THAT EMPTY FEELING

For many centuries, it has been well known that poorly fed animals are poor workers. In spite of this knowledge, man is reluctant to correlate his own inefficiency with diet. Farmers take great care to ensure that the feed their cattle receive contains the exact percentage of protein for maximum growth; but how many of us take the effort to plan our nutritional needs to provide optimal output.

In their search for food, animals are guided by instinct. If humans have this instinct, it is soon altered during infancy by a formulation of eating habits which are determined by many factors. The availability of food, the economics of the family and community, the ethnic and religious traditions, the discipline of the home, and the pleasant and unpleasant experiences associated with food are but a few of the reasons for our food preferences. This conditioning process can make food selection unreliable unless there is a conscious awareness and interest in what we should eat. If we wait until our body tells us we need fuel to keep going, it may be too late. For many of us, this "empty" feeling has been associated with having a drink. If we find ourselves skipping meals, take it as a warning signal and ask ourselves - why am I skipping breakfast?" or "Why am I not taking time for lunch?"

Our custom of eating three meals a day is based more on convenience than physiologic need. There may often be times when meals are as much as six hours apart during the day.

Experience in industry has shown the value to worker productivity of additional rest periods particularly when associated with food. The view is widely held that between-meal snacks increase work performance and lessen fatigue.

Since fatigue often results from an inadequate or irregular protein intake, complete protein should be included in each meal. In fact, a good rule of thumb is to take a complete protein meal every four hours during the working day to help keep the blood sugar level fairly constant and help maintain a feeling of well-being.

A good between-meal snack is milk; the carbohydrate in milk (Galactose) is absorbed into the blood stream rapidly to give quick energy, and the protein in milk has a much slower rate of absorption to provide "staying power".

The need for protein is especially important at breakfast; as nearly fifteen hours may have elapsed since the last meal, and in many cases lunch is another five hours away. "Have a good breakfast"is a popular cliche often ignored today, even though most people realize that the missed breakfast results in decreased efficiency during the late morning hours. Research has shown that subjects do significantly more work when dietary regimen includes an adequate breakfast than when it is omitted. Data also seems to indicate that an adequate breakfast is better economy as far as capacity to do work is concerned than the substitution of a mid-morning break.

A conventional breakfast of fruit, cereal, bacon and eggs is good; but for some of us there are other ways to make breakfasts more enjoyable and tolerable.

As I am mostly concerned with the protein content of your breakfast, I will discuss only this aspect. Milk can be taken by itself, on cereal, in an eggnog, instant breakfast or milkshake. Eggs can be poached, scrambled, boiled , fried, hard-cooked, whipped in an omelet, blended into an eggnog, or used as a dip for French toast. Any meat you desire is acceptable as a breakfast food; bacon, pork sausages, ham, steak, kidneys, chops, beef sandwiches, or sliced chicken sandwiches. Sliced processed cheese can be placed on bread and broiled until golden brown; cheddar cheese is great with biscuits; cottage cheese and fruit are a fast, nutritious combination.

Be daring some morning and try an English breakfast of kippers herring!

You may ask; "but when I am not hungry why should I bother eating?" This is the time to ask yourself; "why am I not hungry?" Take it as a warning of some other feeling and eat something!

ELIZABETH SNELL

DON SAYS; Elizabeth was on staff at the Donwood Institute in October of 1970 when this was written. She was in charge of the food end of things, but I don't recall her title. Her message of proper eating for the alcoholic is very relevant to me. I can recall that when I was drinking, I often missed meals, and made up for it by gorging. This is not healthy, and we as alcoholics must watch our eating habits closely. This was a good and realistic article.