This book has been sitting on my shelf for many years. I added it to my collection of beauty and health related items from the 1940s (and earlier) many years ago - so many years ago in fact, that I am pretty sure I purchased it, but it could easily just have been a gift. Naturally, something clicked inside me just over a week ago (without much time to prepare) and I decided to dust off that old book and take a peek inside. There, while flipping through the pages, at the very end was an 8 week course for losing 20 to 30 lbs. A whole 8 weeks of daily menus to ensure that one's figure would make it's way to being slim. I have, as many others, have put on a bunch of weight over the last few years and for me that made my self esteem plummet. That was it! I was going to do this 8 week course both to hopefully lose the 20-30 lbs as well as just see if I could do this diet from 1940! Before I get into my experience following this book, I wanted to talk about it and it's author.
"Rx for Slimming" was published in 1940 and was written by fitness columnist, Ida Jean Kain. Ms. Kain wrote for the Washington Post and her columns, "Your Figure, Madame", "A Chat to Lose Fat", and "Keep in Trim," was in syndicate in 100s of other newspapers around the country. Her career started in the late 1930's and ran until her retirement in 1969. Her published books include, "Rx for Slimming" (1940), "Get in Shape" (1944), and "Stay Slim for Life" (1958).
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She was married twice and passed away in August of 1997, just months after the passing of her husband earlier that year. She was 95 years old.
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As far as the book itself, "Rx for Slimming" takes on a surprisingly modern look at dieting, if you ignore the modern extremeness used by marketing firms. There are no strict one food diets, there are no long hours in the gym, there are no miracle drugs, quiet honestly the book is merely common sense. Calories in vs calories out. I felt called out a bit when she states, "You may not be eating too much but you are eating too much of the wrong foods." My candy stash felt very insulted!
She talks very kindly, but matter of factly about wanting a slim figure and what it takes to achieve that. The book takes in account both height and frame to give a general rule about your ideal weight. She also specifies that being a few pounds over or under is not going to harm one, but anything more or less, might become something to look a bit into.
Ms. Kain even talks about the ladies who want to add some weight to their very slim figure. While there is no 8 week menus for gaining weight, she still addresses that as well.
There are chapters about the particular exercises one can do to reduce. By our modern standards, these exercises are the standard exercises we all know - yet seem too basic for what we now see as the gym crunch. I appreciate that even with these "simple" exercises, she still puts a warning to only do the first few and build up your strength until you can do the rest.
Her methods of both diet and exercise are definitely a slow and steady wins the race methodology and not the fast and quick ways that many fad diets use to sell products. This is the part that I feel is very modern. Sure, one could argue that a low (to no) fat diet is outdated and is fine to eat, but it's the idea of really watching what you eat and make a conscious effort to learn the calories and keep your body moving that is at the heart of this book.
Now that we've discussed a bit about the author and the book, I think I will save my experience following the "Rx for Slimming" 8 week diet for future weekly posts. I hope you will follow along as I blog about what the diet menus are and how I was able to work with them as well as personal feelings about the experience. I am hoping that I can fulfill this challenge even through the holiday season of 2023!
Until the next post...
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