'Fantastic New Diet - Deep-fried Brawn!' by Karen Maitland

You always know Christmas is over and the New Year has arrived, because the annual ritual is announced – the latest initiative from the government to make us all lose weight and eat healthily. Will our rulers never learn from history? Kings and governments have been trying to control what we eat and drink since the Middle Ages through laws, taxes and outright bans. And here we are, 700 years later, still fretting about obesity.

King Edward II (1284-1327) tried to legislate against ‘the outrageous consumption of meats and fine dishes’, in one of many Sumptuary laws which were regularly enacted right up to Elizabethan age in an attempt to control what the populace allowed were to spend on food, clothes and luxury goods. In 1336, Edward III, worried by excessive consumption and obesity among his subjects, attempted to limit all his subjects' meals to two modest courses.

' ... whereas heretofore, through the excessive and over many sorts of costly Meats which the People of this Realm have used … many mischiefs have happened to the People of the said Realm: for the great men, by these excesses, have been sore grieved, and the lesser People, who only endeavour to imitate the great ones in such sort of Meats, are much impoverished; whereby they are not able to aid themselves nor their liege Lord in time of need, as they ought; and many other evils have happened, as well to Souls as Bodies; …. That he would thereupon ordain … for the Profit of his People … that no man, of what estate or condition so ever he be, shall cause himself to be served in his house or elsewhere, at dinner, meal, or supper, or at any other time, with more than two messes, and each mess of two sorts of victuals at the utmost, be it of Flesh or Fish, with the common sorts of pottage, without sauce or any other sort of victuals: and if any many choose to have sauce for his mess he well may, provided it be not made at great cost: and if flesh or fish be to be mixed therein, it shall be of two sorts only at the utmost, either fish or flesh, and shall stand instead of a mess; Except on the principle Feast of the year … on which Days and Feasts every man may be served with three courses at the utmost, after the manner aforesaid …'

 Naturally people soon found a way round that. Previously, sweet custards and flavoured creams would be served as a different dish to a pudding, but if you claimed custard to be sauce, you could eat both together. Meat would have been served as separately from vegetable dishes such as leeks-in-sops, but if you combined the two on one platter they became one course or ‘mess’.

 It is often thought that obesity is a modern problem and people used to eat healthier in the past. That maybe well be true, if by the past, we mean World War II rationing. But obesity certainly wasn’t limited to the present time, as is abundantly clear from the writings of Chaucer and Shakespeare. And little wonder, for a favourite dish served in medieval taverns was Brawn in Sharp Sauce. This consisted of the fat and head-meats of animals cooked and pressed into slabs of jellied brawn, which was then served deep-fried in lard. Was this really any healthier than popping in for a burger?

Records of food provided for workers and servants in Medieval and Tudor times suggest they consumed nearly twice today’s daily recommended calorific intake especially in bread and meat. We explain that by saying that they because they burned it off in manual labour and walking. That was probably true if you were farm worker, a sailor or blacksmith, but the vast numbers of clerks, nobles and those in Holy Orders did very little hard manual work. Yes, horse-riding probably did burn off more calories than driving in car, but I doubt it reduced the weight of the wealth who were carried on their journeys and didn’t have to saddle the horses.

Think of the vast quantities of salt ordinary people consumed especially during in winter and spring, when nearly every piece of meat, fish and even some vegetables would have been pickled or salted to preserve it. Then there was the drink. Records tell us that by the 15th Century those feeding the men and women harvesting in the fields were expected to provide either 6 pints of strong ale or a gallon of small ale daily to each person and that was just during working hours. In the Middle Ages ale, cider, mead or wine were the safe alternatives to water, even though these drinks may have been much weaker than those of today or watered down, the daily alcohol consumption, even of children, must have been a lot higher than today’s daily recommended intake.

 Did their health suffer? Did they die premature deaths? There were, of course many who died from malnutrition and starvation, as well as those who died as a result of over-indulgence. But provided a medieval man or woman survived fevers and accidents, they could expect to live just as long then as now, even on those diets.

Yesterday I went to visit the tomb of Sir John de Sully in Crediton Parish Church, Devon. Sully died in 1387 at the age of 106, having fought in numerous battles including Bannockburn and the battle of Cressy (Crecy). He fought his last battle in Spain (la batille de Spaigne) when he was 86 years old. When he was 105, he was asked in testify in case involving a dispute over a coat of arms. His testimony was recorded along with a large number of other knights who were in their 80’s and 90’s at the time of the trial and also Sir John Chydioke who, like Sully, was over a 100 years old. I wonder what their dietary secret was.

