Diet and exercise are the two main essentials in making and keeping the figure beautiful. No woman can reduce weight, improve a clumsy and ungainly figure, through exercise alone. Diet comes first. Comparatively few women need fattening. What most need is reduction. FIRST AID FOR THE THIN Yet for those whose figure needs building up and filling out, the following facts should be borned in mind. First, relax mentally. Worry and nervous tension use up calories the calorie is the unit by which we measure heat and food very rapidly, and tend to reduce weight below normal. Secondly, sleep enough and breathe fresh air in plenty. Third, exercise, to stimulate the appetite and aid all the organs of the body to do their work. Fourth, eat more of the foods that are high in food value. Butter, sugar, cream and cream sauce on vegetables, cod-liver oil and olive oil, are all fattening. FIRST AID FOR THE FAT Do not cultivate fallacies, if you are fat and wish to reduce your figure in accord with the normal and ideal body measurements, . Shun antifat patent medicines and quack "cures." Often they are based on mercury, arsenic or thyroid extract. Shun Epsom salts baths and too many Turkish baths. They do harm and no good. The reduction of calories is the real secret of successful fat reduction, and a key to that unit of measurement will enable you to bring your figure within the proper limits, to keep your figure beautiful. The whole point is to know how many calories of food you need per day. Now, normally, a woman who does not "work" in any actual sense of the word, can do with 1,600 to 1,800 calories per day. If she follows some sedentary occupation, 2,000 to 2,200 calories will suffice her. If her business requires walking, standing or any lighter manual labor, she can run her calorie allowance up to 2,500. If she performs hard physical labor, she is entitled to 2,500 to 3,000 calories. All this is normally speaking. But if you are too fat, if you wish to bring back your figure to its rightful lines, you must know what your ideal net weight should be in order to cut off the number of calories of food you do not need. Among the kinds of food, note that Proteins, which build tissue and yield energy, may store fat. Proteins are contained in meat, fish, fowl, nuts, milk, cheese, vegetables. Fats (animal fats, oils, chocolate, nuts) are stored by the body as fat. So are Carbohydrates (sugars, starches, including bread, cereals, potatoes, corn, etc.). Vitamins, food substances needed for growth, occur in animal fats, but not in vegetable ones, as also in eggs, milk, butter and meat, vegetable outer skins, grain germs and fruits. BALANCE IN DIET These kinds of food must be balanced. If you balance them properly, you can reduce your figure to normal without injuring health or keeping to a monotonous food diet. Proteins you must eat, but neither to excess nor the reverse. And you must eat Vitamins, which abound in nonfattening vegetables and fruits. Do not be afraid of drinking plenty of water. But do not exceed your calorie allowance. Without further theory we advise the woman who wishes to eat and grow thin to avoid the following liquids and foods. THE "KEEP OFF" SIGN FOR THE STOUT Shun water during mealsit makes you eat more. Drink all you want between meals. Rich sodas must be avoided. But coffee in moderation and skim milk are not harmful. But every woman should know that all alcoholic drinks make her fatter if she is fat and thinner if she is thin, thus serving no good purpose. Each bit of food you eat beyond what your system and your normal weight, figure and calorie requirements demand, is fattening. Candy, pie, cakes, ice cream, whipped cream, candied sweet potatoes, cheese, rice, butter, fresh and white bread, rich meats, thick gravies and nuts are fattening. "Keep off" fried foods, bacon, ham, pork, and all things made of flour, macaroni, dried beans, puddings, pastries and custards. But there are excellent beefsteak or lean meat, fruit and milk diets, the fruit diet especially being excellent for reduction. An occasional fast day, or certain days of low caloric eating a week are also good. A rapid method to reduce the overplus of calories is a diet of baked potatoes and a glass of skim milk, three times daily, for a week at a time. Or, instead of fasting altogether for a day, drink a glass of buttermilk every three hours. Again, small helpings of favorite fattening foods, or the dropping of one thing for another, will help attain the end which is the reduction of your calorie overplus. This is the whole secret of reducing fat and bringing the figure to its normal physical best, its legitimate beauty of outline, where diet is concerned. WHAT THE OBESE CAN EAT A number of excellent books which deal in great detail with the different ways of controlling the calories, of reducing weight and fat, are easily available. We have gone into some details ourselves, although diet and fat reduction is here only considered in its relation to physical beauty. In the books already mentioned, numerous "sample menus," etc., will be found. Foods you can eat, and still feel you are not betraying your figure, include: (1) Any meat or game, save pig. (2) All seafood, including lobster. (3) Fruit, with the exception of grapes and bananas. (4) Salads and meat jellies. (5) Tomatoes, peppers, olives, celery, cucumber, chili sauce and Worcestershire. (6) All fruit desserts. Beauty and health go hand in hand. Your skin, your hair, your figure, if not healthy, rob your loveliest features of their charm. Make health the cornerstone of an intelligent study and cultivation of every iota of beauty which you have. Physical beauty, in the best sense, means well-rounded physical development on a health basis. Make the most of your figure and every charm you, individually, may possess. Such is the gospel of this article. If its teachings be followed, power beauty's choicest secret will be your reward. |
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