So It’s 1852 and You’ve Decided to Drink Less Water

At The Week, Therese Oneill looks at diet tips from books published in the early 20th century, a time during which water seemed to have the same reputation as a fraternity’s jungle juice. Three tips, courtesy an absolute absence of medical training or science (Oneill says it was understood at the time that water “[interfered] with ‘gastric juice’”):

1. “Do not drink much water. A little lemon juice added to it will make it less fattening.”

2. “First and most important, drink very little, as little as possible, and only red or white wine, preferably Burgundy, or tea or coffee slightly alcoholized.”

3. “In America the number of fat people is growing larger every year and the suffering endured by this usually good-natured class of people is tremendous. As a matter of fact, a great deal of this discomfort might be avoided if people would not drink such an inordinate quantity of ice water and could be made to understand that thirst does not lie in the stomach and that it is not satisfied by pouring down water by the glassful.”

I, for one, will not rest until we figure out a way to remove any and all water base from all alcohol and caffeine. *Pours Burgundy into coffee cup, adds a squeeze of lemon.* Ahhhhh. [The Week]