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1940s Experiment

Discussion in 'Health and Wellness' started by abcgrad94, Aug 26, 2010.

  1. abcgrad94

    abcgrad94 Active Member

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    Any of you read this blog? I really like it. It's written by a woman who is trying to lose weight by eating the way people did during WWII--on rations. I am thinking about trying this. It's so interesting, and I have several cookbooks from that era full of healthy recipes.
     
  2. Jon-Marc

    Jon-Marc New Member

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    I'm already on rations--dictated by my health problems (including diabetes) and lack of money. I eat very small meals, and I eat 5-6 times a day. At least two of those times I eat brownies made with Splenda.
     
  3. SBCPreacher

    SBCPreacher Active Member
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    I'm already on a diet. Actually, 2 or 3 diets (I couldn't get enough to eat on one! I was starvin' to death!). :thumbs:

    abc, if you do it, let us know how it goes.
     
  4. Melanie

    Melanie Active Member
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    in the 1940s....in Australia anyhow....it was meat and 3 veg as a rule. Remember that the average Bruce and Shirl did a lot more physical work as well. They would have had 4-6 kiddies, washing day was usually over a copper, baking was labour intensive, grocery shopping was done on foot or by the tram/bus. Housework consisted of hotwater,soap and elbow grease. When Bruce got home the kids were supposedly readying for bed, dinner was sit down with everybody....dad got first preference in food etc because he was the breadwinner.....etc etc.
     
  5. abcgrad94

    abcgrad94 Active Member

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    Yeah, I know the physical labor was much more demanding back then. I don't plan to copy that, though, because I appreciate my dishwasher and clothes washer and dryer to much!

    This shouldn't be too hard of a jump for me, except for the portion control. I already cook from scratch much of the time, so that part won't be too difficult. Eating less sugar, meat, and fats might be a challenge. The plan is to start on Monday and eat "rations" for a week. We'll see how it goes and if I can continue to do it another week. I just want to try it a week at a time. The biggest challenge will be packing hubby's lunches. No chips, processed foods, etc. He and the kids have agreed to try it for the first week with me. There's no way I want to try this while they have Little Debbie Snack Cakes and pop in front of me.
     
  6. Melanie

    Melanie Active Member
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    Snack foods......do you remember that bag of crisps if you ever got one it was a rarity and the size was about 25g as opposed to the 100g or larger. The nonsense of having say 4 serving portions is designed with the manufacturer in mind not a person's wellbeing.

    When did dinnerplates get so much bigger?
     
  7. abcgrad94

    abcgrad94 Active Member

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    You reminded me. . .I found some beautiful old plates at a yard sale and plan to use them for our "1940's" meals. They are much smaller than our regular dinner plates, more like the size of what we now call a "salad plate." It will be easier to have correct portions on a smaller plate.

    I've been pouring over my wartime and depression-era recipe books, and I've noticed something. Back then, they put a lot of thought and effort into a meal. They used eye-catching arrangements of the food when they served it, probably to make the same boring old food look more colorful and appetizing. The women back then literally spent hours in the kitchen trying to make the food look interesting. They seemed to APPRECIATE the food and their job of presenting it to the family. Nowadays we have all kinds of recipes to "save time" in the kitchen so we can do more important things besides cook. Maybe that's part of the reason we gulp down our food and empty calories, because we don't take the time to savor and appreciate it.
     
  8. SaggyWoman

    SaggyWoman Active Member

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    Really!

    I am deciding to use saucers now.
     
  9. abcgrad94

    abcgrad94 Active Member

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    Due to another colitis attack, I decided to put off the 1940's diet until next week. Hopefully that will give my system enough time to recover. I'm still trying to get used to this milk allergy. Seems milk is in everything, and since I'm not quite used to reading EVERY SINGLE LABEL, I get in trouble.
     
  10. glfredrick

    glfredrick New Member

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    My wife and I started to live according to earlier days when we were forced to live off our own land on things we grew, raised, or gathered from the woods. We got out of the habit of buying pre-made items (like the snak-cakes mentioned above) and make most of our meals from scratch (and if possible, fresh) ingredients. Sure tastes better. Not sure if it is that much better for the body, but it can't hurt. We're both in our 50s and no meds for any health-related issues. Both also a bit overweight, but that seems to go with the turf these days.

    We also cook more than half of our meals outdoors on the grill. We got used to that when we had no electric or gas power in the home, and we prefer cooking that way to stove-top or worse, microwave.

    Cedar-plank salmon w/ asparagus and Hollandaise anyone?
     
  11. abcgrad94

    abcgrad94 Active Member

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    That's awesome, glfredrick! We've tried harder at that the past couple of years, but so far our gardening skills aren't the greatest. I've only gotten about a dozen cucumbers, 3 wimpy green peppers, 2 very small messes of green beans, and half a dozen wormy, wimpy ears of corn. Oh, and 2 dozen apples from our little tree we planted a couple of years ago. It's a start, but certainly not enough to live on all year.
     
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