Drink : Part 2

Maintaining Health
by R. L. Alsaker

(Page 21 of 34)

The best way is to drink one or two glasses of water in the morning before breakfast. Partake of the breakfast, and all other meals, without taking any liquid. Sometimes there is a desire for a drink immediately after the meal is finished. If so, take some water slowly. If it is taken slowly a little will satisfy. If it is gulped down it may be necessary to take one or two glasses of water before being satisfied.

Those who have a tendency to drink too much during warm weather will find very slow drinking helpful in correcting it. If there is any digestive weakness, the liquid taken immediately after a meal should be warm and should not exceed a cupful. Those with robust digestion may take cool water.

Cold water chills the stomach. Digestion will not take place until the stomach has reached the temperature of about one hundred degrees Fahrenheit again, and if the stomach contents are chilled repeatedly the tendency is strong for the food to ferment pathologically, instead of being properly digested. For this reason it is not well to drink while there is anything left in the stomach to digest. As stomach digestion generally takes two or three hours at least, it is well to wait this long before taking water after finishing a meal, and then drink all that is desired until within thirty minutes of taking the next meal. If the thirst should become very insistent before two or three hours have elapsed since eating, take warm water. Those who eat food simply prepared and moderately seasoned are not troubled much with excessive thirst.

Two quarts of water daily should be sufficient for the adults under ordinary conditions. Here, as in eating, no exact amount will fit everybody. Make a habit of drinking at least a glass of water before breakfast, cleaning the teeth and rinsing the mouth before swallowing any, and then take what water the body asks for during the rest of the day. Taking too much water is not as injurious as overeating, but waterlogging the body has a weakening effect.

To drink with the meals is customary, not because it is necessary, but because we have a number of drinks which appeal to many people. Water is the drink par excellence.

A food-beverage that is used by many is cambric tea, which is made of hot water, one-third or one-fourth of milk and a little sweetening. Children generally like this on account of the sweetness. It may be taken with any meal, when fluid is needed, but the amount should be limited to a cupful. It is not well to dilute the digestive juices too much.

The water taken in the morning helps to start the body to cleanse itself. Water drinking is a great aid in overcoming constipation. Constipated people generally overeat. Less food and more water will prove helpful in overcoming the condition.

Unfortunately for the race, we have accustomed ourselves to partake of beverages containing injurious, poisonous substances. Inasmuch as this is the place to discuss the drugs contained in coffee and tea, I shall take the liberty of dwelling upon other habit-forming substances in the same chapter. They are all a part of the drug addictions of the race. For scientific discussion of these various substances I refer you to technical works. In this chapter will be found only a discussion of their relation to people's welfare, that is, to health and efficiency.

Coffee, tea and chocolate contain a poisonous alkaloid which is generally called caffeine. The theine in tea and the theobromine in cocoa are so similar to caffeine that chemists can not differentiate them. These drinks when first taken cause a gentle stimulation under which more work can be done than ordinarily, but this is followed by a reaction, and then the powers of body and mind wane so much that the average output of work is less than when the body is not stimulated. The temporary apparently beneficial effect is more than offset by the reaction and therefore partaking of these beverages makes people inefficient. Coffee is very hard on the nerves, causing irritation, which is always followed by premature physical degeneration.

Experiments of late indicate that children who use coffee do not come up to the physical and mental standard of those who abstain. The effect on the adults is not so marked because adults are more stable than children.

Those who are not used to coffee will be unable to sleep for several hours after partaking of a cup. Some people drink so much of it that they become accustomed to it.

Coffee is not generally looked upon as one of the habit-forming drugs, but it is. However, of all the drugs which create a craving in the system for a repetition of the dose, coffee makes the lightest fetters. It is surprising how often health-seekers inform the adviser that they "can not get along without coffee." If they would take a cup a few times a year, it would do no harm, but the daily use is harmful to all, even if they feel no bad effects and make it "very weak," which is a favorite statement of the women.

Smoking, drinking beer and drinking coffee have a tendency to overcome constipation in those who are not accustomed to these things, but their action can not be depended upon for any length of time and the cure is worse than the disease.

Tea drinking has much the same effect as coffee drinking, except that it is decidedly constipating. Perhaps this is because there is considerable of the astringent tannin in the tea leaves.