ROCKSTRONGO
04-13-2004, 08:12 PM
History shows fad diets
are nothing new
Today its:eat no carbohydrates.Yesterday it was:Eat no fat.Today its South Beach diet.Yesterday it was scarsdale.And once upon a time ,it was consuming molases or apple vinegar and chewing each mouthful of food 50 times.Americans have a long history of eating badly--that is, of jumping from one fad diet to another in a scramble to lose weight or gain health,heres a sample of weight loss history.
1.In the 1860's,london undertaker William Banting was unable to lose weight until he eliminated sugar,starch,root vegatables and pork from his diet.His success in shedding pounds promoted him to promote a low carb high protein style of consumption."Banting"became a weight loss strategy across the atlantic in america,and his best selling book"letter on corpulence"opened the flood gates to diet mass marketing.
2.In the 1830's minister Sylvester Graham railed against overly refined flour and preached vegatarianism and abstinence from alcohol, tea, and coffee.But his real legacy was that coarse flour flat bread we now call Graham crackers.
3.In 1890 diet guru Horance Fletcher insisted one could chew his way to a perfect weight.Each mouthful of food must be chewed into liquid oblivion:"Fletcherizing"meals insured that no more food would be taken in that way was absolutely necessary.Fletcher dubbed "the great masticator"also called for lower meat consumption and higher carbs and vegatable intake.
4.Cereal inavator and health guru John Harvey Kellog took up the cause of fletcherism ,inventing a "chewing song"for patrons at his nutritional sanitarium in battle creek Mich.Kellog also insisted vegatarianism and of course ,his own invented cereals whould bring perfect weight and perfect health.
5.Pehaps the first dietitian to the stars was Gaylord Hauser,who developed a diet plan of natural grains ,vegatables,black strap molases,yogurt,brewers yeast,wheat germ,and powdered skim milk.His book "Look younger,Live longer"was a 1951 hit.
6.In 1938 Dr.George a.Harrop declared skim and bannanas to be a ideal diet food,low in calories while still making people feel full.The subsequent milk-or liquid-diet has since taken various forms,finally producing metrecalin 1959.And metracal begat carnations slender.
7.Dr.Robert Atkins introduced a low carb,high protien diet in 1972.Herman Tarnower pushed for high protien and low calories with his Scarsdale diet in 1978.
8.Low fat was the key to Nathan Pritikins formula in 1979.
9.It was all fruit, all the time in Judy Mazels "BeverlyHills Diet"in 1981.
10.Dean Ornish pushed extreme low-fat with a vegatarian twist in the early 19990's.
11.In the mid 1990's ,Barry Sears "The Zone"plan and other sugar-busting diets started the carb backlash:by the early 2000's ,Atkins was back in favor.
12.Over the decades,certain foods acquire-and lose-near-mystical properties.In recent years it has been cabbage soup(the mainstay in an extremly strict diet that emerged around 1996):grapefruit (enzymes in grapefruit are suppose to attack fat cells):and apple vinegar(romantic poet Lord Byron reportedly lost weight by eating food drenched in vinegar).Like wise certain foods have become public enemy #1.fear of cholesterol sent egg consumption plummeting by one third from 1950 to 1983.Of course,we know these truths to br self-evident:Eat less.Excercise more.Lose weight.
But that seems so un-American.
are nothing new
Today its:eat no carbohydrates.Yesterday it was:Eat no fat.Today its South Beach diet.Yesterday it was scarsdale.And once upon a time ,it was consuming molases or apple vinegar and chewing each mouthful of food 50 times.Americans have a long history of eating badly--that is, of jumping from one fad diet to another in a scramble to lose weight or gain health,heres a sample of weight loss history.
1.In the 1860's,london undertaker William Banting was unable to lose weight until he eliminated sugar,starch,root vegatables and pork from his diet.His success in shedding pounds promoted him to promote a low carb high protein style of consumption."Banting"became a weight loss strategy across the atlantic in america,and his best selling book"letter on corpulence"opened the flood gates to diet mass marketing.
2.In the 1830's minister Sylvester Graham railed against overly refined flour and preached vegatarianism and abstinence from alcohol, tea, and coffee.But his real legacy was that coarse flour flat bread we now call Graham crackers.
3.In 1890 diet guru Horance Fletcher insisted one could chew his way to a perfect weight.Each mouthful of food must be chewed into liquid oblivion:"Fletcherizing"meals insured that no more food would be taken in that way was absolutely necessary.Fletcher dubbed "the great masticator"also called for lower meat consumption and higher carbs and vegatable intake.
4.Cereal inavator and health guru John Harvey Kellog took up the cause of fletcherism ,inventing a "chewing song"for patrons at his nutritional sanitarium in battle creek Mich.Kellog also insisted vegatarianism and of course ,his own invented cereals whould bring perfect weight and perfect health.
5.Pehaps the first dietitian to the stars was Gaylord Hauser,who developed a diet plan of natural grains ,vegatables,black strap molases,yogurt,brewers yeast,wheat germ,and powdered skim milk.His book "Look younger,Live longer"was a 1951 hit.
6.In 1938 Dr.George a.Harrop declared skim and bannanas to be a ideal diet food,low in calories while still making people feel full.The subsequent milk-or liquid-diet has since taken various forms,finally producing metrecalin 1959.And metracal begat carnations slender.
7.Dr.Robert Atkins introduced a low carb,high protien diet in 1972.Herman Tarnower pushed for high protien and low calories with his Scarsdale diet in 1978.
8.Low fat was the key to Nathan Pritikins formula in 1979.
9.It was all fruit, all the time in Judy Mazels "BeverlyHills Diet"in 1981.
10.Dean Ornish pushed extreme low-fat with a vegatarian twist in the early 19990's.
11.In the mid 1990's ,Barry Sears "The Zone"plan and other sugar-busting diets started the carb backlash:by the early 2000's ,Atkins was back in favor.
12.Over the decades,certain foods acquire-and lose-near-mystical properties.In recent years it has been cabbage soup(the mainstay in an extremly strict diet that emerged around 1996):grapefruit (enzymes in grapefruit are suppose to attack fat cells):and apple vinegar(romantic poet Lord Byron reportedly lost weight by eating food drenched in vinegar).Like wise certain foods have become public enemy #1.fear of cholesterol sent egg consumption plummeting by one third from 1950 to 1983.Of course,we know these truths to br self-evident:Eat less.Excercise more.Lose weight.
But that seems so un-American.