LIBRARY THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA GIFT OF MISS PEARL CHASE S 1 EAT AND GROW THIN THE MAHDAH MENUS WITH A PREFACE BT VANCE THOMPSON NEW YORK E-P-DUTTON & COMPANY PUBLISHERS K Copyright, 1914 By E. P. BUTTON & COMPANY "Moneo, Domine, ut sis prudens ad victum." TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE I The Tragedy of Fat .... 1 II The Wrong Way 5 III The Right Way 11 IV The Fat Man in Broadway . .18 V Rather Personal 22 VI About the Book 29 How TO EAT AND GROW THIN .... 33 "Forbidden Food" 36 Don't 40 The Laws of Diet 41 Menus December, January, February . 53 March, April, May 60 June, July, August 6? September, October, November ... 74 RECIPES 81 Mussels Mariniere 83 Eggplant 84 Barsch (Duck, Polish Style) ..... 85 Dolmas . ; . 86 Veal Klopps . 88 Salads and Dressing 88 Diet Dressing 88 TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Sorrel and Lettuce . . . . .89 Chives 90 Hashed Lamb Salad 90 Fish Salad 90 Harlequin Salad 91 Artichokes (Vinaigrette) 91 Russian Salad 92 Sourkrout Salad 92 Pineapple Salad 92 Greens 93 THE REASON WHY . 94 A PREFACE BY VANCE THOMPSON THE TRAGEDY OF FAT fate of nations depends upon how they are fed." This historic remark was made a cen- tury ago shortly after the battle of Waterloo by that meditative Frenchman, Brillat-Savarin. He had seen the mighty French empire fall to pieces in the hands of a fat Napoleon. He had foretold the sad event as he watched the young hero take on paunch and jowls and join the gro- tesque band of the gastrophori. No one heeded him. He was a prophet 2 EAT AND GROW THIN without honor. And when the fat man fell and shook Europe to pieces he wrote his famous essay on cor- pulency, in which he tried (as so many have vainly tried!) to lead mankind out into the lean pastures of life. With what splendid clamor did he trumpet the joys of going hungry not as an end in itself, but as a way to aesthetic tenuity. And mankind went on being fat. It did not want to be fat; but it did want to sit at table and eat of roasted and boiled and stewed and baked and with gloomy resignation it ac- cepted the hulking consequences. And fat generation followed fat gen- eration in a procession, at once tragic and grotesque, over the quaking earth. Of course there were some, even THE TRAGEDY OF FAT 3 among Brillat-Savarin's contempo- raries, who battled against corpulency. Lord Byron, a poet famous in those years, tried to starve out the enemy and bombarded him with soda-water bottles and vinegar-cruets in vain. In our day the battle has been more fiercely waged. Men and women of the first social importance have fasted and rolled on the floor in calisthenic contortions. Perhaps they have tri- umphed in a measure; perhaps they have gone forth to table with a more awful and more formidable appetite. The tragedy of fat ! One could write books, plays, poems on the subject. One thinks of the beautiful women one has known loved perhaps who have vanished forever, drowned in an ocean of turbu- 4 EAT AND GROW THIN lence and tallow; of actresses who filled one's soul with shining dreams and now the dreams are wrecked on huge promontories; of statesmen and rulers who cumber the earth, now mere teeth and stomach, as though God had created them, like Mirabeau, only to show to what extent the human skin can be stretched without break- ing. The tragedy of fat ! An ancient man said: "P lures crapula quam gladius" gluttony kills more than the sword; but the saddest part is that it kills with a death more horrible. One may face with fair courage the lean and bony fellow with the scythe meet him with grim fortitude; but the boldest man shud- ders at the thought of a fat death; as one who sinks in a sebaceous sea. II THE WRONG WAY IT is a melancholy fact that one is what one is born to be. One's des- tiny is written more or less clearly on one's face. Thus, statisticians aver, out of a hundred persons who die of consumption, ninety have brown or fair hair, a long face and a sharp nose. This calculation may not be scrupu- lously exact, but there is less doubt as to the assertion that out of a hundred who are corpulent there are ninety with short faces, round eyes and blunt noses. Young and beautiful a girl passes she is dainty, rosy, alert, with a roguish nose and adorable cheeks; 5 6 EAT AND GROW THIN but one knows that a little further down the road of life she will be seized upon by the Occult Powers and muf- fled in fat for that destiny is written in her round, young face. And is there neither cure nor pallia- tion? There are on the assurance of a distinguished statesman who has tried them all at least one hundred obes- ity cures. One may boil out the fat or bake it out or drug it out; one may resort to the more natural and more economical method of the hibernat- ing bear, and live on it. Unfortu- nately all these methods have two irre- mediable defects : In the first place, they are not per- manent; And, secondly, they are injurious. THE WRONG WAY 7 It is evident that a fat man in tolera- ble health he is never in perfect health, for a fat man is an ill man can boil out a great deal of his fat in a Russian bath, but the cure is neither lasting nor safe. There was a Pari- sian banker, a few years ago, who may serve as an illustrative warning. He had grown very corpulent, weighing awful hundreds of pounds; and, natu- rally enough, his affairs went to the bad. (There is a strange kinship be- tween obesity and financial crime almost all embezzlers are fat.) With what funds he could filch from the bank he fled to a provincial town. There he spent every day in a Turkish bath, going stealthily to his lodgings at dusk. At the end of six weeks his own wife would not have known him. 8 EAT AND GROW THIN The fat had sluiced from him like melted butter from a colander. Con- fident that no one would recognize in him the fat banker, he walked the streets boldly. And at the first corner the police arrested him. They did not know him; they arrested him simply because he looked as though he should be locked up he looked like a man who had stolen a fat man's skin and was running away in it. The skin hung and flapped in