HEALTH COLUMN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2179, 28 November 1895, Page 54

HEALTH COLUMN.

Corpulency and Its Care. There is no greater drawback to good looks than to grow too stout. A pleasing plumpness is all vary charming, and adds to the attractive looks of a pretty woman — but to be very fat 1 that is quite another matter. The soft roundness is merged into an abundance of flesh, and life becomes a weariness to its owner, who can't walk or enjoy herself as she used to do in the happy days when she was thin. SOME "DEDUCING" METHODS. There are many systems by which people may reduce their superfluity of flesh, such at drinking waters at foreign spas, living in mountain air and walking up and down the hills, going regularly in for medical treatment, &c. But these cures are only adapted for the rich and the leisured, and my bints are meant for those who cannot afford the time to go under a regular course of this kind, but who would like some safe and simple rules to go by, so as to get rid of the superfluous flesh which Is Bucfa a worry to them. To reduce your weight the chief thing Is to regulate your food. Ido not mean starve yourself, for this ia useless in producing the de&ired effect, but only to eat such things as are non-fat producing. Stoat people always seem to be very fond of sweet food, and are usually large drinkers, &0., all of which they should give up if thoy want to reduce their weight. A GBBAT FATTENING AGRNT. Laz'ness, too, is a great agent in helping to fatten people, and driving instead of walking is bad. Some people are constitutionally stout, but with care they may prevent themselves becoming unduly so. 16 ia a great mistake to try to reduce the weight too quickly, ib should all be accomplished by slow stsgas>, and if this is done tho health will not be affected in the least. But if a system is adopted which brings down the flaau too faat, it is very apt to leave the patient delicate, and serious trouble to the langs or heart may be tha consequence of anything so very injudicious. Self-denial ia the great thing naedful for people who wish to become thin. It is*no uce whatever beginning a strict diet and throwitg it up at the end of a week or two because you can't deny yourself the pleasures of tho tablo. This foolish pan will only serve to make you grow fatter than ever. But if a ragular course of treatment Is laid down and then strictly followed, the results will ba entirely satisfactory. Food for the fat must have the most careful attention. Lean beef and mutton may bs eaten once or twice a day, but not oftener, and not more than eight or ten ounces should be eaten at a time. Fish can be taken once a day, but salmon, mackerel, and herring must ba avoided. Bacon and pork must on no account bo touched, and the fat must bs cut off the meat before it Is cooked. Pastry, sugar, sweets, and puddings, and all kinds of cake must bs given up. New bread on no account must bs touched ; only a very little] stale broad, or toast, or rusks eaten. Gluten bread should be used Instead of any other kind. Saccharine can be used in place of sugar, bub it is better to go without altogether. Butter ougfct to be given up entirely, or used in the moEt sparing manner possible, once a day. All 6tarchy foods, which in the system are converted into sugar, should be carefully avoided. Green vegetables and salads ma> be taken freely, but potatoes, artichokes, carrots, beets, and all root vegetables must be carefully avoided because of the starch in them, which tends to increase flesh to a very great extent.. Fruit of all kinds may be used in moderation, but it is better eaten cooked than when taken raw. Bananas should, however, be carefully avoided as they are very flesh forming.

Beer and stout are not fit for stout people to take. Claret, Burgundy, or Rhine wines may be taken in small quantities, but sweet wines of all kinds, such as champagne, sherry, port, or Madeira must be left severely alone. Coffee and cocoa must be given up, and milk if you can do without it. If yon

cannot, you roust never use it except in your tea, and then only a few drops. Tea may be drunk, but great care must be taken to have it freshly made each time it is used and not to allow it to become overdrawn.

Exercise must be taken systematically, but without fatigue. Cycling is excellent if short distances only are indulged in at first. If the heart is not weak walking up hill will be found to be of great benefit.

-CoFPEB.^-Coffee has more nutritive value than tea, and' its use -will enable one to endure more cold and fatigue than ths lastnamed beverage. Strong coffee is good to use in cases of accident when an overdose of medicine has been given, and its use will relieve nausea after the administration of ether. Coffee is prepared in two ways, by boiling and filtering. The filtered coffee requires the use of a coffee pot made for the purpose, and provided with a filter. Put a cv ii f ul of finely-ground coffee into the filter, and p!^«^a the latter into the receptacle made for helling the coffee. Add Blowly three piuts of. boiliDg water, and let it stand for five minutes. If not strong enough, pour the coffee through the filter again. In preparing boiled coffee, ecald and heat the coffee pot. Beat one egg slightly, crash the shell, and add to it. Add half a cupful of cold water and one cupfnl of coffee. Pour into the coffee pot, and add six cupfuls of boiling Wfc'er, and let it boil for three miautes. Think of Youn Heakt.— Runnirg for tram or train is a practices to be avoided. It is to the eudd-jn runs and frantic rashes to which middle-aged people are so often urged by tbe irregularity of public docks that, the en*et of obvious heart disease is too frequently duo. A middle-aged heart may not be at all too weak for the sort of life its owner jeads, and yet may be unequal to the Etrain of running to catch a train with a bag in one hand and an umbrella and overcoat in the other. "Although," aajs the Hospital, "it is only at long intervals that such a mau actnally dies in the attempt, doctors know well how often the final run to catch a train picks out the weak organ and is the starting point of a long, slow, and most miserable process of failure from dilated heart, ending in dropsy and in death."