The Washington herald., 1911-01-29
DIET, NOT EXERCISE,
is SECRET OF YOUTH

You can eat almost anything 50 long
as you are young enough to take exer-
cise." declared a woman whose face and
figure are exceptional I'm often COM
pared to Bernhardt though 1 can't say
fashion 1 am following her. for I'm
middle aged, and I know that I don't
look it.
This youthfulness of mine is kept up
in spite Of the fact that ! lead what
might be called a very hard life. I go
to the opera and have supper afterward;
1 rise rather early and go through my
mail-which is always hard upon the eye,
making wrinkles-and keep up the pace
all day. 1t would not be at all wonder
full il I were to look fully my age.
Il may add that 1 am past the years
when a woman can exercise. l can take
courage or the ambition. the interest or
the time to go upon long tramps or to
work in a gymnasium.
Il began to feel myself growing old a
few years ago. looked about me- Most
of the women of my age were old.
were on the shelf SO far as good looks
went, and some of them were out and
out dowagers. But I noticed that few
were still young
Preserve Beauty by Dieting.
yet here were young looking and
beautiful women telling me that they
preserved their beauty by dieting; it was
puzzling. / went to the youngest look
ing middle-aged woman I knew and
begged her to tell me her secret She
did not want to divulge it at first. for
sne said she had paid for it and had
gone all the way to France to get it
She therefore felt that she was entitled
to it. But by dint of bribery and begging
got it from her. / have since learned
that the secret is known to nearly all
the women who remain young.
The diet is not a fad diet: you can't
be faddist and succeed, they tell me.
You must take a rational amount of food
and it must also be rational food.
THE woman from whom l got the Sc
cret advised me to adopt the continental
habit of taking cup Of coffee immedi-
ately upon awakening, or If you are tea
drinker you can take tea. The tea must
be very weak: if you take coffee it must
be still weaker. but the cup must be big
and the tea or coffee very hot
Il will say here that this diet is for
the busy woman. 1t is not for the woman
who spends her mornings in bed and
whose days are passed in the house. 1t
is for the woman of many engagements.
the one whose duties are so numerous
and varied that she does not see how
sne will ever get through the day.
The breakfast should come about an
hour after the cup of coffee. In my own
case / have my breakfast at s. my cup
II coffee having been slipped at /. l take
the Queen Alexandra breakfast. | have
three very thin slices of brown bread
cut so delicately that they are trans
parent. On these | spread not butter
bu; heavy cream. This. if kept in cold
place. will be so thick that it can be
spread with a knife upon the brown
brc ad.
Her Whole Breakfast.
II do not take fruit for 1 find that
acids do not agree with me in the morn
ing. l do sometimes indulge in baked
apple Will. cream. This makes my whole
breakfast follow it with small cup
of black coffee, which acts as a stimu-
liant and digestive. l find that coffee
with cream does not agree with me. but
l can take it clear or slightly sweetened.
while | am eating and drinking / read
my mail. This forces me to eat in a
leisurely manner. Slow eating is good
for the reason that it deludes the eater.
can easily fancy that I am eating a
large breakfast if I have a morning
paper to beguile the time.
AT II O'Clock am usually out and my
social duties are such that I find myself
confronted with a cup of coffee or tea
about II O'Clock. / take a small cup
omittinS cream or milk. By l am ready
for luncheon.
MY luncheon. when I can take it alone
consists of a baked potato with plenty
of sweet butter. OF course, everybody
knows that sweet butter has no salt in it
so I put plenty of salt on the potato
At the same time l can taste the sweet