Spring Menu. Obesity - Irregular Heart Action, Nervousness

Fruit-juice, a glass of water, and ten minutes devoted to vigorous exercise and deep breathing just after rising.

Breakfast

Choice of fruit

A cup of hot water

Two or three exceedingly ripe bananas (red variety preferred), eaten with raisins, nuts, and cream

Luncheon

A portion of fresh fish and a new baked potato

Dinner

A green salad with dressing and nuts Peas or asparagus

A rare omelet with a dash of grated nuts A bit of crisp corn bread or a bran meal gem

Most people afflicted with obesity are also afflicted with abnormal appetite, therefore at the outset they may undergo some deprivation, but if this is not yielded to, hunger will soon become normal.

The appetite for an excessive quantity of food is very much like the appetite for coffee, intoxicants, or tobacco, and when the appetite once becomes abnormal and is not held under control, either obesity or chronic autointoxication will be the result.

Luncheon should be omitted unless very hungry.

Summer Menu. Obesity - Irregular Heart Action Nervousness

Breakfast

Melon, peaches, or berries

Tender fish, broiled

A new potato or a bran muffin

Luncheon

Corn or beans

A salad - lettuce or celery

Dinner

A light soup - vegetable Eggplant, okra, beans, or squash Bran gems or a potato Nuts, with a lettuce salad

Obesity - Irregular Heart Action Nervousness

First Day: Immediately on rising, drink a cup of hot water, followed by a cup of cool water. Devote as much time as possible (from three to ten minutes) to such exercises as can be endured. (See Vol. V, pp. 1343 to 1346.) Inflate lungs to their utmost capacity every third or fourth movement.

Secure a spirometer and increase the lung capacity until it registers about two hundred and fifty cubic inches. This is exceedingly important.

Breakfast

A cantaloup or soaked, evaporated peaches Baked chestnuts Bananas with cream Bran meal gems

Luncheon

A salad

Carrots, squash, beets, parsnips, or turnips

A potato or lima beans

Supplementary Luncheon

(To be taken in office)

Two exceedingly ripe bananas, with nut butter and raisins

Two glasses of water

(Or the following at a restaurant or cafe)

Choice of the following vegetables - boiled onions, carrots, parsnips, squash, or tender corn A baked potato A glass of water

Dinner

Choice of two vegetables from the selection given for luncheon

A green salad

A baked sweet or a white potato

Two egg whites and one yolk very lightly poached

Two glasses of water

Devote about ten minutes to exercising and deep breathing just before retiring.

Second Day: The same as the first, slightly increasing or decreasing the quantity of food according to normal hunger.

It will probably be necessary to draw a very sharp distinction between appetite and hunger. (See Spring Menu, "No Appetite," p. 1081.)

Third Day: The same as the first, if entirely agreeable.

If the bowels should become too lax, a small portion of rice, cooked in milk, might be taken with both the morning and the evening meal, omitting a similar quantity of other foods.

Fourth Day:

Breakfast

Two eggs, whipped from five to eight minutes, into which whip a rounded teaspoonful of sugar, and a dessert-spoonful of lemon juice

Half a glass of water

Luncheon

A vegetable salad, with a few nuts A baked sweet potato

(These two articles should compose the entire meal)

Dinner

Spinach (cooked), or a salad of lettuce and celery with English walnuts, masticated infinitely fine

Choice of one or two fresh vegetables, including a small, baked white potato

Fifth Day: The same as the fourth.

Sixth Day: The same as the first, repeating the diet for about two weeks.

Winter Menu. Obesity - Irregular Heart Action Nervousness

First Day: Immediately after rising, drink a glass of cool water, and the juice of a sweet orange. Devote as much time as possible (five to ten minutes) to vigorous exercises.

Breakfast

A cup of hot water

One banana

Two egg whites and one yolk very lightly poached

A small, baked white potato, with butter; eat skins and all

A small portion of wheat bran cooked five minutes

Note: If the quantity seems insufficient, a corn-meal muffin may be eaten.

Luncheon

Boiled onions, carrots, or turnips A baked potato - eat skins and all One egg boiled two minutes

Dinner

Celery, endive, or lettuce, with nuts or a simple dressing

Turnips, carrots, spinach, boiled onions - any two of these

A baked white potato, served hot with butter and salt

A portion of wheat bran cooked five minutes

A portion of gelatin, with thin cream

Just before retiring, devote from three to five minutes to exercising. Drink a glass of water, take a spoonful or two of wheat bran, and either a few California grapes or the juice of an orange.

Second Day: The same as the first, slightly varying the meals by choosing different vegetables from the following selections:

Beans

Beets

Cabbage

Carrots

Onions

Parsnips

Potatoes

Pumpkin

Spinach

Squash

Turnips

Third Day: The same as the second, adding one very ripe banana, eaten with thin cream and raisins, to the morning meal, and a few nuts, if desired.

Banana, nut butter, raisins, and cream make a delicious combination. The entire breakfast could be made of these with good results.

Fourth Day: Exercise, water-drinking, and deep breathing just before retiring and just after rising, as prescribed for the first day.

Breakfast

A few Malaga grapes or a sweet orange

Two exceedingly ripe bananas, eaten with thin cream and nut butter

A cup of junket, or a small portion of gelatin with a very little sugar and thin cream

One egg prepared as per recipe in "Introduction to Menus" if the appetite will accept it.

(See p. 678.)

Luncheon

A green salad

A small portion of fish or chicken

A baked potato

A cup of hot water

Dinner

One or two fresh vegetables - choice A glass of buttermilk with a small piece of corn bread A small portion of gelatin with thin cream

If the bowels are not normal, a portion of wheat bran should be taken at the morning and the evening meal.

Both digestion and assimilation of food can be largely increased by daily taking exercise No. 3 (see Vol. V, p. 1344), vigorously, for ten or fifteen minutes just after rising and just before retiring.

Fifth Day: Same as the fourth, slightly increasing or decreasing the quantity of food according to hunger.

Sixth Day: Same as the first, repeating, for a period of two or three weeks, the menus as given, varying the meals by choosing different vegetables in the same class as those prescribed.