Participants: Don Miller, John Champen, Agatha Thrash
Series Code: HYTH
Program Code: HYTH000140
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00:01 Hello! There is more to food than just what we eat.
00:06 There is also when we eat, there is also how many times 00:11 we eat. 00:12 We'll be discussing meal patterns and just what they mean 00:15 from infancy to old age in the next half an hour, 00:18 and we hope you will join us. 00:39 Welcome to Help Yourself to Health 00:42 with Dr. Agatha Thrash, of Uchee Pines Institute, 00:45 and now here is your host, Dr. Thrash! 00:49 In ancient times people only ate two meals a day. 00:54 Why was that? 00:55 Well, partly because they were rural people, and as many 01:00 rural people do even today, they get up in the morning 01:03 at an early hour, they go out and do some work in the fields 01:06 then they come back in and have a rather late breakfast, 01:10 maybe eight or nine o'clock. 01:12 Then they go back to the fields and work until 3:00 or 2:00 01:17 in the afternoon, then they have their lunch, 01:19 what would be a late lunch, and then if they had supper 01:23 at all, it will be something like milk and bread, 01:26 or juice and bread, it's not a big meal in the evenings. 01:31 It's essentially two meals and a small snack in the evening 01:35 even though they are hard farm workers. 01:38 So the meal pattern needs to be studied, we need find out 01:41 whether that's a good meal pattern, two meals a day, 01:43 or two meals and a snack, or three meals or four meals. 01:47 We need to study that and find out what it is that 01:51 science tells us concerning our meal pattern, we also need to 01:56 study what our own experience can be, and so to help us 02:01 to delve into some of these things I have John Champen 02:03 with me, who is a Health Educator at Uchee Pines 02:06 in administration there, so he is going to talk with some about 02:12 experiences with the two meal plan. 02:15 John Champen! 02:16 Experiences with the two meal plan, yes! 02:18 I used to have a six meal plan Dr. Thrash, I'd have my 02:22 breakfast around 7 o'clock in the morning, 02:24 and at 9 o'clock I would have something, and then at 02:27 about noon I had my second big meal, and then at 3 o'clock 02:31 in the afternoon I would have a little snack, then about 02:34 5:30 or 6 in the evening there would be supper, and then 02:38 sometimes a little bit more on my way to bed in the 02:40 evening, and then if I didn't feel really well, I would have 02:44 a little something on my way from the bathroom at night 02:47 at around 1 o'clock in the morning. 02:49 I was eating all the time! 02:51 I didn't feel very good! 02:53 I felt tired all the time, I felt irritable much of the time, 02:57 my wife used to wonder, what is wrong with you? 03:00 Well I just nibbled and ate like a lot of people do perhaps. 03:05 Well that's what I did, then about 27-28 years ago 03:10 I began to learn of a new way. 03:13 Two meal plan, I didn't know how you could possibly live 03:16 on two meals, I was just barely making it on six and seven. 03:20 But I read the material and began to understand some of 03:24 the principles there, and began to try to put it together 03:28 personally. 03:29 My wife and I started to try to do this, well how do you 03:34 do it, how do you put a two meal plan together where you 03:37 get all of the nutrition and vitamins that you need 03:40 and have the health that you need, and so forth. 03:44 Well, we tried it, we tried to do it, first of all 03:49 we tried an early morning meal... 03:52 I used to go to work, I would get up and have breakfast 03:55 about 5:30 in the morning, and I said let's have breakfast 03:59 at 5:30, and then when I come in the evening, 04:01 we will have the second meal, shall we try that. 04:04 It didn't work very well, it was a long time between 04:08 the first meal and the second meal it's a very long time 04:10 and we were very gaseous and of course we're going to bed 04:16 and still had a lot of food undigested. 04:20 That didn't work out well, we finally gradually shifted it 04:23 to where it is today, now we have a plan that works 04:26 very well for us, we have our breakfast at 6:30 in the morning 04:31 and then we have our next meal at 1:30 in the afternoon 04:34 and the body rests for about almost 18 hours a day 04:40 my stomach is resting after it finishes its work, 04:43 so it rests and I rest, and my wife rests. 