one extremely ripe banana as a dessert

One or two of the same vegetables as in Menu I

(dinner)

Anything green, as a salad

One egg, or a bit of fish, if desired

For recipe for baked bananas and whipped eggs, see pp. 677 and 678, Vol. III.