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An Idiots Guide To The Quickest Way To Lose Weight
Our mantra is similar to the famous line from Jerry Maguire, “Show me the money.” “Show me the quickest way to lose weight.” Oh, yeah. Also make it “easy.” We will do just about anything to avoid discomfort. It drives my wife crazy when, rather than sitting still in a line of busy rush hour traffic, I drive miles out of the way winding through back roads just to avoid having to sit there. If I had just been patient we would have probably reached our destination sooner. But, I prefer to keep moving rather than just sitting still. So it is with dieting. We go out of our way to avoid the inconvenience, displeasure, and discomforts associated with a long term healthy lifestyle change and opt for the diet de jour that promises “quick, easy, amazing results.” In this, the final part of a 3-part series on the history of diets, it is apparent from many of the choices that man has made to avoid common sense dieting that we have adopted some incredibly idiotic methods for weight loss. England’s first king, William the Conqueror, bears the distinction of having been on the very first weight loss program. His plan was very similar to an idiotic plan that surfaced in the 1960’s called the Drinking Man’s Diet. King Willy’s diet was definitely “easy” requiring nothing but…liquor. William the Conqueror really did need a diet to maintain his “Conqueror” status. He had grown to such enormous proportions that he could no longer mount a horse, for which, I am certain that his horse was grateful. Ultimately, and we’re not told how long King William stayed on his diet, he was able to mount his steed. However, his enormous belly still led to his early demise. History records that he fell forward on his horse causing his saddle horn to puncture his massive midsection which resulted in his death. In 1898, a fellow named Horace Fletcher developed a diet on which he lost 42 pounds. So he decided to tell others how he did it. All you have to do, reasoned Horace, is chew your food 100 times per minute. I suppose that back then when life was slower and simpler people had time for all that chewing. During this same time period a diet pill was marketed that contained, so they claimed, tape worms. Yes, the Tape Worm Diet. Dr. Lulu Peters made diet plan history in 1918 with the first weight loss strategy that involved counting calories. Of course, back then the question that people were asking was, “What’s a calorie?” The popular diet in the 1930s was the Hollywood Diet which was actually the original grapefruit diet. Somehow, the diet’s developer, settled in on 585 calories per day for 18 days. No doubt you had to eat a whole lot of grapefruit. In addition, the diet plan also consisted of hard-boiled eggs, green vegetables, and Melba toast. Ahh, there’s nothing like a delicious piece of rock hard, dry, tasteless Melba toast with grapefruit. Yum, yum. And so it has gone through the ages. One diet after another designed to help us avoid sensible things like eating in moderation, healthy eating, and getting plenty of exercise. We have popped pills (that killed some of us), taken hormone injections, consumed diet candy and cookies, gone on diets that permitted us to consume all the fat we wanted, and drank cabbage juice. There was even a popular diet called the Sleeping Beauty Diet. After all, you can’t eat while you’re sleeping. Word was that even Elvis tried that one. How about the Vision Diet? It features colored glasses that makes your food look bad. Somebody even came up with a diet called the Cotton Ball Diet. Lots of fiber and it makes you feel full. “You think???” You get the picture. The point is that we go to absurd extremes to avoid what we know to be a difficult task. Losing weight the right way is not easy…and it’s not quick. But…it is necessary. Your life depends on it. Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com Richard Weirich co-hosts the internationally popular Health at Last Radio and has written numerous publications on weight loss, health, and wellness. For tips on the quickest way to lose weight click here and you can also visit the author's website here. |
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