04:47 There are many advantages to that, my wife used to fix 04:51 three meals a day, cook three meals a day, 04:54 seven days a week, that's 21 meals. 04:57 Today she cooks about four or five meals, and that's all 05:02 that's required, the rest things are prepared 05:04 we learn how to do things much more simply, 05:07 and there are a lot of advantages to that, 05:09 to the two meal plan. 05:12 It is ideal for adults, it turns out to be also ideal 05:16 for children to, once they reach a certain age, 05:19 I believe Dr. Thrash will be talking more about that too. 05:22 I would like to talk about some of the advantages of 05:27 the two meal plan: 05:28 Skipping supper can save costs, it can save as much 05:33 as one third of your grocery bill, grocery bills are high, 05:36 and as you know, they are only going one way, 05:38 they are going higher and higher, and that can put 05:41 a little bit of jingle into your pocket, one third savings. 05:44 Also skipping supper gives you some extra time, that you don't 05:51 have to prepare this meal, time that you can spend 05:55 with your family, time that you can spend on an extra 05:57 project, time that you could spend doing something 05:59 that you need to do or like to do. 06:02 A letter that you need to write, a meditation or whatever, 06:05 you can do that, you have that extra time. 06:09 It also can cut your kitchen chores, less dishes to wash 06:15 and put away, less cooking to prepare, that's the 06:20 real benefit, I think the Madame would like that if 06:22 your husband would insist on a two meal plan, 06:25 It would be a real benefit to them. 06:27 The two meal plan helps regulate the body weight, 06:31 over weight people usually loose weight, and those that 06:33 are underweight gain weight. 06:35 Now that's interesting for myself, I actually weigh about 06:38 five pounds more now on the two meal plan, than I weighed 06:43 on my six meal plan, now you try to figure that out. 06:48 We saved a lot of money as a result of that too. 06:51 Without supper to burden the stomach, the mind is alert 06:55 for evening worship, for socialization, 06:57 for anything like that, that you would like to do. 07:00 The mind is clear, it's an old saying that if your stomach 07:03 is operating you mind is slowing down and not running at all 07:07 very well. 07:08 So you have time to think, you have better thoughts and 07:11 you are able to do much more with the thinking processes. 07:16 With an unburdened stomach which is what you have because the 07:22 the second meal is early enough in the day so that you can 07:27 go to bed with an empty stomach, I know it sounds like a crime. 07:30 I've heard it so many times, you wouldn't want to send 07:32 a child to bed on an empty stomach, would you? 07:35 Yes! That is exactly what you would like to do. 07:37 When you go to bed at night you would like to have your 07:40 stomach finished so that you are resting, and your stomach 07:43 is resting, and every time that your little valve is opening 07:47 in your stomach and you are turning back and forth 07:50 you don't have that experience, you are resting, 07:53 your body is resting, and you feel a lot better. 07:55 When the digestive system is at rest, the entire body rests 08:01 better, less sleep is needed, and the sleep is more peaceful, 08:06 more restful, you get more out of it. 08:09 That's a wonderful benefit right there, you do not wake up 08:12 groggy in the morning. 08:13 Without food in the stomach to draw the blood away from 08:17 the skin, the body can sleep comfortably in a cooler room 08:19 with fresh air. 08:21 That's a real benefit also, you have fewer problems with 08:25 a chilly night. 08:26 In the morning you don't wake up with bad breath and eyes 08:33 that are red and your mind is alert, and you don't have those 08:37 heavy bags under the eyes, and you don't need that makeup. 08:41 When you wake up in the morning the window has been opened, 08:46 and you are just refreshed, you are ready for whatever the next 08:49 day offers, and that's good, it gives you a lot of energy. 08:54 The stomach instead of having that all gone feeling 08:57 from exhaustion, feels at peace, no gnawing beast in the stomach. 