DIET FOR CORPULENCE, OR OBESITY. 319 



from the dietetic measures he adopted. But he brought into prom- 

 inence the fact that such measures will prove most effective without 

 medicinal aid. It has been judiciously pointed out by Dr. Pavy, 

 that the reduction in weight is not only due to the changes made in 

 the elementary constituents of the diet taken, but also in its quan- 

 tity, and that it is unsafe to adopt his scale without discrimination, 

 for it barely comes up to what is regarded as " hospital subsistence 

 diet." 



Mr. Banting states that his original dietary table comprised 

 " bread and milk for breakfast, or a pint of tea with plenty of milk, 

 sugar, and buttered toast; meat, beer, much bread and pastry for 

 dinner; the meal of tea similar to that of breakfast; and generally 

 a fruit-tart or bread and milk for supper." The chief feature of 

 this is the exclusion of vegetables and alcoholic drinks. Subse- 

 quently he adopted the following scale: 



Breakfast at 9 A. M. five to six ounces of either beef, mutton, 

 kidneys, broiled fish, bacon or cold meat of any kind, except pork 

 or veal, a large cup of tea or coffee (without milk or sugar), a little 

 biscuit, or one ounce of dry toast, making altogether six ounces 

 of solids and nine of liquids. 



Dinner at 2 p. M. five or six ounces of any fish except salmon, 

 herrings or eels, any meat except pork or veal, any vegetable 

 except potato, parsnips, beet, turnip or carrot, one ounce of dry 

 toast, fruit out of a pudding not sweetened, any kind of poultry 

 or game, and two or three glasses of good claret, sherry or Madeira; 

 champagne, port and beer forbidden; making altogether ten to 

 twelve ounces of solids and ten of liquids. 



Tea at 6 P. M. two or three ounces of cooked fruit, a rusk or 

 two and a cup of tea without milk or sugar; making two to four 

 ounces of solids and nine of liquids. 



Supper at 9 p. M. three or four ounces of meat or fish, similar 

 to dinner, with a glass or two. of claret or sherry and water; mak- 

 ing four ounces of solids and seven of liquids. 



Sugar, says Mr. Banting, is the most active of all fat-forming 

 foods, for he has repeatedly observed that five ounces of sugar dis- 

 tributed over seven dcvys (less than an ounce a day) augmented his 

 weight nearly a pound by the end of that time. Other prohibited 

 substances do not produce such obvious results; but he made it a 

 rule to avoid all roots or vegetables grown underground, all fat and 

 all farinaceous matters, eating bread only when it was properly 

 toasted. 



For athletic exercises it is often found necessary to reduce the 

 weight and size, and from the regimen adopted in training some 

 hints may be gathered for the guidance of those who are corpulent. 

 For athletes the following dieting has been recommended: Break- 

 fast at 8; the lean of mutton or beef without fat, dry toast, biscuit 

 or oat-cake, a tumbler of claret and water or a large cup of tea 

 without milk or sugar or with a slice of lemon. Luncheon at 1; 



