Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1958-05-01

broiled on a skewer, fresh garden
green peas, hot brown bread,
honey-dew mellon and spiced
tea started us off on a friendly
chat that lasted three hours.
The tale of my IL weeks in the
county's weight-reducing course
brought out her notebook and
pencil and | was treated to the
startling experience of being in
terviewed myself.
Some $50 Montgomery County
women who have appeared in this
column in the past three years
will probably be delighted to hear
of this turning of the tables.
One little diIIy of remark,
my trouble isn't with my diet
but with my Iapses,' has given
me quaIms that l am sure my
past subjects will recognize with
empathy.
Henceforth, / will have much
more sympathy with my victims
who after a coy two-hour chat
suddenly get that what have l
said!" look of CONSERVATION.
Ida Jean Kahn has spent life
time helping other people fight
the Battle of the Bulge. Her own
slimness and vitality are living
proof that she practices what she
breaches.
Her latest endeavor has been
two-year writing task in CO.
operation with Mrs. Mildred B.
Gibson, a Chevy Chase house
wife, on the book released this
month Stay Slim For Life" a
diet-cookbook that tells how to
reduce with low fat, low calorie
menus and recipes.
However, her real fame, that
brings her $4,000 letters a month
from all over the country is
based on her column, Keep in
Trim. which has been syndicated
by King Features for Is years
and is now carried in over 100
papers.
Most of the $4,000 letters, those
with human stories of problems
and successes i'm the war on fat,
are answered personally by Miss
Kahn with the help of two assist
ants, her sister Mrs. Niles Bry.
ant, Jr.. and Mrs. Edith Robins.
In addition to her column. book
and letters, Miss Kahn has also
| given two eight-week reducing
courses for the YWCA and at
the moment is leading the
Haight Weight Campaign spon.
sored by the Washington Post.
j All this explains why at the
moment Miss Kahn admits to
being "a little tired although her
energy and the sparkle in her
dark blue eyes tend to deny it.
She has also just come to an
important decision to continue
with her column in spite of the
fact that she has always main.
tanned that she would quit after
25 years.
The truth is that she is much
too interested in the people she
has been helping and the mess
age she wants to get across to
let go at this point.
SO with the help of a months
vacation and fresh approach"
in her column she hopes to con-
tinue. This fresh approach" is
the key to everything she does.
What she means actually is a re.
newal of her contact with people
which she is afraid has been lost
a little in the two years in her
ivory tower" while working on
the book.
The campaign was inspired b,
one of her readers who asked fol
some kind of incentive or chal
lcnge that would help her to sticl
to her diet.
This time the approach will be
a new Hunger Control diet tc
fight the four types of hunger;
hollow, hidden. habit and hum
drum. plus a challenge campaign
TO get her readers to report theil
weight loss each week and com
pare notes.
Miss Kahn will probably TAX,
me TO task for putting too mucf
stress on dieting" as she wants
the emphasis on eating and al
the good foods you can have ant
still grow slim.
Accumulate the positive" is he
psychological approach. Psychol
ogy. the study of people am,
what makes them tick, is the IN
gredicnt that makes her column
more than the usual cut an,
dried diet and recipe type AM
3 why she is so widely read.
, She abhors the current pr,
occupation with dieting that give
SO many of us a disease" abou
eating. All this does is make u
|, feel guilty while we go right o
u stuffing ourselves with In
& wrong kind of foods.
y Instead, she insists on
method Of friendly persuasion