Weight Reduction Through Diet (1951)

The dangers to health resulting from overweight have been shown convincingly by life insurance records. Life expectancy decreases as the amount of overweight increases. Excessive calorie intake is the cause of overweight. Consumption of calories in excess of body needs is the single most extensive nutritional problem affecting public health in this country. People should be informed that overweight is preventable. They should be given nutritional information which will help them to maintain their ideal weight throughout life. Unwanted pounds creep on so easily in this motorized and mechanized age with its labor-saving devices. Although machines do much of the physical work for us today, family eating customs entice many adults to go on eating as much as they did when they were more active. Business meetings and obligations frequently include sizable meals for men and women whose work may require little physical effort, while women at home find tempting between-meal refreshments customary at many social and civic affairs. Is it strange then that many people today are longing to be as slender as they once were? Sometimes loneliness, disappointment, or sheer boredom tempt young and old alike to indulge in food to the point where eating replaces other normal activities, often with consequences particularly sad for the young, for many of the natural joys of youth may slip away from the too-fat, and employers may feel that overweight makes an individual undesirable for certain positions. The stout person, woman or man, finds it difficult to dress attractively. Yes, many people do want to reduce for better appearance and for better health. An increasing number of adults feel the grave concern that comes when the physician tells them that even moderate overweight is dangerous. Is there a practical way to lose unwanted pounds? Scientists, combining their knowledge of nutrition and human nature, are searching for an answer. At Michigan State College, the problem of weight reduction through diet has been under study for several years by Dr. Margaret Olson, head of the Department of Foods and Nutrition, and her staff. This girl is one of a group of overweight students who have volunteered to take part in one period of a continuing scientific weight control study, research which will benefit others as well as themselves. During the period of the experiment, the girls eat at a diet training table. Their eating habits are closely observed as part of a research program to determine how overweight young women can return to normal weight and stay that way, yet remain happy and healthy. Overweight men and women of various ages, businessmen, housewives, and others, follow the program at home and come to the college for advice. They talk over their weight problems and are given encouragement and practical help. They are shown the importance of knowing how much they eat as well as what they eat. As an essential part of the plan, each overweight person first must have a thorough medical examination. Those in the home groups are examined by family physicians, while the students are examined by physicians of the college health service. Here, under the direction of Dr. Charles F. Holland, a complete physical examination is made. The amount of weight to be lost by each girl is determined. Based on many years' experience with the subject of weight control, Dr. Holland has this to say on reducing. There is no shortcut to weight reduction. Nearly all obese people can lose weight and feel better by eating less food, but foods of high nutritive value. Few of the people that we examine can blame their excess pounds on glandular trouble. Habitual overeating and wrong eating create this serious problem. Devising an effective reducing diet is the basic step in any program of weight reduction through diet. Doctors and scientists, applying their knowledge of nutrition, physiology, and human nature, formulate low-calorie diets of everyday foods that give a high return in nutrition and satisfaction. Foods are analyzed to determine their exact content of calories, proteins, minerals, and vitamins. Nutritionists plan the diet from foods we include in our meals every day and which are readily available in local markets. In the research study at Michigan State College, these foods, all high in protein, are represented at every meal in ample servings. Dairy foods are included at every meal in this weight reduction diet plan. Milk does more for the reducer than any other one food. Vegetables. The choice is great, so a reducing diet need not be monotonous. The leafy, bulky kinds permit more and larger servings. Those who are reducing learn to include many vegetables and fruits in their diet. Pleasing combinations may be selected from a wide variety and served in generous amounts every day. Cereal foods continue to appear on the menu in moderate amounts. Now let's see how the diet plan is put into effect for the college group. The first step is to consider how much each girl is overweight. This depends on the build of each individual. Some of these girls have more to lose than others. The amount will determine how long each girl should continue on the diet. Measurements and a mirror tell the story. As anyone who is overweight knows all too well, excess fat has a way of lodging in spots that spoil the figure. This figure chart shows where excess pounds tend to accumulate. At the diet training table, each girl eats as usual for the first two weeks, but she keeps track of what she eats and how much she eats. Successful reducing is based on knowing, not guessing. As a part of the study, the girls weigh each portion of food they select and write everything down in record books. This procedure serves two purposes. The girl learns to judge the weight of portions by size and appearance, and the laboratory staff receives a record of what she is in the habit of eating. This girl is maintaining her present weight