Page:Strength from Eating.djvu/40

34 like perspiration from the pores of the skin. Not only the quality but the quantity of this digestive juice furnished depends greatly upon how much food is needed—in other words on how hungry you are at the time the food is eaten. The feeling of hunger, the ability to heartily enjoy the food eaten, is an unmistakable indication that there will be secreted a full supply of these digestive juices, that will be poured forth copiously as the process of eating and digesting continue; and the more intensely the food is enjoyed, the more each morsel is dwelt upon in the act of mastication by the sense of taste in the endeavor to secure its most delicious flavor before swallowing, the more freely does the gastric juice flow, and, naturally, the more perfectly is the work of stomach digestion performed.

The time required for stomach digestion depends greatly upon the character of the food, and upon how carefully the work of mastication has been performed. If the food has been hurriedly bolted it will require much longer than if it had been practically reduced to a