t under any circumstance ignore the demands of your
taste in selecting your diet.

Your food must be thoroughly masticated as well as thoroughly enjoyed.
This chewing should continue until the food becomes a liquid and
actually passes down your throat involuntarily. Food should never be
swallowed hastily. Swallowing should be an unconscious process
associated with enjoyment; with a view to prolonging the pleasure of
eating, each mouthful should be retained in the mouth until it is
swallowed before you realize it. Thorough mastication is absolutely
necessary to the attainment of the very important requirements
connected with the complete enjoyment of foods.

Now note the effect of prolonged enjoyment of food upon the digestive
processes. When one is masticating an appetizing meal the digestive
system is being prepared for the reception of this meal. The various
glands of the stomach that perform such important work in digestion
begin to pour their juices into the stomach; consequently when the food
reaches this organ everything is ready for its reception. To begin with,
as a result of thorough mastication and the action of the saliva, the
food is already partly digested, and the stomach is ready to continue
the process. The work is easy and satisfactory under such circumstances,
and digestion continues unconsciously. You do not realize that you have
a stomach. How often one hears a healthy man say that he has no
conscious knowledge of the possession of such an organ! In other words,
he has never had a pain or other unpleasant symptom located in its
region. It is said on the other hand that the dyspeptic is so
continuously and unpleasantly aware of the existence of this organ that
he often thinks he is "all stomach."

Remember also the importance of a suitable mental attitude at meal-time.
Your mind should be occupied almost entirely with the pleasure of the
meal itself. You should not be seriously diverted in any way. If for
instance you are reading a newspaper or carrying on an
engrossing conversation you are directly interfering with the digestive
processes; for, as I have already said, a thorough enjoyment of
the food is necessary to arouse to their greatest activity the glands
which furnish the digestive juices. Therefore, when meal-time comes
around, devote yourself to the one single purpose of getting as much
enjoyment as possible out of your food.

If you are desirous o