Jos laihduttamisella ei tarkoiteta esimerkiksi uskonnollisia paastoja vaan kauneuskäsitystä, jossa laihat ihmiset nähdään lihavampia kauniimpina niin laihuuden ihailua on ollut eri aikoina hyvinkin kauan. Esimerkiksi
Anu Korhonen kirjoittaa tutkimuksessaan
Silmän ilot kauneuden kulttuurihistoriaa uuden ajan alussa, että vaikka
Rubens kuvasi reheviä naisia, ei siitä voida välttämättä johtaa sitä, että lihavuus olisi ollut esteettisesti arvostettua 1600-luvulla vaan silloinkin tiedettiin, että ylenmääräinen lihavuus olisi vaarallista.
Mutta kyllä vielä 1900-luvun alussa voitiin pitää jos ei lihavuutta niin ainakin tukevuutta ihmisen varakkuuden mittana, koska lihavuus oli paljon harvinaisempaa kuin nykyisin ja vain varakkailla oli mahdollisuus syödä lihottavia ruokia. Nykyinen laihuuden ihanne minusta näyttäisi juontuvan 1920-luvun modernismiin ja modernin ihailuun, vaikka sillä toki on juurensa erilaisissa dieeteissä ja kalorien laskemisessa jotka juontuvat ainakin 1800-luvulle.
Tästä pääsee alkuun:
When Did Dieting Begin? by Ali Hale
http://www.diet-blog.com/archives/2008/ ... _begin.php
Historians trace the origins of a modern conception of dieting to two 19th century figures: Rev. Sylvester Graham (1795-1851), a New Jersey preacher, and William Banting (1797 - 1878), a London undertaker.
You may never have heard of Rev. Graham, but chances are that you'll be familiar with his dieting invention: the Graham cracker. Perhaps the first diet food, the Graham cracker was made from flour that was unsifted and didn't have additives (refined white bread was becoming popular with the middle-classes during the 19th century, who could afford to buy it). Graham saw white bread as nutritionally poor, and he and his followers, the Grahamites, eschewed it - again, we can see the roots of modern diet advice back in the 19th century.
Graham believed in a strict vegetarian and teetotal diet, and saw diet primarily as a means to control sexual urges.
William Banting, by contrast, was interested in diet for the same reason as most dieters today are: he wanted to lose weight. In 1863, he wrote a pamphlet, Letter on Corpulence, Addressed to the Public. His diet plan, based on advice given to him by a doctor, featured:
* Four meals a day, consisting of protein, greens, fruits, and dry wine.
* Avoiding starch and sugars.
* Milk, butter and meat were all permitted.
This could be the forerunner of the modern Atkins diet plan.
Banting's success story inspired others to follow his example, in perhaps the first popular diet in history. The History of Dieting explains that:
[Banting's] obesity had been cured but the British Medical Association immediately attacked this approach, and because Banting was not a scientist, claimed that it had no scientific value and would not work for others. The public however were impressed, and people all over the English speaking world read of his plan and lost weight themselves, not caring about the doubters.