Plenty of rest and exercise, a good diet of fattening foods and no worries—those are the essentials
PUTTING on weight is very much more difficult than taking it off. Even thosefew extra pounds which can make all the difference to the appearance, comfort and, no doubt, general health, can be quite a problem.
Before embarking on a diet, it is always advisable to seek the advice of your own doctor. This is particularly important if there has been a sudden or prolonged loss of weight for no good reason and without affecting normal appetite. Where loss of weight is the result of an illness or operation, it is usually quite quickly and easily regained after recovery. The routine to be described will help in such cases, subject to the approval of your own doctor.
We are concerned here chiefly with that large army of men and women who are anxious to put on weight but who are the thin type by nature. Such people are born worriers, with excitable and energetic natures and over-active bowels, whose food does not remain in the intestines long enough to be properly absorbed.
Essential in the fattening process are:
- Keep calm and stop worrying. That is obviously a counsel of perfection to those who easily get worked up, but it can be achieved by cultivating outside interests that take your mind away from the source of anxiety (it may be professional, domestic, financial, or all three).
- Take plenty of rest. A minimum of between 8 and 9 hours in bed at night, plus between 10 and 30 minutes after every meal.
- Avoid rushing about, but take regular exercise. On no account jump up immediately after a meal; take life at a leisurely pace. Strenuous games are good if you really enjoy them, because they create appetite; so does any form of outdoor exercise, however mild.
- Eat well and regularly, and concentrate on the fattening foods (list follows). But be careful not to stuff between meals or you will defeat the whole object and be unable to eat your main meals, which are far more important. You must also avoid over-eating, with the inevitable danger of indigestion and biliousness. Aim at three good meals a day, plus any extras (such as sweets, etc.) which you really fancy and a hot, preferably milk, drink last thing at night. The housewife should take as many meals out as she conveniently can because she will not have the worry of preparing them.
- Cut down your smoking. It diminishes the appetitite, so, if you must smoke at all, only after meals, please.
Sugar, sweets, jam, marmalade, fruits in syrup, treacle, honey, Golden Syrup.
Cakes, scones, pastry, cereals, bread, biscuits, puddings.
Thickened soups and gravies, sauces made from flour, butter and/or milk.
Fried foods, cream, salad dressings, butter, dripping.
Pork, duck, goose. All fat meat and bacon. Tinned fish in oil.
Sweet wines, beer, stout, spirits, sweet aerated waters.
Dried fruits. Bananas, grapes, plums. Potatoes, peas, dried beans, parsnips, beetroot.
Cod-liver oil, Virol, olive oil.
Salt with food.
Foods with very little fattening value
Meat extracts. Marmite. Clear soups. Gelatine. Egg-white.
Green vegetables and salads. Vinegar. Tea. Coffee.
SPECIMEN DIET FOR PUTTING ON WEIGHT
Minimum: 1 pint of milk per day
On waking: Cup of tea, preferably with milk and sugar.
Breakfast: Cereal or porridge with milk and sugar or honey or syrup.
Toast, butter and marmalade.
11 a.m.: Coffee, cocoa or milk and a biscuit, or try this cocktail: One teaspoonful Spanish olive oil sandwiched between layers of orange juice in a wineglass. You can increase the quantity of olive oil gradually.
Lunch: Thick soup, if liked (if this makes it impossible to eat main course, substitute tomato or orange juice as an appetiser instead).
Meat, fish, game, poultry, etc.—both fat and lean. Serve with gravy, roast or fried potatoes and a green vegetable or salad with plenty of oily or cream dressing.
Pudding and / or cheese, butter and biscuits.. Coffee.
Tea: Tea with cake or bread and butter or banana sandwich.
Dinner: Thick soup (see Lunch).
Fish, meat or poultry, with gravy, at least one vegetable from list of Fattening Foods; one green vegetable or salad with cream or oil dressing.
Steamed or boiled pudding or milk pudding or ice cream.
Cheese with bread or biscuits and butter.
NOTE: Cocktails, wines. etc., may be taken as desired and obtainable. Stout or beer is good.
Bedtime: A hot drink, preferably containing milk.