Low-cholesterol Program. Foods To Avoid.

Soups. All creamed soups are high in fat content. The commercially prepared ones are particularly fat-heavy, and since the fat cannot be readily removed from them, they should not be used. It is always a good idea to read the label carefully on any packaged product from which soup is being made. The law pertaining to the labelling of foods requires a description of any fat contained in the product, so undesirable sources of fat can be avoided.

How Many Years Will Low-fat Living Add To Your Life?

How many years could you add to your life by reducing your weight to normal, and maintaining it there? This is a question that can be answered, and the answer is a dramatic one. No matter what your age may be, you can increase your life span by a definite number of years. What's more, those additional years can be healthy, happy years, full of things that make life worth living - really worth living. In the first six chapters of this book we have heard the part that diet plays in warding off heart disease and in promoting over-all good health. We have seen how your arteries work, and have discovered the nature of the health wrecker - fat. You have been given a program of what foods to eat and what foods to avoid to achieve health, by low-fat living. You have learned how to use dietary supplements and how to count the calories, so as to keep your weight at the proper level. All of these things have been given to you for one purpose - to show you how to live the low-fat way, because the low-fat way is the key to healthier, longer life. Now let's find out how many extra years of health and life you can count on, once you have followed the low-fat way of life.

The Use And Abuse Of Tobacco. Part 3

How can you stop smoking? Perhaps the best insight into "How to Stop Smoking" is Mark Twain's comment: "It's easy to stop smoking - I've done it hundreds of times"! "Doctor," a harassed advertising executive patient of mine said desperately, "I've tried so hard for five years now to give up this awful smoking habit, which I know is so harmful to me, but I just can't seem to be able to. If I stop or even try to, I become so nervous that living with me is utterly impossible. I can't even live with myself. I can't sleep, I can't concentrate, I can't do my work properly, I tremble and go around like Shakespeare's young lover, 'sighing like a furnace,' life doesn't seem worth living. I've tried everything I know or hear of - hypnosis, auto-suggestion, pipes, prayer, preparations on my tongue to make smoking taste bitter, "gimmicks" of all kinds - but I always come back to these - cigarettes. What can I do?" Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, was trained originally as a pharmacologist, and was an inveterate, heavy cigar smoker. Undoubtedly, this habit contributed to his death and great suffering from cancer of the mouth and throat. He recognized his addiction to cigar smoking and its toxic effects on his heart. Yet after stopping several times, he couldn't hold out any longer and found it impossible to work or concentrate without smoking. In a letter to a friend he describes this craving as follows: "I have started smoking again since I still missed it after 14 months' absence, and because I must treat that mind of mine decently, or the fellow will not work for me." (Italics mine.) And still later he wrote, "It was impossible for me to entirely stop smoking, because of my present burden of theoretical and practical worries." Clearly these victims of my "lady nicotine" have become "addicts" of tobacco, and are addicted to it like so many other unfortunates who cannot live without opium, sedatives, or marihuana. The moment they stop tobacco they develop "withdrawal" symptoms that can be truly distressful and even agonizing. Luckily most smokers are not addicts enslaved by tobacco. They can break or modify the habit, so that it becomes harmless although still yielding enjoyment.

The Use And Abuse Of Tobacco. Part 2

How smoking affects the blood vessels. For many years scientists and physicians have studied the effects of smoking on the peripheral blood vessels, i.e., those particularly in the hands and legs. These studies were carried out by all kinds of ingenious instruments that measured the rate of blood flow, the temperature of the tissues around the blood vessels, the degree of narrowing and opening or constriction and dilation of the blood vessels - in all sizes and locations - as influenced by smoking. As a result of these studies it is thoroughly established now that tobacco causes a marked interference with the circulation in the hands, the feet, and the legs. These findings, of course, though very important, are not new to the practising physician, who has seen numerous instances of disease of the blood vessels caused by excessive smoking, mainly through prolonged spasm and constriction of these peripheral blood vessels. Nicotine is the most noxious substance that can effect the blood vessels in man. This is aptly demonstrated in certain diseases such as Buerger's disease (a condition of obliteration of the blood vessels, usually in the legs) which not infrequently require amputation due to gangrene. Still another disease associated with the excessive use of tobacco is Raynaud's Syndrome, a condition characterized by spasm of the small blood vessels in the hands, feet, nose, cheek, and ears. Patients with this disease suffer from blanching of the skin and local pain after exposure to cold, anxiety, fatigue, physical pressure, or shock. This condition may lead to other diseases of the blood vessels. In the conditions of peripheral arteriosclerosis and atherosclerosis, especially of the legs, nicotine has been shown to aggravate and increase the constriction already present in the peripheral blood vessels of human subjects. Patients with this condition are far better off without tobacco.

The Use And Abuse Of Tobacco. Part 1

The agreeable effects of smoking. Smoking tobacco is known from time immemorial to produce the following agreeable and enjoyable reactions:

