Evening star., 1933-05-06
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

prescribed diet, whether by doctors or
ders or ones own. are these:
/. That 1t is too much trouble.
2. That one misses the old food tastes
and combinations.
3. That the new diet is not filling
enough.
4. That one has to endure too much
comment, mostly adverse, from others.
The first Of these difficulties no one
can settle but ones self.
II dieting Of any sort, or according
to any plan, Is too much trouble for
you. well, that is strictly your own busi-
ness.
Often this Is just the excuse. how
ever. for lack Of will power and deter
mination.
It takes real will to break decisively
with ones ancestors.
It requires determination to blandly
adopt new eating habits, after one has
been using another and traditionally
accepted system.
That one does miss the old food
tastes and combinations there cannot
be the clighest doubt In the world. a
eUery one knows who has ever tried IT.
It Is just too bad that SO many OF
the wrong combinations" as we are
told. are SO pleasant to the taste!
Here one has been brought up al
ones life on eating certain foods to-
gether. combinations which give one q
very full" and physically satisfied feel
ing.
Undoubtedly one comes to expect
such a stuffed" feeling as the result
Of partaking Of q dinner. especially.
It comes as a sad jolt, to many. In
dieting, to discover that so many OF
the newer combinations leave one feel
ing sadly empty inside.
Many Of the most popular foodstufis
have been praised for centuries as
"nourishing": they are all OF that. but
sometimes, and in some instances, prob
ably a great deal too nourishing for the
personal good.
That is, lighter combinations, more
in accord with the best findings of food
research. as developed at the great
universities of the world, would result
in more real good to the human econ
omy They would give the system more
of the elements 1t needs, with less in
clination to stuff the body with a sur
plus of certain types Of materials which
the body does not need in the Quant1-
ties formerly regarded as necessary.
The average person eats until he
feels full" at every meal. and anything
short Of this feeling Is regarded as Pc
culiarly unsatisfying.
-
Those who attempt to reform the
eating habits of mankind declare, al
most unanimously, that II q newer diet
is persisted In. this plain human desire
for surfeit, especially for the feeling OF
fullness. will vanish, under the gen.
tie ministrations Of better eating.
It would be interesting to know how
many laymen ever follow any one sys-
tenn long enough to discover whether
this is true, in their own individual
case, or not.
The breakdown too often comes, as
many know. from the adverse COM
ments Of others. The sneers of the less
well informed are mighty. The fact that
they are satisfied with the old foods
and the old combinations, unhygienic
or otherwise, is buttressed by the un-
escapable fact that grandfather ate as
they did, and grandmother told the
children, Eat your victuals and say
no more about it."
II any one proposes to 60 on a diet,
let him keep 1t to himself, despite his
yearnings to tell it to the world. The
one sure way to spoil a good diet. as
many another, good thing, Is to talk
too much about 1t.