dry folds on his cheeks and neck; when they undressed him the sight was more awful still. The detectives (the French detectives are the shrewdest in the world) fed him carbonaceous food and in a few weeks he puffed out to his former di- mensions, when they had no difficulty THE WRONG WAY 9 in identifying him as the runaway banker. All the violent anti-obesity cures are touched with this defect they work no permanent result and, in addition, though they may destroy the fat they leave the body shriveled, wrinkled, uncomely. One might as well be fat as to walk the earth in a fat man's misfit skin. And one had far better be fat than ruin one's digestion with drugs, weaken the body by fasting, and strip it of all symmetry by undue exercise and devastating baths. Excessive fat is a disease, but vio- lent cures end in deadlier diseases. And is there no cure, at once suave and certain? There certainly is; and to make it 10 EAT AND GROW THIN known this little book has been written by an expert in food values Doctrix doctorum. Ill THE RIGHT WAY THERE is nothing new about the Mahdah method of destroying corpulency. It is as old as Galen. It was known to Avicenna and to Fi- cinus, as it is known to the youngest doctor sitting on the tail-board of an ambulance. One may put it in a word or two : Eat the right kind of food. There is no need of starving to get one's weight down to the proper stand- ard of beauty and efficiency. One may dine and dine well if one will but dine wisely. One may indulge one- self in the exquisite pleasures of a per- ii 12 EAT AND GROW THIN fectly composed dinner so long as it be scientifically composed. One may lead a life of perfect gustatorial satis- faction without ascetic restrictions. Even the round-faced girl for whom the hideous phantom of obesity lies in wait at the cross-roads of middle life need not shun the pleasant table- joys; she may eat if only she will wisely eat. Certain foods make for fat; and it is upon these carbonaceous foods- starches and sugars and oils that fat humanity unwisely feeds. (To the scientist there is nothing so tragic on earth as the sight of a fat man eating a potato.) The human animal, lean or obese, must eat and, if he is to know the glory of health, he must eat well. Starva- tion diets never did anyone any good ; THE RIGHT WAY 13 they may be put definitely aside with the wasting drugs and the fat- devouring baths. There is only one right way of com- bating corpulency and that is to eat and grow thin ; it is the way Mahdah points out in her book. There is no guess-work about it. It has been tried and tested on both sides of the sea. In Paris, New York; on both sides of the sea innumerable la- dies walk to and fro in slim pulchri- tude, amazing their friends ; they have come back from the cross-roads of mid- dle life, leaving behind them the obese phantom; and their eyes, young and bright, look out of fair, wrinkleless faces. It is as though they had gone down into the springs of life and come, regenerate, up into the world again. 14 EAT AND GROW THIN Innumerable ladies and a few men. Not so many men ; for it is a dolesome truth that fat men are not so keen on winning back youthful vigor and a young waist as women are ; but there is withal a long list of men who have joined the self-satisfied band of those who eat and grow thin. (We are a vain lot of people, we admit we flaunt our slim comeliness in the face of fat humanity and smile, rather self- consciously, when Monsieur Cent- Kilos and his wife go by, for our ideal of plastic beauty is the panther and not the pig.) And the rule is a simple one : Eat the right food rightly prepared. One might fancy that a table from which the carbonaceous foods were well-nigh banished would have a mea- THE RIGHT WAY 15 ger look, but one has only to read the Mahdah menus read and inwardly digest them to discover that there are subtler gastronomic joys than those af- forded by devouring potatoes or swal- lowing lumps of fat. This diet sup- plies the exact foods required by the fat man or fat woman not only for the reducing of flesh but as well for the upbuilding of healthy tissue and the strengthening of the whole body. The Mahdah menus are arranged accord- ing to the seasons. In summer, for in- stance, the minimum amount of car- bonaceous foods enters into the diet. For the winter months the heat-pro- ducing foods are more freely admitted. There need be no insistence on this point, for the menus themselves are explicit. 16 EAT AND GROW THIN Perhaps it is well to point out that it is not necessary in order to grow thin to eat every dish given in the menu for the day. A man at once fat and poor might find some of the dishes beyond his purse. He is to be congrat- ulated, for he will lose flesh just so much more rapidly than his fat and richer brother. For of course one does not want to eat too much. The idea is to eat enough as a panther does ; and not to eat too much after the manner of a less aesthetic animal. It would be difficult for anyone to get fat or stay fat on the bill-of-fare which has been scientifically prepared for this book, but one will grow thin more quickly, more healthfully, more comfortably, if one does not eat too much even of these lean dishes. THE RIGHT WAY 17 Another point, and one of impor- tance No wine list is printed on the back of the Mahdah menus. This deficiency is not due to any "mystical horror of fermented drinks" it is due to the somber fact that wine makes for corpu- lency. (Beer and ale are worse still.) One who will have his wine, in spite of this warning, should not go beyond a glass or two of thin Rhine-wine. Bet- ter not; in fact drink of any kind is a bad thing at meals even water; that way fat lies; an hour after the meal one may drink, and the best thing to drink is some such mineral water as Vichy or Vittel. (And above all, don't sleep too much.) IV THE FAT MAN IN BROADWAY BRILLAT-SAVARIN, like many French gentlemen, fled to the United States to escape the "Terreur" of 1793. He observed, as many other travelers have, the unusual proportion of fat men in New York. Is it a heri- tage of Dutch ancestry? Or is it due, as Brillat surmised, to