1. Smoking is part of the social life from the days of primitive man. It introduces a note of friendliness, relaxation, and sociability. It often creates a subtle bond between strangers, or may help "cut the ice" in a hostile atmosphere. It has its origins in ancient rites and religious ceremonies and so is most welcome to both primitive and civilized man on social occasions. To extract every possible enjoyment and benefit from tobacco, man has smoked it, swallowed it, chewed it, drunk concoctions of it, gargled it, sniffed it up his nose, licked it during ceremonies, smoked it through the nose instead of the mouth, used enemas of it, applied poultices of it, and healed wounds with it. Man has even used tobacco to commit suicide and murder. Now hundreds of thousands, probably millions, of people the world over earn their "daily bread" thanks to tobacco.
2. Smoking "soothes" the nerves for many people, and will often help tide them over anxious periods of emotional crises.
3. Smoking often is used to relieve pain and shock, as seen after an accident, in war, or in disasters. It may act for many as a sedative and even permit the smoker to go to sleep after a smoke, which might have been impossible without one. Some of my patients who were addicted to smoking could not sleep through the night without getting up at least once during the night for a smoke. (More about this later.)
4. Smoking is known to cause a "cooler" sensation in the skin due to the temporary constriction or tightening up of the blood vessels in the skin of the body. This temporary "cooling" sensation is momentarily welcome in times of hot weather or when people are nervous, excited or generally "hot under the collar."
5. Smoking may, temporarily, give enjoyment by the action of nicotine, coal-tars, or other ingredients contained in tobacco, by the resultant rise in blood pressure, increase in heart action, release of adrenalin, and consequent increase in blood sugar. These latter physiological and pharmacological effects often cause a temporary feeling of lightness or light-headedness, mental clarity, and what appears to feel like increased physical and mental efficiency.
6. Smoking after meals has been considered one of the most enjoyable aspects of dining. For centuries, it has been regarded as an aid to digestion, and a fitting end to each meal. Even in 1599, Henry Buttes, in his "Dyets Dry Dinner Consisting of eight severall Corses" placed tobacco as the last course of the meal, because of its value in overcoming "sorrow, pain, and constipation."
7. 7. Smoking often establishes a habit, which, like other habits, gives a certain sense of security and expectancy to many people who look forward to their "smoke." It may give a rhythm-like pattern to daily living, just like the rhythm involved in smoking a cigarette, cigar, or pipe; a kind of "ebb and flow" in the breathing process itself.

The indifferent effects of smoking. Millions of people smoke tobacco merely as an incidental habit, which they adopt solely to be sociable in the business world. Like some of my patients who may be businessmen, salesmen, or in other walks of public life, they smoke to put their business associates, colleagues, clients or customers at ease. Some of my patients, following my caution, will merely light the cigarette necessary for social or business amenities, keep it burning, and simply hold it without smoking. Similarly, the woman who smokes at a bridge game, or who smokes after meals to keep their husbands or friends "company," can "take" smoking or "leave it." These smokers usually do not smoke to excess and frequently avoid the toxic effects of tobacco smoking. It is very easy for them to stop smoking and when they have done so, they rarely miss it. As a rule, these individuals have strong will-power and are not "compulsive," as habitual smokers are apt to be.

The effects of smoking on health. Tobacco is a poison. If you were to consume 2 or 3 cigarettes, the effect might easily prove fatal! This is because nicotine, one of the main ingredients of tobacco, is an old established toxin, or poison, affecting the brain, the heart, and other vital organs. The tobacco plant is directly related to the deadly nightshade family of plants. The average cigarette weighs one gram and contains only from 1 to 2 per cent of nicotine - 100 to 200 milligrams (thousandth of a gram). The lethal dose of nicotine required to kill a man usually is only from 60 to 120 mg! In smoking a cigarette the average amount of nicotine inhaled is generally about 2 milligrams. There are thousands of cases of suicides, accidental deaths, and murder recorded in the United States by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Census, as a result of consuming nicotine preparations. Some investigators have found that only a few drops of nicotine base kills wild animals, such as the lion or wolf, within a few seconds. Some animals, like sheep, can tolerate large doses of tobacco. Fortunately, the body excretes or gets rid of nicotine rapidly, not allowing the average amount inhaled to accumulate, unless heavy or excessive smoking is indulged in. If the latter is permitted, then the clinical symptoms of nicotine poisoning often occur, even in the habitual, heavy smoker, who may have developed some tolerance to nicotine. Even when the cigarette is not continually inhaled, there is still at least about 1/2 to 2/3 of the nicotine absorbed into the system through the lining of the mouth, the tongue, and the saliva. Aside from the chief poison, nicotine, there are other well-known poisons present in tobacco: carbon monoxide (when tobacco is burned), arsenic, and coal tar substances are some. The latter contribute to the formation of cancer of the mouth, the esophagus (the gullet) and the respiratory tract, including the larynx, bronchial tubes, and the lungs. Let us consider some of the actions of these poisons that may occur in man from excessive tobacco smoking.

The effect of smoking on the heart. Like many other physicians, in my 25 years of practice I must have treated literally thousands of patients who at one time or other suffered from symptoms of some degree of tobacco poisoning. Some were dramatic, some resistant, some funny and some tragic. Usually the toxic effects on the heart will be noticed by the patient from "skipped" heart beats or palpitations of the heart, nervousness, or a rapid heart rate often producing dizziness, shortness of breath, especially on exertion, headaches from rises in blood pressure, or pains and distress over the front portion of the chest. As described in Chapter 3, I had the opportunity of studying the effects on the heart of various stimuli in a series of volunteers. I examined the effects of stomach distention on the heart through an apparatus I devised at the time, as published m the Journal of the A.M.A. One male patient of mine, in particular, was an instructor in our own medical school, and had a mild case of coronary artery disease. This showed itself by chest pain after exertion or excitement. A habitual smoker, he had improved so greatly under treatment, which included his abstaining from tobacco, that he was now itching to get back to the "weed". In order to demonstrate to him the effects of smoking on his own heart, I asked him to resume smoking for one test period, a habit which I had asked him to stop, because of his angina. After smoking and delightedly inhaling two and one-half cigarettes he developed severe anginal pain over the chest, which reflected itself in striking abnormalities in his electrocardiogram, which I was running continuously during the smoking experiment. Fortunately, I abolished the anginal pain immediately by placing a tablet of nitroglycerine under his tongue. This relaxes and dilates the coronary arteries promptly, thereby stopping the pain.


