Is the "Fruit Regimen" good for obesity?
The
"Fruit Regimen" for Obesity
Q. Is the "Fruit Regimen" good for obesity?
A. There is no method superior to the fruit and bran
regimen. This plan is very simple. The diet is made to consist exclusively of
juicy fruits, bran, celery, lettuce, cucumbers, etc. The food should be taken
four times a day or at intervals of about four hours. Convenient hours are
seven a. m., eleven a. m., three p. m. and seven p. m. At each meal two or
three heaping dessert spoonfuls of sterilized bran should be eaten. A very convenient way to take the bran is with stewed
tomatoes or apple sauce, or it may be made into a porridge with tomatoes or fruit
of some sort thickened with a small spoonful
of flour or meal.
Salt should be avoided altogether or taken only
in a very minute
quantity. This is quite important if a rapid
reduction of weight is desired. One or two paraffin
tablets or an ounce of paraffin oil should be taken
at each meal. The purpose of this regimen is to secure very pronounced activity of the bowels which greatly aids in the reduction of flesh.
After a week or two the number of bran
and fruit meals may be reduced to three and the amount of nutriment may be increased by the addition of other
vegetables, one or two small potatoes, a
small slice of bread and butter at each
meal, preferably in the form of zweiback and
small portions of scalded oatmeal.
Care should be taken to avoid making the
regimen so severe as to produce a sense of
weakness and exhaustion. Two or three quarts
of water should be taken daily. Free water
drinking helps to rid the body of tissue wastes.
In cases in which the tongue is coated
as the result of intestinal toxemia, the
"fruit regimen" not only reduces the weight but also changes the intestinal and alkalinizes the blood and tissue fluids. Constipation and intestinal
toxemia with headache or rheumatism as natural consequences is frequent in
obesity, the "fruit" affords a highly useful means of dealing with
disease.