n it is no guide in our selection of foods
(_see_ Appetite). If disease indicates such over-indulgence, food
should be restricted till the appetite is accustomed to a smaller diet.
Bilious people, for example, may have accustomed their appetite to
desire more carbonaceous and fatty foods than necessary. On the
contrary, badly-fed people often require a coaxing of the appetite to
eat strengthening foods, such as oatmeal, cheese, and brown bread.

In order to regulate our diet, it is of importance to have some idea of
the composition of common articles of food. We get our food, as
everybody knows, from the vegetable and animal kingdoms. The majority
of the Anglo-Saxon race live on a diet of animal and vegetable
combined, but many exclude flesh from their diet. In Southern Asia, for
example, the vast bulk of the people rarely, or never, touch meat. The
vegetable kingdom supplies us largely with the carbonaceous or
muscle-forming food, whereas the animal kingdom is rich in proteid, or
tissue-forming food. Much proteid, however, can be obtained from the
vegetable kingdom--peas, beans, lentils, dried fruits, and nuts being
particularly rich in it. We should endeavour to cultivate an appetite
for these vegetables containing proteid, as it is a great mistake to
rely entirely for this element on meat, as so many of our race do. The
animal products--such as cheese, milk, and eggs--will also form an
efficient substitute for much flesh-food. This simple diet suits both
the brain-worker and the athlete, though each will have to make a
selection of those foods most required by him. Certainly much animal
food is liable to produce kidney disease, gout, and kindred troubles.
If we have a tendency to corpulence (and many have this in advancing
years), to resort to an exclusive meat diet will produce these
troubles. Far better abstain from vegetables, such as potatoes, and
from sweet dishes, pastry, etc., and eat largely of the green-leaf
vegetables and fruits with the articles of a simple diet which build
but do not fatten the body. (_See_ Diet and Corpulence; Diet for Middle
Age, and the Aged.)

Fruit is a very useful article of food. The acid helps to keep the
blood alkaline (which alkalinity is necessary for the normal
performance of its functions). It prevents acidity of the stomach. The
dried fruits, such as dates, figs, raisins, are very rich in proteid.
Nuts also are rich in proteid and in fat; they require, however,
careful mas