4:32 PM

Welcome to my blog….hope everyone had a good Labor Day weekend and didn't eat too much at the picnic.

Every day when I turn on the TV and see adds for Tums, Nexium or Propesic OTC. What’s with all this indigestion and heartburn? That got me to questioning how heartburn was prevented during the 1850s and I found one good book in my library. Yep, it is a well used book and I am more interested in what's inside the book then a pretty cover. Whoever owned this book in the past used a pencil making an X by many of these recommendations you see below and that makes it heads and shoulders above any unmarked copy….


 Treatise on Anatomy, Physiology, and Hygiene; designed for Colleges, Academies and Families. By Calvin Cutter M. D. (1852) and he advised to follow these rules;
No more food should be eaten than is barely sufficient to satisfy the appetite
Food should be taken at regular periods
Food should not be taken too frequently
Persons should abstain from eating at least three hours before retiring for sleep
Food should be well masticated [well chewed] and Mastication should be moderate, not rapid [eat slowly]
Food should be masticated and swallowed without drink * 1 
Food should not be taken very hot or very cold
Food should not be taken immediately after severe exertion, either of the body or the mind
Severe mental or manual toil should not be entered upon immediately after eating
Restricting the movement of ribs and diaphragm impairs digestion *2
Pure air is necessary to give a keen appetite and vigorous digestion
The position of the person in standing or sitting, exerts an influence upon the digestive organs
Food should be masticated and swallowed without drink *1- “As the salivary glands supply fluid to moisten the dry food, the use of coffee, tea, water or any other fluid is not demanded by nature’s laws while taking a meal. One objection to “washing down” the food with drink is the aliment is moistened not with saliva but with drink. This tends to induce the salivary organs and drink, by leaving them in a state of comparative inactivity in the stomach, by the deficiency of the salivary stimulus. Another is large quantities of fluids, used as drinks, give undue distention to the stomach, and lessen the energy of the gastric juice by its dilution thus retarding digestion.”

Restricting the movement of ribs and diaphragm impairs digestion 2*- “It is noted of individuals who restrain the free movements of abdominal movement of the abdominal muscles by tight dresses, that the tone and figure of the digestive organs are diminished. The restricted waist will not admit the full and deep inspiration; and so essential is this to health, that abuse in this respect soon enfeebles and destroys the function of the system.”

Today, we have many options to curing heartburn.....and oddly enough some of Dr. Cutter's advice is still recommended. Check out Info on the Mayo Clinic on Heartburn and Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a chronic digestive disease