Chapter 5

* * * * *

[Sidenote: _Doing My Bit_]

All the characters in my book are friends of mine. Perhaps you had better substitute _were_ for _are_. There was one woman mentioned in my original manuscript and my husband said what have you put her in for Pattie? (a corruption of Pettie, a H.moon hangover) she is no friend of yours: she knocks you. And I said loftily like, I want you to know Ijit (corruption of Idiot, also a H.moon hangover) I am above personalities she is prominent and besides she is fat especially in the feet and head and she doesn't know it and he said that doesn't make any difference you do not have to immortalize her and I said I would look up the authorities on the subject and he said he was authority enough and I said I would see what the other authorities said anyway and I did and I found one most eminent that said you should love your enemies but none that said you should immortalize them so I said I'd drop her and he said he should say so and so I did.

--All the characters in my book are friends of mine. Perhaps you had better substitute _were_ for _are_.

12

Maintenance Diet and Conclusions

[Sidenote: _1st Circle_]

THE HEAVY circle represents the amount of daily food (number of calories) which will maintain you at present weight. It may be your weight is too much or too little, but this is your maintenance diet for that weight.

[Sidenote: _2nd Circle_]

THE SECOND circle represents a daily diet containing more than necessary for maintenance; for example, let us say 1000 calories more. This 1000 calories of food is equivalent to approximately 4 ounces of fat [1000/255 (1 oz. fat = 255 C.)]; 4 ounces of fat daily equals 8 pounds a month which will be added to your weight, and, if not needed by the system, will deposit itself as excess fat.

Or the toxins arising from the unnecessary food will irritate the blood vessels, causing arterio-sclerosis (hardening of the arteries), which in turn may cause kidney disease, heart disease, or apoplexy (rupture of artery in the brain), and maybe death before your time.

On the other hand, if you are underweight and the added nourishment is gradually worked up to, it will improve the health and cause a gain of so much (theoretically, and in reality if kept up long enough).

[Sidenote: _3d Circle_]

THE THIRD circle represents a diet containing less than the maintenance; again, for example, say 1000 calories less. Here the 1000 calories must be taken from the body tissue, and fat is the first to go, for fat is virtually dead tissue.

This 4 ounces of fat daily which will be supplied by your body equals in six months 48 pounds.

There are in America hundreds of thousands of overweight individuals; not all so much overweight as this, but some considerably more so. If these individuals will save 1000 calories of food daily by using their stored fat, think what it would mean at this time.

[Sidenote: _Savings_]

Not only an immense saving of food to be sent to our soldiers and allies and the starving civilians, and of money which could be used for Liberty Bonds, the Red Cross, and other war relief work, but a great saving and a great increase in power; for there is no doubt that by reducing as slowly and scientifically as I have directed, efficiency and health will be increased one hundred fold.

If, as illustrated in the third circle, the 1000 calories or less is eaten and the individual already is underweight, with no excess fat, then this amount will be taken from the muscles and the more vital tissues, and the organism will finally succumb. Before this time is reached there will be a great lowering of resistance, and the individual will be a prey to the infectious diseases.

It must be remembered that in children the growth of the whole body is tremendously active, and especially that of the heart and nervous system.

If the nervous system is undernourished, it becomes disorganized and undeveloped. This is apt to be expressed in uncertain emotional states, quick tempers, and a predisposition to convulsions. The heart, if undernourished, lays its foundation for future heart disease, and the whole system will be injured for life.

Anything that impairs the vigor and vitality of children strikes at the basis of national welfare.

[Sidenote: _The Food Administration Emphasizes This_]

You can see from this how extremely important it is that, in our need for the conservation of food, only those who can deny themselves and at the same time improve their health and efficiently should do it. It will be no help in our crisis if the health and resistance of our people be lowered and the growth and development of our children be stunted.

We, the hundreds of thousands of overweight citizens, combined with the hundreds of thousands of the normal who are overeating to their ill, can save all the food that is necessary. We are anxious, willing, eager to do this. Now we know how, and we will.

_Food Will Win the War_

WATCH OUR WEIGHT!

13

Three Years Later

_February, 1, 1921_

An Added Chapter in Which Are Offered Twenty-one Suggestive Menus

After nearly two years with the American Red Cross in the Balkans I return to find the little book has been carrying on in my absence--I write this for the fifth edition--and my publishers insisting that I must furnish some more menus. They affirm that there are many who do not care to or cannot figure out their own.

After being so long under military discipline I obey now instinctively, although I do not want to do this. But you know publishers. They say that if there are menus for those who do not have the desire to compute them, the usefulness of the book will be increased. Publishers are so altruistic.

Now far be it from me to scorn the possibility of increased sales myself. So I comply, and after you are reduced you will have the energy and the increased keenness to scout around in the calories and make out your own.