09:03 Regularity which the two meal plan offers to us, 09:08 regularity allows the body system to move very smoothly. 09:14 All of nature is on a system, the sun rises on time, 09:18 and goes down at a certain time, it's all very predictable, 09:21 and when you are on a two meal plan and you stick 09:24 with the proper times of eating, which ever times 09:27 you have selected, you find that your digestive juices flow 09:31 at a certain time, you are ready for whatever comes your way. 09:35 When breakfast time comes your stomach is ready... 09:40 I notice in the morning, we have breakfast at 6:30, 09:42 at 6:00 in the morning, when the table is being set, 09:47 very interesting, there is no sensation of hunger 09:52 what-so-ever. 09:53 I was telling my wife the other day, you know 09:55 Louise, I don't feel hungry at all, she says well I don't 09:58 either, at 6:30 when it's time for us to eat, we began to feel 10:05 things happening within, and we are ready for the meal 10:07 and when you start eating your meal, we eat hardily, 10:10 and we eat gratefully, we are very thankful for what 10:13 the Lord has provided, and then we are off to our work. 10:17 It's a real blessing not to have a sense of hunger 10:22 in between meals, where we used to feel all the time 10:25 because we were so irregular in our eating. 10:27 Now we don't worry about that at all, we don't even think 10:30 about food until it's time for us to eat. 10:33 We found that those on a two meal plan have less temptation 10:39 to eat in between meals and can comfortably wait until 10:42 mid afternoon for the second meal, and an evening snack 10:47 we don't usually need, we rarely ever have an evening snack. 10:51 You find also that when you are on a two meal plan 10:58 it's a lot easier to deal with irregularities, if you have to 11:01 miss a meal because of traveling or it's inconvenient for 11:04 whatever reasoning, it's no problem, if you need to fast 11:08 for a meal or a day or so, it's no problem. 11:11 It's very interesting, if you are going to fast, 11:14 at the regular time for your eating, you feel a little bit 11:18 of hunger, if you don't take it at that time during that meal 11:22 period, after that, the hunger is gone, you have no more 11:25 sensation of it until it's time for the regular next meal. 11:29 That's a blessing, the body can become as regulated as all 11:33 of nature can, and that's what we are talking about. 11:36 Finally getting our bodies back in harmony with nature. 11:39 What is best for us, a clean rested stomach is the 11:43 prerequisite to having good blood. 11:46 We are told that perfect health requires perfect circulation, 11:50 well it also is important what is being circulated, 11:53 good clean blood is possible there with the regularity. 12:01 With the stomach enjoying longer periods of rest 12:04 the danger of ulcers is lessened and if you have an ulcer it's 12:10 not irritated quite as much because of these untimely meals 12:15 that you would be taking, snacking and what not. 12:17 Even in pregnant ladies, we find that pregnant ladies 12:21 that are on a two meal plan, they have more milk, in fact 12:25 that it's a real blessing for them. 12:28 Some have gone on a two meal plan, had a nice flow of 12:31 milk supply, gone off the two meal plan, gone back 12:34 to the third meal and their milk stopped, and didn't return 12:38 again until they went back to the two meal plan. 12:40 Dr. Thrash, I think there is something to the two meal plan, 12:43 what do you say? - Oh yes! 12:44 It's a physiologic thing, and I've been very pleased to study 12:49 about the two meal plan. 12:51 The year was 1960 when I first became interested in this, 12:55 I was teaching at Columbus University at that time, 12:58 Anatomy and Physiology, which at that time was a 13:02 required course for all of the graduates from the 13:04 university system. 13:06 So I had a lot of students and enjoyed teaching the class 13:10 and one of the things that I had I had while I was 13:15 presenting the Anatomy and Physiology the gastrointestinal 13:19 tract was the various phases of digestion. 13:23 I learned from studying this, and getting prepared to teach 13:27 my class, that the best plan for human beings is a 13:32 two meal pattern, that we do best on that kind of thing. 