WOMEN’S NOTES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 154, 1 June 1937, Page 8

WOMEN’S NOTES

t HEALTH. v (By Miss Mary Tallis.) Fat and lazy.—A well-known and most charming man once said : “Sheer laziness is tho reason behind the unwanted poundage of the fat woman.” Later, I brooded on his words. Were they true? They sounded revolting; the word “fat” was, in itself, an insult. Perhaps that is why we create so many comforting synonyms for it; the fuller figure, the not-so-slim, or the mysterious initials “0.5.” These more friendly phrases do help to cloak thq horror of the word “fat”. Our friends, too, assist us in this game' of refusing to face facts. They tell us we are handsome; that we have a distinguished figure; that charm is more important than mere figure beauty. But I believe that a woman knows. She may permit herself to be solaced by the generous comments of her friends, but she is not deceived. Surely deep down inside each individual woman has a clear and unbiased opinion of her good and bad 1 points. Fat is fat, nasty as it may sound. So, what are we going to do about it, those of us whose figures are becoming too generously proportioned ? Whether the excess pounds are the result of summer lazing on sunlit beaches, or the quick increase in weight that comes from sudden and unaccustomed exercise, or just a natural tendencp to embonpoint, something must be done. Do we permit the accusation of laziness to go unchallenged. Da we get busy, find out’ a: system we think will suit us and follow it with unswerving turning aside for no one, until our figure is, once agin, the thing of beauty we would wish? Unfortunately, that seems an ideal to which we are unable to attain. We go on being fat—or ignoring the increased growth the years pile on us —secretly bemoaning the lack of resolution that would, in a few weeks of effort, solve the problem that is now and in the future doomed to darken our days.

COOKING. Three egg dishes. —Eggs with mustard Sauce: Grease some fireproof ramekin eases and break one egg into each. Mix some French mustard with a little cream and season with salt and pepper. Put a spoonful of this over each egg, stand the ramekin cases in boiling water and cook until the eggs are set. Serve at once. Egg and Tongue Croutes: Fry 12 small pieces of bread in hot fat. Beat 2 eggs and put them into a saucepan with 1 tablespoonful of white sauce or cream and 2oz. blitter. Add about 4oz. chopped tongue (cooked) and season with pepper and salt. Stir over the lire until the mixture thickens, then put a spoonful on to each pidee of fried bread, sprinkle top with about 2oz. more of the chopped tongue. Put into a hot oven for a few minutes and then serve at once. Eggs au Gratin : Make a well-seasoned white sauce with loz. butter, joz. flour, Jpt. milk and season with, pepper and sauce. Brilig this to the boil and cook it for a fen minutes and then add 3 tablespoonsfnl of gratde cheese. Cut 6 hardboiled eggs in halves and put these, cut side down, into an au gratin dish. Pour the cheese sauce over them, sprinkle with a litlte cheese on top and put the dish under the grill until the sauce is brown, then put into a hot oven for about a quarter ot an hour.

EXERCISE

Tow do you stand and sit? The whole business of correcting figure fault needs concentration and perseverance. You can’t correct a bad habit of perhaps some years' standing, in a few days. But stick to it. It’s worth all the trouble and perseverance it takes, for, whether it corrects any health troubles in your case or not, it will improve your general condition and your looks. If you don’t seem to have any definite figure faults and yet you consider your carriage is still not all that could be desired, bear these four things in mind and try to do them all at once: (1) Learn to keep the lower muscles of the abdomen tight, but relax the upper muscles. It will probably take a lot of practice before you can do this. < To test it, rest one hand lightly against the lower part of the abdomen and the other against the upper part. As you breathe, the lower hand should remain quite still, while the upper hand moves gently in and out with your breathing. (2) At the same time as you tighten the abdominal muscles, tighten the buttock muscles, too. This straightens out any curves in the spine and throws the pelvic bones forward into position. (3) Now hold your chin and head up and reafch up 'with your nefk. Don’t worry ' about your shoulders—they will take care of themselves if your head and neck are right. Practise walking round a room with a bookbalanced on your head; this throws the head into just the right position. (4) Finally, walk with your feet pointing straight in front, with the weight on the outside of the feet. This helps to correct and prevent fallen arches. And don’t forget all about your posture when you sit down. A good sitting position is'just as important as a correct, standing one. Tuck your seat back against the back of your chair, bend forward from the hips—not the waist—hold your chin up, stretch your neck and keep your feet together. Do all these tilings and you will find that, besides gaining a lovely figure, your general health will improve and you will feel much more confident and ready to face life.