* * * * *

A little of my Balkan experience in the reducing line may not be amiss. In Albania, where I was stationed most of the time, life is very strenuous. We all had to work hard and expend a great deal of nervous energy. Medical calls on foot in the scorching sun over unkind cobblestones, long distance calls on unkinder mules, long hours in nerve-racking clinics, ferocious man-eating mosquitos, scorpions, centipedes, sandflies, and fleas, and other unspeakable animals kept us hopping and slapping and scratching.

But there was one consolation to me. With this work, more intensive and more strenuous than I had ever done before, I would not have to diet--I would not have to watch my weight--I would not have to count my calories! Oh, joy!

We lived a community life, we Red Crossers. We had plain blunt food, American canned mostly, supplemented with the fare that could be eked out of Albania, and cooked by an Albanese who could not be taught that we Americans were not Esquimos and did not like food swimming in fat. However, it tasted good to famished Red Crossers, and I ate three meals a day, confident that I would retain my girlish middle-aged slenderness and not have to diet. We had no scales and no mirrors larger than our hand mirrors. Our uniforms were big and comfortable.

* * * * *

The French who are in charge of Scutari depart, the officers leaving to us some of their furniture, including a full length French plate mirror. Ordinarily when I look in a full-length mirror I don't hate myself so much--so it is with some degree of anticipated pleasure that I complacently approach, to get a life-size reflection of myself after many months of deprivation of that pleasure.

"_Mon Dieu!_" I exclaim. "_Bogomi_!" (Serbian--'For the love of Allah!') "This is no mirror," I mutter. "This is one of those musee things that make you look like a Tony Sarg picture of Irvin Cobb."

"What's irritating you, Dockie?" asks one of the girls, coming up and standing back of me. I look at her reflection. She does not look like Irvin Cobb!

"Peggy," I say tragically, "Peggy, do I look like my reflection?"

"Yes, dear, we have all noticed how stout you have been getting. Aren't you supposed to be some shark on the subject of ideal weight?"

And the bitter truth is borne in upon me--no matter how hard I work--no matter how much I exercise, no matter what I suffer, I will always have to watch my weight, I will always have to count my calories.

This is what I did then:

I stopped going to the breakfast table. I kept some canned milk and coffee in my room, and made me two cups of coffee. For lunch I ate practically what I wanted, limiting myself to one slice of bread or one potato (we had no butter), with fruit for dessert. For dinner I came down only when the dessert was being served, and had a share of that with some coffee. I was jeered and derided. You know how in community life we all are as disagreeable as we like, and still love each other. Did not I know the desserts were the most fattening part of the meal? I was some authority on how to reduce, I was!

In vain I told them that it did not matter so long as my total caloric intake did not equal the number that I needed. It was not until some months after, when they saw that I was normal weight again, that they began to realize I knew whereof I spoke.

Then came our withdrawal from Albania and release from duty. After months of canned goods came Paris with its famous dishes; Creme d'Isigny avec creme! Artichauts an beurre! Patisseries francaises! Oo lala! Again I said calories be _dashed_! I can reduce when I get home. I had no delusions now, you see.

* * * * *

And now I am home trying to help raise the funds for the starving children of Central Europe, and explaining to my friends that while there is a food shortage in Europe it is not because I was there; and that I am reducing and the money that I can save will help keep a child from starving, and that they can do the same; that for every pang of hunger we feel we can have a double joy, that of knowing we are saving worse pangs in some little children, and that of knowing that for every pang we feel we lose a pound. A pang's a pound the world around we'll say.

Every once in a while you hear that the caloric theory has been exploded. There is no caloric "theory." Therefore none to explode. Calories are simply units for measuring heat and energy and never will be exploded any more than the yard or meter "theory" will be exploded. Foods must contain essential salts and the growth and health maintaining elements. These cannot be measured by calories. The quantity of heat or energy production but not the quality of the foods is measured in calories, and one must have a knowledge of the qualities also. No scientifically educated individual has ever thought otherwise.

The chief objection to following the advice of the numerous laymen who write eat-and-grow-thin menus is that they advise the elimination of all fats, sugars and starches. They lose sight of the fact, or they do not know, that the obese individual--I dislike that term--will have to have a balanced diet even while reducing if he is to maintain his health. One will lose weight on these menus, but as very many can testify they lose their health also. One cannot live on an unbalanced diet for any length of time without becoming unbalanced also. And furthermore the over-weighter will always have to diet more or less, and will have to have menus which he can continue to use. After normal weight is reached he will not have to be nearly so abstemious, _but_ the same dietetic errors which produced overweight in the first place will produce it again. So he must know something of dietetics and he must have a balanced diet.

