In the 1830s Presbyterian minister Sylvester Graham touted a vegetarian diet that excluded spices, condiments and alcohol. There was the grapefruit diet of the 1930s, the cabbage-soup diet of the 1950s and at the turn of the 20th century, American President William Howard Taft adopted a diet of low fat, low calorie, after he got stuck in a White House bathtub! It also became fashionable to chew food until liquefied, sometimes up to 722 times before swallowing! In the 1960s housewife, and ‘Weight Watchers’ originator Jean Nidetch, began weekly support meetings after struggling with her cookie addiction. What most of these diets had in common was the idea that to lose weight you should eat fewer calories. However, this doesn’t account for the specific dietary needs of the dieter. Your best bet is to find a diet that works for you, not the diet that works for your neighbour!
Light the Weigh Wellness Centre, LightWeighWellness.com