With the exception of World War II, I wonder which period in British history the majority of people would have eaten what today would be regarded as a really healthy diet and which was the worst. Have you ever been tempted to try any of the slimming or health diets of our ancestors?

One History Girl's Diet

black coffee is allowed

by Caroline Lawrence

One of the few drawbacks of being a writer is that you lead a sedentary life only a few feet from the refrigerator. This can produce a vicious cycle of procrastination, comfort-eating, weight-gain and self-recrimination. What’s a History Girl to do?

I think I might have found the answer: fasting. 

(Disclaimer: I am a kidslit author, not a doctor. Don’t try anything I suggest below without speaking to a doctor first!)

When I was younger, I used to fast once or twice a month but stopped when doctors said it would ‘slow down your metabolism’. Now the pendulum seems to be swinging the other way, as pendula do!

A few months ago I read an article in Harper’s Magazine called Starving Your Way to Vigor. Steve Hendricks went on a twenty day fast and found that after a few days he lost the desire to eat and could even cook for his family. Two years on, he has kept his weight down and his health good, through short fasts and gentle exercise. 

Starving Your Way to Vigor

Then last month I caught the BBC Horizon documentary called Eat, Fast & Live Longer. In this fascinating documentary, Michael Mosley went in search of a regime which would not only extend his life, but enhance its quality. After trying various methods of cutting calorie intake, he discovered that by fasting for two days out of the week - a method called the 5:2 diet - he could eat what he liked, lose weight and improve his insulin levels. 

This diet appealed to me at once, because I find it easier to totally abstain from something than to do it in moderation. (The ancient Greek maxim Μηδὲν ἄγαν  – nothing to excess – means nothing to me. I do everything to excess.) So I decided to revive my practice of fasting. Essentially, you choose two non-consecutive days to fast or eat very little. 

Throughout history, man has fasted either through necessity (i.e. paucity of food), religious practice or an awareness that fasting is good for health. 

Romans occasionally fasted

For example, in Roman times Celsus advised a fast of one or two days for almost every ailment, especially for those in good health who felt they might be coming down with something. Many people deceive themselves, he writes, by trying to get rid of the symptoms by exercise or a bath or an enema or by drinking wine (!), but abstinence by itself is a remedy without any risk. De Medicina book 3

In the Wild West, piligrims, pioneers and prisoners of the Civil War were often thin to the point of being skeletal. So it must have seemed foolishness to fast. But in 1880 a certain Dr. Henry Tanner amazed the world by hiring a lecture hall in New York and embarking upon a forty day fast to prove it could be done. By the end of his stint he had received thousands of spectators, hundreds of gifts of food, and several offers of marriage. I think that the Dr. Tanners and those others who go forty days without eating do it by resolutely keeping out the desire to eat, in the beginning, and that after a few hours the desire is discouraged and comes no more, wrote Mark Twain. 

The UK in 2012 is one of the few places and times where most of us have none of these factors influencing us. Food is abundant. Only a small percent of us fast for religious reasons, and even then it is rarely for over 24 hours. Until recently, doctors have been telling us not to fast. Meanwhile, obesity and the accompanying health problems are on the rise. In poor countries people die of starvation, in rich countries people die of overeating. 

For my biweekly fast I have a few cups of black coffee or tea and lots of fizzy water and don't eat anything from about 10.00pm until breakfast 36 hours later. I’ve only been doing it for a few weeks, but I’m loving my 5:2 regime. During that time I have noticed at least ten benefits: 

treats allowed on non-fast-days

1. There is gradual weight loss.

2. Fasting discourages absent-minded browsing on eating days.

3. Fasting cultivates self-discipline.

4. It increases my gratitude for food I usually take for granted.

5. Fasting heightens my spiritual awareness.

6. It replicates the primitive hunter-gatherer feast & fast mode of living.

7. It means treats are allowed on non-fast days!

8. More sociable as I no longer give the "I don't eat such-and-such" excuse at dinner parties

9. For me it's easier to have nothing at all rather than just a little. 

10. Not thinking about food allows me to focus completely on the task in hand, i.e. writing!

That is in addition to all the health benefits I should be reaping. When cells are not in growth mode they are in repair mode. Fasting lowers bad cholesterol and IGF1. Fasting can reverse the effects of certain ailments. Recent studies have even shown that fasting one or two days a week might also help protect against brain diseases such as Alzheimer's & Parkinson's. 

If I weren’t just a kidslit author with no authority or expertise, I’d encourage you all to try it, too. As Michael Mosley says, "Fasting is the first thing I have come across that ... could radically transform the nation's health."

Caroline Lawrence has written over 25 history-mystery books for children and is trying to stay fit and healthy so she can write lots more.