Now I shall make out some balanced menus, 1200 C's a day, being careful to include a large amount of the leafy vegetables and some milk or its products, the foods that McCollom calls PROTECTIVE FOODS because they contain in a large measure the essential mineral salts, and those vital elements he has called "Fat soluble A" and "Water soluble B"--others call vitamines--which he has proved to be so vital and necessary for growth in the young and the maintenance of health in the adult. I shall also include 200-300 C's of protein.

The leafy vegetables, cabbage, cauliflower, celery tops, lettuce, onion, Swiss chard, turnip tops, and other leaves employed as greens, water cress, etc., not only contain these vital elements, but they also exert a favourable influence on sluggish bowels and kidneys. They are low in caloric value, hence are low in fat-producing properties, and can be consumed with indiscretion, properly masticated.

It is better while you are reducing to stay away from the dining table when you do not expect to eat. If you are rooming, get a tiny sterno outfit, some substitute or coffee, some canned or dry milk, some sugar if you use it, and you can make a hot drink in your room and be independent for your breakfast and your evening meal, when you decide some day to go without that. Do not take more than 100 calories for your breakfast. That leaves you 1100 calories to be divided during the day if you go on a 1200 calorie schedule. I suggest the following distribution of the calories:

Breakfast 100 C's. Lunch 350 " Tea 100 " Dinner 650 "

You can reverse the dinner and lunch if you desire. If you do so then have your 100 calories I have allowed for tea time to take just before you retire. On a 1200 calorie schedule arranged as I have it you will not be hungry, I assure you. It will not be more than three or four days before your stomach will be shrunk and this amount I have allowed you will almost seem like overeating! That is the big idea. Shrink your stomach. Go on a fast or low calorie day for a day if necessary to get started. See page 81.

I can safely say that any up and around adult will reduce on 1200 calories, for that will not supply the basal metabolism, i.e., the body's internal activities, such as the beating of the heart, respiration, digestion, excretion, etc., and some of the body's stored fat will be called upon to supply the deficiency. How much one will reduce depends on how many calories are actually needed for the internal and the external activities. See pages 26 and 27. It is not advisable to reduce too rapidly. See page 85.

Now you have 1200 calories a day to eat. Let us think of this in terms of money. You have a limited amount of money every day to spend for food. You must spend it judiciously and get the food you need and want. If you spend the most of it on one article you have that much less for other things. It is possible that some days you will want to spend more than your allowance and you draw on your next day's supply. That will be all right if you remember that you have done so and will spend that much less the next day to equalize your account. You must study to spend wisely and carefully so as to supply your needs, but you cannot spend more than you have without restitution and retribution. Here are the menus:

BREAKFASTS

100 C. Each

1. Fruit 2 med. apples or 1 baked apple with 2 tsps. sugar _or_ 1 large orange _or_ 1/2 large grapefruit _or_ 1 small cup berries _or_ 1/2 good sized cantaloupe _or_ 2 med. figs _or_ 5 prunes

2. 1 cup coffee or cereal coffee.. O 1 tbsp. cream..................50 C 2 small tsp. sugar.............50 C _or_ 2 cups with cream alone or sugar alone ---- Total...........................100 C

3. 10 ozs. skim milk hot or cold _or_ 5 ozs. whole milk.....................100 C

4. 1 cup coffee clear............. 0 1 thin slice toast.............75 C 1/4 pat butter.................25 C ---- Total.............................100 C

Note--The skim milk breakfasts and teas are most desirable because of the protein content.

TEAS

100 C. Each See lists for breakfasts. Also could have:

1. 1 cup tea with 1 tsp. sugar 1 slice lemon................25 C 3 soda crackers..............75 C ---- Total....................................100 C

2. 2 small plain cookies tea no cream or sugar...............100 C

3. 1 chocolate cream 1 cup tea or hot water no cream or sugar...................100 C

* * * * *

The following combinations need not be followed arbitrarily. You may change them around if you desire. Look in the calorie lists for substitutes of the same classes of foods, if you do not like my combinations. If you don't care for the 100 C's at tea time you may have that much more for dinner.

1200 C DAY

ON ARISING

2 cups hot water with a little lemon juice. 10-minute exercise at least

BREAKFAST

Coffee or postum with cream or sugar _or_ 10 ozs. skim milk (see list of breakfasts). 100 C

LUNCH

1 medium sized head lettuce 1/3 lb........................... 25 C 1 tbsp. mayonnaise...............100 C 1 med. sweet pickle chopped for mayonnaise....................... 25 C 1-1/8 inch cube cream cheese melted _or_ 3 ozs. cottage cheese............100 C 1 Toasted French roll (no butter) .................................100 C -----

Total.................................350 C

TEA

3 crackers with tea and 1 tsp. sugar and 1 slice lemon _or_ 10 ozs. skim or buttermilk _or_ 100 C. fruit (see list)................100 C