This experience has been reduplicated in countless patients, since it is well known that tobacco will produce pain and em-harassment of the heart when it is already damaged or weakened by some condition, particularly coronary atherosclerosis. Here additional constriction of the coronary arteries by tobacco smoking, in the already narrowed passageways of the coronary arteries, can lead to further damage to the heart. The term "tobacco angina" or "tobacco heart" was originally employed to describe these chest pains due to the toxic effects of tobacco on the heart. Like many physicians, I advise my patients with heart conditions to refrain from smoking, even in moderation, because of the injurious effects of tobacco on their hearts. The blood pressure is known to rise on an average of 38 points (the systolic, or higher one) in patients with normal but unstable, sensitive blood pressure. And in patients with high blood pressure, tobacco smoking in moderate to heavy amounts has a strong tendency to send the blood pressure even higher than the above mentioned 38 points.

Should You Stop Smoking?

Smoking is the burning question of the day. Everyone wants to know, for certain, the answer to this question: "What is the effect of smoking on my health?" "To smoke or not to smoke" is a frequent topic of conversation of the more than 100 million American smokers. Until recently, the public has been as confused as the medical profession was in the past. Now overwhelming evidence on the harmful effects of excessive use of tobacco can no longer be disregarded. In spite of all this evidence, however, the public is either uncertain or resistant. This is perfectly exemplified by my patient, Mr. R. He was suffering from "tobacco angina," an old term used to describe chest pains in coronary artery disease induced in his case by excessive cigarette smoking. "Dr. Morrison," he said, "I guess I should stop smoking, what with all the newspaper stories on the relationship of excessive cigarette smoking and cancer of the lungs. But I play golf with my family doctor, Dr. X, who is a chain smoker, and I notice my dividends from investments in tobacco stocks keep going up! Now, if cigarettes are harmful to health, why do so many doctors continue to smoke and why does the American public smoke more and more?"

Smoking has been with us for a long time. The smoking habit is known to be deeply ingrained from the very dawn of man's history. Archeologists tell us of their finding evidence of smoking pipes among the South American Indians in Venezuela, 6,000 years before Christ. The legendary origin of the birth of tobacco and the "tobacco habit" is even told charmingly in Greek mythology. Zeus was banqueting with his gods and goddesses on Mount Olympus. During the dancing after the banquet, Vulcan, the god of fire, forging and smelting, was urged to dance. He was ashamed to dance, however, because of his hunchback, and his fear of ridicule. In his nervousness and embarrassment he sought comfort by lighting his pipe with a burning coal and filled Olympus with a dense cloud of foul tobacco smoke. Zeus was enraged at Vulcan's extremely bad behaviour. He cast a thunderbolt at the pipe, which smashed it and spread bits of the pipe and the tobacco all over the world. Rain then fertilized the seed and the tobacco plant grew luxuriantly forever after!


One of my patients, Mrs. A, tells me she is completely at a loss as to which doctors and statisticians to believe. So many seem to be in complete disagreement on the harm from smoking. I tell her that differences in opinion make medical meetings and horse races possible, and that virtually the same controversy raged over 350 years ago. In 1604, King James I was anxious to improve the health and well-being of his loyal subjects. After careful medical advice from his court physicians he issued the following frightening but delightful proclamation on tobacco: "A Custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs (italics - mine), and in the black stinking fumes thereof, nearest resembling the horrible Stygian smoke of the hell pit that is bottomless." The king's apparent first-hand knowledge of hell-fire is a triumph of the imagination.

A little later, in 1689, the Medical School of Paris studied and reported the effects of tobacco smoking upon health and its influence on the span of life. They concluded and maintained for long after that tobacco definitely shortens life, and that it causes colic, diarrhea, "ulcerations of the lungs," asthma, coughs, "pains in the heart," undernourishment and impotence. Enough to frighten even the stoutest of Frenchmen!

Yet despite the death penalty for tobacco smoking, imposed by many kings and rulers in the 16th and 17th centuries, smoking flourished. The reason, apparently, was and is that it is an ingrained part of man's very social life. It is something that must be conquered by intelligence and will-power. Otherwise it becomes a bio-chemical as well as social "addiction."

What is the truth about smoking? Let us now examine the tobacco habit in the light of modern scientific knowledge, and group the advantages and disadvantages of smoking as, "good, bad, and indifferent."

How To Use Dietary Supplements. Part 1

Even a goat wouldn't eat what you eat. It is said that goats will eat anything. At various times their owners have reported that the animals had consumed such things as items of laundry from the clothesline, old shoes, paper (including banknotes), and in one case a horse's tail. With an appetite like that, you would think that Billy or Nanny would gladly accept an invitation to have dinner with us. But such, apparently, is not the case. Not long ago, partly as a joke and partly out of curiosity, a man I know offered the same food that had been prepared for his dinner to a neighbor's goat. He reported that the animal turned aside in disgust from the dishes offered it. Of course, man's dietary requirements differ somewhat from those of a goat. But in meeting those requirements, we have not shown any better sense in choosing our food. You are overfed but undernourished. Health authorities, nutritional experts, and practicing physicians are agreed that although Americans can afford to buy more and better food than any other peoples in the world, their diet is sadly deficient in certain important nutritional elements. We are a nation that is overfed but undernourished. The reason for this is that very often nutritional deficiency can and does occur without any outstanding clinical signs. Also, upper income groups are no more immune than those of a lower economic level. Dr. Norman Jolliffe, Director of the Bureau of Nutrition, New York City Health Department, and one of the country's outstanding authorities on nutrition, recently warned:

It is well established that deficiency disease, even without obvious clinical signs, may impair growth, mental development, resistance to many infections, ability to attain the maximum rate of wound healing, and decrease working ability.

In fact, inadequate nutrition, and incorrect nutrition, comprise a "hidden disease" in the United States - a disease costly in terms both of dollars and lives.

