A 1934 ad promises that Kelp-A-Malt (contains “more FOOD IODINE than 1600 lbs. of beef”) will pack on the pounds. Er…I mean “solid flesh.”
Today the girl on the left would be highly paid as a super model.
Click here to see the full ad.
The official website of Drs. Michael and Mary Dan Eades, low carb pioneers and authors of Protein Power.
A 1934 ad promises that Kelp-A-Malt (contains “more FOOD IODINE than 1600 lbs. of beef”) will pack on the pounds. Er…I mean “solid flesh.”
Today the girl on the left would be highly paid as a super model.
Click here to see the full ad.
The Arrow is A Critical Look at Nutritional Science and Whatever Else Strikes My Fancy. Sent each week… exclusively on SubStack. Subscribe for free.
Things do indeed change. And then sometimes they stay the same. My first introduction into true low-carb dieting was in 1960 when as a chubby kid I read the Royal Canadian Air Force diet. One of its main rules was keeping carbohydrate intake under 60 grams a day. You think the RCAF was on to something?
Hi Gary–
Low-carb diets go way back further than that. There were published versions of low-carb diets in the 16th century.
Cheers–
MRE
One of the major influences of body idealization is wealth. In 1934, six years of intrusive government had given us so much poverty that thin was normal, and having some body-weight was a sign of success.
Likewise, the easier it is for people to feed themselves, the more “thin” becomes exotic. Being tanned will grow increasingly sexy as the unhealthy taboo against going out in the sun without SPF 64 becomes stronger.
Now that we’ve had (according to your reckoning by dates) 80 years of increasingly intrusive government, why aren’t we all underfed and skinny now?
I agree with you, though. Whatever veers from the norm is more exotic and more desirable.
Cheers–
MRE
Take a look at this bathing beauty postcard from the 1920’s. I love it, but I’m sure many of my readers just looked at it and wondered why I was putting the picture of that fat woman on my site!
http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/b/a/257620.htm
Hi Laura–
Thanks for the great photo. I doubt that this subject would be highly sought in today’s modeling world.
Cheers–
MRE
Just one more reason to avoid soft drinks.
Cheers–
MRE
We haven’t had 80 years of increasingly intrusive government. Government grew increasingly intrusive from 1928 through 1946, when the Republicans took over Congress, stripping much of the socialism imposed by the New Deal and allowing the real end of the Great Depression. It took a great many years for government to get that bad again.
Another climax of government intrusiveness occurred in the seventies, resulting in Stagflation. The Reagan era ended that, reducing the growth of government enough for the real productivity of the private sector to pass it up.
We’re suffering another major expansion of government, during the last six years. Fortunately, technology has gotten to the point where it’s usually something other than food that we have to do without, by now.
You know, I think “skinny” is a codeword for flat-chested, in this case. It looks to me like this stuff was one of many products and devices marketed right through my adolescence in the late 1960’s to “add inches to your bustline”.
I was interested to see that the ad appeared in a 1930’s diet and weightlifting magazine named “Physical Culture”.
robyn
Hi robyn–
I’ve got a great ad from back in the 1920s that I’ll post sometime. It is obviously an ad for breast enhancement but is described as being a device to help take bigger breaths.
Cheers–
MRE