Now overweight is nothing to be alarmed about. It is easy enough to do something about it and do something about it sensibly. Don't lose your head and go on a starvation diet. First talk the matter over intelligently with your family and your doctor. It may be that your extra pounds have come about because of a glandular disturbance, although this is rare. It is more probable that they are a result of overeating. But never take the chance of upsetting your body routine by a silly diet. Always check first with your doctor before you make any plans to lose weight. When you get his O.K., then and only then diet, and diet under his supervision.
When you are dieting, stick to your doctor's advice as to what your proper weight should be. When you reach the figure he has set for you, stop there. Don't try to become underweight on the assumption that you will look more glamorous when you are thin, pale and wan. 'Tain't so. You won't look glamorous at all—just bedraggled and tired out.
Another important thing to remember about a diet is that it is just as important to count the calories you eat between meals as the ones you eat at meals. In fact, many of you would probably not need to diet if you cut down your be-tween-meal nibbling.
Have you ever stopped to add up all those extra snacks you tuck away during the day? A bar of chocolate at recess, Coke and pretzels in the drugstore after school, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches before dinner, and before bed all the leftovers from dinner. When you stop and think about it, all those tidbits add up to quite a sum.
What's more, that's not all the between-meal nibbling that goes on. There is still to be considered all the gorging that takes place at parties, particularly at club meetings and general get-togethers. I am being fair, I think, when I assume that many of you stuff away a good bit of the following: pea-nuts, crackers, potato chips, carbonated beverages, and finally a helping of some large, lush pastry.
I speak of in-between eating so forcefully because it's just that kind of eating, a nibble here and a nibble there all day long, that was my Waterloo. In fact, in high school I was renowned for being able to stow away more than any other girl in the crowd. Boys who took me out on a date suffered in their budgets for weeks afterwards. I wasn't just a one-hamburger girl—I was a two- or three-hamburger terror. Need I add that for a time my dates were few and far between?
So I say that if you are worried about your weight, cut down between-meal nibbling. Pass up the party fare and concentrate on eating your fill at mealtime. That's what meals are for.
There is one meal in particular that should not be overlooked—and that meal is breakfast. Now, there are some teens who think that skipping breakfast keeps the weight down. Such, I am sad to relate, is not the case. Non-breakfast-eaters too often find that hunger drives them to nibbling before lunch and nibbling on things that are loaded with calories: things like chocolate, cookies, and pastry.
No, if you are serious about having a good figure you must eat breakfast. I eat a good, substantial breakfast every day. I eat it because I found out that it is the most important meal of the day. It is the meal when your body, after an all-night fast, needs food and is better able to assimilate what it takes in.
If you are one of those Lazy Lils who just can't get up in time to eat breakfast, then you are starting the day off on the wrong foot. If you call downstairs, "Just: five more minutes, Mother," then you had better plan your evenings more systematically so that you get to bed early enough to make you feel rested and raring to go come morning.
Eating a good breakfast may not come easily at first. But after a little practice you'll find you enjoy it. I know I do.
And you feel much better for doing so. Youll have more pep and more energy, and if you stick to the menus I am about to suggest, you'll also have fewer pounds.
Sample Breakfast Menus
1
1 half grapefruit 1 soft-boiled egg
l slice whole-wheat or rye toast (use small amount
of butter) l glass of milk
Coffee or tea (if Mom allows it), but drink it black, no cream or sugar.
2
Orange juice
Ready-to-eat cereal with milk ( Vi cup) and one teaspoon sugar—no more than that (I saw you reach again for the sugar bowl. Put it back, youll learn to do with less.)
l glass of milk
Coffee (black) or tea
3
l half grapefruit
l poached egg on rye or whole-wheat toast, small
amount of butter l glass of milk
4
Sliced orange
Hot cereal, % cup of milk, one teaspoon of sugar l slice of toast (and watch that butter) l glass of milk
These suggested menus are not something dreamed up for this book. These are the result of many years of expert study by people who know what they are talking about, the dietitians. And these diets work. I know: I use them.
There are just a few things I want to note about these menus. One is the absence of any kind of fried food. That is because fried food of any sort is fattening. If you persist in sticking to your favorite sunny-sides-up, your day of reckoning will come. You will be forced to choose between letting out all your waistbands or buying a new school skirt with the money you were saving for a formal.
The other point I want to mention about these menus is the alternating of eggs and cereal. That is done to keep breakfast from becoming monotonous. If you vary your low-calorie dishes, you will tend to forget that you are even on a diet.
After breakfast comes lunch. I don't have to ask what you have been eating at that time of day because I remember what I used to pack away—a meal that would have done justice to a football player. It wasn't long, either, before I began to look like one of the team's tackles.
Many of you bring your lunches to school and buy milk at the cafeteria. That is a good way to avoid temptation—you don't even have to go near the long line of delicious dishes. With a little cooperation from your mother, you can plan to bring a non-fattening and nutritious luncheon. Here are a few ideas about what to pack:
1. Hard-boiled eggs.
2. Small container of cottage cheese.
3. One slice of whole-wheat or rye amount of butter.
4. Fresh fruit (can eat lots of it). 11 bread—smallr.>.
5. American or Swiss cheese sandwich, lots of lettuce—no mayonnaise—use whole-wheat or rye bread.
6. Any kind of lean-meat sandwich.
7. Consomme.
8. MILK.
Any sensible combination of three or four of these items will make a healthful luncheon and one that is light and easy to carry. Probably the only difference between what I have listed and the lunch you are accustomed to packing is the absence here of cake and cookies. But just because they are absent, don't think that you can slip into line and get a few. Oh, no, the desserts were left out on purpose. If the prospect of lunch without a sweet dessert is too gruesome for you to imagine, there's no hope for you. You have allowed your sweet tooth to overrule your wisdom tooth.
On the other hand, there are those of you who bring money to school instead of a lunch-box. You are in a more dangerous position than your lunch-toting friends who turn their backs on the rows of food and can concentrate on hard-boiled eggs. You must go down the line of jelly doughnuts, chocolate cakes, peanut butter sandwiches and such. But stand firm, scoot past these calories, and plant yourself in front of the salads.
Choose from any of the salads, but pay particular attention to the leafy green ones, the vegetable concoctions, and the fruit fantasies. These will be the best for you, because you can push the dressing to ^onc side. Salad dressings, both French and mayonnaise, are taboo for dieters because they are rich and oily. Salads such as chicken, avocado, and tuna fish are not recommended because they contain food oils as well as dressing oils. One of the best choices you can make is hard-boiled egg garnished with water cress—it is chock full of protein that will help to burn up your excess fat.