PREPARING FOR THE DIET

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31195, 20 October 1966, Page 2

PREPARING FOR THE DIET

After several false starts, spring has arrived. The warmer days mean that women throughout the country are getting their summer clothes ready.

Trying on last summer’s clothes is like a six-month check at the dentist If you are lucky there are no cavities. So it is with clothes. If you. have kept a close eye on the scales and kept the pounds off, your clothes will fit Unfortunately winter Increases the appetite and many women allow themselves to gain too many pounds—their clothes will not fit A tape measure will soon dispelll the myth that the clothes shrank in the wash or at the drycleaners.

Apart from going out and buying a new wardrobe the

only alternative is to look reality in the face and go on a diet. At this stage diet seems the most inhumane word in English. However you may take comfort that many of your friends are in the same position and, if you are lucky, so are members of your family. So if you feel that dieting is essential team up with other over-weight people. You are less likely to slip into eating damaging carbohydrates. There is only one way to diet Brainwash yourself into believing that dieting is fun and the sign of superior moral fibre. Think of the money you will save on cakes and biscuits. Get a money box and put in every penny you would have spent on what you now think of as "unhealthy muck.” At the same time tell yourself firmly that you have enough strength of mind to spend five minutes each day

doing a few simple exercises. New Zealand is behind the United States in the production of low-calorie foods—sustaining dishes with the fattening elements removed—but there are oodles of diets from which to choose. But see your doctor before you start. Choose a favourable day of the week to begin dieting. The day before go to your hairdresser for a really flattering hair-do and spend a little on a good nourishing face cream—to keep the wrinkles at bay. On D-day stand bn the sca’es. Do try to keep off them about a week afterwards. Whatever diet you choose, make sure it is full of protein. This keeps you from getting that starving feeling. Don’t try to loose too much weight too quickly. Your doctor will advise on a suitable weekly loss. Successful dieters are those who keep busy. This is no time to sit about thinking how deprived you are. Some people are lucky and lose weight easily. Others do not. If you are in this category stop feeling sorry yourself. Once you have'lost the required amount of weight do not relax and start putting it on again. Keep a close eye on the scales and take defensive action as soon as the needle starts rising. Here is a diet which has worked successfully for a number of Christchurch women. who have lost from seven to 151bs while on it.

It is for 14 days. When you have finished one week start again. Breakfast for the fortnight is one grapefruit, two eggs boiled or poached, black tea or coffee.

All eggs are to be boiled or poached.

Day I. Lunch: two eggs, four tomatoes. Dinner: Two eggs, salad, one piece of dry toast, one grapefruit.

Day 2. Lunch: Two eggs; one grapefruit Dinner: Steak, tomatoes, lettuce, celery. Day 3. Lunch: Two eggs, spinach, tomatoes, olives, cucumber. Dinner: Two lamb chops, celery, tomato, cucumber.

Day 4. Lunch: Two eggs, spinach. Dinner: Two eggs, cheese, one piece of dry toast. Day 5. Lunch: Two eggs, spinach. Dinner: Fish, one piece of dry toast. Day 6. Lunch: Fresh fruit salad—any fresh fruit may be used. Dinner: Steak, celery, tomato, cucumber. Day 7. Lunch: Cold chicken, tomatoes, one grapefruit. Dinner: Chicken, cabbage, tomato, carrot, one grapefruit You must eat everything listed, and can have ,as much black tea, coffee, or water as required. Do not have potatoes, milk, butter, oil, cream, sugar, flour, alcohol or mayonnaise.

This diet is published on the women’s page of “The Press” in January and is being re-printed in response to readers’ requests.