What is wrong with our diet and our eating habits? Many things are wrong with our diet and eating habits. Nowhere in the world is food treated so badly before it is eaten as in the United States. Here it is raised by the use of artificial chemicals. In an all-out effort aimed at quantity, rather than quality, we do everything humanly possible to destroy the original character that the Creator provided and intended for the yield of the earth. Moreover, by the time most of our food reaches the consumer, it is too highly processed, refined, and improperly preserved. To add to this inadequacy, we destroy what nutrient value remains by flame, fire, by watering it down with tap water, and by overloading it with salt, sugar, or seasoning. Then we sit down during hurried and harried business hours and bolt it down. And the result? Some 50 million or more Americans, adults and children, suffer from constipation, bad teeth, skin troubles, digestive disorders, fatigue, nervousness, and a multitude of other complaints. Most of them are caused directly by poor nutrition and sub-clinical vitamin deficiencies. To add to these digestive troubles, modern man has cut his oxygen intake by living indoors, often in artificially heated cells or rooms, and has lost contact with both sunshine and fresh air. This unnatural way of life is undoubtedly responsible for important metabolic changes that have occurred in civilized man. He has brought certain evils upon himself by losing those "catalysts" or "stokers of the body furnace." As a crowning insult to nature, we frequently sit scrunched in a chair most of our days, living in a constant state of tension and apprehension at our work. Man was originally very energetic, physically active and almost constantly engaged in some exercise or other. Today, thanks to our mechanical genius, we tend to depend upon a push-button instead of a muscle. All these factors make it necessary for us to seek "outside help" to make up for our nutritional and hygienic shortcomings.


How to supplement your diet with essential nutrients. One way science has found of helping us accomplish this is to supplement our diet with vitamins and other essential nutrients. Dr. Jolliffe, noted nutritionist whom we quoted earlier in this chapter, not long ago pointed out that the improved nutritional status of our population since 1940 is, in fact, largely due to enrichment of foods and vitamin supplements. States Dr. Jolliffe:

The agricultural scientist and the scientific farmer alike, know that it is not practical nor economic to raise hogs or chickens from purely agricultural products alone. They supplement the diet of their animals with a variety of vitamins, minerals, and other nutritionals. Although man does not like to think of himself as governed by similar nutritional rules as farm animals, we could learn and profit much by following what the scientific farmer practices.

For a number of years, the author has studied the effects of the following food and nutritional supplement programs, recommended to a large number of patients. They produced a striking and gratifying improvement in health levels and well-being. Also of greatest importance was the fact that they were found to be instrumental in lowering the cholesterol content of the blood and in reducing the amount of harmful blood fats. There was a corresponding decrease in the number of colds and infections that patients usually had. They also reported less constipation, nervousness, fatigue, and the like.

The five-step program. Here are the five steps that patients were asked to follow:

1. Include daily as a food supplement at breakfast two to four tablespoonfuls of Lecithin extracted from soya beans.
2. Add to your diet each day B Complex vitamins in the most potent form. Avoid the cheaper preparations which provide only small and ineffectual quantities of the vitamins, and have little or no effect on the body. Your doctor or druggist can advise you which brands provide potent quantities of the vitamins.
3. Also add to your daily diet at least 25,000 units of Vitamin A, and 150 mg. of vitamin C.
4. Take two tablespoonfuls of soya bean oil, corn oil orsafflower oil daily to provide the essential fatty acids necessary to proper nutrition. The oil may be used as a salad dressing, taken with tomato or fruit juice, or in any way you prefer.
5. Include in your diet two to four tablespoonfuls of whole wheat germ each day. This may be eaten as a breakfast cereal with fruit, or sprinkled in your salad.

Now a word about the nature of these health-giving nutrients, and the reason for their use.

How to use Lecithin. 

Now I'm going to tell you about one of the most important nutritional supplements developed in the last 50 years. Make a careful note of it and of how it is to be used, as described in these pages. The least it can do for you is to improve your health and give you added vitality. And it may even help save your life. The substance is Lecithin - a bland, water-soluble, granular powder made from de-fatted soya beans. Soya beans have been an important staple in the diets of people in China and the Far East for centuries. But it was only recently that the health-giving properties of one of the beans' constituents - Lecithin - have been studied. Lecithin is what biochemists call a phosphatide. That means it is an essential constituent of all living cells, both animal and vegetable. As such, it plays a vital role in various phases of body chemistry and function. After more than 10 years of intense experimentation, not only with Lecithin, but with a large number of other cholesterol-reducing preparations used in the treatment of heart disease, atherosclerosis, and allied conditions, we found Lecithin to give the most rewarding result. It was, in fact, not only useful in treatment of heart and blood vessel disease, but also in their prevention.

Lecithin has very recently been shown to have the power of removing atherosclerosis from the arteries of experimental animals. Dr. Meyer Friedman, Dr. Sanford Byers, Dr. Ray Rosenman and their research associates in San Francisco have demonstrated in a most convincing and dramatic manner how injections of Lecithin remove the cholesterol plaques that were deposited in arteries. These fatty plaques were produced in the arteries by feeding large amounts of cholesterol and fats to the animals. They were characteristic of the atherosclerosis found in humans. Dr. Friedman and his co-workers believe that in atherosclerosis, as the fats and cholesterol are removed from the artery walls and flood the bloodstream, the atherosclerotic plaques are dissolved and removed by the Lecithin. The excess cholesterol and fats are thought to be converted by the liver into the bile and then excreted from the body. Although there is no known method of using Lecithin by injection in humans, the very high concentrations in the blood of Lecithin that are desirable for treatment can be achieved by feeding Lecithin and incorporating it into the daily diet.

Low-fat Menus. General Considerations For Low-fat Menus

The menus presented here include well balanced meals of high protein and high nutritional quality, with emphasis on very low-fat and low-cholesterol content. Although cholesterol is contained in all animal and vegetable fats, glandular organs such as brains, liver, kidney, sweetbreads, and giblets are especially high in cholesterol. In the case of liver, however, there are additional protective nutrients called phospholipids, that help overcome it's cholesterol content, and therefore make liver a valuable source of nourishment. Egg yolks and all foods with egg yolks are also high in cholesterol and are to be avoided as are egg noodles, pancake and waffle mixes, cake mixes with eggs, mayonnaise-type salad dressings, etc. Some simple suggestions foods are as follows:

Low-fat Menus. 1200-calorie Menus

On all our low calorie menus no fat, oil, margarine, or batter should be need on any food. Salad dressings should be made with the non-fat recipe as given previously. Trim off fats on all mats; only the lean variety should be used. All fruits should be either fresh or dietetic (canned without sugar but with saccharine or Sucaryl). No sugar or cream should be used for beverages. Sucaryl or saccharine may be used if indicated by your physician.