the extraordi- nary amount of pastries, pies, sweets and corn-products eaten in that com- monwealth? Conjecture runs amok. Walking in Broadway in the first years of the nineteenth century, Bril- lat-Savarin saw a man a monument, a mountain of a man who might 18 THE FAT MAN 19 serve as lesson to this later (and scarce leaner) century; and he wrote: "The most extraordinary instance of corpulency I have ever seen was that of an inhabitant of New York, whom many of my readers must have seen sitting in a tavern in Broadway, on an enormous arm-chair with legs strong enough to bear a church. Edward was at least six feet four in height; and, as his fat had swelled him out in every direction, he was over eight feet at least in girth. His fingers were like those of the Roman Emperor who used his wife's bracelets for rings ; his arms and thighs were cylindrical, as thick as the waist of an ordinary man ; and his feet like those of an elephant, cov- ered with the overlapping fat of the legs. His lower eyelids were kept 20 EAT AND GROW THIN down by the weight of the fat on his cheeks ; but what made him more hide- ous than anything else was the three round chins of more than a foot long hanging over his breast, so that his face looked like the capital of a truncated pillar. "He sat thus beside a window of a low room opening on the street, drink- ing from time to time a glass of ale, of which there was a huge pitcher always near. "His singular appearance could not fail to attract the attention of the pass- ers-by, but they had to be careful not to remain too long. Edward quickly sent them about their business, calling out, in his deep tones, What are you staring at like wild-cats?' c Go on your way, you lazy body' 'Off with THE FAT MAN 21 you, you good-for-nothing dogs/ During several conversations I had with him, he assured me he was by no means unhappy and that if death did not come to disturb his plans, he could willingly remain as he was to the end of the world." Now this little fragment of local history is not without significance. Edward, elephant-footed, girthed like a caisson, was content to remain as he was. He had none of the shame of fatness that stings even the most in- different American to-day. To-day no fat man pretends that he is paunch- proud. He would fain be like other men his height measurably greater than his width. V RATHER PERSONAL THE worst of being fat is that it makes one ridiculous. The witty man, doomed I am thinking of course of Mr. Gilbert K. Chesterton to walk the world in a suit of tallow, tries to fend off the laughter of others by laughing first at himself. It is heroic and pathetic. Mr. Chesterton (wearing a bracelet for a ring) is a subject for tears, not laughter jest he never so waggishly! No; the fat man may clown and slap himself and wag a droll forefinger, but he is not merry at all; and if one should sink a shaft down to his heart 22 RATHER PERSONAL 23 or drive a tunnel through to it one would discover that it is a sad heart, black with melancholy. Down there, deep under the billowy surface of the man, all is gloom. He knows he is ridiculous. Because when he sits down on a bent pin he never knows it and only hears of it casually from the valet who brushes his trousers the next day rude little boys think he has no feeling. But almost always he is a man of fine and tender feelings; only they are covered up. He falls in love. (It is a destiny like being born with the sun in Aquarius ; always the fat man falls in love.) And this is his bitterest trag- edy. He cannot kneel at Beauty's feet without a derrick to let him down ; and a man who goes a-wooing with a 24 EAT AND GROW THIN derrick looks like a fool. He cannot clasp the dear girl to his heart for fear of smothering her. What can the poor man do^ Fierce burn the fires of love within him and the fiercer they burn the faster flees the terrified girl for he looks like a vat of boiling oil; and that is a fearsome thing to fall into. So, wrapped in tallow, the poor lover goes his sebaceous way wearing his maid- en aunt's bracelet for a ring. Love is not for him ! For him there is only the "window of a low room opening on the street," where he may sit and jeer at himself to keep his friends from jeering. A tragedy in suet. Have I spoken feelingly of that man RATHER PERSONAL 25 who wears the ring whereof you know? I lay down my pen and cross the floor and look into the tall mirror; I am confronted by the reflection of a slight man, slim-waisted, with narrow, beautiful legs and I admire his lean gracility; and then I think of Edward in the historic Broadway window of Mr. Chesterton in Battersea; and I say to the image in the mirror: "Even such as they you might have been had it not been for the Mahdah menus!" For I narrate this fabula of myself. I, too, might have been like Mr. Chesterton without the wit, but with the shame of fatness on me and dia- mond buttons in my shirt. Too long I had lived in the restaurants of the 26 EAT AND GROW THIN world fed too full of Paris (guided by the wonderful table-book of Row- land Strong), of Vienna, of Rome. The gracilities, whereof there has been sufficient mention, were slipping away from me, hiding themselves in fes- toons and furbelows of fat. For months, for a year, I knew it not. One never does know that one is get- ting fat. One knows that other peo- ple are getting fat that they are fat. But oneself? Never ! One's tailor is a liar and his tape-measure a fraud. One's shirt-maker is in the conspiracy. Then at last there comes a day the unavoidable day Do you remember the unhappy swal- low who discovered (with horror) that he did not make a summer? It is that way. One day (with hor- RATHER PERSONAL 27 ror) you discover you are fat. You see it in your mirror. More tragically you may see it in a woman's eyes. Then of two things, one : Either you sink, cowardly, in the sea of tallow and your life as a man is over; or, you "take advice." Frankly I am one of those who took advice. That is why I was asked to write a preface to this book which might have been called "The Fat Per- son's Vade Mecum" ; after all, per- haps "Eat and Grow Thin" is bet- ter; for, if