KEEPING THIN FOR FASHION

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17223, 14 December 1923, Page 14

KEEPING THIN FOR FASHION

(By A PHYSICIAN.) The new dress-line demanded by allpowerful Fashion puts all but slim women at a disadvantage, and it has led to a veritable cult of slimness. Now, it is undoubtedly perfectly truo that we have yet much to learn about the actual chemical changes which govern the production and disposition of fat in the body, and more especially with regard to the connection between fat metabolism and the internal secretions. On the other hand, there is no get ting away from the fact that the chief cause of obesity is either too hearty eating or au injudicious choice of food, or both. This is not disproved by the fact that fat people are often small eaters, as in the great majority of cases this is true of them only after they have become fat. Once the layer of fat beneath tho skin increases beyond its normal thick ness, it is increasingly easier to add to it—in other words, fat breeds fat. Hence it comes about that the surest way for a woman to conserve hei* figure is by proper regulation of diet and exercise while she is slim. "W hen obesity is onci established, even some of the means taken to reduce it may defeat their own purpose. This is frequently true of excessive exercise in the open air, which, while it undoubtedly uses up a certain amount of the body fat, may in the long run stimulate the appetite and so aggravate the condition. What, then, can we do to become slim? There is no doubt that fat car. be considerably reduced by fasting, as was shown by George Cheyne. who thus reduced his weight from 32st to normfe] ; but this is not a popular method. In the Banting system fats, sugars and carbohydrates are reduced to a minimum and replaced with lean meat, which, while maintaining the muscular tissue, does not favour the production of fat. This has the further advantage that a meat diet is more satisfying, and therefore likely to lead to an uncon scious cutting down in the amount of food eaten. If the appetite be insistent, hunger can often be appeased bv a bulky but non-nutritious diet, including plenty of fruit and the coarser vegetable. There is a popular but erroneous idea that drinking plenty of water is a cause of stoutness. Water is not i cause of obesity, and one can hardly drink too much of it. Stout people, however, would be well advised to take their meals dry. ns drinlin" to honrtier eating.