"retro diet" just doesn't sound right
Back in the day, people didn't eat much. They ate just enough. But if you were to go "on a diet," everyone would know exactly what you were talking about. There was no question as to what you would be eating. Or not eating.
Cottage cheese, chicken, tuna, hard-boiled eggs. Black coffee, diet sodas. Dry Melba toast, grapefruit, salads, broth, water, water, water.
Let's see....what else?
These days, people don't like to say the word "diet." They say "This isn't a diet, it's a lifestyle." Or "I"m watching what I eat." Or "Never say DIE - never say DIET!" But everyone still knows exactly what you are talking about.
So, being the Most Boring Food Person Blogger that I am, I have finally found something to eat that I can live with, and what works for me, for now.
The old diet "classics." Hold the Melba toast!
1950's food seems to have an agenda all its own. Just saying the words creates an image of what foods belong and what foods don't.
I wanted to get one of those old belts, that hook onto a stand, and shake your butt. (MINE, actually!) Pity! No one sells them anymore. Do they even have a proper name? So now, I take my daily walk, and wave at the neighbors. And I am still working out on my mini trampoline. And do my "calisthenics." Jack LaLanne would be proud. I guess I need a hula-hoop!
I remember my Mom's "diets" - Tab, Sego? cottage cheese and black coffee.
ReplyDeleteHave fun with your hula hoop!
I made a hula hoop just for exercise!! It's fun! Which reminds me, I should use it more. If you really get one, make sure you get the right size. If it is too small, it is much much harder.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of the fifties, watch a few movies from that time...look how thin most people are. Of course, they smoked and drank like there was no tomorrow, but even the ones that didn't were skinny compared to today's "normal".
I know, right? I look at pictures from my mother's era. "Regular" people had a good look about them...for the most part!
ReplyDeleteHey! Thanks for the comment on my blog!
ReplyDeleteI haven't tried diet cherry dr. peppper yet, but I did just buy my first case of it yesterday. I have a love affair with dr. pepper and I've been afraid to mess with it's regular goodness. But I finally broke down and bought some so we'll see if my love sways!
Come back anytime!
Calisthenics. Ahhhh the memories. I also remember cocktails being called "high balls"... but that was a completely different diet. One I might really embrace, actually. :)
ReplyDeletei like melba toasts!!! things is i like them with lots of fattening pate lol.
ReplyDeletei know what you mean though about how they ate, not in the excess. things are just too easy now i guess- not home made from scratch like it used to be
A positively ancient diet reference from my mother's day: Metracal (which I think was the 1960s prequel to Slimfast). The more things change, the more they stay the same.
ReplyDeleteoh. my. god. i was just talking to Dina (pseudogout) about those "jiggle-your-butt" things and we decided that it would be an AWESOME idea to get one. So funny that you mention it now!!! :)
ReplyDeleteI think I'm going retro, too. When I was around age 9, my mom lost 100 lbs eating boiled eggs, one slice of toast, hamburger patties, green beans, and pickles. What can I say, we were too poor for fancier diet foods! She drank coffee and rode my bike every night.
ReplyDeleteAnd I think calisthenics are much the same as pilates. I loved watching Jack LaLanne!
Is that your mom in the picture? She's very pretty!
ReplyDeleteThanks - that's my mother decades before I was born. She died a few years ago. Had she lived, she would have been almost 90!
ReplyDeleteAnd yes - Jack LaLanne is like Pilates with Hammond Organ music in the background!
We had a booklet around the house when I was really young called 10X (I think) standard Army calisthenics. Had a guy demonstrating in white-T and boxers. Easy breezy.
ReplyDeleteA school chum's dad (in the 60's) had one of these apparatus's in the basement. We had alot of laughs pretending we were fat ladies :)
I guess I projected a wee too much in to the future ... lol
You are such a rabble rouser ... Dieting Classics! blasphemer! hehehe
Do you remember the ab exerciser with the wheel and 2 handles on the side? You'd roll it out in front of you and break your back? hahaha
Come to think of it I think the 60's is when all this craziness started.
Is it not the very best thing to FINALLY find what works? The "thing" that makes it click and puts you on cruise control? Just drive down the road and fuel up now and again. Enjoying the views.
Ain't Life grand, Anne?
Thank you for the link-love and for Phooning!
You are so hip and happenin' man.
If so, I owe my (smaller) hips and happenings to you, and all my wonderful blogging friends.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, Life Is Grand!
All you need IS Love....and maybe an occasional butt shaking!
Those belts...when we moved into a townhouse, they had one in the exercise room. Man did they give a good back rub! I always felt so relaxed after using one. lol
ReplyDeleteCall me weird, but one of my favorite meals is a diet meal my mom and dad ate a lot in the 70s: hamburger patty, cottage cheese and canned peaches. lol Yum.
All this stuff is close at hand, easy to find, easy to fix, low maintenance, REAL food. Proven again and again over decades! Suitable for families - perhaps with a little tweaking.
ReplyDeleteTuna and hard boiled eggs are some of the least expensive proteins around!
Hi Anne-
ReplyDeleteI'm really enjoying your comments on my site. Thanks for visiting!
Classic dieting--whatever works for you babe! The butt jiggler makes me laugh and cringe at the same time. After three ruptured discs in my back, I shudder to imagine what that thing would do to me!
But I do actually like cottage cheese and hard-boiled eggs. Forget the Tab though. Blech.
thats it, im having some egg n tuna tonight. just bought some olive oil kind.
ReplyDeleteif you watch the old black n white movies, have you ever noticed what a "large" drink looks like when ordered?
i swear its as small as a childs drink is now. they had very different ideas about what constitutes "full" back then!
now they have the 64 oz soda. enough sugar to kill a small pony. blast. :)
I have a hula hoop. Its a weighted sports hoop. It leaves bruises on my sides, so I quit using it. Remember those footsie things? You'd swing it around with one foot and have to hop over it with the other. Jump rope and hopscotch?
ReplyDeleteha, I was just going to chime in with what Jessi said, that we were just talking about those!
ReplyDeleteI have a mini trampoline and love it!
No actual small ponies were killed in the making of this blog!
ReplyDelete(see rachel, above!) :D
Fresca. Ayds. Metrecal. My mother had one of the vibrating belt machines; my sister stayed on it for a long time one afternoon and couldn't walk the next day. In our basement there was another piece of "exercise" equipment that was comprised of two low pink benches with legs that fit into the base of the center machine, which flipped from side to side. The idea was to trim the waist, as the upper and lower body remained stationary while your middle rotated back and forth. And you can still buy the vibrating belt machines! Target has one called the "Sunpentown Health and Beauty Belt Massager."
ReplyDeleteI remember my mom watching Jack LaLanne. Seemed like exercise back then was all about not ever breaking into a sweat. Those hairdos had to last a week ya know.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if those vibrating "belts" actually worked! They always looked so funny :-)
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work!
Wow - thanks for all of your comments!
ReplyDeleteI wonder, too about the belts. Maybe they work because they mobilize Lymph tissue ?!