you follow this method, you may eat, eat of savorsome dishes in a word, you may dine and eating you will grow thin. And stay thin. As the book speaks up for itself I do not see what need there is for a preface 28 EAT AND GROW THIN at all. But Mahdah was not of that opinion ; said she : "A book without a preface is as inconvenant as a man without a collar on." Wherefore I button on this collar (a detachable col- lar, fortunately and you can take it off if you wish) and tie round it a mauve necktie. VI ABOUT THE BOOK AS I have said, Mahdah's method is an ancient one known even to the young gentleman who drops off the tail-end of the ambulance. It is based on a scientific knowledge of food values. All that information you may get for yourself. Any reputable phy- sician will tell you for a few hun- dred dollars to stop eating starch, sugar and the like. He will even draw up a pretty diagram in black and white. Or your little boy or little girl if she, too, is out of the kindergarten can do it for you, after school. Only the fatting man or the woman 29 30 EAT AND GROW THIN who is "taking on flesh" is not much better off for advice or diagram. It is all very well to know one can't eat corn and pork and macaroni and those Southern Mammy biscuits; but what CAN one eat? The Mahdah menus tell you exactly what to eat just what food- values should be banked every day. The menus are composed. Each luncheon is complete in itself. Each dinner pro- vides exactly the nutriment needed and in exactly the right proportions. And breakfast? Oh, we of the slim- waisted gracilities breakfast on a cup of yellow tea or a cup of black coffee or a dish of fresh, ripe fruit. With these menus the housekeeper may set a table at once non-fattening and delicious. From these menus the ABOUT THE BOOK 31 man who dines in the restaurants may select what tempting dinners he pleases and get thin by eating them. For (it cannot be said too of ten) these menus were devised by an expert and accomplished dinner-maker ingeni- osa ad gulam. Of course there are certain rules to be observed. If you have bought this book from honorable motives (and not merely to read the preface) you will observe these rules; and if you do, you will find at the end of a few months say three that the image in your mirror will have lost twenty pounds. The many people here and in Paris who have followed this method have lost I state an average two pounds a week after the first three weeks. 32 EAT AND GROW THIN Slowly little by little, pleasurably not sacrificing table- joys you will win back the winsome waist of youth. Possibly, you say? Inevitably. It is axiomatic: Fat foods make fat and lean foods make for leanness. And the Mahdah menus show the lean way. HOW TO EAT AND GROW THIN BY MAHDAH SOMETIMES corpulency is due to over-eating and then it may be checked by the "starvation cure" ; but usually this drastic treatment is dan- gerous and unnecessary. Corpulency (unless it is the result of definite dis- ease) is most commonly caused by wrong eating that is, by eating too much carbonaceous food, such as starches, sugars, oils and other fats. The average diet consists very largely of fat-making foods, beginning with soup and going down through the list of gravied meats, of potatoes, maca- 33 34 EAT AND GROW THIN roni, bread, butter, cream, cheeses, ending with pastries, puddings and sweets. When such a meal is eaten, accompanied by draughts of beer, or a bottle of wine, there is set up in the body a fat-producing factory and the result, especially for those who are predisposed to corpulency, is inevita- ble. It follows that the natural cure for corpulency is to stop eating the fat- producing foods. Then, slowly the body will use up the excess of fat. This process may take a number of months, the time depending upon the degree of corpulency, but it is a process without danger, without injury to the health, without unpleasant self-sacri- fice and, also, the gradual elimination of fat leaves the body healthy and strong and so far from wrinkling or HOW TO EAT 35 deforming the skin restores it to its natural freshness and beauty. The average loss of weight in those who have faithfully followed the method described in this book is for women about two pounds a week after the first three weeks, during which time very little decrease is noticeable ; for men the reduction is a trifle less. A great deal of course depends upon the temperament, the environment and the amount of exercise taken, but anyone who will honestly collaborate in the cure, should lose from twenty to twenty-five pounds in the course of the first three months. And when the desired weight has been attained, the rules need not be so strictly obeyed, but one who has once followed the non-fattening diet is not at all likely 36 EAT AND GROW THIN ever to return to oily, starchy or sugary food. Everyone eats too much. Almost all corpulent persons sleep too much. From these two facts the following rule may be deduced : "Eat less than you have been in the habit of eating; and sleep less." The things you must not eat are these : "FORBIDDEN FOOD" 1st: Pork, ham, bacon and the fat of any meat. 2nd: Bread, biscuits, crackers, any- thing made of the flour of wheat, corn, rye, barley, oats, etc. Cereals and "breakfast foods" must never be eaten. 3rd : Rice, macaroni, potatoes, corn, dried beans, lentils. HOW TO EAT 37 4th : Milk, cream, cheese, butter. 