I have often been asked how much an adult should eat. Should we adopt the system of calories as a measure of our need or is there another way of knowing how much food will prevent us from becoming undernourished?

Like most systems, reckoning in terms of calories is not the perfect system, and should therefore be considered as a purely theoretical guide. An exact method of calculation is not possible because an individual’s need for food depends upon so many different and constantly varying circumstances, so that the adoption of a strict and definitive system can do more harm than good. True, a person’s body weight or build plays an important part in determining how much food one should eat. Theoretically speaking, a stout and tall person should require more food than a slim one. It is possible, however, that the slim person has a more vigorous nature and burns up more energy than the fat, placid, calm person and in this case our theory already ceases to be valid. A happy, jolly type needs less food than a discontented, unhappy person, because cheerfulness promotes better glandular function and consequently better digestion and improved assimilation. The happy person gets more out of his food. There is much truth in the old saying that one does not live on what one eats but on what one digests.

*952/28/1*

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