AVOID ALL FRIED FOODS, JRAVY, NUTS, AVOCADOS; PASTRIES SWEETENED CANNED FRUITS, SUGAR. SWEETENED FRUIT JUICES, SWEETENED CARBONATED BEVERAGES, LIQUORS.

Low-fat Menus. 800-calorie Menus

800 Calorie Diet Menu 1
Low calorie diets don't work
Low FAT diets do not work
Low CARB diets make you miserable


BREAKFAST
1/2 grapefruit
1/2 cup cereal
1/2 toast - no butter
Coffee
1 glass skim milk

LUNCH
Clear consomme - no fat
Rolled Filet of Sole (*)
Broccoli
1 glass skim milk or buttermilk
Tea or coffee - no sugar - no cream
3/4 cup strawberries

(*) Rolled Filet of Sole: 2lbs. rolled filet of sole, 1/2 cup cream of mushroom soup, 1/4 cup skim milk, 1 tablespoon grated onion, 1 teaspoon chopped parsley, 2 tablespoons sherry. Make fish into roll. Bake in casserole with all other ingredients except sherry. Bake for approximately 20 minutes at 300 degrees. Add sherry and serve (3 oz. serving = 185 calories)

DINNER
Small broiled tenderloin, 3 oz. - no fat
Fresh asparagus with lemon juice
1/2 cup carrots
Lettuce hearts with lemon juice
1/2 cantaloupe
Tea or coffee - no sugar - no cream




800 Calorie Diet Menu 2


BREAKFAST
Small glass orange juice
1/2 slice whole wheat toast
2 tablespoons cottage cheese
Black coffee, 1 glass skim milk

LUNCH
Tomato juice cocktail, with 2 crackers
Corned beef hash (*), string beans, pickled beet salad
Dietetic pears, 2 halves
Tea or coffee, 1 glass skim milk

(*) Corned beef hash: 2 oz. canned corn beef, 1 small onion, 2 tablespoons potato, 1/2 cup consomme. Grind all ingredients and thoroughly heat in oven (Calories: 160)

DINNER
1/2 baked breast of chicken (2 oz)
Baked banana squash
Fresh spinach with lemon
Tomato salad with dietetic dressing
D-Zerta with 1/2 sliced banana
Tea or coffee - no cream
Skim milk or buttermilk - no sugar





800 Calorie Diet Menu 3


BREAKFAST
Small glass unsweetened pineapple juice
Baked French toast (*) with 1 slice bread, 2 egg whites
Black coffee
1 glass skim milk

(*) Baked French Toast: 1 slice white bread with crust cut off, 2 egg whites, 1/4 cup skimmed milk, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and sugar. Beat egg whites, add milk, and dip bread in mixture. Bake in moderate oven until light brown. Serve with sugar and cinnamon mixture. (105 calories)

LUNCH
Clear chicken consomme—no fat
2 oz. or 1/4 can dietetic tuna fish on bed of lettuce with carrot stick — dill pickle — with dietetic dressing with quartered tomato
Small baked apple — no sugar
Tea or black coffee

DINNER Broiled lamb chop — trim off all fat
1/2 cup broccoli
1/2 cup carrots
Cole slaw with dietetic dressing
3 small or 2 large fresh apricots
Tea or black coffee — 1 glass skim milk




800 Calorie Diet Menu 4


BREAKFAST
3 stewed primes — no sugar
3/4 cup Pep or Cornflakes
1 glass skim milk
Coffee — no cream, no sugar

LUNCH
2 hot dogs Sauerkraut
1/4 cup Fordhook limas
Grapefruit and orange salad
Junket made with skim milk
Tea or coffee

DINNER
Broiled beef patty small (3 oz)
String beat
Stewed tomatoes
Celery hearts
Watermelon balls, 3/4 cup
Tea or coffee


800 Calorie Diet Menu 5

BREAKFAST
Large glass of juice
1/2 cup Ralstons
1 glass skim milk
Coffee

LUNCH
Bouillon
Shrimp salad: 6 shrimp, 1/4 cup celery, 3 egg whites, dietetic dressing
Carrot sticks
Royal Ann cherries
Tea or coffee
1 glass skim milk or buttermilk

DINNER
Hawaiian beef steak (*)
Shredded zuccini
Whole baby beets
Tossed green salad with dietetic dressing
1/2 cup sliced fresh pineapple
Tea or coffee

(*) Hawaiian Beef Steak: 2 oz. round steak, pepper and salt to taste, ground ginger to taste, 1 small onion, 1/4 cup pineapple, 1/2 cup tomato juice. Saute onion in tomato juice; add ginger and seasoning. Add steak and bake with pineapple in covered dish until tender. (Approximately 258 calories)


800 Calorie Diet Menu 6

BREAKFAST
1/2 cup fresh raspberries or dietetic canned
1 oz. or 1/2 thin slice ham broiled
1/2 toasted roll
1 teaspoon jam
Coffee — no cream
1 glass skim milk

LUNCH
Sauteed chicken liver (*)
Cauliflower with lemon
Fresh spinach
Tomato salad
Dietetic plums (3)
Tea or coffee
1 glass skim milk

(*) Saute with consomme.

