DIET

Getting that body

back

is a lot more than

popcorn

I read in a medical

journal that advising a

patient to lose weight

is tantamount to

giving up on them.

I RESPECTFULLY

DO NOT AGREE.

Throughout the ages doctors

have recommended moderation

and balance in diets.

I'm not a diet doctor. I'm

a doctor who has had to

diet to lose those same

15 lbs (165-150) at least

three times in my life.

I rely on counting

calories.

1000 CALORIES

UNDER

MAINTENANCE

GUARANTEES  A  LOSS

AVERAGING 2 POUNDS PER

WEEK

 

A calorie is a

measure of heat:

the amount

needed to raise

a kilogram of

water one degree

centigrade.

 

The caloric value

of any food can

be determined by

burning or

"ashing"it.

The exact precise

approximate

number of

calories you and

I need each day,

to keep our

bodies at a cozy

98.6 Fahrenheit.

That number is

15 X our weight

in pounds:

15 X Wt (in lbs)=

DAILY

CALORIC

INTAKE

(and that's just

to stay warm -

exercise is extra)

 

"I am preparing the sauce for my supper."

remark to a friend who saw him walking rapidly, in Samuel Arthur Bent, comp., Familiar Short Sayings of Great Men, 5^th ed. Rev., p. 507, 1887

....Most of our daily caloric requirement

goes for temperature maintenance,

repair and other biologic houskeeping.

Exercise is a bonus expenditure but no

matter how you slice it, 100 calories is

a one mile jog at 4 mph or better and

that's just a slice of white bread. It's

easier to cut back input.

"I didn't know

what to do

with it so I

put it

in my

mouth."

Mary Bradford

"IF YOU WANT

TO GROW THINNER

DIMINISH YOUR DINNER!"

Henry Sambrooke Leigh,

"A Day for Wishing,"

Carols of Cockayne, 1869

Calories aren't a matter of belief. Calories are hard facts. Calories do count but counting calories was a chore. No wonder so many profess not to "believe" in them.

And the fact is we gain weight

when we take in more calories

than we put out. And we lose

weight we put out more than

we take in.

Output and input are measured in CALORIES.

The numbers are simple:

15 X YOUR WEIGHT =

THE NUMBER

OF CALORIES

YOU'RE INGESTING.

If you are like a certain someone

I know too well, if you're a bit over

5'7" and ate your way up to 165

then you were chomping down

2475 calories every day, to stay

even. That's five Big Macs.

PATHETIC!

The numbers

are simple: 4000 calories

equals one pound.

Of fat.

Yours.

Mine.

Everyone's.

Certain readily diagnosed conditions

such as low thyroid make it harder to

lose weight because they lower or other-

wise alter body metabolism. Lowering

body temperature will reduce the

multiplier 15 - fewer calories are

needed for maintenance. But even in cases

of obesity due to disease: calories OUT

and calories IN still count. The

earth rotates around the sun and

the sun is predicted to come up in

the East for the foreseeable

future.

It has                    always been thus:

"Lunch kills half

of Paris,Supper

the other half."

Montesquieu

(1689-1755)

 

The numbers are simple: if

4000 calories equals a pound

of human fat then if you eat 500

calories less than maintenance

in one french week (8 days) you

will weigh one pound less.

WEIGH YOURSELF OFTEN

give it some time. The guarantee

is only good after 4 weeks. The

losses won't show up consistently

until then. But if you weigh 165

today and eat  1700 calories or

less each day you will weigh 161

in a month and 157 in two and

probably less.

The 1700 calories can be

anything but pretty soon you

steer clear of fats for the simple

reason that you get twice as much

eating if you stick to protein and

carbohydrates.

And if you go for 1000 calories

under maintenance (15Xwt)

every day there will be 16 pounds

less of you in two months.

But you might be hungry.

500 Calories less is unnoticed

but to do this you must keep track.

COUNTING CALORIES

CAN BE BORING.

Some years ago I used a calorie

counter sold by Sharper Image

but they discontinued their line.

In July I finally located another

pocket calorie calculator

from Franklin Electronic Books

(1 800 266 5626 SLM 440 LK -

$80 as of November 1998) which

has a bit of a learning curve but

more than rewards the effort.

You scroll to an item, adjust the

portion and enter. When you

"start new day" the device

averages the total with the

preceding 6 days so that after the

first week you're looking at your

average and trying to beat it.

Without really trying, the daily

intake comes down. Without

trying you quickly learn the

caloric values of the foods you eat.

If the commitment is there, it will

work. Of course, there is no

substitute for motivation: diets,

after all,

are will power in action.

"An apple a day keeps the

doctor away;

an onion a day keeps

everyone away."

Saying (American),

in Wolfgang Mieder, ed.,

A dictionary of American Proverbs, p.23 1992

quotes courtesy of

Leonard Frank

With my sister Martha Friedberg

Ocean Beach, SF

c 1970

(Leonard is a vegetarian and looks

about the same today, 9/11/98. He is also

the editor of the soon to be published

Random House Quotationary -

Leonard will be to the next century

what Bartlett was for this one)

So a few more

Quotes

on the

subject of

FOOD

from

Leonard:

"Man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live." Moses, Deuteronomy 8:3 (King James Version)

"Man is a creature who lives not upon bread alone but principally by catch words." Robert Louis Stevenson, title essay (2), Virginibus Puerisque, 1881

"Man does not live by bread alone, but he also does not live long without it." Fredrick Buechner, "Bread," Wishful Thinking: A theological ABC, 1973;

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