Lose 20 pounds of fat in just four weeks in 1935


Let's time-travel back to 1935, and lose twenty pounds of fat in just four weeks. According to this article, a St. Louis, Missouri lady wrote, "I'm only 28 years old and weighed 170 pounds until taking one box of your Krushchen Salts just four weeks ago. I now weigh 150 pounds. I also have more energy and furthermore I've never had a hungry moment.

Of course this is all nonsense. The only way that you're going to lose that much weight that quickly is to chop off your head, and you would actually need two heads! But this kind of thing is still popular, and while there have been attempts to limit how much people get swindled, it's still a big business, especially on the internet.

But the more I think about this, the more I'm inclined to be a bit jealous of people who could be so hopeful. I call them "unreasonably optimistic", and they tend to be the opposite of people who just don't believe anything.  In my lifetime I've found that it's good to find yourself somewhere in the middle, where you believe that you can lose twenty pounds, but that you can't do it in four weeks. I'd like to describe myself as "reasonably optimistic".

From what I've been able to determine about this product, it was just made of salt. You mixed it with hot water first thing in the morning, and I'm guessing that if it didn't ruin your appetite, it at least gave you the feeling that you were doing something towards your fitness and weight loss goals. Going to expensive "mineral springs" places was very popular at the time, where wealthy people would soak in mineral water, and drink it, too. Yuck!

I especially like how convincing the line is "if not joyfully satisfied after the first bottle - money back". I wonder how many people did that? Probably not many, as they probably imagined, just like nowadays, that they did something wrong. Maybe it's meant to be taken during a full moon? Or standing on one leg?

Thank you for the encouragement! If you want to see daily pics of my adventures on my recumbent trike in suburban Phoenix (just for fun, of course!) you can follow me on Buy me a coffee, and you can buy me a coffee if you'd like to:

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