13:36 So as I began to study about this I thought, 13:40 I should try to put this into effect in my own life, 13:44 and that's something that I recommend for you too. 13:46 Once you learn something, something that is beneficial 13:49 start immediately making plans, you may not make an 13:53 instantaneous change, but you should start immediately 13:56 to making plans for that change, and as soon as it is feasible 14:00 you begin to slide into it. 14:02 Well that's what we began to do in our own home, 14:05 and we had quite an experience with changing from a 14:11 three meal plan to a two meal plan, that experience being 14:15 extreme hunger during that time for a third meal. 14:19 It just seemed that the appetite was the very best at that time 14:23 that it ever could possibly be. 14:25 So I made a New Year's Resolution on January 1st, 14:29 I was going to eat nothing else in the evening, and for 14:33 three months, until the first day of April, 14:36 I struggled with that every day, I could think about 14:41 how much food I had in certain places in the refrigerator 14:46 and how nice it would be to eat that food. 14:49 But by careful discipline and training and protecting myself 14:54 from having to think about or having to see that food. 14:56 I came to the place where I did not have to eat that food 15:00 so about three months is what it took and now it never 15:04 crosses my mind, it never enters my head to eat 15:08 in the evening, I have really no appetite for evening food. 15:11 Yet I eat a hardy breakfast and a hardy lunch, 15:15 not so hardy as breakfast, and then I have no appetite 15:19 no desire to eat from then on. 15:21 I can be around other people who are eating and I'm 15:23 perfectly fine, I have no desire to eat. 15:27 Now there are some other parts of the two meal plan 15:30 and for that John Champen is going to talk with you some 15:34 more about the two meal plan. 15:36 John Champen! 15:37 I would like to share a few ideas here about instruction 15:41 on eating. 15:42 Some counselors eat largely fruits and vegetables prepared 15:46 in a natural and tasty way, it's best also if the two are 15:52 separated, we in our home we have a vegetable meal, 15:56 basically vegetables and grains and nuts and seeds, 16:01 and things like that for one meal. 16:03 Then fruits at another meal, primarily fruits and grains 16:06 and nuts and so forth, or seeds, and we find that it 16:10 works best that way. 16:11 Because both of these two groups of foods require different 16:15 enzymes to digest, and it's best that they are digested 16:20 separately. 16:21 Number two is that you should vary your diet from meal to meal 16:26 it's not best to eat the same thing every day prepared 16:31 the same way, variety is good, but it shouldn't be 16:33 to great of a variety, two to four items per meal 16:39 is probably the best, besides bread and spread and so forth. 16:44 Three is what most people use in some form: 16:48 Whole grains should be used instead of bolted wheat, 16:54 whole wheat bread, whole wheat flour, rye and oatmeal, 17:00 and less of the polished and prepared things that are 17:04 already precooked. 17:05 It's best to do your own, we want maximum nutrition 17:09 as well as maximum taste. 17:10 It is interesting how those two go together, 17:12 nutrition and natural taste go very closely together. 17:17 We should limit our intake of sugars, if we do have a 17:22 sweet tooth, there are a lot of things that can provide 17:25 for that sweet tooth. 17:26 There are dried fruits that are excellent and delicious 17:30 and nutritious, and you shouldn't find any problem 17:33 with them, they go down very easily, very nicely. 17:37 It is very important in our two meal plan to have a set time 17:43 to eat, it's not a matter of being rigid, it's a matter of 17:46 getting in harmony with nature. 17:48 When you have that set time to eat, and eat on time 17:52 your body does much better, oh you feel so much better. 17:55 You rest much better at night, you don't have that fuzzy tongue 18:01 as I mentioned before, when you wake up in the morning 18:03 you are just ready for the next meal, and you are ready for 18:09 whatever takes place, and you shouldn't have anything 18:13 in between meals except water. 18:15 Water is the only thing that we should take in between meals, 18:18 that is a very important part of the program. 