Whoa - BIG discovery!

So you know what I was talking about the other day about being stuck in a rut and knowing all the information about dieting, just not being able to DO IT..? Well I was flicking through this old magazine from the 50's called "Woman and Beauty" that I found at a second hand shop, and I stumbled across this article in it called "Eat Often and Be Slim".

Here's the thing: The information is EXACTLY the same as diet information today. Take the tips at the bottom for example: entitled "Things to remember about slimming".

"...Fruit is less fattening than puddings. But some fruits are more sugary and more fattening than others. The worst are dried fruits and tinned fruits in syrup...

...Throw away the frying pan. Learn how to braise and bake in the oven. Make full use of the grill and pressure cooker...

...Don't be fooled - toast is not slimming. Nibbles of anything between meals are extra fattening...

...Protein foods are essential for good health - they do the work of building and repairing and rebuilding the body...

...In hot weather, or during a period, the body retains extra fluid which adds to both weight and bulk. Don't be discouraged by the scales at such times...

...Exercise is good for almost everybody - regularly and in moderation...depend a little more on your legs and less on transport...

...Don't put all your faith in steam baths - you may sweat of some punds, but you'll drink them back on in the next minute..."

Isn't it scary??? Of all the other miracle quack cures and milk of magnesia and cod liver oil cure-alls, and fashions, and hairstyles -

Diet advice has not changed in 54 years!!!

So my question is, if we have always known what to do - nothing new there - why is it that we've gone from being 22 inch waist Grace Kelly's, to the obesity epidemic of today?

It CAN'T be that we don't have the knowledge - clearly we always have.

As another example, here is a recommended daily meal plan from Woman and Beauty 1954 - and you'll see a striking resemblence to Weight Watchers booklets and the latest celeb diets in New Idea:

"BREAKFAST

1 orange

4 heaped Tblsp cereal

1/2 pint milk

1 tsp sugar

1 cup black tea

11AM

apple or orange

LUNCH

Open-faced sandwich: 2 Tablsp Chicken salad, lettuce, 1 carrot

1 cup black tea or coffee

TEA-TIME

1 glass milk

DINNER

2 med slices beef

Good helping cauliflower

Mixed green salad with lemon juice

4 heaped Tablsp Orange and Grapefruit Compote

1 cup black tea

BED-TIME

apple"

Not that much different, huh? Oh yeah, there was no Equal back then so it's 1 tsp sugar on the cereal and 'milk' not 'skim milk' - but then my point again: if we have all these new food substitutes like sweetener, and skim milk, and diet/lite EVERYTHING, and women who know they can safely play any sport they like (even at that 'delicate time of month') -

WHY ARE WE FATTER NOW???

Is it labour-saving devices? Stress? Highly processed, low joule, low satisfaction foods?

Hmm... more research needed here.

Don't worry - this sort of stuff has always fascinated me: Anjel is on the case!