GENERAL. The woman in business.—The successful woman must merge herself completely in her work and associations, have no pre-conccived notions, and no personal likes and dislikes this is where 1 think men excel. One splendid way of being impersonal is to mind your own business always and never to expect the person you Fork for to help you mind it. Keep your own affairs to yourself, except on rare occasions where they impinge on your j \vork, and realise that Mr or Mrs Executive have plenty of troubles of their own, and what they primarily engaged you for was to help solve their problems, and not yours. Try to make a good impression with your subordinates who, like the poor, you have always with you. Naturally, if you are in any sort of a responsible position, there must Ire others who arc under your orders, and it is almost as important to see that these people, with whom you have to associate and co-op-erate dailv, respect and like you, as it is to please the boss. Perhaps even more so, for they can help you in all sorts of small ways to be successful, but if you offend them they can also help you in a many large ways to fail. Remember, that to each one in your organisation, the job, be it ever so humble, is as important, their time as valuable (and their opinions as intelligent, to them, as yours arc to you, and it doesn’t impress them in the least that by sheer good luck (as they think) you have been placed over them. Your only chance for success with your coworkers is to be friendly, fair and understanding, and completely without swank, because of your higher rating. You can command, not demand, respect. And, in line with this thought, remember that whatever opinion you have of those around yon, keep it to yourself, because if you lend yourself to gossip and are too liberal with your criticism, you’ll find your wor,ds re-

bound on you like a boomerang and you won’t even recognise their ingHow We Britons gob our vegetables. —In many cases it is difficult to trace tlie origin of vegetables back through the centuries, because writers and historians often failed to devote sufficient attention to descriptions of food and cooking, not realising howvery important these details are for the instruction of future generations. Tile history of tlie bean, which is now cultivated in many varieties such as French, English and broad bean, reaches as far back as the Bronze Age. Traces of it have been found in' excavations of settlements of the lake dwellers on the Swiss lakes, and the inhabitants of North Italy of , Hie same period. The pea is supposed to have been brought to Greece and Italy by the Aryans at the time of their earliest migrations, because the word “pisin,” the equivalent of pea, occurs in the Albanian tongue as well as in Latin. Cabbage is one of the few vegetables which was known as . a small wild-growing plant to the inhabitants of Britain at a very early period, and Greek writers of the first few centuries after Christ tell us that cabbage was eaten in large quantities as an excellent remedy against drunkenness. Dried turnips, cut in small pieces, boiled and prepared with vinegar, white wine, raisins or mustard were eaten' as hors-d’oeuvres or aperitifs in ancient Greece and Rome. Artichokes, too, were very popular on Greek and Roman tables. Their native country is Asia, but they grow wild in Southern France and for that reason are often called French artichokes; The Jerusalem artichoke is a native of the U.S.A., where for a long time it was used as hog food. Asparagus grows wild on the coast and in the sandy areas of Britain. The seed was. probably imported from Asia and on the Asiatic steppes of Russia it is still so abundant that it is eaten by the cattle. The native land of spinach is Persia. The tomato originated in South America, but it has so altered and improved that it now scarcely resembles its - wild relatives. The Venetians introduced the cauliflower from Crete and Cyprus, while while the potato was only introduced into Britain by Sir AValter Raleigh in 1586.