18:25 If you eat something else in between meals, even so much 18:29 as a peanut, it interferes with the digestion, and causes 18:33 the stomach to hold what you have already taken in 18:37 and longer than what it needs to. 18:38 If your stomach is holding food in it longer than it 18:42 needs to, to process that, it winds up fermenting, 18:46 it winds up not making the best blood. 18:50 Remember it is the object of all that you eat, to make 18:53 good blood, so you want to take what is best in, 18:56 and then you want to let it have the time that it needs 18:59 to digest. 19:01 Eat all you need but don't overdo it, moderation is very 19:08 important, we can enjoy our food and we should eat slowly. 19:13 Eat slowly, chew, take your time enjoyment is in the mouth, 19:19 the taste is in the mouth, there is no taste in the 19:21 stomach, there is no taste as it is going down, 19:24 it's in the mouth, so chew slowly, let it be mixed with 19:27 the saliva real well, and enjoy all that God has planned 19:31 for you in that meal. 19:32 Drink enough water daily, which is a very important part, 19:38 again water, so that your urine remains pale, 19:41 and you will find that you will have better health. 19:44 This two meal plan I believe is heaven sent and it provides 19:49 all that we need Dr. Thrash. 19:50 Yes it does, it provides all that we need and any more 19:53 than that is really to much. 19:55 Now there have been a number of experiments 19:57 scientifically performed that help us to know that the 20:01 two meal a day plan is quite good. 20:03 First is a large experiment that was done in this country 20:09 on various animals. 20:11 These animals showed a very important improvement 20:17 in their health and in their longevity by eating a 20:20 two meal plan, they could learn better, 20:23 they had a better memory, they had fewer cases of dermatitis, 20:30 and gastroenteritis, and various problems that 20:33 animals often have, and interestingly enough they had 20:37 93% fewer cancers than did animal that were on an 20:42 adlib plan, they could eat any time they chose and the food 20:46 was always there. 20:47 Then in Australia a study was done on human beings 20:52 showing that those who took a two meal plan, 20:56 and had those two meals between a six hour span, 21:01 lets say at six and twelve, they had their two meals. 21:05 Then they had an 18 hour fast, these individuals had less 21:11 allergies, less asthma, less arthritis, less cancer, 21:15 and a number of other diseases and of course followed 21:18 long enough, they also showed a longer span of life. 21:22 There have been several studies that show a longer span of life 21:26 in those individuals who take a two meal plan, 21:29 so we can recognize that it is physiologic, it is helpful 21:34 and we can benefit much by it. 21:37 Calorie restriction, simply reducing the number of calories 21:42 that you take in a day also helps us to live longer. 21:46 It exposes us to fewer allergens therefore we are less likely 21:50 to have allergies, less likely to have asthma, 21:53 of course these things are all just self explanatory, 21:57 they are just as we think they should be. 22:01 A restriction in calories is inevitable with a two meal plan 22:06 and as John Champen told you it around a third less food 22:11 that you take in, maybe as little as a quarter for 22:16 some people, but for many people it's significant 22:20 quantity of saving of money, and saving of the number of 22:23 calories. 22:24 Then we understand that the likelihood of 22:28 Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease is also 22:33 much less with a two meal plan, and since the weight 22:36 is down, then of course a hypertension and cancer 22:40 and heart disease are also less likely to be afflictions 22:44 that people would experience who are on the three meal plan. 22:48 The cognitive decline, or the ability to recognize things 22:54 to think and to remember things, to plan and execute those plans, 22:59 all of those are also better in individuals who take in 23:04 fewer calories, whose calories are restricted. 23:07 So far as infants are concerned, infants are on a different 23:12 pattern, their physiology is different, their anatomy 23:15 is different than that of the mature person. 