The needs of the body vary greatly in different temperatures. In the far north all carbonaceous foods, fats, etc., are greatly relished, while in torrid countries, fruits, vegetables, and lighter foods are more in demand. The most delectable morsel to a young Esquimaux is an ordinary tallow candle. He will eat it with joy the most intense. It is to him like candy to the ordinary child. This difference in taste is simply evidence of the varying needs of the body under different climatic conditions. Inhabitants of cold countries need large quantities of fattening food to maintain the heat of the body; while in the torrid zone, where the temperature of the air is nearly equal to the temperature of the body, the only use for fattening foods is to supply the energy that may be needed in play or work. It would be well, therefore, for those who reside in the temperate zones, where the temperatures of the different seasons vary sometimes more than a hundred degrees Fahrenheit, to give some attention to the necessity for changing the diet with the different seasons.

Many apparently intelligent persons eat exactly the same articles of diet throughout the entire year. The necessity for changing with temperature never seems to be fully realized. Of course, where there is always a large variety of foods to choose from no particular suffering is entailed if the appetite is entirely normal, but if the needs of the body, required in the different seasons, were understood and supplied, excessive cold or excessive warmth would produce no discomfort worthy of notice.

Not so much suffering is entailed in winter because of this ignorance as in summer. During cold weather, if one is exposed to the cold, very much, the appetite simply demands more carbonaceous foods, and more is eaten. But during the intense heat of the summer, the appetite invariably falls far below par, and the average person sees in this a sign of coming weakness; and, instead of obeying the plain dictates of instinct, he or she usually searches for some means of goading the appetite up to the usual demands, and vastly increases the suffering, not only from the heat, but often from other troubles more serious, all caused by this extra nourishment that the digestive organs cannot properly appropriate.

The diet in warm weather should always be extremely light, unless one is performing hard manual work. It should consist mostly of bread, salads, vegetables and fruit. It would be far better to avoid meat, though the lighter meats, such as chicken and fish are not so objectionable as beef, mutton, etc. One full meal each day should be sufficient for summer, at least, though if it is impossible to confine your self to this let the other meal or meals consist of light lunches, and the lighter the better.

The importance of retaining the keenness and acuteness of taste is nowhere more fittingly emphasized than by the fickleness of the appetite as influenced by temperature. The needs of the body are plainly indicated by this sense, and if it is acquired and retained in all its delicacy and acuteness, the food mostly need in all conditions of heat or cold will be plainly indicated.

Meats and all food rich in fats and starch can be more easily assimilated in the winter than during the summer. There is not only an increased demand for fattening foods to furnish heat for the body, but usually one expends more energy, and this consumes increased quantities of these same food elements, and, in addition, requires an increase in the elements that supply the waste of the muscular tissue.