Counseling Sheet

Agatha M. Thrash, M.D.

Preventive Medicine

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• They do not have adequate exercise. Twenty minutes daily is the minimum amount for maintenance. For weight loss, have hours of useful labor daily. Out-of-doors exercise makes available the negative ions, which are ten (10) times more abundant outdoors than indoors.
• Many take bites that are too big, eat too fast, and chew poorly.
• Many are breakfast skippers or breakfast skimpers. Industrial accidents are much more common when breakfast is omitted. School performance is inferior. Snacking on fatty or empty foods becomes a habit.
• Overweight people like refined foods (usually white in the uncolored state—sugar, polished rice, white grain products as macaroni, spaghetti, starch, biscuits, rolls, bread, etc.; free fats; concentrated proteins as milk powders, meat substitutes, textured or dried protein products).
• They use fermented, putrefied, or aged products such as vinegar, mayonnaise, pickles, mustard, alcohol, cheese, and overripe fruit.
• Salt is used freely (recommended use: up to one teaspoon a day).
• They like caffeine-containing drinks and other stimulants.
• Overweight people often use stomach irritants (see handout). Stomach irritants cause cravings to develop. Most overweight people do not have a definite satiety level, or an appreciation of thirst. Chronic thirst is mistaken for hunger.
• They do not understand the proper use of willpower and the steps necessary to resist temptation.
• Turn decidedly and immediately from any temptation, even to the point of running from the kitchen.
• Prompt action is needed to properly exercise the will.

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DESIRABLE WEIGHT

‍A rule of thumb to follow to determine your desirable weight is to figure 100 pounds for the first 5 feet of height. A man should add 6 to 7 pounds for each inch above 5 feet, and a woman should add 5 pounds for each inch above 5 feet.

EXAMPLE: A 6-foot man would figure 100 pounds for his first 5 feet, and 72 pounds for 12 more inches at 6 pounds per inch, making 172 pounds his desirable weight. Subtract one pound for each year under age 25.