WOMEN AND THE SLIM FIGURE

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 123, 15 August 1927, Page 5

WOMEN AND THE SLIM FIGURE

THE DANGERS OF DRASTIC DIETING DOCTORS’ WARNING—WOMEN WHO HAVE DIED » Miss Pauline Frederick:—Keeping; slim is all a matter of constitution. . . .It is sheer folly for any healthy or normal person to become a martyr to drastic dieting. A Man Doctor: Women, jockeys and boxers run great risks by attempts to reduce their weight. I know of several instances of women who have died through injudicious or drastic treatment to achieve a slim figure. A Woman Doctor: Diet in moderation does no woman harm . . . but the last year or two “banting” has been done to excess by women who want to be slim. The death of Archibald, the English jockey, has again drawn attention to the dangers of too drastic dieting, and Press representatives recently gained some interesting information on the matter. Film Star’s Advice Miss Pauline Frederick, the film star and actress, said : “Keeping slim is all a matter of constitution. I have found. Worry will keep you thin if you let it. “As for myself, I prefer exercise—walking, riding and rowing, especially rowing. “Do I diet? Yes, to an extent occasionally. Hot water morning, noon, and on retiring is the chief part of my treatment. Also, I take oranges in plenty, and turnip tops and spinach. But it is sheer folly for any healthy or normal person to become a martyr to drastic dieting. The best things of all, though, are exercise and plenty of hard work.” Great Risks Run “Women, jockeys and boxers undoubtedly run great risks by attempting to reduce their weight,” a Harley Street doctor said. “Weight-reducing methods are very dangerous to employ except under competent medical advice. I know of several instances within the last year or two of women who died through injudicious and drastic treatment which they have gone in for in the craze to achiieve a slim figure. “Jockeys, of course, and boxers are compelled by their job to keep their weight down. Many women, particularly society women, do it out of mere vanity and because it is the prevailing fashion. "In every case where a man or woman wants to reduce weight the individual should consult a doctor, and not try to accelerate the process by methods other than those the doctor recommends.” Health Undermined A woman doctor in Harley Street bore out the assertion that excessive reduction by what amounted to starvation diet was extremely detrimental to health. “ ‘Banting.’ as it has been called,” she said, “has been done to excess by women who want to be slim in order to wear fashionable straight frocks. “You see women looking wretchedly ill as a. result of trying to get thin. They lose their vitality, get thin in the face as well as the body, and to a large extent live on excitement.” Beauty Specialist’s Views Beauty specialists in London give treatments in the way of exercises and vapour baths to clients who want to Set rid of superfluous flesh. A London beauty-parlour assistant said that the methods she used were quite harmless. "They have noting to do with diet,” she said. “We prepare a special vinegar which is ‘slapped’ into the skin and followed by massage. That quickens the circulation, and the excess fat is carried away. It has the advantage of being most effective and at the same time quite harmless.”