HEALTH AND BEAUTY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 July 1938, Page 4

HEALTH AND BEAUTY

HOW TO GAIN WEIGHT. DIGESTION AND MILK DIET. Weight-gaining is indeed a broad field. Many thin women who want to get plump find it a difficult problem. The causes of under-weight are quite varied, and hence there is no single programme of diet or of diet and exercise that is suited to all cases. In this respect, weight gaining is a broader problem than weight reduction. There is no single type of menu or diet that will cause all underweight people to gain. The reason for this is that underweight is frequently associated with weakened or abnormal digestive functions. It is dften stated they eat too much. Scientists dispute this statement, and claim that it is an illusion. But trying to eat excessively, or indulging in rich foods destroys the digestion and appetite. Such excesses are followed by periods in which one is hardly able to eat at all. Therefore, the total food which is eaten, digested and assimilated in insignificant. As a result of misconception regarding this point, many underweight people are so afraid of the of overeating that they chronically under-eat. Others attempt to eat certain foods which have been recommended for weight gaining, and which they hate. This makes eating a difficult and irksome process, and gives them the impression that they are always trying to stuff themselves, yet in reality they do not succeed in doing so, and are not taking as much total nourishment as they think. The weight added to the body must come from added food. The best solution to the problem is to select the type of food which the individual can enjoy and partake of in sufficient amount to leave a surplus that can actually be used to add flesh to the body, either in the form of increased muscle or fat.

When underweight is caused by digestive troubles, the milk diet is a successful method of quickly adding weight to the body. It is usually easily digested and frequently permits a greater excess of the weight-maintain-ing requirements than would be possible with more varied food. The way of taking the milk diet is usually that of drinking a glass of milk every half hour of the day. And some people obtain much benefit by the drinking of malted milk. However, the strict milk diet should rarely be used for more than a month or two. When your stomach gets used to milk it is a good plan to add a whipped egg yolk into a glass of milk. The ideal weight-gaining diet should be a completely nourishing diet. This would normally mean the use of moderate amounts of milk and eggs and fresh vegetables and fruits. But as additional total nourishment is needed there is much leeway as to the type of food from which the added quantity may be derived. -Heat need not be forbidden in a weight-gaining programme unless there are distinct digestive difficulties in handling it. The old-fashioned training diets, including quantities of steak, have little to recommend them and meat, if used, should be used in moderation. Easily-digested foods, such as cream, butter, egg yolks and fatted salad dressings, are advisable in a weightgaining diet. Leafy salads, so highly recommended for weight-reducing diets, are also good in a weight-gain-ing diet, with the distinction that the ordinary salad oil dressing can be used freely for weight gaining. Butter can be used freely on bread, with potatoes, or for buttering vegetables. Very ripe bananas are good, and very nourishing. Baked potatoes with plenty of butter may often be used with a regularity which would cause us to tire of many other foods. Few products will carry fat as safely as baked potatoes, with the fat added after the cooking. The skin is not only the covering of the real body, but it shows up the condition of the body, “beautifully,” for it is most intimately connected with it. To have a better skin you must have a better body inside —a cleaner body. Hence the diet must be improved so that there are less heavy foods and more of the light foods, and elimination must be increased. Much water should be drunk. One should have a moderately hot soapsuds bath daily for a week or so, then gradually reduce as improvement is noted to once a week, with a cool or cold bath or shower taken daily. A rough wash-cloth and a fine camel’s hair face brush should be used, first the soaped cloth, and then the brush, both applied vigorously. A good brush should be used for the body also, or a large coarse towel. Rinse off all soap with warm water, and then apply freely cold water, and massage after drying. Exercise regularly, sleep regularly, and get lots of fresh air.