If one has no appetite, by far the safest method is to abstain from food until the system calls for it, or to eat but a very little of the lightest food at regular meal times; be careful not to mince between meals nor to eat candy nor pickles. Be sure that the lack of appetite is not due to mental preoccupation which does not let the brain relax long enough for the physical needs to assert themselves. One should relax the brain in pleasant thoughts during a meal. If the appetite is lacking, because of physical exhaustion, it is unwise to eat, because the digestive organs are tired, and to load a tired stomach with food, still further weakens it and results in indigestion. The better plan is to drink two glasses of cold water and lie down for an hour; if there is still no desire for food, drink freely of water, but abstain from food until hungry. This should not lead one into forming the habit of irregular eating, however. The stomach forms habits and the supply of food must be regular, just as the nursing child must be fed regularly, or digestive disturbance is sure to result. A wise provision of Nature makes the system, in a normal condition, its own regulator, protesting against food when it has not assimilated or eliminated that consumed. One should learn to obey such protests and cut down the quantity when Nature calls “enough.” There are exceptions, however. Some phases of indigestion result in a gnawing sensation in the stomach, which is often mistaken for a desire for food. This is not a normal appetite. Water will usually relieve it. Often loss of appetite is the result of a clogging of intestines or liver, or to an excess of bile, which, not having been properly discharged into the intestines, has entered the blood stream. An excess of bile and poisons, indicating a torpid liver, often expresses itself in a dull mental force, the toxins deadening the nerve cells. Nature does not call for more food until she has eliminated the excess of waste. It is commonly stated that the body will call for what the system requires. This may have been true of the aborigines, who ate their food in its natural state, and, to a certain extent, it is true to-day, but condiments and stimulants, to make the food “appetizing,” have unduly stimulated the nerves and perverted the natural taste; foods containing their natural amount of spices or extractives no longer tempt one. Those whose nerves are highly keyed, form the habit of seasoning the food too strongly, making it too stimulating. This undue stimulant calls for more food at the time of eating than a normal appetite would demand. The taste being cultivated for the stimulant, the habit of eating too much food is formed.