Screenland (May-Oct 1931)

100 SCRE ENL AND The Right Of Weigh!— Continued from page 87 the very fact that you are overweight means that you have a vigorous appetite. You can't curb it in a moment. Remember, also, that you have been consuming lots of food to give you energy enough to get through your days and that you can't tamper vigorously with that energy source. It takes energy to lose weight, which is a point lots of people ignore. Here, then, are some sane menus planned for the girl who wants to reduce. Such meals plus twenty minutes of daily exercise will reduce you harmlessly, painlessly, and the reduction will be permanent. For Breakfast: Juice of one orange, or unsugared grapefruit, or cooked, unsweetened fruit; bran muffins. Black coffee or tea with lemon ; no sugar. One slice of toasted rye, gluten or graham bread. One poached egg with two curls of bacon ; or one boiled egg. For Luncheon : Vlegetable or any clear soup ; green salad with vinegar dressing ; fresh fruit salad; glass of milk; tea with lemon. For Dinner : Clear soup of any kind; moderate servings of chicken, beef, or lamb. One helping of spinach, asparagus, cabbage, or cauliflower. Eat two vegetables, or one vegetable and green salad with vinegar or light French dressing. Twice a week, some sweet, preferably ice cream, in moderate portion. Now that doesn't sound like starvation, does it? It isn't starvation. It is simply reducing, but it is also a healthy menu. It gives you enough variety to balance meals and not be too bored with eating the same thing all the time. It also makes you eat three times a day, which is much better than eating twice or once a day, as some girls foolishly do while reducing. You actually eat less if you cat three times daily. When you only eat once, you get too fatigued and over-hungry. You may change these menus to suit your personal taste, also. Don't be too hard on yourself at any time. It takes courage to reduce, and greater courage to eat not quite enough food when you have a long habit of eating too much. Try not to eat between meals but if you get too hungry, take sips of milk or buttermilk, or even water. And now for the exercises. People put on fat in different places, so it is hard to give exercises that will be ideal for everyone. I'll give you a few here that are good in the majority of cases, and if you want further help with your particular problem, do not hesitate t ) write me personally, and I'll be glad to a.lvise you directly. General rules first. Walk whenever you can and wherever. A mile a day is splendid, and more is better. Stand instead of sitting. Don't exercise just before or just after a meal. Do deep breathing. This helps in the oxidation of your food and keeps it from turning into fat. For reducing the abdomen. The bicycle. Lying flat on the floor, arms at the sides, raise the knees back over the abdomen, and pedal an imaginary bicycle, right leg, left leg, right leg, left leg, twelve times. Rest and repeat in three more groups of twelve pedals each. This exer cise is particularly good for heavy thighs. Riding a real bicycle is excellent, too, and if you want to go in for real gym equipment, a stationary bicycle is very fine. Another excellent gym furnishing is one of the rowing machines. They are quite inexpensive now and the rowing exercises they help you do are great both Joan Crawford knows the right of weigh! Joan's figure is considered one of the best in Hollywood . for the chest and for the abdomen. What's more, you'll find this kind of apparatus fun to have around. Like scales, everyone always wants to get on them and try them out. And five and ten pound dumbbells — despite the fun that has been made of them — are dandy little things for exercising the arms. I recommend all these things, simply because I think you'll find they break the monotony of straight exercising and make it a kind of game. Still further on this subject. If you are going to exercise regularly and faithfully, you'll enjoy having an exercise mat. In many of the better shops you can buy them already made up, nice soft affairs of hair-filled leather or satin, or you can very easily make one for yourself. Make it about six feet long by three feet wide. If you make it up in satin or silk, quilt it in soft rolls and when you are through using it, you can fold it and retire it quietly to a closet shelf. On an exercise mat, or on the floor or your bed — a bed is not so good as it yields too much — do this rolling exercise. Grasping the edge of the mat with the hands, roll your body back and forth, back and forth ten times. Rest and repeat three times in groups of ten. Rest and then do the "wagging" exercise, particularly recommended for girls who sit all day and have "broadened out" unattractively. Lying flat, bring the heels back against the thighs, so that your knees are in the air. Raise the torso, keeping only the arms and shoulders on the floor or mat. Then shake yourself, really "wag" the torso, like an energetic puppy when the family comes home. This exercise sounds silly and looks silly when you do it but its results are lasting and gratifying. Two "crossing" exercises should be done every day. You take both of them lying down. Lying flat on the back, arms at the sides, cross your left leg over your right and touch the left toe to the floor as far away from the right side of the body as possible. Do the same thing with the right leg, over the left side. Repeat six times, rest, and do three times in groups of six. That's easy, but the second exercise is harder. Still lying on the back, bring the left toe up across the body and touch the floor beside the right shoulder. Go back to first position and touch the right toe over the left shoulder. This sounds hard and it is. Be sure to rest in between times, so that you do not get too exhausted, but practice regularly until you can do it ten times, five times on each side without trouble. The way this exercise eats up fat is just miraculous. Finally, it is good to remember that every thing we do contributes to or takes away from — our beauty. For instance, you can bend to pick up things and make an exercise of it, or merely slump lazily and do yourself no good. Sweeping — as just one household task — is an excellent exercise for the arms. Climbing stairs is fine for the ankles. There are moments in the busiest day for beauty, if you will only use them. But on this subject of reducing, let me caution you not to be over ambitious at first. Overweight is the result of a long regime of bad eating habits. These can not be cured in a week or a day. But by careful, sensible dieting and regular exercise, results will be produced that will be permanent. Rapid reducing only produces flabbiness. Rational reducing produces good health and charm. Polly Walters, a newcomer signed by Warner Brothers, has beauty of face and figure. Have you an unsolved beauty problem, if so, Miss Van Alstyne will be glad to help you. Write to her at Screenland Magazine, 45 West 45th Street, New York City, and send a stamped addressed envelope.