HOME HEALTH GUIDE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 August 1942, Page 5

HOME HEALTH GUIDE

HOW IS YOUR WEIGHT?

FIVE RULES TO OBSERVE.

(By the Health Department.)

If you’re doing any slimming, it may pay you to read this. If you’re inclined to be slimmer than slim, so to speak, it most certainly will. This business of slimming is all right if you go about it sensibly, but a fashionable figure will not be much of an asset —except, possibly, socially—if it is to become a target for those little things called germs. These' germs thrive on underweight people whose resistance to infection has been reduced to a minimum either by overdoing the slimming fad, or through some constitutional disorder. Moderate underweight is an advantage, especially if you’re over 30 years of age, but there is a point below which the weight must not fall.

Underweight may be a symptom of •disease; it may be caused by habitually eating the wrong kind of food, or too little food; tor by fatigue, over-activity, or psychological factors such as worry or strain. There are many people who simply cannot put on weight. Careful analysis of their mode of living usually reveals that one or more of the above factors are involved. Any underweight condition should be referred to your doctor, since it is quite impossible for you yourself to decide the cause of it. Five rules should be observed by those who want to put on a little weight. Thorough examination by r doctor, plenty of rest and sleep, the avoidance of hurried eating and stress and strain during meals, regular mealtimes, and suitable exercise.

Daily diet should make room for a quart of milk, and more generous amounts of butter, cream and salad dressing used with the fruits and vegetables. Bread and cereals will increase the caloric intake without too much strain on the digestion. Mid-morning and mid-afternoon lunches of milk or milk and fruit juices are desirable so long as they don’t interfere with the normal meals.

But let the doctor look you over. And, if you are slimming, at all costs dont’ overdo it.