DINNER
Baked fresh salmon (small slice—3 oz.)
Stewed celery
Fresh asparagus
Tossed green salad with dietetic dressing
Sliced orange
Tea or coffee




800 Calorie Diet Menu 7


BREAKFAST
1/2 sliced banana
2 small shredded wheat
1 glass skim milk
Coffee

LUNCH
Beef stew (2 oz. beef) with small onion, carrot, celery
Pickled beet salad
1/2 cup sherbet
Tea or coffee

DINNER
Clear chicken consomme
Fresh fruit platter: sliced fresh pineapple, 1/2 cup fresh strawberries, 1/2 sliced orange, 1/2 sliced peach
4 tablespoons cottage cheese
Tea or coffee
1 double Rye Krisp

How To Count The Calories. Part 3

There is only one healthy way to reduce. Our bookstores and newstands bristle with literature full of spectacular claims and quack formulas, all shouting, "Lose those extra pounds the fast, easy way." But the truth is (unless you like to be fooled at the expense of your own health) that there is only one safe and effective way to achieve the correct poundage and to keep it at that figure. That way is to follow a correct nutritional program, and to follow it consistently, one might almost say religiously. To do that means taking over a lifetime job of vigilance and self-discipline. But first you have to make up your mind that you want to do it, and then do it. And then stick to it.

Seven rules for getting your weight down and keeping it down. Once you have given yourself a powerful incentive, and have decided, "I will get my weight down and keep it down," then the following rules will help you:

1. Follow the menus and dietary supplements suggested in this book as closely as possible.
2. As an appetite curb, nibble a few low-fat hors d'oeuvres a little while before mealtime. (This raises the blood sugar level and takes the edge off your appetite.)
3. Eat a substantial breakfast and a small lunch as provided in the menus given in this book.
4. Try to have small servings of the food you eat.
5. Avoid second helpings.
6. Forego dessert if it is high in calories or fats.
7. To know exactly where you stand each day, be a calorie counter, but a serious one. Use the table of foods and caloric values at the end of this chapter.

By glancing at the following table that shows the total number of calories needed daily for a man (or woman) of average weight and height at various ages, you will be surprised to see how much you really overeat. You will observe also that the caloric requirement declines with age. Thus a man who is 5 feet 10 inches tall and has the normal weight of 150 pounds, requires 2020 calories between the ages of 14 and 15, but only 1600 when he is 60. Similarly, a woman of average height (5 feet, 2 inches) and weight (125 pounds) requires 1600 calories when she is 14, but only 1260 calories when she is 60.


Drugs are not the answer. Unless they are needed for other reasons, I always counsel my patients against them. Taking thyroid extract, for example, when it is not indicated from a medical point of view, can damage the heart. A number of other commercial preparations now on the market, used for dulling the appetite, have the undesirable side effects of overstimulating the nervous system or, in some cases, of interfering with the body's metabolism. In the game of reducing, there are no "wild" cards, and there is no way to cheat. You will win or lose, depending upon how well you follow the rules and play your hand. Remember that the amount of money you spend for food is not half so important as the way you spend it. Whether your income is $3,000 a year or $50,000, the proper food in the proper amount is within your reach. Not only is such a program wise and helpful for you, but think how many years of good health and happiness you can offer your children. A survey made not long ago revealed that of almost three-fourths of the nation's children studied, not a single one rated top health grades in strict medical examinations! Such a deplorable and widespread epidemic of malnutrition can easily be corrected if you will bring to the vital subject of nutrition the same dedicated parental care that you do to other phases of your children's lives. You have nothing to lose, and precious years of life to gain.

How To Count The Calories. Part 1

If 20 million Americans were to appear on the streets tomorrow, each with a cement block weighing between 20 and 40 pounds permanently attached to his person, it would create a tremendous stir. How, you would ask, can they carry a load like that for the rest of their lives? They would command the sympathy of the entire nation. It is quite likely that our Congress itself would enact some kind of legislation to aid them. Fantastic? Not at all. As a matter of fact, such a situation does prevail right at this moment. The only difference is that the weights those 20 million Americans are carrying consist of fat rather than cement. And the burdens are less conspicuous because they are distributed over the body. But from the standpoint of health and the added work load placed on the heart, it makes no difference whether the cargo is cement or adipose tissue. The cost to the individual - in poor health, loss of energy, and in most cases, a shorter lifespan - is the same.

Overweight is a hidden disease. About the only people who seem to take this seriously are physicians and insurance actuaries. At least they are the only ones concerned in terms of health and longevity. They know that overweight is a "hidden disease," responsible for shortening the life of every average American adult by almost five and one-half years.Think what that means. Our own generation will lose a combined 108 million years of life because of overweight! This figure represents many times the number of adult years lost by the premature deaths of young men killed in World Wars I and II. Only in the past few years has the public become even dimly aware of the critical and dangerous results of being a nation of "fat cats." It's time we all began to sit up and take notice. If we learn how to count the calories, we will learn also how to count on more years of vibrant, healthful life. The tables of calorie values given in this chapter can become your easy-to-use weapon for fighting overweight and the bodily and emotional illnesses it brings on. Dr. Louis D. Dublin and Herbert H. Marks of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company were among the first to point to increased death rates attributable to excessive fat. In consequence, there have been a number of campaigns aimed at persuading people to reduce their weights to the normal or even the ideal figure.

Diet for health, not for beauty. Unfortunately, people are intensely human and, to give a new twist to an old maxim, the spirit is willing but the flesh is strong. The result has been a widespread practice of "stop-and-go" dieting aimed not at improved health, but at a more fashionable silhouette. Nothing could be worse than that kind of up-and-down-the-scales program. In the first place, you benefit from reduced weight only if the normal weight is maintained from that time on. Taking it off and then putting it on again is worse than remaining overweight, because it is in the process of becoming fat that a large part of the damage is done. This damage occurs in the blood vessels, liver, and heart - all critical sites of the body. Although the process of becoming fat is more detrimental than being fat, carrying around an over-upholstered frame is also a way to shorten the period of your sojourn on earth. As you put on excessive fat, movement of the blood throughout the body is slowed. The heart has to work harder to keep the circulation going. And the added weight places a greater burden upon your joints, which may develop trouble as a consequence.


