Lose weight like a king
Recommendations concerning the supply rules are present in all religions of the world. First Medical Control Board overweight refers to ancient Egypt. In the papyrus relating to approximately 1550 BC, there is a recipe, according to which the total people suffering from type II diabetes (the name given to the disease in modern classification), recommended to eat wheat grains and fruits okra.
Author of the first diet aims to get rid of excess weight was probably the king of England by William the Conqueror. In 1087 he came to the sad conclusion that no longer able to ride, because no horse can withstand its weight. Wilhelm lose weight like this: all day long he remained in bed, refusing to receive regular food and replacing it with alcoholic drinks - beer and wine. The results of the application of this diet are unknown but chroniclers recorded that in the same year, William died in a fall from a horse ....
Scourge of God as the motor trade
To the XVIII century the products were purified and came to the table a practical man in the natural form. Therefore, cases of obesity were first recorded European physicians only at the end of XVIII - early XIX century. It is significant that in the XIX century diet starting to be used widely enough. However, at that time it was not known what food really need a man for a good balanced diet. People for the most part ate only what was most available. Often diets appearing in that era, recommended consumption of large quantities of bread, potatoes, baked goods and root crops. Fruits were relatively rare, so their impact on the human body shall not be considered. Diet, necessary for the acquisition of muscle strength (for example, widely known "British" diet boxer), considered the consumption of meat, milk, wine and beer.
According to the American writer Laura Fraser, author of the book "Throw weight! False hopes and fat profits in the industry diets" (Losing It - False Hopes and Fat Profits in Diet Industry), the first person who created the original diet based on religious norms, as well as began to advertise, was an American preacher Sylvester Graham. In the early 1830s he developed the theory that overeating leads to obesity, which in turn, becomes the cause of many diseases. And this is the kind of divine punishment for the excesses. To avoid such misfortunes Graham suggested completely abandon the use of meat. In addition, an enterprising minister of religion was able to extract from their theoretical research and it is a material benefit, he went into business - began to produce useful crackers. In contrast to the products of the then bakers, they were made exclusively from wheat flour. It is noteworthy that the culinary recommendations Graham meet modern medical judgment, although he had no medical training, and guided solely by considerations of divine justice.
Another interesting historical example. In 1850, the British William Banting conducted an experiment to combat its own weight after found himself unable to climb the stairs. He sought the help of the Turkish baths, exercise, etc., but not succeeded. Then Dr. William Harvey Bunting suggested completely abandon the flour and sweet. He listened to the advice and as a result began to lose a pound of weight per week. This experience has allowed Bunting write a series of books in which he put forward the theory that potatoes and bread eaten in the human body are converted into fat. The book became the world's first dietary bestseller and was translated into French and German.
Father Dietetics
In 1870-1890 years of the American chemist Wilbur Etvater managed to expand the food on the initial components: fats, proteins and carbohydrates - and the first to introduce the concept of caloric intake. These findings were not accepted by physicians, but they reacted positively US authorities. Commissioned by the Ministry of Agriculture (Department of Agriculture) Scientists have conducted thousands of experiments aims to analyze the nutritional value of different foods. Etvatera now generally considered the father of modern nutrition, because on the basis of human metabolism studies, he concluded that a daily diet of a healthy person should be balanced by the number of proteins, fats and carbohydrates, and calories should not exceed certain limits for people with active or passive way living. In addition, Etvater insisted that a person must receive at least 100 grams of protein a day. He also came to the conclusion that his contemporary wealthy Americans and Europeans (who long worked in Germany) are consuming too much food, especially fats and sweets.
In 1917, Dr. Lulu Hunt Peters, using development Etvatera released book, "Diet and Health» (Diet and Health), which was first published system of counting calories. She wrote: "You have to think about what to eat 100 calories of bread, not a piece of bread." In addition, Peters came to the conclusion that fat people - undisciplined, because they can not control themselves. In fact, it was the forerunner of all modern diet books. The authors follow inevitably drawn to the experience of Dr. Peters. Nowadays, every year around the world produced hundreds of books with new diets, and they all find buyers.
Harmony - a sign of class
At the beginning of the XX century in Western Europe and the United States is no longer perceived as the fullness of evidence solvency and Beauty. In these countries, hunger disappeared, most foods, including meat, became available to the general public. Representatives of the upper classes, especially women, have begun to closely monitor the weight. It was the first time has been a trend that is observed in the world today: the wealthy tend to slim - and the poor, on the contrary, full. Fashion victim on harmony became many celebrities. For example, the famous British politician William Gladstone has developed his own theory: he chewed food for a long time and as a result lost. A doctor Horace Fletcher took the idea and began to Gladstone promote this method of getting rid of excess weight, insisting that every piece of food must be chewed at least 30 times. In turn, this experience has become an admirer of the legendary American millionaire John D. Rockefeller, and the US Military Academy cadets at West Point.
Strychnine for complete
In 1879, the United States invented the first artificial sweetener - saccharin. It started to produce existing and today the company Monsanto. At the same time advertising saccharin was originally addressed not full people and the poor, who finally had the opportunity to constantly drink sweet tea or coffee. Saccharin was the first of a countless number of products that are designed to replace a "harmful" component of food, such as sugar or fat. Thus was born the weight loss industry: started production of special products designed to combat obesity.
A significant number of such funds created by charlatans. As prescription slimming fat people could offer soda, arsenic and strychnine. Or recommended to swallow capsules containing tapeworm larvae - advertising this tool says that after its use people can eat anything and as much as necessary.
Play on fashion for graceful figure and extract from it a benefit sought by many. For example, the 1929 Lucky Strike cigarettes were advertised as a means of losing weight. However, this was nothing new: it is believed that in many armies of the world XVII-XIX centuries smoking was encouraged because it reduces diet soldiers.
Sometimes the use of such medicines, even those that have been approved by the relevant government authorities, are destructive to health. These problems are not uncommon even in our time. For example, the drug Fen-Phen, which was released in the US mass market in 1993, and in 1997 banned the use, after it was discovered that he had a negative effect on the heart, and possibly cause brain damage. In 1996, he constantly took 6 million Americans.
Evolution vs. weight loss
History of the United States shows that interest in diets increased in the era of economic growth and sharply reduced during the war and economic crises. For example, they have become popular before World War I, and then three decades out of fashion - because of wars and the "Great Depression" in the US economy. The peak of popularity of diets came in the 1960s - 1970s (then the most famous model Twiggy became skinny. Then followed by a decline, which in the mid-1990s gave way to the rise again. The vast majority of new diets do not contain absolutely nothing new. According to Professor Richard Mathes, a specialist in the field of healthy food, many of the recommendations contain only new proposals for how to eat, and not about what kind of products should have.
Mats, however, believes that most of these tips are useless. According to him, during the evolution of the human body has acquired certain stable properties and quality, including food and method of use. Years of relatively well-fed life have had a serious impact. Mats sure that people, like any living thing, trying to eat to satiety, when it finds food. With this incredibly difficult fight because our ancestors were never sure whether they will be able to find something to eat in the foreseeable future or not.