Letter on Corpulence

Addressed to the Public

De: William Banting

Narrado por: Adam B. Crafter

Within the last few decades, several obesity-reducing low carbohydrate diets have come to the public's attention. What few realize is that these are all the grandchildren in thought to William Banting, an undertaker who, in 1864, wrote one short book that launched the first incredibly popular diet for obesity. Banting was immortalized by having his name enter the English language as a verb. Three examples include an Irishman, Captain Boycott, whose name entered the language in the 1860s. Another was Louis Pasteur, and the third was William Banting, a man who came to have a great impact on many peoples' lives and waistlines....

To this day, to bant (as a verb), or to engage in "banting" is built into the language in many countries, including the UK, South Africa, and Sweden. It can be hard to see where one is going without a sense of context of history, and this applies to dietary advice as it does with all matters.

Listen to the original pamphlet that started it all, and hear Banting's takes on corpulence and obesity, some early history of fat shaming, why he was in favor of before and after pictures, and his altercations with the medical authorities of the 1860s.

Public Domain (P)2015 Adam B. Crafter

The Original Anti-obesity Diet

I have now listened to this twice. It still astounds me that we have had effective, economically sound treatment for the current obesity pandemic, for well over 162 years!

Now, I am absolutely sure Mr. Banting was correct in that the poor, and the working men were unable to afford obesity. Their diet consisted of the least processed food, and in barely sufficient quantity. For them, hard labor, whole foods and no extra portion was their existence. They burned their calories before they ate them and were getting all the various vitamins, minerals, fiber, and such.

Today, for us, it is the poor that are fat. The danities on Mr. Banting's table are now cheap. They're nutritional voids, but supply more energy than needed. Yet the sad state of our waistlines can be helped.

I like very much where Mr. Banting says he didn't think to mention carrots, parsnips, beetroot, and herring, and veal, as inedible, because he didn't like to eat these foodstuffs, and didn't realize others did. I must think, however that the turnips he mentions are actually rutabaga. Turnips, the white and purple vegetable, and all green vegetables ate useful and lower in carbohydrate.

I wonder if maybe his morning cordial included apple cider vinegar, but we are not told.

The narrator is good. I might not seek out his work, but I wouldn't reject it, as long as it has nothing to do with evil.

Historical Account of Managing Your Health with Di

I found it interesting that he talked about gout, stomach acid and rheumatism.

He also talked about "saccharine" and sugars being bad...

A moving story, still relevant today

Any additional comments?

Banting wrote and distributed this letter, basically at cost, as a public service, because his health was so completely and easily transformed by the low carb diet, that he wanted to share his success with the many other sufferers of obesity.

As the first low carb testimonial, it speaks volumes, and because it is a personal story, Crafter's narration shines and brings it to life.

Like many of us today, Banting tried other methods in vain. He tried numerous of the recommended cures of the day, but it was 30 years before he hit upon a low carb diet. The chronicling of these attempts holds such familiar crushed hope, that it would be painful, if not for the happy eventual result.

I particularly liked the insight, still little appreciated today, that healthful as intense physical exercise may be, it is not fat reducing in and of itself.

All in all, a great pleasure to listen to, for content and performance.

Fantastic

Love this charming first "diet book" to be published. It's chalked full of dietary wisdom ahead of its time

Cool

I like it

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