Overeating Can Lead to Trouble

● The Wise Encyclopedia of Cookery is a cookbook that makes the following observations about the effects of overeating: “Temporary overeating at one or two meals may not produce any serious ill effect, but if the excess in feeding be long continued a variety of ills result, attributable directly to overloading of the alimentary canal. There is a limit to the quantity of every food which can be digested in a given time. Beyond this the food, whether starches, fats, sugars, or protein, may decompose, or pass away unaltered. Or, if the excess be absorbed the blood is overwhelmed, and the excretory organs are overworked.

“The inability to sing with precision after a too hearty meal is often attributed to temporary congestion of the vocal cords. While this is observed in the thickened speech of alcoholism, the difficulty in singing caused by overeating is mainly due to inability to regulate the actions of the diaphragm and other respiratory muscles when the stomach is too greatly distended. Overeating . . . is the commonest dietetic error, and looking at the question in its broadest aspects, it is quite certain that the foundation for more disease is laid by this habit than by overdrinking.”