Though I believe either the two or the one-meal plan would be found superior to three meals each day, one can undoubtedly follow this usual method and still retain vigorous health if he will occasionally fast by missing one or two meals, or a day or two when the appetite fails; and if he will abstain totally from food when illness of any kind threatens. In eating three meals daily there is always far more danger of eating beyond the capacity to digest. One meal is sometimes not digested when the next meal is eaten. The food, under these circumstances, is eaten with less appetite, and all the ills that are brought about by the sin of eating as a duty are invited. If three light meals can be eaten each day, always with appetite, and if they seem to digest without trouble, there is no very serious objection; but the moment any digestive disturbance becomes evident, the one or two meal habit should be immediately adopted.

It would also be well to remember that the three meal habit often tends to actually lessen the virility of the blood. The gastric, and other digestive juices are not sufficiently strong to abstract all the best elements of the food; the blood becomes filled with waste and other foreign matter, and the process of eliminating this, results not only in a waste of energy, but usually, under such circumstances, there exists at least a chronic " tired feeling," though often troubles are induced that are far more serious in character.

If one is doing hard manual work there will be found little or no difficulty in digesting three meals, though two meals would certainly be better; but mental workers, to my mind, make a great mistake if they attempt to force this same habit upon themselves. In fact the belief so universally held that we must eat three meals each day to maintain health is unquestionably one of the principal causes that lead to many serious illnesses. It is this false theory that compels many a poor weakling to eat because it is the usual time, and every morsel adds to the poison and filth that is already lessening his physical forces. Whatever habits of eating you may have adopted keep clearly in mind the necessity for that appetite described in previous chapter, to lead and guide you. If you do this the problem of how many meals to partake of daily will solve itself. You will at once avoid those meals for which you have no appetite and, in consequence, eat more heartily and with more benefit, of those you do enjoy.

There is at least a grain of truth in the old and oft-quoted saying: "What is one man's meat is another's poison/' and each individual must study out these problems for himself, and, though experiments that are extreme in character are not advised, still a trial of, first the two-meal plan, and, later the one-meal plan, can do no possible harm, and the experiment will enable you to determine just what is best for your particular needs. But little knowledge can be gained by one or two days' trial. At least a week should be devoted to each method if you are desirous of securing knowledge of value in determining as to your personal needs. The no-breakfast method often proves its advantage by showing an increase of energy the first or second day of trial. I have nothing to say to those who consider more than three meals per day necessary. It is simply impossible to retain vigorous health for any length of time under such dietetic intemperance, and usually a liberal quantity of alcoholic liquors must be used to spur the digestive organs to their labors, and, though this alcohol may suffice for a time, there results such a waste in vitality, such a drain on energy, that the term of life is unquestionably lessened, and serious ailments are sure to be produced sooner or later, by the habit of continually overloading the stomach.