Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1863-08-05
Talks About Health.
A WORD TO MY FAT FRIENDS.
BY DO LEWIS, ND.

I , ~
do look comfortable and jolly. But as a
physiologist, I must find falt with you.
Obesity, like emaciation, is a sort of dis
ease unfavOrable = health and long
life.
This warm weather makes you pantand
perspire.
I met one of your number down on the
beach the other day. 1t was a warm af-
-ternoon. lie was very uncomfortable.
We stopped to chat a moment, when he
exclaimed:
al would give ten thousand dollars
to be reduced to $50 pounds. I pant
wheeze, and sweat; pant, wheeze, and
sweat, every time stir," and looking
earnestly into my face, he said, "DOc-
tor, what can you do for me; what can I
take? Ny family doctor tells me he can
give me something that will whittle me
down; do you think it can be done?'
"Oh, yes" I replied, "nothing is ca
sier; but it is quite unnecessary to take
any medicine Suppose, sir, you had
very fat horse, much in the same condi-
tion of yourself, and some doctor we're to
propose to reduce his weight with medi-
cine, what would you say2"
"I would tell him that could reduce
his weight by reducing the amount of his
food"
"Justso; and you would bequite right
Allow me to commend the same practice
to yourself Reduce the quantity of
your food one-quarter, and venture to
say that in a month you viii weigh from
5 to 10 pounds less than now. At the
end of the first month, reduce the am
cunt of your food another quarter. With
in three or six months you will ind your
self lighter by 20 to 80 pounds. Your
digestion Will be much healthier, your
respiration freer, aud your activity and
endurance greatly increased
But" said he, "I don't eat half as
much as some thin men whom l know"
"Thio is not improbable, and I pre-
spme their excessive eating keeps them
thin, as with your tendency, excessive
eating produces fat. If they were to re-
duce the quantity of their food, they
would, like yourself tend toward the nor
NAL standard-they would gain in weight
while you would loose"
He promised to try it, and started on
In horse car the other day, met six
corpulent, uncomfortable men, all quite
sure to die premnturely. Every one Of
them might, in six or twelve months, be
reduced to the normal standard, and en-
Joy a degree of health and activity to
which he is now stranger. Is any physi-
illogical statement more selc-evideut than
that every fat person eats more than he
needs?
But" exclaims some fat young wo-
man, who would "give the world" to be
in good shape, Il cannot go hungry and
faint for ever"
This remark shows you have never
tried what I have suggested. 1t is only
the great eater who is troubled with hun
ger and "goneness." If you would re-
duce the quantity of your food, even to
one-half at once, after three days you will
rot suffer from faintness or hunger. The
man who eats temperateIy of unstimula-
ting food, rarely knows the sensation of
hunger.
In the light of these undeniable state
ments, how silly the practice, common
among girls, of swallowing acids and
other killing things; and among men,
sleeping in tobacco, to reduce flesh.
1 have personally known scores of
young women whose health has been ru-
ined by drinking vinegar, or eating chalk
and other indigestible things, all to take
away their fat.
And 1 have known a still greater num-
Der to ruin themselves with corsets, in
the hope Of keeping themselves oomely |
and in shape
I have met hundreds Of fat men who |
we're besmeared and saturated with tobac-
co juice-objects of disgust to all behold
ers, terror to decent housekeopers, pere-
grinating stench-pots, and all to keep
their flesh down.
My poor, dear, fat simpletons, allow
me to prescribe for you.
Rise early; exercise much, particular
in the open air; bathe frequently, rub
bing the kin very hard; but most impor-
tant of all, eat plain, coarse food, and re-
duce the quantity until you find yourself /
growing thinner two or three pounds per
week. Your sluggishness, short breath,
and other discomforts will soon leave you,
and you will become bright, clear headed
and happy.
IT is paradox, that, in most larg cit
les, ground is sog-cs and diZt sbuntsnt. !