The Importance of Good Eating Habits: It is not enough if our exterior is all right. You should be very careful about the food you take, about its quality, as well as its quantity.
You can look at your food in two ways – (1) how it tastes, and (2) how it affects the body. Most children and many adults also, generally care only for the taste of the things they eat. This is a great mistake.
What is delicious to the tongue is not always healthy to the body. Most boys and girls are fond of sugar and other sweet thing.
Do any of you know how often you have fallen ill by eating too much sweet? When you fall ill, the doctor not only gives you medicine, but also very often puts you under ‘diet”. He tells you to eat only some kinds of food, and not others; that is because the others, however palatable, will do you harm. Therefore, the very first thing you must learn about your food is not to be always guided by your tongue.
We eat not just to satisfy the tongue. We eat to keep up the various organs of the body in working order. As long as we live, the body is doing work. Even in sleep, some parts of the body are very busy. After some hard work, we get tired; by taking food, we become again fresh and vigorous. The food gives strength to every muscle and every limb.
The food that we eat helps in building our body. We must take such food as will develop and build our muscles and nerves, all the various parts of the body. Not every eatable thing is equally good for this purpose. In addition, these are some things, which may make us physically strong but mentally dull. So be careful of the quality of food taken.
The quantity of food is even more important. Too much of even a good thing is bad. We have several kinds of work to do; we have several organs, and want several kinds of food. Too much of the same kind will not do. Moreover, our stomachs can digest only a certain quantity of food. They cannot digest more. The organs cannot use undigested food.
In fact, indigestion is the cause of a good deal of sickness. If a thing tastes well, you like to eat plenty of it. That is not good.
Neither eats too much, nor drinks things that you should not.