thing
for every one to know when he has reached his limit, and a person with
organic heart disease should avoid eating large quantities at one
time, or when he is extraordinarily fatigued or emotionally disturbed,
lest at such a time he may put a fatal strain on the pneumogastric
nerve that controls both stomach and heart.

THE FEAR OF CERTAIN FOODS

=Physical Idiosyncrasies.= Most of our false fears on food subjects
come from some tradition--either a social tradition or a little
private, pet tradition of one's own. Some one once was ill after
eating strawberries and cream. What more natural than to look back to
those little curdles in the dish and to start the tradition that such
mixtures are dangerous? The worst of it is that the taboo habit is
very likely to grow. One after another, innocent foods are thrown out
until one wonders what is left. A patient of mine, Mr. G., told me
that he had a short time before gone to a physician with a tale of woe
about his sour stomach. "What are you eating?" asked the doctor. "Bran
crackers and prunes." "Then," said the learned doctor, "you will have
to cut out the prunes!" Needless to say, this man ate everything at my
table, and flourished accordingly.

There may be such a thing as physical idiosyncrasies for certain
foods. I have often heard of them, but I have never seen one. I have
often challenged my patients to show me some of the "spells" which
they say invariably follow the eating of certain foods, but I have
almost never been given an exhibition. The man who couldn't eat eggs
did throw up once, but he couldn't do it a second time. Many people
have threatened to break out with hives after strawberries. One woman
triumphantly brought me what looked like a nice eruption, but which
proved to be the after-results of a hungry flea! After that she ate
strawberries,--without the flea and without the hives.

=Not Miracles but Ideas.= Conversions on food subjects are so common
at my table that I should have difficulty in remembering the
individual stories. Scores of them run together in my mind and make a
sort of composite narrative something like this: "Oh, no, thank you, I
don't eat this. You really must excuse me. I have tried many times and
it is invariably disastrous." Then a reluctant yielding and a day or
two later some talk about miracles. "It really is wonderful. I don't
understand," etc. Experiences like these only go to show the power of
the subconscious mind, bot