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A Guide to Healthy Eating

On December 26, 2018 by Elyse

If your holiday festivities were anything like mine, they were filled with delicious meals and celebratory drinks, quickly followed by a painfully tight belt buckle and a fervent promise to eat better next year. But before we resolve in 2019 to say goodbye to snacks, sweets and other indulgences, the early 20th-century press has a reason for us—and our taste buds—to celebrate in the new year.

According to some newspaper clippings, many of the foods we think of as unhealthy today were at one time considered nutritious. . . at least, according to the companies advertising them. So, whether you’re on a treadmill or curled up on your couch with a bag of chips, have a helping of early 1900s wisdom. After all, aren’t we supposed to learn from the past?

From the New-York Tribune, September 17, 1914.

I have good news for the U.S. Supreme Court’s newest member and anyone who enjoys a cold beer on a hot (or chilly) day: Your favorite drink is, in fact, a “health-giving food” that provides “nourishment in an agreeable form.” In addition to giving lightweights like me a pleasant buzz, the “liquid bread” produced by the Jacob Ruppert Brewery was purported to “aid in the digestion of starchy food” and was “often prescribed by physicians with good results.”

Likewise, Becker’s Beer called itself “a true health food” and was said to be a “body, nerve and brain builder.” Cheers to that.

From Goodwin’s Weekly: A Thinking Paper for Thinking People, July 27, 1912.

If it’s your family’s tradition to fry a turkey or anything else during the holidays, there’s no need to worry about raising your cholesterol or clogging your arteries—just make sure you use Crisco.

From Durant Weekly News, July 2, 1915.

Dessert has always been my favorite part of any meal, so imagine my delight at learning I can cut out the middle man and have ice cream for lunch. According to an Imperial Ice Cream Co. advertisement, “hurried eating” was “ruining American health.” Because ice cream is easily digested and can be served quickly, it made for an ideal midday meal, since it allowed even those with short lunch breaks plenty of time to eat and fit in a walk before punching back in at work. I’m not sure how solid that logic is. . . gobble it up before it melts.

From the Wheeling Intelligencer, April 7, 1920.

Moreover, a few years earlier, the completely unbiased Dairy Products Publicity Bureau assured newspaper readers that “a dish of ice cream has a fuel value equal to seven large bananas or four whole cans of high quality tomatoes,” along with “essentials [for] growth and development.” I’ll take mine with a cherry on top, please.

From the Seattle Star, October 24, 1916.

Among my favorite 21st-century articles are the ones that declare chocolate is good for me. Whether that’s true or not, it was an opinion shared by Professor John C. Olsen, PhD, a chemist at the precursor to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. In 1908, he seemed to suggest that chocolate creams and peanuts are part of—if not the entirety of—a well-balanced diet. Forget Dr. Oz, I want Dr. Olsen to be my new nutritionist.

From the Ocala Evening Star, March 14, 1908.

If you have a toothache, fear not: It’s apparently just as healthy to drink chocolate as it is to eat it.

From the Evening Star, July 31, 1928.

Hope the new year brings you food that is both healthy and delicious. . . at least by early 20th-century standards. Bon appétit!


Am I trying too hard?

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Disclaimer: The modern era is far from the first to grapple with rampant “fake news.” As I am neither a historian nor journalist, I make no claims about the accuracy or lack thereof of the above sources. I assert only that they make for a good story.

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Tags: 20th Century, Advertisement, Beer, Chocolate, Food, Health, Holiday, Ice Cream, Meal, Newspaper, United States

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Welcome to Second Glance History! This blog seeks to uncover the people and the stories forgotten by history and give them another read through a modern lens. Join me every week as we examine the differences that divide and the common threads that connect the then to the now.

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