Foods to Avoid. - It is very much easier to add than to reduce weight, for all the "indulgences" of diet are the things needed. Usually the person of underweight is overfond of salads and other foods which give bulk. It would be well to read a list of what the obese should avoid, in order to know what the too thin should eat; but if sweets and desserts are taken at the beginning of a meal, or between meals, the desire for substantial food is lost.

What to Eat. - The fattening foods or carbohydrates - starches, sugars and fats - are what the too thin person should choose in diet; and not many succulent green vegetables, or salads, unless they are served with mayonnaise dressing made of oil, or of rich cream. Potatoes or any other starchy vegetable with cream sauce; or rice, hominy, corn and similar cereal foods should be selected.

For desserts - puddings and cakes with cream, ice-cream, and whipped cream; sweet chocolate.

For beverages - little tea or coffee. Drink and eat whole milk, swallowing it slowly. This food is excellent between meals. Cocoa and chocolate.

If digestion is weak, do not use many different kinds of food at one meal. Use no pickles; few acids.

By turning to the tables of food values on page 425, calculation may be made as to dietary, always allowing more fuel food than for the average person.

List of Fattening Foods

Cream soups.

Cream dressings.

Milk dishes.

Oil dressings.

Potatoes, sweet and white, turnips, carrots, etc.

Macaroni, spaghetti, etc.

Rice, tapioca, and arrow-root puddings.

Cakes of all kinds.

Sweet chocolate, candies.

Cocoa, chocolate, whipped cream, ice-cream, cereals with cream.

Eat also eggs, fish, meat, beans, peas, lentils, fruits and berries Consult the following weight tables. Be weighed; and tram your taste to like what your body needs. To do this, take at first only a little of the kind of food you do not care for. Rest, and then exercise. Take plenty of sleep - ten hours each night if possible, and angles will become curves; the lean and hungry look will disappear; and, incidentally, life will seem brighter. Then, too, in case of illness nature will have a store of energy fuel to draw upon.

Rest. - Thin people are usually of restless, nervous temperament, "always on the move," expending muscular energy every waking minute; bolting a meal, and flying away to another occupation. The old Roman custom of resting and relaxing, but not napping, after eating had a very commendable reason. So, too, had their custom of massaging with oil. The thin person will find such massage very beneficial, for the body is able to absorb such food.

Codliver oil, taken either in capsules, or by the spoonful followed with orange juice, is a flesh-builder as well as a health giver. This oil is very easily digested.

Rest is necessary for increasing weight; but so also is exercise, for the thin person needs plenty of oxygen to aid in the digestion and assimilation of food, and in throwing off poisonous waste matters.

The following tables afford a standard of weight for comparison. In comparing your own weight with the table, your type of build should be taken into account, as well as height and age. A person of naturally slender type might be below the standard, or one of stocky, thick-set type might be above the standard, and yet both be normally healthy. If, however, the excess in either direction is over ten per cent, corrective measures should be taken.

In ascertaining height, measure in shoes; stand erect, and press measuring rod down on scalp. Weigh yourself in indoor clothing and shoes. Subtract one inch for height if sensible heels are worn; if heels are "high," subtract two inches. Your standard of weight is found where your height and age columns meet.