Part 1

Down the Scale Or Up...

by BARBARA ABEL

Copyright 1939—Revised 1948 NATIONAL DAIRY COUNCIL CHICAGO 6 (19) 1958

This will be music to your ears

Introduction TO SLENDERNESS

Not skinniness! It’s no light matter, Hortense, this question of figures. You can figure on that. Even the new styles won’t hide the awful fact that you bulge where you shouldn’t, OR that you own no curves where you should.

Yes, it’s a tough racket melting the too, too solid flesh. Figure how much you have crept up on the scale, let your doctor figure how fast you dare go down without landing—flop—farther than you ever intended. This little book? It’s encouragement, blandishment, a little judicious enragement—but it isn’t medicament.

How about reducing tricks? Well, Dumpling, let’s take a look. Glands? A slick trick for a few, probably not you. Bath salts? They dissolve the budget, nothing more. Laxatives? Money in the promoter’s pocket. Thyroid and other drugs? No, no, NO!

Suppose you want to go up the scale? Put some curves in place of angles? Improve the pep and disposition? Reverse what the fat gal does. Where she envies, you eat. Where she hustles, you rest. When she refuses a snack, you snatch it.

Either way you go on the scale—up or down—it comes back largely to how much you eat, when, and most important, what. Either way you go, don’t neglect—milk, cheese, eggs, meat, and fish—fruits, vegetables, and whole-grain cereals. Emphasize salt and water to gain, cut down on both to lose.

Cheerio, whichever way you’re bound. The diet does it. You can figure on that, lady!

W. W. BAUER, M.D. Director, Bureau of Health Education American Medical Association

DESIRABLE WEIGHTS FOR WOMEN Ages 25 and Over

After thirty it is better to be weighed in the balance and found wanting.

HEIGHT WEIGHT IN POUNDS (as ordinarily dressed) (with shoes) Small Build Medium Build Large Build

4 ft. 11 in. 104-111 110-118 117-127 5 ft. 0 in. 105-113 112-120 119-129 5 ft. 2 in. 110-118 117-125 124-135 5 ft. 4 in. 116-125 124-132 131-142 5 ft. 6 in. 123-132 130-140 138-150 5 ft. 8 in. 129-139 137-147 145-158 5 ft. 10 in. 136-147 145-155 152-166

COMES THE DAY!

There comes a day in many a woman’s life when she has a THOUGHT. Namely: “I MUST start on a diet.”

A mere trifle may bring on this thought. Such as:

a) a saleswoman murmurs, “Well, dear, perhaps a size 38 would be just a wee bit more comfy.”

b) a taxi driver asks, “Where to, Madam?” (they’ve always called you “Miss”).

c) a husbandly voice commands, “Sit in front with me, Sonnie, and give mother the back seat where she can spread.”

d) walking down Main Street you catch a quick, dreadfully candid glimpse of yourself in a plate glass window. “Heavens!”

If the THOUGHT has come to you, it is likely, alas, to be followed swiftly by second, third, fourth, and fifth thoughts. Thus:

2) “Oh well, I’m not so very fat.”

3) “As it is, I don’t eat enough to keep a bird alive.”

4) “Anyhow, I come by it naturally—look at my own mother!”

5) “Besides, diets are dreadful.”