al.

One will often, hear the remark that one must "eat to keep up his
strength." While this advice is fundamentally sound in a large sense
under normal conditions and when a true appetite is present, yet there
never was a greater delusion when it is applied to forced eating
when the appetite is lacking. Eating under such conditions does not
keep up one's strength, but on the contrary actually impairs it by
burdening the digestive system with food that cannot be properly
assimilated. It is not what you eat but what you assimilate that
keeps you strong, and digestion depends upon appetite and the
enjoyment associated therewith. The question of enjoyment is really a
question of appetite, and if you are not hungry and cannot relish the
food keenly when meal-time comes it is certainly best to wait until the
next meal or until you are hungry. Every wild animal has sense enough
to follow its natural inclination in this respect, but thousands of
human beings go to the table because it is dinner-time, and force
themselves to eat food that they do not desire simply because of the
stupid delusion that continual and frequent eating is necessary for
strength.

The discussion of appetite brings up the question of the number of meals
that is proper for each day. The prevailing system of three meals per
day is a custom surviving from a time in which early rising and hard
physical labor throughout a long day was the rule, especially in
connection with out-of-door work. This does not mean, however, that
three meals is always the best plan for civilized life in sedentary
occupations. There are some wild races that eat only two meals per day,
and there have been instances of hunters and even whole populations
following the one-meal-per-day plan. Naturally at the present time the
occupation and the requirements of the individual would have much to do
with the question. If one does hard work, has an appetite for three
meals per day, and seems to thrive on that plan, it is the preferable
one. If, however, you are a sedentary worker, and especially if you do
not have an appetite for three meals per day and cannot thoroughly enjoy
them, the two-meal-per-day plan would be much better. The two-meal-
per-day plan has often proven beneficial even when associated with
the strenuous physical training required for athletic competition in
racing, wrestling, boxing, Marathon running and other vigorous sports