Part 3

Vitamin and mineral supplements are often prescribed for people on a reducing diet, especially if it allows less than 1,200 calories. This is to make doubly sure that the body gets all the vitamins and minerals it needs. The use of such supplements is never intended to take the place of eating the essential foods.

Some people, when they first see their reducing diet, are firmly convinced that they have never eaten as much as their present diet allows them to. They are judging the caloric value of their food by its looks. The calories hidden in butter, sugar, and cream used for cooking and in beverages are invisible.

Unfortunately, it is easy to make a 1,000-calorie diet, for example, add up to about 2,000 merely by adding 4 tablespoons of butter to the vegetables, sugar and cream to 3 cups of coffee or tea, a tablespoon of French dressing on the salad, and substituting 3 halves of canned peaches with sirup for the ½ cup of fresh fruit at lunch.

Few people stop to think that their hidden calories may be in the cocktail, the glass of beer, or the soda pop which they love. Liquids go down so quickly and easily that it is often hard to realize that they can contribute to overweight. A glance at the calorie tables on pages 25 -32 will show why they are to be avoided by anyone who is trying to lose weight.

Some perfectly good foods which add extra calories to a diet are:

Cake—especially with icing Cookies Cream Candy Salad oil Fatty meat Fried foods Nuts Olives Chocolate Coconut More butter than is allowed on the diet Gravy Pastries Avocados Jelly and jam Honey Marmalade Sirups Sugar Puddings Sweetened beverages

Remember

1. To have 1½ pints of milk every day. 2. To cut the visible fat from meat. 3. To eat a salad or raw vegetable every day if possible. 4. To eat a green, leafy, or yellow vegetable every day. 5. To have a serving of citrus fruit, tomato, cantaloupe, strawberries, or raw cabbage every day. 6. To choose the bread or cereal you use from enriched, whole-grain, or rye varieties.

HELPFUL HINTS

1. Eat regular meals at regular times. Omitting a meal—particularly breakfast—is a strain on the body and a major cause of fatigue. 2. Eat all meals slowly and chew well. This helps to make smaller amounts of food more satisfying. 3. Never eat when emotionally upset or overtired. Relax or rest first. 4. Watch closely for hidden calories. 5. If drinking clear coffee or tea is too much of an ordeal, add some of the day’s allowance of milk, and use saccharin or another noncaloric sweetening agent. They may also be used to sweeten cooked fruits. 6. Stay away from highly seasoned foods. They stimulate the appetite. 7. Clear tea, coffee, or bouillon have no caloric values and may be used freely. 8. An average serving of meat is 3 ounces. Two eggs or ½ cup of cottage cheese can be substituted for 2 ounces of meat.

1000 CALORIE DIET

breakfast Fresh fruit or juice 1 serving—½ cup Egg—cooked without fat 1 Bread or cereal 1 slice of bread or small serving of cereal Butter or margarine 1 level teaspoon Skim milk or buttermilk 1 glass—8 ounces Clear coffee or tea dinner Lean meat, fish, or poultry 3 ounces (average serving) Vegetables ½ cup Group I and ½ cup Group II Skim milk or buttermilk 1 glass—8 ounces Fruit—raw, or cooked or 1 serving—½ cup canned without sugar lunch or supper Cottage cheese, meat, or ½ cup of cheese, 2 ounces of eggs meat, or 2 eggs Vegetables ½ cup Group I and ½ cup Group II Skim milk or buttermilk 1 glass—8 ounces Fruit—raw, or cooked or 1 serving—½ cup canned without sugar

1200 CALORIE DIET

breakfast Fresh fruit or juice 1 serving—½ cup Egg—cooked without fat 1 Bread or cereal 1 slice of bread or small serving of cereal Butter or margarine 1 level teaspoon Milk 1 glass—8 ounces Clear coffee or tea dinner Lean meat, fish, or poultry 3 ounces (average serving) Vegetables ½ cup Group I Potato or bread 1 small potato or 1 slice of bread Butter or margarine 1 level teaspoon Milk 1 glass—8 ounces Fruit—raw, or cooked or 1 serving—½ cup canned without sugar lunch or supper Cottage cheese, meat, or ½ cup of cheese, 2 ounces of eggs meat, or 2 eggs Vegetables ½ cup raw Group I and ½ cup Group II Milk 1 glass—8 ounces Fruit—raw, or cooked or 1 serving—½ cup canned without sugar

1500 CALORIE DIET

breakfast Fresh fruit of juice 1 serving—½ cup Egg—cooked without fat 1 Bread or cereal 1 slice of bread or a serving of cereal (1 cup prepared or ½ cup cooked) Butter or margarine 1 level teaspoon Milk 1 glass—8 ounces Coffee or tea Cream 1 tablespoon dinner Lean meat, fish, or poultry 3 ounces (average serving) Vegetables ½ cup Group I and ½ cup Group II Potato 1 small Butter or margarine 1 level teaspoon Milk 1 glass—8 ounces Fruit—raw, or cooked or 1 serving—½ cup canned without sugar lunch or supper Cottage cheese, meat, or ½ cup of cheese, 2 ounces of eggs meat, or 2 eggs Vegetables ½ cup Group I and ½ cup Group II Bread 1 slice Butter or margarine 1 level teaspoon Milk 1 glass—8 ounces Fruit, plain custard, or ½ cup of fruit or custard, or plain cookies 2 cookies

Vegetables are listed below in two groups, according to their carbohydrate content. Those in Group I have no more than 3 percent carbohydrate, and those in Group II have no more than 9 percent. It is simpler to choose the vegetables according to the listings than to count the calories for each vegetable in the day’s meals.

Where the diets on pages 16-17 call for fruits, these may be chosen from the lower-calorie fruits listed below.

vegetables

GROUP I Asparagus Beet greens Broccoli Cabbage Cauliflower Celery Chard Chicory Chinese Cabbage Cucumber Endive Escarole Lettuce Mushrooms Mustard greens Radishes Sauerkraut Spinach Summer squash Tomato Juice Tomatoes Turnip tops Watercress

GROUP II Artichokes Beans, green Beans, wax Beets Brussels sprouts Carrots Collards Dandelion greens Eggplant Kale Kohlrabi Lambsquarters Okra Onions Peppers Pumpkin Rutabagas Squash, winter Turnips

fruit

Apples Apricots Blackberries Blueberries Cherries Cranberries Currants Gooseberries Grapefruit Grapefruit juice Lemons Limes Loganberries Melons Cantaloupe Casaba Honeydew Spanish Watermelon Oranges Orange juice Peaches Pears Pineapple Pineapple juice Plums Raspberries Rhubarb Strawberries Tangerines

On Keeping a Record

Most people find it helpful to keep a record of their progress. Weight should be recorded once a week only. To show progress accurately, the same scales should be used at the same time of the day.

It is also helpful to make weekly notes of body measurements. Sometimes a person gets discouraged because, after a period of satisfactory loss, the scales show no drop for a week or more. But during these periods body measurements often continue to decrease. To know that another half inch has melted off the waistline is encouraging at such times. It stiffens resistance to the common temptation of saying, “Oh, what’s the use?” and stopping when success is in sight. Weight loss begins again if the diet is faithfully followed.

The most important record to keep carefully is a list of the foods eaten each day, and the quantity. Such a list serves several purposes. It can be checked against the essential foods to make sure there are no omissions. It will help the doctor in adjusting a diet to slower or faster weight loss, as the need may be. It is useful as a reminder of slips and indiscretions in eating or drinking which must be checked. It helps to keep a person convinced about the number of calories he is really taking in.

Special Problems