Salt River herald., 1878-11-30
On Growing Fat or Lean.

ground, instead of burying them.
 On Growing Fat or Lean.
 A New York Sun correspondent says: Having paid some attention to the subject of increasing or dimin- ishing the amount of adipose tissue in the human frame, perhaps l may be permitted to say a word on the matter. It is quite true that certain kinds of diet are more fat-forming than others, but it does not therefore follow that a person living on this kind of diet-say, for instance, buck wheat cakes and Barbadoes sugar will become fat. In many cases which have come under my own ob- servation, all the attempts to increase the amount of fat by means of spec ial diet (carbonGceous) have ended in the person becoming bilious and sui ious and suffering from a cOngested liver and constipation. On the other hand, have known persons fatten on bread and water. The late MT. Swain, of Philadelphia, for many years of his life ate nothing but bread and molasses, yet he was stout, healthy-looking man. Mir. Mechi, the eminent English agriculturist, ac- cording to his own statement, can in crease his weight materially by mere ly taking an extra lump or two of sugar in his tea. Another gentleman became fat and ruddy-cheeked by adding pint of ale to his midday re- past. But these are exceptional cases. As general rule, if person in good health, obtaining seven or eight hours sleep, per night, and not over-worked, does not get fat on mixed diet, he won't get fat at all, and neither buck wheat cakes and Barbadoes sugar, nor cod-liver oil, nor other fat pro- duCer will fatten him. Sound sleep is one of the best fatproducers that 1 know of, and then it has the advan- tage of increasing the general health and strength at the same time. Be ware of altering your diet for the mere purpose of putting on more flesh. Results may follow that you dream not of.
 It is easier to reduce flesh than to increase it, as general rule. But there may be danger even here. Many of those obese gentlemen who follow. ed the Banting system, and tried tC live on lean meat, very little bread and glass or two of sherry per day found themselves with seriously dis turbed kidneys, the result of highly nitrogenous diet. They might have obtained that leanness for which tlIey sighed, and retained their health, ha( they reduced the total quantity O food consumed, and eaten less bread potatoes and starchy food, and more turnips, cabbages, beets, cucumbers tomatoes, melons, and other watery articles of diet, and taken more eX ercise and less sleep. As a rule, ia people are large eaters. They vii tell you they are not. Don't believe them. Flesh and fat are not formed out of nothing. A stout youth of m. acquaintance told me that he ate "; r mere nothing" and only slept fou , hours per diem. I found that he att as much at one meal as could a three, took little or no exercise, anC slept nine or ten hours out of tn, twenty-four. "Laugh and grow fat, is an old saying; but 1 have not founC fat people, as a rule, mIrthful, but ol the contrary, rather grave. l meal the very fat, not merely plump. have, too, met with fat people wht were exceeding nervous, though it i generally supposed that nervous peo pie must necessarily be lean.