HELPFUL HINTS
Reading edition
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.
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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[3] ½ cup Group I and ½ cup Group II
Skim milk or buttermilk 1 glass—8 ounces
Fruit—raw, or cooked or canned without sugar 1 serving—½ cup
lunch or supper
Cottage cheese, meat, or eggs ½ cup of cheese, 2 ounces of meat, or 2 eggs
Vegetables[3] ½ cup Group I and ½ cup Group II
Skim milk or buttermilk 1 glass—8 ounces
Fruit—raw, or cooked or canned without sugar 1 serving—½ cup
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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[3] 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 canned without sugar 1 serving—½ cup
lunch or supper
Cottage cheese, meat, or eggs ½ cup of cheese, 2 ounces of meat, or 2 eggs
Vegetables[3] ½ cup raw Group I and ½ cup Group II
Milk 1 glass—8 ounces
Fruit—raw, or cooked or canned without sugar 1 serving—½ cup
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[3] 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 canned without sugar 1 serving—½ cup
lunch or supper
Cottage cheese, meat, or eggs ½ cup of cheese, 2 ounces of meat, or 2 eggs
Vegetables[3] 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 plain cookies ½ cup of fruit or custard, or 2 cookies
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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
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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
On a reducing diet many people find themselves eating more vegetables, raw fruits, and salads than they did before. Most of them benefit from the change. However, 20 anyone who has previously had signs of ulcers, colitis, or other digestive disturbances should tell his physician. A person susceptible to such conditions may need to use raw fruits and vegetables sparingly, substituting fruits stewed without sugar, or perhaps using pureed vegetables.
Constipation sometimes occurs when eating habits are changed suddenly. It can often be corrected by drinking more water and by using green, leafy vegetables more generously. The substitution of stewed, dried fruits for some fresh fruits may also help. The amount must be watched, because dried fruits are richer in calories than fresh fruits. They are often eaten in greater quantity and cooked with sugar.
People who are on a diet and who eat in restaurants a great deal have a problem. Unless their budget runs to a daily steak diet, a good cafeteria is often a better choice than other types of restaurants. The foods are usually plainly cooked, without much fat, and can be chosen individually. The chief problem is to develop the habit of passing by all the display of foods which must not be eaten. The temptation to add something extra is sometimes greater than it is at home.
If lunch is the only meal which must be eaten out, and there is no suitable eating place available, the problem may be solved by taking lunch from home. Some suggestions for a day’s menus, including low-calorie lunches which can be carried to work or school, are given on the opposite page.
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PACKED LUNCH
for 1200 Calorie Diet
BREAKFAST
½ cup fruit
1 egg
1 slice toast
1 teaspoon butter
1 glass milk
Clear coffee or tea
LUNCH
Sandwich:
1 slice bread
1 teaspoon butter
1 ounce lean meat
1 hard cooked egg
wedge of raw cabbage
whole raw carrot
fresh fruit
1 glass milk
LUNCH
Sandwich:
2 thin slices bread
1 ounce lean meat
1 hard cooked egg
1 teaspoon mayonnaise
lettuce
2 stalks celery
1 small cucumber
fresh fruit
1 glass milk
LUNCH
Sandwich:
2 thin slices bread
2 ounces chicken or meat chopped and mixed with
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 tablespoon chopped celery and a little chopped onion
large fresh tomato
½ green pepper
fruit
1 glass skim milk
DINNER
3 ounces meat, fish, or poultry
½ cup vegetables from Group I and Group II
1 glass skim milk
½ cup fruit—fresh, or cooked or canned without sugar
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