HOW NOT TO GROW FAT.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1136, 8 December 1893, Page 13

HOW NOT TO GROW FAT.

“ LABBY’3 ” PRES MtIPTION. Since ho began to grow a bit pursy and (tell it not in Gath) wheezy himself the editor of Truth has taken to publishing long antijfaf prescriptions. Here, for instance (says pur London correspondent), is a yarn from the current issue. ‘ f clipped it for the benefit or Aptipociean fat men, if there ate'any.' ' ‘I can t say I remember a great number myself 1 , .‘.‘liafyby begins ;l— " 1 1 , ' ’ 1!

•“ I givp below a letter from jDr YorkeJ)avips, |the \vej-kno\yn specialist on obesity, apd fie has been good egpugb*'to forward to me bis book op the subject. " Thg 'fbeory of the Carlsbad and Marieqbqd doctor? jsj that the waters act rathor as a dissolvent than as an aperient, but they do not contend that these waters would sensibly reduce fat without the regime. This regime is not starvation. It is a meat diet with a very little bread. The vexed question, however, is, whether fat produces fat. On this German doctors differ. The ablest of these doctors told me that, if no starch or sugar be taken, fat does not produce fat, but that the effect of taking fat together with starch or sugar is that not only are the latter converted into fat, but convert the fat into it also. On the question of the effect of drink, the Germans hold that a person may drink as much as he likes when not eating, but that if he drinks and eats at the same time he increases his bulk, because in the latter case the water required for digestion is nottaken from the globule of water in which each fat globule is enclose!. Very likely if a persdp 'gorges himself with fat he will be bilious { it do'es 1 uop; however, follow that he will be fat. So it'is wifb. eyercise. If he takes none, he should -eat very .moderately; but provided that he does this, ■exercise is not necessary to health. Pnt a man in a prison cell, give him a small amount of food, and unless be has some organic dis'e&so. he will probably -outlive his contempbr#ri£g who tore taking' every day their Constitutiokalsl a man likes exercise, 'he is Wise to indulge in ft, ■ fjqt I contend that if a person in yoiith takes'a 1 bepj 'of iti he becomes a slave to it'in later years, the fact being that a human being can 'accustom himself to almost any mode of life, but' when the habit is once acquired he has a .difficulty to alter except at the cost of health, ‘Tiffs ip what Dr Yorke-Davies says : " f 'remarks on this .subject will interest a great! many* p’eoplq, as' the desire to get thin is not confined to tnose 1 &ho seek such places as Marienbad and other Spas for this purpose. *“ Though in the main your observations on the point are correct, my experience teaches me that on the system you suggest the result in nine cases out of ten would not be satisfactory. There would be no loss of fat.

“ Yog say that “ no drugs can reduce fat without making the patient ill.” This is absolutely true, and it is a great pity that so many people permanently injure themselves by taking the .nostrums of quacks for this purpose. Even the waters of Carlsbad and Marienbad do not assist in reduction themselves beyond acting as aperients, and there • by carrying off the food before it has nourished the system. As you jemarkj the

reduction of fat is absolutely a matter of diet only. I agree with you when you say there shoiild be, no starving in the matter, but my experience teaches me that all fattening substances should be cut out of the dietary for a time, and that the amount of food should be adjusted to the requirements of the individual. An officer in a cavalry regiment requires a very different amount of food to a City man doing sedentary work. I take exception to your remark in the menu you lay down—that is, if the individual is to lose fat rapidly, as should be the case, and gain health and condition at the same time. For instance, you say that for breakfast “ any sort of meat, milk, and cream, butter, and a piece of toast.” The italics are mine. Your remarks as to lunch I take no exception to ; but if the individual in the afternoon took tea, with—l presume as you allow it for breakfast—milk or cream, toast, ani butter, he would lose but little, if any, fat, even if he did not put on more.

“ ‘ A diet to reduce fat and a diet that does not fatten are two totally different things, “ ‘ You say the less he drinks at lunch and dinner the better. It is true that it is not desirable to take very much fluid with meals, but there is no reason why he should not drink a gallon of water a day if he feels so disposed. Of course all beverages containing sugar or starch should be avoided, such as sweet wines, beer, and sweet aerated waters.

“ ‘ Exercise, as you remark, tends to reduction of fat, though not essential to it; but it is of the greatest importance if health and condition are to be maintained. If you take a horse in from grass fat and lazy, confine him in the stable, and feel him on corn and hay, he will rapidly part with his fat, but he will not get into condition. He must be exercised for this purpose: so must the human animal.

“ ‘ The latter part of your'advice I should certainly not recommend people to take, for in trying to avoid Scylla they would land themselves in Charybdis. You say, “ What I want to bring home to the fat is that they may gorge themselves with fat meats, butter, aud cream, without adding to their bulk.” Possibly not, but they would undoubtedly become bilious, and upset their digestive organs. The whole secret cf safely and rapidly reducing fat may be summed up in a few lines. «

‘ The dietary should be adjusted in quality to the requirements of the individual for a time. The foods that build up the frame—that is, are converted into muscle, bone, nerve, &c.. and give energy, i.e., lean meat of all kinds, green vegetables, &c.—should be increased, and those that keep up the heat of the body, and when taken in excess become stored as fat, should be cut out. These latter arc sugar, starch, and in this case fat itself.

“ ‘ The body requires a large amount of fatforming food to keep up its heat. When this food is cut off nature draws upon the fat stored in the body until it is exhausted. “ ‘ When this happy consummation has taken place, the individual may return to his former mode of life, only avoiding to a slight extent sugar and starch. Thus the benefit gained is permanent, which a visit to Marienbad certainly is not. I speak from large ex. perience in the matter I am writing on.’ ”