Dieting 1965 Style

I recently picked up a small, used paperback book entitled, “The Overweight Society.” The publication date was in 1965.

On the cover, a review stated that, “The first objective look at all aspects of diets and dieting – ‘essential…written with wit and forthright honesty… the most useful popular book on the problems of obesity yet written.’” Robert Kirsch Los Angeles Times

Although the problem of obesity didn’t start yesterday, but for me, it was a eye-opener to see the same chapters in this book that I might find in a similar book published today.

As time goes by, I’ll share more content of this book with you, but for now, I thought an appropriate Thursday Thirteen would be to list a few of the chapter titles:

1. Dietland, USA

2. The Motivational Researches and the Overweight Orgy-Lovers

3. What Good are Diet Foods?

4. How to Lose 374,061 Pounds

5. Mrs. LaLanne’s Terrific Body

6. Doing It By Osmosis

7. Is it True What They Say About Cholesterol?

8. When Diets Disagree

9. Starvation, Champagne and Prayer

10. Candy, Quacks and Magic Couches

11. The Psychiatrists and the Unhappy Night-Eaters

12. Coming Soon: The New Non-Foods

13. The Thorn of Plenty

Do these chapter titles make you more curious about this book? Do you really think things have changed over the years?

What do you think, because,

Photo courtesy of uwdigitalcollections

Tags: 1965, book, diets, history, the_overweight_society, thursday_thirteen

Comment by Susanna on July 12, 2008 at 2:03pm: The problem is definitely nothing new. The society we have today is a result of systemic changes over many decades and a result of mass industrialization. We seem to have gone into hyper drive.

Cholesterol - are the levels that are considered unhealthy too low? Is this a result of the pharmaceutical companies wanting to sell their medications and have over time, modified how doctors are educated in this area of medicine?

What is the best method of losing weight - restrict fat, restrict carbs, restrict nothing? What are healthy lifestyles: the French method, the Mediterranean method, the Okinawa method?

Since none of these questions have been answered since 1965, we obviously have not been approaching the problem appropriately. We allow special interest groups to influence the messages we hear, the information we receive from supposed professionals and governmental regulations that are suppose assist consumers to be well informed.