The book that changed calorie counting (jan 1, 1922 – jan 1, 1926)
Description:
Under the title Diet & Health: With Key to the Calories was published being the only book on calorie counting. Diet & Health became one of the first ‘modern’ dieting book to become a bestseller, and it remained in the top ten non-fiction bestselling books.
So what made the book so attractive?
First, it took the rather complicated idea of calories and simplified it for a mass audience. The author told readers that they should view all their food in terms of calories. A slice of bread was no longer a slice, it was 100 calories of bread. The author's advice was effective. Eat roughly 1,200 calories a day from whatever food group you desired and lose weight. The only exception to this was candy which the author advised against, believing it too easy to binge on. Regarding the efficacy of her system, the author informed readers she herself had weighed upwards of 200 lbs. before dropping 50-70 lbs. eating this way.
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