23:18 But as the gastrointestinal tract and its accesory organs 23:23 mature through the years they gradually develop the adult 23:28 type pattern, so we might ask the question, at what time 23:33 of age would it be proper to take a two meal plan? 23:37 Well for most children between the ages of one and three 23:42 you can train them to a two meal plan. 23:43 We have found and I have observed as I have seen children 23:47 in my own family as well as in other people's families, 23:50 I have observed that it goes against nature to give them 23:54 a third meal. 23:55 You have to call them in from play and say "It is now time 23:58 to come and have your evening meal" or as many people call it 24:02 a dinner, and dinner should not be held in the evening, 24:06 if you are going to have something in the evening 24:08 it should be a light supper. 24:09 But even that, children very quickly get so that they do 24:13 not need... And if food is not out 24:15 and other people are not eating, or if they do not know that 24:19 meal time is supposed to be served at this time 24:22 they will not ask for food, they are not hungry 24:24 and so they go to bed with a empty stomach which means 24:27 they will rest better, and will wake up more refreshed 24:30 and in a much better mood the next day. 24:33 Now when an infant is born, what kind of schedule do you 24:37 put the infant on at that time? 24:39 Well perhaps various authorities will have different ideas 24:44 and I will tell you what my idea is. 24:46 If a child is born underweight and we are concerned about 24:51 it's weight, then I say let the child eat when the child can 24:55 but as John Champen mentioned in the talk that he gave 24:59 he actually gained a little weight when he went on the 25:02 two meal plan, the reason for that is a greater efficiency 25:06 of the digestive system. 25:07 Your infant may also have a better digestive efficiency 25:13 on fewer meals per day than on an on demand schedule 25:17 so you need to do a little experimenting with your child. 25:20 But as long as the child is underweight, then you may 25:24 properly think an on demand feeding schedule would be 25:28 fine, but as certainly by the child reaches 8 Ibs, 25:33 then the child can be put on a schedule, every four hours, 25:37 and possibly going all through the night, certainly going 25:41 six hours during the night time hours without eating at all, 25:46 and that's a great help to the mother who doesn't have to 25:49 get up so many times. 25:50 I remember the story about a German nanny who was taking 25:55 care of an infant, and a doting father and doting mother 26:00 wanted to go in and feed the child when the child cried 26:04 during the night, but German nanny was standing there 26:08 with her hands on her hips right besides the child's door 26:11 and the child cried a little while, then stopped crying 26:14 and went back to sleep, so this we can do also 26:18 with our children. 26:19 Once we put them on a schedule and they stick to it 26:22 then they are happier and we are happier as well, 26:25 we have time to do other things with the child. 26:29 You should not think that a child has a 26:32 perverted appetite because they eat enough that even 26:36 at infancy they may even regurgitate a bit. 26:38 That does not mean that they have a perverted appetite 26:41 because they eat that much, generally a child has not 26:45 lost it's signals that tell it when it has had enough 26:50 and when it should quit eating when it is still just an infant. 26:53 So it is proper for the mother to say that that child 26:58 can eat as much as the child wishes. 27:00 Now once the child gets to be five or six or seven, 27:04 that is no longer the case, then at that point the mother 27:08 needs to make the decision as to how much 27:10 the child should eat. 27:11 Then the mother judges by such things as bloating, 27:16 gas, bad breath, the bowel movement pattern, 27:21 and some other things to help her to decide if the child 27:26 has eaten to much. 27:27 Now with the signals, then the mother can be guided 27:31 if the child is gaining weight and gaining strength 27:35 at a proper speed, then of course we can understand that 27:39 the child is having enough to eat. 27:41 Our heavenly Father loves to have us eat the food that 27:45 He has provided, He has made it delicious, He has made it 27:48 abundant, He has made it very varied, and so we can 27:52 thank the Lord when we eat His food. |
Revised 2014-12-17