None of the rigid dietaries given above could be followed by all persons alike; the amount of food necessary for a large active person would be excessive for one of small stature and indolent habits. Each case must be treated more or less on its merits, remembering always that there are certain broad principles to be followed. Decrease the total amount of food taken, and strictly limit the amount of drink; cut off all sugar, beer, and spirits; eat no potatoes, bread, puddings or pastries; skim all milk, take no soups or fancy dishes; take a fair amount of roast or boiled meat, with fish, game, poultry, and eggs, as well as vegetables and fruit. Take steady exercise, and promote the action of the skin.

The Carlsbad Regime

A little personal experience may be useful after so much theory, and it may be interesting to my readers who suffer from too great an abundance of fat to learn how I put theory into practice and reduced my weight 15 lbs. in three weeks. This result was obtained at Carlsbad, and the regime was as follows: Rose at six, took three tumblers of hot Sprudel water, walking for about twenty minutes between each glass. Breakfast at eight, consisting of one or two small crescents of bread and a boiled egg. On alternate mornings a vapour bath with cold douche, or general massage of the body. Dinner at one o'clock, consisting of a small amount of fish and meat, or poultry, with green vegetables; no potatoes or sweets. In the afternoon a walk of from six to eight miles up the hills in a flannel dress. Supper at seven, consisting of a poached egg, or a small cut of cold meat. There is no doubt that I suffered from constant hunger on this limited diet; but under it my weight steadily diminished, and a feeling of lightness and well-being took the place of previous heaviness. Continuing the diet after I left Carlsbad, I lost another six pounds, and it was some years before the tendency to increase in weight showed itself again. I am quite certain that no one need fear becoming a ponderous size, a source of discomfort to themselves and of disagreeable impressions to others, if they checked the beginning of obesity by suffering the small inconvenience of submitting to a restricted diet for a time.