FoodNet

Use and preparation of food

1919

Page 156

Presented as published in 1919. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
A. Too rapid reduction is dangerous. Many people are ill for years as a result. B. Occasionally people who have habitually eaten large amounts of starchy foods and sugar may safely lose weight rapidly for a time on change of diet because this loss represents chiefly a loss of the water which the tissues retain on a diet of this sort. C. In general, a loss of 2 pounds the first week and 1 pound a week thereafter is safe. More rapid reduction should not be allowed except imder the directions of a physician. 2. Drug's and patent preparations. — Never use them. Several have been identified as extremely dangerous substances. 3. Factors involved: A. Food, exercise, and body weight are interdependent. Much change in either food or exercise results in a change in body weight, but if both are changed proportionately weight will remain the same. B. Practicall}'^ all people who are overweight can reduce their weight by proper decrease in their food consumption or taking more exercise or both. C. A few cases of obesity invohe other factors and need special treatment by a physician. 4. Food and its relation to body weight: A. People who are gaining weight are eating more than their bodies can use. B. This is true even if they are eating less than some thin people. After weight has been gained, frequently a comparatively small amount of food is sufficient to keep the body in that condition. 5. Exercise and its relation to body weight: A. The amount of food the body can use depends upon the amount of exercise taken. Therefore it is of no use to eat less in order to reduce the Vv^eight if one at the same time exercises less. B. Increased exercise will not only hasten the weight reduction but will also tone up the whole system and result in better utilization of the food that is eaten. 6. Hunger and its importance in weight reduction : A. Eeduction regimes frequenty fail in the end because the patient grows so hungry that when the " cure " is accomplished, a short period USE AND PKEPARATION OF FOOD. 235 of gorging, undoes all that lias been accomplished in weeks or montlis of dieting. B. Hunger means first of all that the stomach is empty; it does not necessarily mean that the body needs food. (1) Frequent feeding in small amounts is therefore important to remove the feeling of hunger. (2) Meals should be attractive in ser\'icc and in flavor without stimulating the appetite overmuch. (3) Foods of high food value should be reduced m amount. (4) Foods of considerable bulk but of low food value should be used. 7. Foods of high food value r A. The most concentrated foods we have, in terms of the amount of energy or of fat the body can get from them, are fats and oils. Therefore eat less fat, less butter and butter substitutes, less fi'ied food, less fat meat, gravies, salad dressings made from oil or butter, less cream sauce, whole milk, or cream cheeses. B. Next to fats, the foods high in value are sugar and starchy foods. Therefore eat less sugar, candy, maniialades, jams, preserves, potato, rice, bread, and other cereals. C. When only a slight reduction is necessaj-y, sometimes one need only eat less fat or less sugar or less of both. D. Follow the food plan systematically. Find out how much of each food of liigh fuel Tahie is eaten at meals and reduce that amount. Eat nothing of high food value between meals.