Page:In defense of Harriet Shelley, and other essays.djvu/379

 AT THE APPETITE CURE

give it a real rest. Some people can eat more meals than others, and still thrive. There are all sorts of people, and all sorts of appetites. I will show you a man presently who was accustomed to nibble at eight meals a day. It was beyond the proper gait of his appetite by two. I have got him down to six a day, now, and he is all right, and enjoys life. How many meals do you effect per day?&quot;

Formerly for twenty-two years a meal and a half; during the past two years, two and a half: coffee and a roll at nine, luncheon at one, dinner at seven- thirty or eight.&quot;

&quot;Formerly a meal and a half that is, coffee and a roll at nine, dinner in the evening, nothing be tween is that it?&quot;

&quot;Yes.&quot;

&quot;Why did you add a meal?&quot;

&quot;It was the family s idea. They were uneasy. They thought I was killing myself.&quot;

&quot;You found a meal and a half per day enough, all through the twenty- two years?&quot;

&quot;Plenty.&quot;

&quot;Your present poor condition is due to the extra meal. Drop it out. You are trying to eat oftener than your stomach demands. You don t gain, you lose. You eat less food now, in a day, on two and a half meals, than you formerly ate on one and a half.&quot;

&quot;True a good deal less; for in those old days my dinner was a very sizable thing.&quot;

&quot;Put yourself on a single meal a day, now dinner for a few days, till you secure a good, 24 3 6i

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