US dieting obsession dates back at least 150 years
Source: Agencies |
January 26, 2011, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
BEFORE modern weight loss fads, there was William Banting. He invented the low-carb diet of 1863. Even then Americans were trying out advice that urged fish, mutton or "any meat except pork" for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but hold the potatoes, please.
It turns out the obsession with weight and how to lose it dates back at least 150 years. And while now we say "overweight" instead of "corpulent" - and obesity has become epidemic - a look back at dieting history shows what hasn't changed is the quest for an easy fix.
"We grossly, grossly underestimate" the difficulty of changing behaviors that fuel obesity, says Clemson University sociologist Ellen Granberg, who examined archives at the Library of Congress. She believes it's important to show "we're not dealing with some brand new, scary phenomenon we've never dealt with before."
Indeed, the aging documents are eerily familiar.
Consider Englishman William Banting's account of losing almost 23 kilograms in a year. He did it by shunning "bread, butter, milk, sugar, beer and potatoes, which had been the main (and I thought innocent) elements of my existence" in favor of loads of meat.
His pamphlet, "Letter on Corpulence, Addressed to the Public," quickly crossed the Atlantic and become so popular here that "banting" became slang for dieting, Granberg says.
While obesity has rapidly surged in the last few decades, America first changed from a nation where being plump was desirable into a nation of on-again, off-again dieters around the end of the 19th century, Granberg says.
By 1903, La Parle obesity soap that "never fails to reduce flesh" was selling at a pricey US$1 a bar. The Louisenbad Reduction Salt pledged to "wash away your fat." Soon came an exercise machine, the Graybar Stimulator to jiggle the pounds. Bile Beans promoted a laxative approach.
The government's first advice to balance proteins, carbohydrates and fat came in 1894. A few years later, life insurance companies reported that being overweight raised the risk of death. In 1916, the Department of Agriculture came up with the five food groups
It turns out the obsession with weight and how to lose it dates back at least 150 years. And while now we say "overweight" instead of "corpulent" - and obesity has become epidemic - a look back at dieting history shows what hasn't changed is the quest for an easy fix.
"We grossly, grossly underestimate" the difficulty of changing behaviors that fuel obesity, says Clemson University sociologist Ellen Granberg, who examined archives at the Library of Congress. She believes it's important to show "we're not dealing with some brand new, scary phenomenon we've never dealt with before."
Indeed, the aging documents are eerily familiar.
Consider Englishman William Banting's account of losing almost 23 kilograms in a year. He did it by shunning "bread, butter, milk, sugar, beer and potatoes, which had been the main (and I thought innocent) elements of my existence" in favor of loads of meat.
His pamphlet, "Letter on Corpulence, Addressed to the Public," quickly crossed the Atlantic and become so popular here that "banting" became slang for dieting, Granberg says.
While obesity has rapidly surged in the last few decades, America first changed from a nation where being plump was desirable into a nation of on-again, off-again dieters around the end of the 19th century, Granberg says.
By 1903, La Parle obesity soap that "never fails to reduce flesh" was selling at a pricey US$1 a bar. The Louisenbad Reduction Salt pledged to "wash away your fat." Soon came an exercise machine, the Graybar Stimulator to jiggle the pounds. Bile Beans promoted a laxative approach.
The government's first advice to balance proteins, carbohydrates and fat came in 1894. A few years later, life insurance companies reported that being overweight raised the risk of death. In 1916, the Department of Agriculture came up with the five food groups
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