From early men's sporting diets and Victorian ladies' voluptuousness, for over a hundred years, Americans have been acutely aware that we are what we eat.
Created by americanmagazine on Aug 11, 2011
Last updated: 08/23/11 at 10:23 AM
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A year after ratification of the 19th Amendment and women’s voting rights, a September 1, 1921, article in the Chicago Tribune, “Throw Corsets Away to Keep Doctors Away,” claimed women had become more interested in work and sports than in their “hearts and appearance.”
Dubbed by Bernarr Macfadden the “The World’s Most Perfectly Developed Clown,” circus clown Otto Griebling advertised his weight training lesson booklets in comic books and boys’ magazines.
http://www.american.edu/americanmagazine/features/20110815-Vester-History-of-Dieting.cfm
With fewer middle-class families able to afford live-in servants, homemaking was increasingly seen as an avenue for women’s fulfillment—and, with the exercise it entailed, slenderness.
“The Cure Consumer,” New York Times Magazine, January 16, 1910, mocked those who jumped from fad to fad—fat-reducing abdominal belts, muscle stretching, breathing exercises. The cult of the body had become a male obsession.
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According to Vogue, women’s sports had become fashionable—and still required the stylized accoutrement of full-length skirts and hats.
http://www.american.edu/americanmagazine/features/20110815-Vester-History-of-Dieting.cfm
Bernarr Macfadden founds Physical Culture, featuring himself on the cover. He publicized his weight training program with naked photos of himself—resulting in repeated obscenity charges.
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Newspapers and men’s magazines were packed with ads touting scientific means to burn fat and build muscle.
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A lack of doctors willing and able to treat obesity was quickly filled by quacks and unproven fat-busting remedies.
http://www.american.edu/americanmagazine/features/20110815-Vester-History-of-Dieting.cfm
German strongman Professor Attila opens a gym in New York, where he famously trained heavyweight champion “Gentleman” Jim Corbett.
http://www.american.edu/americanmagazine/features/20110815-Vester-History-of-Dieting.cfm
The dress reform movement exploded from the margins and into middle-class sensibilities. A fine figure became more a matter of will-power than shaping undergarments.
http://www.american.edu/americanmagazine/features/20110815-Vester-History-of-Dieting.cfm
Lillian Russell, songstress and model of beauty through the turn of the century.
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Illustration of Charles Bennett, the California Hercules, appeared in How to Acquire Strength and Muscle, a book illustrating strength training techniques.
http://www.american.edu/americanmagazine/features/20110815-Vester-History-of-Dieting.cfm
Notions of conspicuous consumption had become so entrenched in American culture that political cartoons frequently depicted greed as fat.
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Voluptuous Lydia Thompson was one of the British Blondes, burlesque singer-dancers who took Broadway by storm.
http://www.american.edu/americanmagazine/features/20110815-Vester-History-of-Dieting.cfm
William Banting’s popular diet discouraged men from eating carbohydrates and endorsed eating meat four times a day—accompanied by plenty of alcohol.
http://www.american.edu/americanmagazine/features/20110815-Vester-History-of-Dieting.cfm
Drawing on early sports magazines for upper-class men, Katharina Vester’s research places the start of American dieting in mid-century.
http://www.american.edu/americanmagazine/features/20110815-Vester-History-of-Dieting.cfm
Tight lacing, a practice made famous by Gone with the Wind’s Scarlett O’Hara, was actually a rare practice that emerged during the 1840–1850s. It was scorned from the pulpit and the medical establishment. To be fertile, women were encouraged to be stout.
http://www.american.edu/americanmagazine/features/20110815-Vester-History-of-Dieting.cfm
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