themusecalliope: Vulpes Vulpes (Default)
themusecalliope ([personal profile] themusecalliope) wrote2004-10-23 09:06 pm

Everything old is new again...

From the 16 March 2004 page of the Forgotten English Calendar:

"Banting: Doing Banting, reducing superfluous fat by living on [a] meat diet, and abstaining from beer, farinaceous food, and vegetables, according to the method adopted by William Banting...The word was introduced about 1864. - Ebenezer Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 1898.
...
Death of William Banting (1797-1878)
corpulent London undertaker and cabinetmaker, who developed a successful weight-reduction regime for himself. In 1863 he published a pamphlet describing how he had lost forty-six pounds and twelve inches of girth by abstaining from most foods except meat. Many Victorians read his prescription, but few followed it-preferring to lace up their corsets instead. Nonetheless, the term "banting" became synonymous with weight loss and dieting..."

Interesting, eh?

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