Frontier Fridays: A Look at Dieting in the 1800s

Quoted from an 1800s domestic help book: "Very corpulent persons are not strong, vigorous, or beautiful. (editor's note: this was the view of heavy people back then, but most were heavy!) The causes of this condition are heredity, excess of sweets, fine flour, sugar, potatoes, pastry, fats or creams. Avoid all starchy and sweetened food as much as possible. Eat bread made from entire wheat flour, beef, mutton, tongue, all kinds of fish, oysters raw or cooked without fats and flour, lettuce, onions, asparagus, coleslaw, celery, stringbeans, sour apples, peaches, strawberries, without cream or sugar, coffee and tea, straight, in moderation. Eat slowly, in moderate quantities. Take no liquid at meals, only water in between meals. Oranges are the best of all fruits."