DINNER

Creamed dried beef on toast Dried beef 4 thin slices 4 x 5.100 C Cut fine and crisped in frying pan with 1/2 tbsp. butter.........50 C 1 tbsp. flour browned with above...........................25 C Add 1 cup skim milk (7 ozs.) cook gently.....................70 C ----- 245 C

2 slices crisp toast (pour above over)..........................200 C 1 large serving raw celery or raw cabbage.....................15 C 1 large baked apple with 1 tbsp. syrup..........................120 C 1 glass skim milk (7 oz.)........70 C

Total.......................650 C ------- Grand Total................1200 C

1200 C DAY

ON ARISING

2 cups hot water, with a little lemon juice. 10-minute exercise at least

BREAKFAST Coffee or postum with cream or sugar _or_ 10 ozs. skim milk (see list of breakfasts)...........................100 C

LUNCH

Celery--eat tender leaves also 10-14 stalks...................30 C Olives--5 good sized ripe.......100 C 1 small slice corn bread........100 C 12 ozs. skim milk or buttermilk.120 C ----- Total...................350 C

TEA

3 crackers with tea with 1 tsp. sugar and 1 slice lemon _or_ 10 ozs. skim milk or buttermilk _or_ 100 C fruit (see list).................100 C

DINNER

Broiled halibut (or lean beef) steak 4-5 ozs. with lemon.......150 C Lettuce (no oil) average serving....0 1 slice whole wheat bread or roll.100 C 1/2 pat butter.....................50 C Dessert 1-6 pie...................350 C 1 cup clear postum or coffee........0 ----- Total...................650 C ------- Grand Total............1200 C

1200 C DAY

ON ARISING

2 cups hot water with a little lemon juice. 10-minute exercise at least

BREAKFAST

Coffee or postum with cream or sugar _or_ 10 ozs. skim milk (see list of breakfasts) .........................100 C

LUNCH

Combination salad Shredded lettuce 10 leaves......0 1 large tomato.................50 C 6 stalks chopped celery........15 C tender leaves included 1/2 med. cucumber..............15 C 1 med. grated carrot...........20 C ---- 100 C

1/2 tbsp. mayonnaise or oil......50 C with vinegar or lemon 1 slice whole wheat bread.......100 C 10 ozs. skim milk or buttermilk.100 C -----

Total..................................350 C

TEA

3 crackers with tea with 1 tsp. sugar and 1 slice lemon _or_ 10 ozs. skim milk or buttermilk _or_ 100 C fruit (see list).................100 C

DINNER

Croquettes of split peas or beans 1/2 cup mashed beans or peas 1/4 cup toast crumbs 1 tsp. cream or canned milk made into croquettes and baked or broiled.................225 C Stewed tomatoes 8 ozs. _or_ 1 large fresh tomato.............50 C 1 slice bread or 5 small pretzels......................100 C 1 double serving lettuce or chopped cabbage or cauliflower.15 C 1 slice lemon, custard or squash pie, no top crust.............260 C 1 cup clear coffee or postum......0 -----

Total..........................650 C ----- Grand Total...................1200 C

1200 C DAY

ON ARISING

2 cups hot water with a little lemon juice. 10-minute exercise at least

BREAKFAST

Coffee or postum with cream or sugar _or_ 10 ozs. skim milk (see list of breakfasts)...........................100 C

LUNCH

Fruit salad 1 large orange.................100 C 1 average apple.................50 C 1 small banana.................100 C 2 tbsps. lemon juice............10 C 2 small teasps. sugar...........40 C ----- 300 C Sprinkle with 1 tbsp. grapenuts..50 C

Total.........................350 C

TEA

3 crackers with tea with 1 tsp. sugar and 1 slice lemon _or_ 10 ozs. skim milk or buttermilk _or_ 100 C. fruit (see list)................100 C

DINNER

12 moderate sized oysters..............100 C Dipped in 1 beaten egg and crumbs of 3 crackers.........150 C Fried gently in 1 tbsp. of bacon or other fat...........125 C ----- 375 C 2 small slices crisped bacon.....50 C 1 small dish chow chow with lettuce.........................25 C 1 slice bread or its equivalent.100 C 1/2 pat butter...................50 C Dessert 1 medium baked apple with no sugar..................50 C ----- Total.........................650 C ------ Grand Total..................1200 C

1200 C DAY

ON ARISING

2 cups hot water with a little lemon juice. 10-minute exercise at least

BREAKFAST

Coffee or postum with cream or sugar

_or_

10 ozs. skim milk (see list of breakfasts) .........................100 C

LUNCH

2 eggs 160 C fried gently in 1 tsp. bacon fat or butter............40 C

_or_