Slimming Down, 1920s Style

My author and I have embarked on a health regime together. She thinks life in the 21st century is taking a toll on her figure and her health, not to mention her nerves, and I'm inclined to agree. I tend toward a few too many curves myself, especially to suit the straight, boyish silhouette of my day--a look I can achieve only with substantial corsetting. Still, not to gloat, but I am substantially slimmer than Jennifer. So I've sent her a few helpful dieting tips from the 1920s, which I'm sure she'll appreciate after she's calmed down. After all, I'm only trying to help.

The ideal ironing-board figure of the 1920s.

 

 Here's how the average person stays slim in the 1920s:

*Eat real food. Not all this factory-made, processed stuff created in a laboratory. Laboratories bring to mind Dr. Frankenstein, a favorite subject of silent pictures. Having seen various versions on the silver screen, I'd have to say no, thanks, to any food that comes out of a laboratory. You simply don't know what's in it.

*Mind your portions. Here in the 1920s, we drink coffee in a cup and saucer, 8 ounces at a time. Even when we add cream and sugar, it amounts to maybe 45 calories. On my visits to your era, I see people gulping down gigantic mugs of the stuff with all manner of sweeteners and creamers, to the tune of hundreds of calories. At the movies we nibble a bag of popcorn; you moderns order a great tubful and chomp it down like there's no tomorrow. Our Coca-Cola came in a dainty 8-ounce bottle. Yours tops 20 ounces. And so on. Honestly, do you really need all that food? I think not, especially if you're not swinging a hammer, beating rugs, or plowing the back forty all day long.

*Put some elbow grease into your chores. So many things are done for you in the 21st century, or

made much easier by electricity. Forego that noisy lawn mower and push a manual one up and down the lawn a few times. Haul your wet laundry outside and hang it on the line to dry. Scrub the floor on your hands and knees. After all that, if you still need exercise, take a walk!

Of course, we have our quackery, too, here in the 1920s, from tapeworms to fad diets to questionable diet elixirs. Caveat emptor! And we do have those curious Lucky Strike ads urging

people to lose weight by smoking cigarettes, which I understand would never, ever  fly in your day. Still, if the 21st century moderns could stop laughing at us once in a while and take a look at how we did things, they might learn a thing or two.

XOXOXO
Marjorie