Is overweight due to "glandular trouble"? You may often hear laymen express the view that some people are fat because of "glandular trouble." Such cases actually are very few. The reason most people are fat is simply because they eat more food than they actually need for their activities. The only way to cut down on weight is to cut down on eating, to reduce the number of calories in your daily diet.

What causes overweight? There are many causes for overweight. Most people, however, are overweight simply because they overeat. A very small percentage of people are obese due to some endocrine or glandular disorder. Some cases possibly are due to an error in the individual's metabolism. And still another small percentage of cases result from an inherited or constitutional trait that runs in families and is passed on from one generation to another like coloring, or facial and bodily structure. But the causes of obesity in over 95 per cent of the victims are: (1) nervousness, and (2) bad eating habits.

Nervousness is a primary cause of overweight. People overeat from nervousness, either conscious or subconscious, for a variety of reasons. Some people, when they feel anxious, constantly and regularly relieve their anxiety by the elemental satisfaction of eating. As they become more and more anxious, they require more and more food and become more and more fat! A vicious cycle. One of my patients, Judy S., aged 15, is very obese because of the lack of love and appreciation from her mother, who gives all her love and centers all her attention on her 2-year old, sickly little brother. Another patient, Mr. F., a 38-year old sales manager, is fat because he can't seem to stop eating in between meals and all during the evening as he sits by the television. He has been in danger of losing his job because his sales quotas continue to fall off and he feels certain that he will eventually lose his job. But still he eats. The more nervous he gets, the more he eats. Some people are so habituated to living under constant tension in their work or at home that the glands in their nervous and glandular systems constantly drive their blood sugars to low levels. As a result they feel continuously hungry, weak, tired, and tense. Food momentarily raises their blood sugars to normal levels. By eating continuously or at least frequently in between meals, they are able to have the strength and concentration to complete their tasks at work or in the home.

A feeling of failure can lead to overeating. Many other obese individuals eat out of sheer frustration or a feeling of failure. One patient of mine, a 28-year old man, is a brilliant mathematician. He wanted badly to become a physicist and scholar, especially since he was of a quiet, shy nature. Instead, he was prevailed upon to enter his father's large and very successful business. An only son, he was to be "groomed" as his father's successor in the running of the extensive family factories. Each day at work was one of frustration for him as he struggled to learn a business in which he basically had no interest. Probably most frustrating of all was the problem of coping with a hard-driving, dynamic father who dominated him and virtually threatened to crush his entire personality. Result? Every hour or so found him in the company cafeteria for a "breather," and the coffee breaks were easier to extend when some donuts, candy, or biscuits went along for the ride. At meal-hours, getting "oral" gratification from large meals with second helpings seemed to stave off the time for getting back to work during the day and seemed to make life tolerable. This man ate to ward off his constant frustration at his work and his domineering father. But his "solution" far from solved his basic problem; it created a new one on top of it. We all know that the eating of food is man's most primitive necessity for survival. And in order to survive the frustrations, tensions, anxieties, and loneliness that seem to grow worse with time, man often returns to his primitive behavior to give him a sense of some security and the feeling of overcoming his growing worries. A subsequent chapter discusses more fully some ways to combat these tensions. Many of these more severe problems require the care and guidance of experts especially trained in the treatment of emotional disturbances.

Bad food habits a second main cause of overweight. It is remarkable to find how many people eat out of boredom, sheer habit, or to the accompaniment of a newspaper, a book, or a heated business discussion. Many succumb to the habit of eating at a "minute" diner or lunch counter, gulping their food and running a "hoof and mouth" race with Father Time. (He always wins.) Others are trained from childhood to stuff themselves - "finish your plate." An old relic of primitive days when food scarcities or the uncertainties of a next meal or a next day were constantly present. Some call this "scavenger eating;" many children acquire this habit by imitating their parents who may have been raised under food scarcity circumstances. Many men and women are the victims of monotony or plain poor cooking in their meals. They rarely vary the selection and choice of foods out of sheer inertia, indifference, or lack of attention. So they try to make up in quantity what they lack in quality, seeking satisfaction from calories instead of from quality and contrast.

Epidemic Of Atherosclerosis. Part 4

Women have better natural protection against atherosclerosis. If you are a woman, you are less likely to suffer from a heart attack or stroke until well after you pass the half century mark. That is when your protective female hormones give out, and you become as susceptible to the disease as men. Can't men take female hormones to protect themselves? They can, but if they do, they will "cross the border" and develop a high voice, full enlarged breasts, and other feminine characteristics. So that approach to the problem is not practical. Anything else? Yes, there is something everyone can do without great inconvenience, and with the added reward of improved health in general. It is this: select a diet that will keep your blood fats down to normal levels.

Epidemic Of Atherosclerosis. Part 3

What is the situation in other countries of the world? We have evidence that a prime factor for the great difference between Americans and peoples in various other countries is diet. For example, let us see what happened in Norway during the war years of 1940-1945. Consumption of butter, milk, cheese and eggs (all of them high in fats) had to be sharply curtailed. Did the reduction of fat content in the national diet have any effect on the number of deaths from heart attack? The Norwegian Ministry of Health, which kept accurate records, answered that question with an emphatic "yes." With the reduction in fat consumption, the death rate from coronary attacks declined also. The Norwegians reported that heart deaths were reduced by 31 percent during each year among the urban population. At the same time, there was a 22 per cent drop in heart deaths among the rural population. France, which also had to tighten its belt during the war years, had similar evidence to offer. Mr. Marcel Moine, of the French Ministry of Health, reported to me that from 1941 to 1945, when Frenchmen were on a low-fat diet, the death rate from heart disease was reduced to 20.6 for each 100,000 persons. In the postwar years, when normal fat consumption was resumed, the death rate rose to 25.5 per 100,000 population, or a return to the old, prewar death rate.