5th: Olive oils, or grease of any kind. 6th : Pies, cakes, puddings, pastries, custards. yth: Iced creams, sirup-sweetened soda-water, etc. 8th: Candies, bonbons, sweets. Qth : Wines, beers, ales, spirits. It may seem at first glance that when these things are taken away there is left only a disguised kind of starva- tion; but the most casual inspection of the Mahdah menus will show that these fattening foods are really super- fluous and that more than enough re- mains to furnish a gourmefs table. What has been taken away is : Starch, sugar, oil and alcohol nothing else; 38 EAT AND GROW THIN and their removal from the diet of the corpulent person means the certain loss of corpulency. The menus, here given, are based on an exact knowl- edge of just what must be eaten in or- der to nourish the body without fatten- ing it. They are so combined that they give the variety of food necessary for a normal person in a proper nutri- tive ratio. In cooking the various dishes it should be remembered that very little butter, and no oil, fats or grease are to be used. None of the plats given in the menus require fats, flour, or sugar. Where sweetening is necessary crystal- lose or saccharine tablets the half- grain tablet is the most convenient should be used. The recipes not usu- ally printed in cookbooks are printed HOW TO EAT 39 at the back of this book. When reci- pes are not given those of any ordi- nary cookbook may be followed, if it is always borne in mind that flour, sugar, milk, etc., are NOT TO BE USED. But only such dishes as are wholly satisfactory without these fat- tening ingredients have been given a place in the menus. DON'T Don't sleep too much. Don't take naps. Don't overeat, even of lean dishes. Don't eat unless you are hungry. Don't drink with your meals. Don't drink alcoholic beverages. Don't eat bread except gluten bread toasted, and this in moderation. Don't take a cab WALK. THE LAWS OF DIET YES, the list of things one must not eat may seem rather appalling when one looks at it for the first time. Soup and bread and potatoes and ba- con and sweets and one's wine or beer seem almost a necessary part of the daily meals to one who has never done without them. Bread perhaps is the hardest thing to do without, but after a while the stomach ceases to demand it and one does not miss it from the daily diet, when gluten bread is used as a substitute. When one is in the habit of drinking with one's meals it is at first difficult to do without every kind of drink even 41 42 EAT AND GROW THIN water but after a few days "dry eat- ing" becomes a matter of course ; and it will be found that a much smaller quantity of food satisfies the appe- tite. The list of things one may eat is far longer than the list of forbidden things. For breakfast there is fruit, fresh or stewed, and twice a week boiled or poached eggs may be served ; coffee or tea without cream or milk, of course, but sweetened, if desired, by crystallose or saccharine. Then in the menus given for luncheons and din- ners there will be found : All kinds of meat (except pig in any form). All kinds of game. All kinds of sea-food fish, lobsters, oysters, etc. THE LAWS OF DIET 43 All kinds of fruit (except the ba- nana and grape) . All kinds of salad except those made of forbidden vegetables. All kinds of meat jellies. Mushrooms, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, olives, celery, pickles, chili sauce, Worcestershire sauce. All green vegetables, such as: string beans, spinach, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, celery, beets, beet-tops (cooked like spinach) , turnips, carrots, squash, celery root, salsify, cabbage, endives, artichokes, radishes, lettuce (which may likewise be cooked like spinach), parsnips, egg-plant, toma- toes, onions, asparagus, escarole (also cooked as spinach or eaten as a salad) and any others mentioned in the list of menus. 44 EAT AND GROW THIN It is evident that one's choice of ap- petizing dishes is not greatly restricted and that one may eat very well with the happy certainty, also, of growing thin. The food that has been selected in the accompanying menus for daily con- sumption contains all that is needed for the sustenance of the body every- thing needed to strengthen brain and body and no needed food-value has been neglected or overlooked. Each menu is composed of an agreeable va- riety of specially selected and spe- cially tested dishes and, by adding a plat of forbidden food (if one wishes to fatten a lean guest) one may give a dinner of which Voisin or Durand would boast. The hostess has only to THE LAWS OF DIET 45- hand the book of menus to her cook and think no more about it. There are many things to consider in preparing a diet, beyond the mere elimination of non-fattening foods. These menus have been arranged not merely to make you thin (any starva- tion diet will do that) but to build up the tissues and give perfect health. To gain this end you must eat and eat well; and that is what you will do when you begin to follow the menus. It is almost as important to guard against fat as it is to get rid of it, so these menus will prove useful to many who have not yet crossed the border line of corpulency. And to the corpu- lent it should be said : "Never under any circumstances even when you- 46 EAT AND GROW THIN have reduced to the desired weight and have, to some degree, discontinued the diet never eat potatoes, rice, white bread (toasted gluten bread is much more nourishing and not fattening), macaroni or sweets. Recipes for the less common dishes are given. The others are in all cook- books. Regarding the Turkish, Spanish and Russian dishes given, they may be eaten or not, as you wish. For in- stance, the Dolmas or Turkish mutton is a very nice dish, and it has nothing fattening in it, but plain boiled mut- ton with mint or caper sauce will be simpler and answer the purpose quite as well if not better. The same ap- plies to the Srasis or veal, Polish style. Plain roast veal can be substituted, THE LAWS OF DIET 47 though Srasis makes an agreeable change. Barsch, also, may be too complicated for some kitchens. In that case re- place it by serving plain roast duck. Baked or steamed apples and pears are recommended. Use crystallose or saccharine to sweeten the water used in the cooking with the addition of a sliced lemon and some nutmeg. For those who are already very stout, I would suggest a lunch consisting simply of salad and fresh, ripe fruit several times a week. For all salads use the Diet Dressing. It is really excellent. For coleslaw use the boiled dressing (without the flour) given in some of the cookbooks. All the vegetables should be boiled in water and seasoned with salt and 48 EAT AND GROW THIN pepper. Paprika is very flavorsome and rare meat juice of any kind (if lean) poured over the vegetables adds to their flavor. Chili sauce and sim- ilar sauces add to the