ROUTINE FOR PUTTING ON WEIGHT

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.

Bacon, egg, fish, etc.

Toast, butter and marmalade.

Coffee or tea.

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.

Coffee.

NOTE: Cocktails, wines. etc., may be taken as desired and obtainable. Stout or beer is good.

Bedtime: A hot drink, preferably containing milk.

Understanding how dining out can add calories Spotting the high-fat cues on menus

Knowing your best ethnic food choices

• Eating before you take off and during your flight
• Eating out can pose special problems for dieters.

New menu choices are tempting, portion sizes are large, and many professional kitchens don't normally use lowfat or low-calorie cooking methods as standard practice. In fact, as a rule, the less expensive the restaurant, the more likely it is that the kitchen uses generous amounts of fat and high-fat cooking techniques - inexpensive and easy ways to add flavor to food. A fish fillet, for example, must be high quality and cooked skillfully if it's going to taste delicious simply broiled or baked without a coating of oil or buttery sauce.

But don't fear. This article can help you navigate menus and still enjoy going out to eat. Armed with the information we give, you can be a dining detective, avoiding the high-fat items and zeroing in on the lower-calorie and lower-fat meals with ease.

Knowing Your Enemy

The whole dining-out experience can cost you plenty of calories. How many times have you had to wait in the bar until your table was ready? Cocktails add calories and lessen your diet resolve - you get to the table famished and not exactly steeled against temptation. And then the impulse to clean your plate overtakes you because, after all, you're paying big bucks for the meal. But take heart: You can maneuver around these predicaments.

For example, if you do dine out frequently, consider becoming a regular at one spot. That way, the wait staff and kitchen can get to know you. They can alert you to items that are especially dieter friendly, and the kitchen won't be thrown by your special requests - a plus during the busiest dining hours.

Whether dining out is more special or a routine part of your day, keep this advice in mind:

Restaurant meals are often considered special occasions.

More frequently, though they're last-minute solutions when you're too tired or stressed to make dinner. Both scenarios set you up for overindulging. Remember to look at the meal in context of the entire day's eating or what you'll eat over several days.

Restaurant meals are often loaded with fat.

Fat is an easy way to make foods taste good. Fat is also cheap compared to lean meat, so restaurants use it liberally because it makes their bottom line healthy - although it doesn't do much for the shape of your bottom. Be a fat detective. Ask questions about preparation and request substitutions.

Portions may be huge.

You often get twice the amount that you really need to eat. Share an entree with a friend or order two appetizers instead of one entree. Don't be embarrassed to ask for a doggie bag.

Menus are organized with the focus on protein, and the servings of protein are much too large.

Meat, chicken, and fish often get the most "ink," with little attention paid to side dishes. So cast your eye over to the side dishes section and choose from the plainer ones. (That is, those without sauces.) Another way to create a better balance may be to order your entree from the appetizer section.

Most meals eaten out include alcohol.

Not only is alcohol calorie heavy and nutrient poor, but it also lowers your resolve to eat healthfully. If you enjoy a cocktail or a glass of wine when eating out, plan to limit your intake to one, and drink it with, not before, the meal.

These are important tactics to keep in mind wherever you dine. They're a start. But menus are always going to be written to entice and seduce you into ordering more than you intend. If you can discover how to read between the lines and spot the red flags for dieters, you'll rarely be duped into ordering and eating more than you want. And when you eat ethnic, try to find out a little about the cuisine, the ingredients, and the typical methods of cooking so that foreign phrases don't throw you.

Menu Sleuthing

If you know how to translate the code, menu descriptions can yield clues to the fat and calorie contents of a dish. For example, "Grande taco salad served in a crispy tortilla shell, topped with lean sautéed like a good choice at first. But the words grande, crispy, and sauteed tell you that this is no low-cal salad. In fact, it contains about 700 calories! If you're restricting your intake to 1,200 calories a day, do you really want to get more than half your calories from a single dish? Following are the most commonly used menu words that speak volumes - calorically, that is.

Lots of fat:

• Alfredo
• Basted
• Batter-dipped
• Breaded
• Buttery
• Creamy
• Crispy and crunchy (except when describing raw vegetables)
• Deep-fried
• Marinated
• Pan-fried
• Rich Sauteed
• Coated
• Dressed
• Dipped
• Bathed

Huge portion sizes:

• Combo
• Feast
• Grande
• Jumbo
• King-size
• Supreme

Saner sizes:

• Appetizer
• Kiddie
• Luncheon
• Petite
• Regular
• Salad-size

A portion to a restaurant may not bea portion to you!

Restaurant portion sizes have more to do with controlling operation expenses than with balancing nutrients. Most restaurants use standardized ladles, spoons, cups, and scoops, and their capacity is generally larger than what you would use at home. Some typical institutional measures are:

• Salad dressing ladle =1/2 cup
• Pat of butter = 2 teaspoons
• Scoop of ice cream= 11/2 to 2 cups
• Burger = 6 to 8 ounces
• Meat, poultry, or fish = 8 to 12 ounces
• Beverages: small = 2 cups, medium =4 cups, large = 6 cups
• Theater popcorn: small = 4 cups, large = 10 cups, jumbo = 15 to 20 cups
• Wine= 6 to 8 ounces