Epidemic Of Atherosclerosis. Part 2

What is the cause of this new epidemic? Before taking up our discussion of ways to forestall a heart attack, it might therefore be well to understand more clearly the basic physiology involved. Let us start with a closer look at the arteries, the vessels that carry fresh blood from the heart to the billions of cells in our bodies that are in constant need of nourishment.

 Upon careful examination, we find that the arteries are not the simple tubes we have pictured them to be. Viewing them in cross section, we see that their structure is more like that of a garden hose, containing three layers of tissue in the walls. The inside layer or lining of the artery, which doctors call the intima9 consists of a slippery membrane somewhat similar to the mucous membrane on the inside of your mouth. The in-between layer, known as the media, is formed of muscle fiber. This enables the blood vessel to expand and contract with the heartbeat, to facilitate the flow of blood through it. The outer layer, called the adventitia, is composed of coarse strong fiber& which provide added strength to the artery. In both the outer and the intermediate layers, there are tiny intrinsic blood vessels which nourish the artery itself. 

Epidemic Of Atherosclerosis. Part 1

When a spanish-speaking friend wants to wish you the very best that life can offer, he will often lift his glass with the following toast: "To health and wealth - and time to enjoy both." Embodied in this simple salute are the three basic desires common to people everywhere in all ages.

Why can't we live longer? Everyone wants to live longer. It is one of the most deeply rooted instincts of mankind. Everyone wants to live a life of usefulness and abundance, free of disease and unhappiness. As we grow older, we look forward even more anxiously to increasing our lifespan. We want time to enjoy our achievements, time still to make plans. By the time we reach 60 we realize with the great French painter Gauguin that "life is a split second." We begin to think about all the things we still want to do before we reach our seventieth year. If we are fortunate enough to pass our seventieth birthday, we wonder whether we can't live even longer - perhaps to be 80. Well, why can't we? We are living much longer than did our ancestors a century ago. We have added 20 years to the average life expectancy in America since 1900.

Physiology Of Fat. Part 4

What an extraordinary contrast these two sample menus present in fat content and calories! On the one hand, the total calorie content of a typical American daily diet is about 2800 calories, of which almost 50 per cent is fat. The low-fat diet provides approximately 1800 calories (1000 calories less), which is the normal healthy amount for the average adult housewife or light worker. Here the fat content is about 15 per cent of the total dietary calorie content and is the amount found in the diets of millions of non-Americans who are virtually free of atherosclerosis or heart attacks and strokes. What a clear-cut and simple choice is given us for better health and longer life! The question may still arise, "Isn't fat necessary for normal health and nutrition?" As mentioned previously, the need for fat in humans has never been proven, although certain essential fatty acids contained in some vegetable oils are very valuable for keeping the blood fats lowered. In some people, fat seems to be necessary. The Hottentots are an example. These South African tribes, related to the Australian bushmen aborigines, are unique amongst humans in that their women have enormously developed buttocks, due to extraordinary deposits of fat!

Physiology Of Fat. Part 3

A great proportion of these fats in the blood is combined with proteins, called lipoproteins, which also have been the subject of research by many investigators. Scientists have only recently discovered by new tools of investigation that in these lipoproteins two separate portions can be measured: the alpha and the beta lipoproteins. The first have been shown to be protective against the development of atherosclerosis. They are found predominating in infants, children, and young women who have no evidence of atherosclerosis. On the other hand, the beta-lipoproteins have been found universally in excessive amounts in most cases of active atherosclerosis and so are called atherosclerosis producers or "ather-ogenic." The protective alpha-lipoproteins are spoken of as "anti-atherogenic." The problem of preventing atherosclerosis and its human ravages is the search for ways of increasing the protective alpha-lipoproteins. Chapter 5 discusses lecithin and other nutritional supplements and shows how to use these protective substances against the development of atherosclerosis. One of the greatest factors influential in the current epidemic of heart attacks has unquestionably been the startling increase in fat intake. In the United States alone, the fat content of our diet has just about doubled in recent times. Where fat formerly constituted some 15 to 20 per cent of our meals 50 years ago, it now has jumped to 30 and 40 per cent or more.

Physiology Of Fat. Part 2

Fats - What they are and what they do to you. The outstanding fats eaten daily in the United States and Europe are butter, eggs, whole milk, cream, meat, fish and poultry fats, and cheese in various combinations. These fats, at 9 calories per gram, contain more than twice the amount of calories than protein or carbohydrate does at four calories each per gram. As we have noted and shall describe in later chapters, excessive intake of fats leads to the shortening of life, premature death by heart attacks and strokes, obesity, and numerous crippling illnesses. Fats (or lipids) contain the elements of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen in various combinations of animal and vegetable fats. Examples of animal fats are butter, lard, cream, milk, eggs, and the fat in meats. Vegetable fats are soyabean oil, olive oil, cottonseed and corn oils, and peanut oils; these are found in nuts, coconuts, avocados, margarines and other vegetable fats used in cooking. Fats do not dissolve in water, and when pure they are odorless and tasteless. They are found in most bodily tissues, particularly in combination with other elements, proteins, or minerals. Fats or lipids act as vehicles for the absorption of the natural fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamins A, D, and E. In order for fats to be utilized by the body, they must first be digested and broken down into constituent parts before being absorbed. They are absorbed in the following manner: After the food is masticated and enters the stomach, the digestive system supplies its first fat enzyme called lipase, to begin the digestion of the fat. Enzymes or ferments are unique chemical compounds manufactured by the cells of the tissues. In the digestive tract they are vital for the chemical breakdown of all foods before they can be absorbed.

Physiology Of Fat. Part 1

Is fat necessary? Is like asking "Is Crime Necessary?" or "Is it Necessary to be Fat?" The implication alone is bad, like asking "How Often Do You Beat Your Wife?" Of course, the answer to all of these questions is "no."