flavor of the vegetables. Those who select the plainest dishes in the menus will reduce the quickest. It is true of course that the nutritive value of food lies in the relation which the several substances bear to the or- ganism they are to nourish. No two human organisms are exactly alike and the thinning diet laid down in these menus must be like any diet of what- ever nature more or less modified to suit individual cases, but such changes are easily made. If the mutton in one day's menu does not agree with you, you have but to replace it with beef; THE LAWS OF DIET 49 and if you do not like duck you may take a fowl instead. But in most of the menus no substitution will be necessary; they are ample enough to permit you to pick and choose. This natural, simple method of cur- ing obesity has brought health and happiness to hundreds of the corpulent and, wherever it has been tried, it has proved unfailingly successful. You have but to follow it faithfully and loyally, and it will do for you what it has done for others for men and women and for children. You have only to persevere and week by week and month by month you will see that you are going back to your healthy, normal condition, having lost all su- perfluous fat and recovered pristine energy. 50 EAT AND GROW THIN Above all, be cheerful. Try and SEE yourself growing thin. Remem- ber the mind exercises a powerful in- fluence on the body. And do not for- get that an indolent, indoor life the breakfast in bed and afternoon-nap kind of life slowly but surely in- creases flesh. In addition to eating the right food try and lead the right life. MAHDAH. THE MAHDAH MENUS THE MAHDAH MENUS FOR DECEMBER, JANUARY AND FEBRUARY (Recipes are given for dishes marked with a Star*.) DINNER Raw Oysters. Roast Turkey, with cranberry sauce. String Beans. Salad Romaine. Fruit. LUNCH Minced Turkey. Fruit Salad. Stewed Prunes. DINNER Mussels (Mariniere) * or fish in sea- son. 53 54 EAT AND GROW THIN Dolmas (Mutton, Turkish fashion).* Broiled Mushrooms. Roast Fowl, with Aspic jelly. Coleslaw (boiled dressing) .* Stewed Apples, with lemon and cinna- mon flavoring. LUNCH Broiled Lobster. Cold Fowl, with any relish. Stuffed Eggs. Sliced Oranges. DINNER Clam Cocktails. Fish. Venison Steak, with Aspic jelly, truf- fled. French Beans. Grapefruit Salad. THE MAHDAH MENUS 55 LUNCH Steamed Oysters. Hashed Venison in ramekins. Apple and Celery Salad. DINNER Oysters. Fish. Roast Guinea-fowl, with pickled wal- nuts. Mashed Turnips. Pineapple Salad.* Gelatine (lemon flavor) . LUNCH Clam Cocktails. Broiled Lamb Chops. Stewed Celery. Sliced Apples with Prunes. j6 EAT AND GROW THIN DINNER Oysters. Fish. Boiled Tongue, with tomato sauce. Roast Pheasant, quince sauce. Brussels Sprouts. Apple Souffle. LUNCH Lobster Salad. Poached Eggs, with puree of sprouts. Apple Sauce. DINNER Clams on the Half Shell (with any relish) . Baked Fish. Roast Veal. Macedoine of Vegetables. Lettuce Salad with Egg (diet dress- ing) .* Fresh Fruit. THE MAHDAH MENUS 57 LUNCH Hashed Veal (Klopps).* Stewed Carrots and Turnips cut in dice. Sliced Oranges. DINNER Oysters. Broiled Fish (in season) . Barsch (Duck, Polish style).* Cauliflower. Sliced Hawaiian Pineapple. LUNCH Boiled Codfish, tomato sauce. Cold Duck. Celery and Apple Salad. Stewed Fruit (in season) . DINNER Oysters. Fish. 58 EAT AND GROW THIN Hare (withsourkrout).* Salsifis. Salad. Fruit. LUNCH Broiled Sweetbreads, with stewed cel- ery. Quail. Endives. Grapefruit. DINNER Oyster Cocktail. Steamed Fish. Partridges in Cabbage. Artichokes (vinaigrette) .* Stewed Plums. LUNCH Poached Eggs, with puree of turnip. Cold Partridge. THE MAHDAH MENUS 59 Coleslaw. Stewed Pears. DINNER Oysters or Clams. Broiled Chicken Giblets. Filet of Beef. Puree of Celery Root. Fruit Salad. LUNCH Olives, Celery, Radishes. Cold Beef, with horse-radish. Baked or Steamed Apples, flavored with lemon. MAHDAH MENUS FOR MARCH, APRIL AND MAY DINNER Oyster Cocktails. Fish (in season) . Boiled or Broiled Chicken. Parsnips and Onions. Salad Romaine. Spiced Fruit. LUNCH Olives, Celery. Minced Chicken with Mushrooms. Pineapple Salad.* DINNER Broiled Shad. Roast Lamb, with mint sauce. 60 THE MAHDAH MENUS 61 Brussels Sprouts. Tomatoes and Cucumbers (diet dress- ing).* Strawberry Water Ice (sweetened with saccharine) . LUNCH Deviled Eggs on Asparagus Tips. Cold Roast Lamb, with mint or to- mato jelly. Salad. Mandarins. DINNER Broiled King Fish. Calves 5 Brains, with truffles. Roast Green Duckling, stuffed with olives and celery. Eggplant (Turkish style) .* Fruit. 62 EAT AND GROW THIN LUNCH Broiled Calves' Liver, with string beans. Cold Duckling. Tomato and Water Cress Salad. Fruit. DINNER Soft-shell Crabs. Broiled Lambs' Kidneys, with chicken giblets. Boiled Corned Beef, with cabbage. Lemon Gelatine. LUNCH Scallops, with chili sauce. Smoked Minced Beef with Eggs. Strawberries. DINNER Shad. Roast Veal. Cauliflower, tomato sauce. Broiled Mushrooms. Compote of Stewed Fruit. LUNCH Kippered Herring. Minced Veal with Dropped Eggs. Fruit. DINNER Clams on Half Shell. Broiled Spring Chicken. Asparagus. Salad. Fruit. LUNCH Lambs' Kidney, with onions.* Vegetable Salad (Harlequin).* Stewed Pears. 64 EAT AND GROW THIN DINNER Boiled Cod Steak (any fish relish) . Leg of Spring Lamb. Puree of Turnips. Artichokes (vinaigrette).* Fruit. LUNCH Cold Lamb. Lettuce and Egg Salad. Sliced Oranges and Pineapple. DINNER Fish. Squab or Pigeons. Puree of Spinach. Russian Salad. Fruit. LUNCH Dropped Eggs, with puree of cauli- flower. THE MAHDAH MENUS 65 Fish Salad. Fruit. DINNER Fish or Crab-flakes. Filet Jardiniere. Asparagus Tips. Sourkrout Salad.* Fruit. LUNCH Russian Salad, boiled dressing (as hors d'ceuvre).* Roast Pigeon, with stewed celery. Fruit. DINNER Filet of Weakfish. Broiled Calves' Brains, with puree of celery. Roast Chicken, with truffles. 66 EAT AND GROW THIN Eggplant, tomato sauce. Fruit Salad. LUNCH Cold Chicken, with meat jelly. Stewed Carrots and Turnips (diced) . Fruit. MAHDAH MENUS FOR JUNE, JULY AND AUGUST DINNER Fish. Roast Sirloin of Beef. String Beans. Stewed Tomatoes. Chicken Salad (use the boiled dress- ing). Fruit Water Ice. LUNCH Cold Roast Beef, with olives and any relish. Chicken Salad. Raspberries. 