on meals similar to this one. Here is the food she has been eating on a typical day, 2,400 calories. This girl has chosen meals characteristic of those eaten by active young women of normal weight. Her meals and between-meal snacks average 2,400 calories a day, but to lose at the desired rate of one and a half to two pounds a week, she will have to adjust her diet to provide substantially fewer calories every day. Here are three typical meals from her reducing diet. Looks good, doesn't it? But this food contains only 1,400 calories, 1,000 less than before. Note the breakfast. No skimping here. Fruit juice, two eggs, toast, butter, and milk. The girls have found that a substantial breakfast makes a big difference in preventing hunger pangs. For lunch, a generous serving of protein-rich food, in this case, fish salad, a green vegetable with butter, and a glass of milk. Dinner features meat, fruit, milk, and yes, creamed potatoes. Plenty of nourishment. Here's what's on the menu for another day, 1,400 calories. Nutritious food served in appetizing array. There's a new menu for each day of the week, and the menus can be changed for pleasing variety. Laboratory tests prove that these meals meet the recommended dietary allowances of the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council. This diet satisfies the appetite because it provides more fat than most reducing diets. The girls report few between-meals struggles because the meals are satisfying, but when a box arrives from home, they have to pep talk each other into resisting temptation. The scales help, too. Weighing need be done only once a week, for those excess pounds do not vanish overnight. Activities are a part of the reducing program. The girls keep a daily activity record as well as the food record. Each girl is encouraged to exercise regularly. Just going to and from classes, the girls walk several miles a day. Let's leave the student group now and look in on one of the group who is following the weight reduction program at home. She starts by writing down, as did the girls, the exact amounts and kinds of food she eats. In doing this, the women, and men, too, are amazed to discover how much they're in the habit of eating. When the records are brought to the college, members of the home group are given a dietary pattern and taught to select the foods each one needs for weight reduction. The menu pattern, which is the same as that used for the college group, can be used as the basis for planning the family meals. Back at home, measured portions are served for those following the diet plan. The same everyday foods prepared in the usual way are the foundation for the family's meals, and the others in the family can eat as much as usual. When reducing, most men require more calories than do women. For instance, this man is losing weight on 1,800 calories a day. He did not have much trouble getting the upper hand of his appetite on meals like these. He's found them satisfying. The substantial breakfast is an important part of the plan. It helps to control the appetite for the rest of the day. Variations to fit individual situations may be made when they do not add calories or change the basic plan of the meals. For instance, some people want more butter than others, so they drink skimmed or partially skimmed milk as a part of their reducing diets. Less meat may be used, and cheese added to take its place in a meal. Or you can serve less meat, in this case chicken, and add cottage cheese. The key to weight reduction is to follow a suitable diet carefully and accurately every day as long as necessary to regain normal weight. The diet used in this study is satisfying to the appetite because of a generous breakfast and the use of more protein and fat than is allowed on most reduction diets. However, the doctor should guide the reducing plan for the individual. We return to the college about four months later to see the results of this program of weight reduction through diet. Sensible weight reduction takes time. Progress is measured in weeks or months, not days. Remember these girls as we saw them during our last visit? Well, here they are about four months later. Waistlines are coming back. The girl in the center has regained normal weight with a loss of 32 pounds. Others have lost 32, 27, and 25 pounds and are continuing to lose one and a half to two pounds a week by following the diet. Remember these four shorter girls? Those on either end have been down to normal weight for several weeks and are staying that way. One of the girls who did not follow the diet regularly has lost only 16 pounds, but the other one has lost 39 pounds in the same period. She has about 25 pounds more to lose. It's a great day when the scales at last seem to shout success. When normal weight returns along with a new and attractive figure and new interests and activities, the diet is adjusted to maintain that desirable weight. Weight losses for the home group range from 16 to 64 pounds, an average of two pounds a week. The individual weight loss graphs show satisfactory progress for each member of the home group. 64 pounds gone in seven months. With the return of normal weight come renewed pride in personal appearance, new self-confidence, increased vitality, and better health. One of these men has lost 30 pounds, the other 21 pounds since we saw them about four months ago. This controlled experiment then has given us one answer to the problem of overweight for young and old alike, a tested program of sensible weight reduction through diet. The principle of weight reduction you have seen demonstrated can be applied effectively by others with excess weight, with, of course, the guidance of a physician. We have shown that a dietary plan for weight reduction can be simple, satisfy the appetite, and bring results in loss of unwanted pounds, in renewed vitality and health, and in eating habits which can be easily adjusted to maintain normal weight. Thank you.