I thought you might enjoy an bit of a little book I picked up for a history reference in my homeschool. The name is Dr. Foote's Hand-book of Health Hints and Ready Recipes.... blah, blah, blah. LOL Published by Murry Hill Publishing Company in NY, 1882.

Food Facts, pg 97

Maize, or Indian corn, is one of the most nutritious of the grains, and contains more of the fatty elements than the others.

The substitution of from four to six drams of glycerine for the amount of sugar usually added to cream, milk or water, is recommended in preparing food for infants.

The better qualities of flaxseed contain about thirty percent of oil, and if well masticated may be eated freely by those whose system requires more fat - such as people who are recommended to use cod-liver oil.

Beans contain all the elements of true ailment excepting fat. To obtain this it is not necessary to bake beans with pork. A fat piece of corned beef is an excellent substitute and is extensively used by those who entertain prejudice ot pork. Try it.

During the first two months of an infant's life it should not be fed oftener than once in two hours. After this the intervals between meals can be lengthened with advantage, and at the end of six months farinaceous or starchy food may be allowed in small quantity.

One who has made the calcuations finds that as a flesh-producing food eggs are equal to meat; that they surpass it in ability as a heat and force-producing agen; and that a pound of corn will be more than twice as valuable if transfomed into eggs by the means of the hean, as when put in the form of meat by feeding to pigs.

Mothers who begin to feed their babies meat before they are two years old should remember that if it was intended that meat should be given thus early, teeth would have been provided for the purpose; or in orther words children should not be fed on articles requiring mastication until they have something better than gums to chew with. Milk and those farinaceous articles which can be prepared in it are sufficient for a child's nourishment up to the fifth year, and meat may well be postponed until the twentieth.
And one of my favorites on the "dont's" list is:

Don't punish a child by boxing or pulling on its ears; there is a better place for the application of the palm when necessary.
Too funny....

The only reference they had to obesity was a 300 lb man who decided to LC on his own and dropped 70 lbs in a year. The gentleman would walk until he dripped in sweat, and included stewed prunes and a couple of tablespoons of oatmeal as part of his daily diet. They were perplexed as to why the gentleman lost such a large amount of weight.

I thought it would be fun to share a tiny amount of the things in the book for comparison on today's physicians. I'm grateful to be living in 2009!

Can you imagine keeping meat products away from your children until they turned 20???

Heh. Nature gave babies parents with teeth who could do the chewing for them. Desmond Morris of 'The Human Animal' and 'Babywatching' fame speculates that human kissing derives from the ancient practice of feeding an infant directly from the mouth of the caregiver.

Of course the practice of prechewing food for a baby would have probably been considered exceptionally vulgar and primitive at Dr. Foote's time.