67 68 EAT AND GROW THIN DINNER Fish. Broiled or Steamed Spring Chicken. Asparagus. Egg and Lettuce Salad. Strawberries. LUNCH Olives, Radishes. Cold Tongue. Puree of Spinach. Iced Tea with Sliced Orange. DINNER Fish. Roast Lamb. Boiled Beet-tops, with hard-boiled egg- Tomato Salad. Stewed Rhubarb. THE MAHDAH MENUS 69 LUNCH Poached Eggs, puree of onion. Cold Lamb. Sliced Cucumbers, with green peppers. Fruit. DINNER Broiled Smelts. Veal Loaf, with new cabbage (boiled) . Salad of Green Beans and Chopped Carrots (cooked). Melon. LUNCH Young Onions. Lamb Chops. Tomato and Lettuce Salad. Cantaloupe Frappe. Iced Tea with Lemon. 70 EAT AND GROW THIN DINNER Fish. Broiled Tenderloin Steak, with kid- neys. Puree of Spinach. Beets. Pineapple, sliced. LUNCH Stuffed Eggs, with tomato sauce. Cold Tongue (with relish) . Blackberries. Iced Tea. DINNER Fish. Roast Capon, with asparagus tips. Cauliflower. Cucumber and Tomato Salad, with cress. Huckleberries. THE MAHDAH MENUS 71 LUNCH Broiled Lamb's Fries, with string Beans. Chicken Salad. Sliced Peaches. DINNER Fish. Broiled Chicken Giblets, with mush- rooms. Roast Lamb, with mint sauce. Endives. Strawberry Ice. LUNCH Clams on half shell. Minced Lamb. Vegetable Salad. Stewed Berries. 72 EAT AND GROW THIN DINNER Fish. Boiled Corned Beef, with new cab- bage and onions. Stewed Celery. Tomato Gelatine, with lettuce and egg- Blackberries. LUNCH Calves' Brains, with tomato sauce. Asparagus Salad. Huckleberry Gelatine. DINNER Fish. Veal Cutlets (cut very thin and slowly broiled) . Boiled Beets with Onions. Pineapple Salad on lettuce hearts. THE MAHDAH MENUS 73 LUNCH Shrimp Salad. Veal Hash. Raspberries and Currants. DINNER Baked Fish. Sweetbreads, with chopped, boiled car- rots. Cold Tongue, tomato sauce. Sliced Cucumbers, diet dressing. Peaches. LUNCH Lamb Chops or Steak. Puree of Lettuce.* Chicory or Dandelion Salad. Fruit. MAHDAH MENUS FOR SEPTEMBER, OCTOBER AND NOVEMBER DINNER Oysters. Lobster. Corned Beef and Cabbage. Spinach with egg. Stewed Apples. LUNCH Steamed Oysters. Cold Corned Beef, with horse-radish. Stewed Prunes. DINNER Broiled Cod, with green peppers. Saddle of Mutton, caper sauce. 74 THE MAHDAH MENUS 75 Squash boiled with young onions. Endive Salad.* Baked Pears, spiced. LUNCH Stuffed Eggs, with hot tomato sauce. Cold Mutton, Aspic jelly. Melon. DINNER Boiled Haddock. Calves Head, sauce vinaigrette.* Roast Veal. Beets. Cauliflower Salad. Sliced Peaches. LUNCH Cold Veal (chili sauce) . Broiled Calves' Liver, with boiled let- tuce.* Stewed Apples and Pears. 76 EAT AND GROW THIN DINNER Oysters. Fish. Roast Goose, with apple sauce. Boiled Onions and Carrots. Green Peppers, stuffed with chopped beans (diet dressing) . Melon. LUNCH Cold Goose. Chicory Salad. Grapefruit. DINNER Oysters. Baked Liver, with onions. Green Beans, with broiled tomatoes. Puree of Chicory. Lobster Salad. Baked Apples. THE MAHDAH MENUS 77 LUNCH Hamburger Steak with Onions. Celery and Apple Salad. Sliced Oranges. DINNER Clams. Fish. Roast Turkey, cranberry sauce. Puree of Cauliflower. Sliced Tongue and Tomato Salad. Fruit. LUNCH Steamed Oysters. Cold Turkey, with cranberry sauce. Stewed Peaches. DINNER Fish. Hashed Turkey, with mushrooms. Vegetable Salad. Stewed Fruit. 78 EAT AND GROW THIN LUNCH Tenderloin Steak. Shrimp Salad. Apple Souffle. DINNER Oysters. Fish. Wild Rabbit or Hare. Boiled Chicory (cooked like spinach) . Tomato Salad. Apricots. LUNCH Broiled Mushrooms. Cold Game. Meat Jelly, with hard-boiled eggs. Watermelon. DINNER Oysters. Fish. Roast Goose. THE MAHDAH MENUS 79 Mashed Turnips. Escarole Salad. Peach Souffle. LUNCH Sweetbreads. Stuffed Olives. Cold Roast Goose. Stewed Pears. DINNER Broiled Salmon. Boiled Beef with Spinach. String Beans. Puree of Scotch Chard. Apple Souffle. LUNCH Hashed Beef, with onions and tomato sauce. Eggplant. Grapefruit Salad. RECIPES MUSSELS (Mariniere) Wash the mussels in several waters, using a small knife and a brush that no particle of dirt may adhere to the shells. When they are perfectly clean put them in a large saucepan with a tumbler of cold water. Into this chop a young carrot, a sprig of parsley, and a large Spanish onion. Tie in a piece of cheesecloth a bay leaf, a little thyme, and rub the sides of the sauce- pan with garlic. Salt and pepper (paprika is excellent). Cook over a hot fire until the mussels begin to open. Then lift them into a hot dish and continue cooking the juice until the carrot and onion are done. Then 83 84 EAT AND GROW THIN strain off the liquid through a cloth and pour over the mussels. The onion and chopped carrot may be left in the liquid if desired. The Mariniere will not be successful unless the mussels have been perfectly cleaned, as any grit that might adhere to them would settle into the sauce. When the de- sired weight has been reached and the diet has been relaxed, use a tumbler full of any dry white wine instead of the water and add a small piece of but- ter to the sauce. EGGPLANT (Turkish Style) Wash and peel two good-sized egg- plants and chop. Put a pound of raw mutton through the meat-chop- per. Season, using paprika. Add a chopped onion and a sprig of parsley. RECIPES 85 When the mixture is very fine, put in a bake dish and pour over a rich to- mato sauce and bake slowly. BARSCH (Duck, Polish Style) Cover a duck, well seasoned, with equal parts of cold water and beet- juice. Bring to a boil and skim. Add one pound and a half of the round of beef, two large Spanish onions, two leeks, a bunch of celery, and half a dozen cloves. Cover and cook very slowly. When the meat is done strain off the bouillon, cool, remove all fat and clarify with the whites of eggs. Carve the duck as for serving, place the slices of beef cut thin round the outer edge of the dish, with alternate rows of beets (which furnished the beet- water) . Thicken the gravy with 86 EAT AND GROW THIN the beaten yokes of eggs by setting in a pan of hot water and stirring as for custard. To this sauce add some cooked mushrooms. Pour over the meat and serve. This sauce, made with the yolk of eggs, should not be eaten until the diet has been relaxed, as eggs are only recommended in mod- eration, but for special occasions it may be indulged in. DOLMAS Take the tender leaves of a young cabbage, place three or four together and fill with the following mixture : Two pounds of raw mutton hashed through the meat-chopper, two large onions, one-half cup chopped parsley, salt and paprika. Stir in three beaten RECIPES 87 eggs, form the mixture into oblong meat balls, roll and tie in thinly-but- tered cabbage leaves. Place the Dol- mas in a bake dish in layers with a plate to press them down and keep in place. Cover with the stock of any meat and cook slowly one and a half hours. When done make a sauce of the juice with the yolks of eggs or sim- ply pour over the Dolmas. The Dol- mas are very good served with tomato sauce. A can of Campbell's con- densed tomatoes, to which has been added a boiled onion, finely chopped, and a bay leaf for flavor, makes an ex- cellent and quickly prepared tomato sauce. See Barsch, page 85, for the sauc* 1 . 88 EAT AND GROW THIN VEAL KLOPPS Two cups of finely minced, cooked veal. Juice of one small onion; salt and paprika. A little grated lemon rind. The unbeaten whites of three eggs. Add the onion- juice, seasoning and lemon rind to the veal and form a paste of the seasoned meat with the whites of the eggs. Shape into small balls and drop a few at a time into boiling salted water. Cook five min- utes and serve plain or with tomato sauce. SALADS AND SALAD DRESS- ING THE DIET DRESSING Two tablespoonfuls vinegar. A pinch of salt and paprika. RECIPES 89 One-quarter teaspoonful mustard (dry) . One teaspoonful of chives chopped fine or parsley. One teaspoonful tomato catsup or, if preferred, Walnut or Worcester- shire sauce. Rub the salad bowl with an onion or with garlic, mix the salt, paprika, and mustard together. Add the vine- gar, catsup and chives and pour over the salad. A finely chopped hard- boiled egg may be used from time to time. SORREL AND LETTUCE Combined makes a tasty salad, like- wise the endive, the field dandelion, celery and chicory. Sprinkle the leaves with the finely chopped chives 90 EAT AND GROW THIN and rub the salad bowl with the garlic or with an onion. CHIVES May be bought growing of any grocer and if kept moist will last quite a long time. They are very nice chopped in the string beans. HASHED LAMB SALAD Hashed lamb or mutton left over makes an excellent salad combined with a cupful of finely chopped cooked string beans, hashed with a few sprigs of mint and the diet dressing. FISH SALAD A chopped fish salad that may be used is made of any kind of cold left- over whitefish, hashed with hard- boiled eggs, a teaspoonful of lemon RECIPES 91 juice and about half a cucumber. Either the diet or the boiled dressing may be used. HARLEQUIN SALAD One cup each of red and white cab- bage. One cup of string beans. One half cup of boiled beets. One chopped onion (boiled) . One half cup of carrots (cooked) . Salt and paprika. The vegetables may be cooked to- gether and diced, chilled, and served with the diet dressing. Of course young spring vegetables are prefer- able. ARTICHOKE, SAUCE VINAI- GRETTE Boil the artichokes until tender and 92 EAT AND GROW THIN serve with the diet dressing, which is in reality a sauce vinaigrette. RUSSIAN SALAD Chop any kind of cold cooked meat (chicken is best) with equal parts of cold cooked fish. To this add cold boiled carrots, green beans, beets, on- ions or any favorite vegetable. Mix two hard-boiled eggs and a little celery hashed very fine in the diet dressing and serve cold. SOURKROUT SALAD Consists of the diet dressing poured over a good dish of sourkrout. PINEAPPLE SALAD Drain a can of Hawaiian pineapple, place on crisp lettuce leaves and pour RECIPES 93 over the diet dressing, without the chili sauce. GREENS There are several kinds of greens that are excellent cooked as spinach, chopped fine and served either with pepper and salt or a little vinegar. These are the beet-tops, large heads of lettuce leaves, Brussels sprouts, es- carole and chicory and Scotch chard. THE REASON WHY THE Mahdah menus are based on the dietary charts issued by the United States department of Agricul- ture (office of Experimental Stations, Mr. A. C. True, director) and pre- pared by Mr. C. F. Langworthy, expert in charge of Nutrition Investi- gations. They furnish the latest and completest statement of food-constitu- ents. It is evident that a thinning diet should eliminate in so far as is con- sistent with general health both the fats which are stored in the body as fats and the carbohydrates which in the body are transformed into fats. This is what has been done in the 94 THE REASON WHY 95 menus in this book. Although the amount of fats and carbohydrates which enter the dishes given for each day is slight, a sufficiency has been ad- mitted to insure the necessary heat- yielding fuels. Here is a list of the foods which MUST NOT be eaten and the reason why. A slight study of the proportions of fat and carbohydrates they contain will make perfectly clear the reason why they are excluded from a diet which is meant to destroy fat. It will be seen that, in certain instances, fruits and nuts are as diligent fat-producers as bacon or corn. The figures given in the following list are quoted from Mr. C. F. Lang- worthy's valuable compilation : FORBIDDEN FOOD AND WHY Because it contains percentage of You must Carbo- not eat Fats hydrates Milk 4 5 Cream 18.5 4.5 Cheese 18.5 2.4 Pork 30 Ham 38.8 Olive oil 100 Bacon 67 Lard 100 Corn 4.3 73.4 Wheat 2.2 73.7 Buckwheat 2.2 73 Rice 2 77 Oats 3 69.2 White bread 1.3 53 96 FORBIDDEN FOOD 97 Because it contains percentage of You must Carbo- not eat Fats hydrates Macaroni 1.5 15.8 Sugar 100 Stick candy ...... 96 Potato 0.1 184 Green corn i.l 19.7 Figs 74 Banana 22 Grapes 1.6 19 Unf ermented Grape Juice 20.3 The chestnut 7.0 74.2 The walnut 63.4 16.1 Raisins 3.3 76.1 All these dangerous fat-making foods have been excluded from the menus; but there remain innumerable dishes at once satisfying and fascinat- ing. THE LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW. Series 9482 B WH7 LTURNED SP"IT1"985 7 , JUN IOOMAY22T98818 I I 3 1205 00431 1252 809 761 o