Author Brian kozlowski

Jane Austen diet? Yes, you read it correctly (in case you think you let the rabbit hide in the dark network of the regent's edition). But to quote Mr Collins, "don't make yourself uneasy". Because Jane Austen's diet is not only true, but has been hidden under the eyes of our literature for more than two centuries.

But most of us focus on the core part of Jane Austen's novels (Swaney Darcy, the naughty Wickham)-that is, everything that makes life full of fun-and Austin himself is also fascinated by one thing that makes life functional: health.

This is another accepted truth of Jane, which is included in almost everything she writes: "Where health is threatened, nothing else should be considered." Although few readers pay attention to them, health is firmly woven in her earliest stories, which runs through Emma and persuasion, and becomes the center stage of her last unfinished novel Sandton (scene, oh, obviously, in a seaside resort). Ironically, with the decline of Austen's own health, she wrote articles that value real health more.

In fact, if you look at her novels carefully, you will find that "the improvement of health" has always been a part of Austin's happy life, and she has been given the most valuable roles for free, from Marianne Dashwood's Sense and Sensibility to Anne Ellio (she "faded out" in the physics department when she started telling her story). However, gradually restoring a person's natural "blooming" is the inherent right of the greatness and beauty of the Austin world. Even in her six classic novels, the word "health" itself has appeared hundreds of times, which is a suspiciously high frequency for pure romantic stories.

However, if Austin's passion for "safety and permanent health" is news to you, then join this club; I just found out myself recently. Culturally speaking, Jane has matured since adolescence-I just saw my part of Darcy fall into the pond-until my 3th birthday, when I found myself wobbling under a lack of energy and a few mysterious pounds, I didn't notice something unusual: what Jane had to say about health more than 2 years ago-what modern science says today-was strikingly similar. The way her healthiest character eats, exercises and thinks about her body is not only the historical filler of her wider romantic novels, but also an independent health criterion with unique patterns and modern similarities, which all of us can notice, notice or not. This discovery-no, shocking-led me to carry out a personal research project, which changed my impression of the clever aunt Jane forever-from a sloppy old maid in Hampshire to a wise and eternal health master. This personal trainer's dream is made up of (yes, my coach will make twill with parasols and handle it). So, yes, due to the lack of a better description, I have been cooking Jane Austen's diet for more than two years, and I have integrated her smart health strategy into my daily life, and found a new charming way to solve old problems from the smartest girl in history. Here are some of her "most reliable truths", which are just a few of the many health courses Jane has taught me so far: 1. Looking at the whole "health picture"

, no matter what Austin's narrow formula for marital happiness (handsome guy+rich man = yeah, success) says, Jane is by no means a reductionist on health issues. Compared with the narrow definition of health in clinic today, Austin's view on health is much broader. Usually, on the bathroom scale, only a few people are satisfied, and on the body mass index (BMI) chart, this definition is also very low. Influenced by classical medicine and "unnatural" theory, health is more based on environmental factors than on concerns about one's body shape. Austin's health still has a refreshing literal meaning. The etymology of health means "wholeness" in old English, which should bring a kind of energetic wholeness to people's body, emotions and thoughts. This is no coincidence. Therefore, in the pursuit of health, Oster's healthiest characters in Britain will not look inward-worrying about their bra size or their reflection in the ballroom mirror-but consider many other factors (each of which is an important quantifier of the overall health of the Austin world): their energy level; Their relationship with food and exercise; Their physical comfort and spiritual happiness; Even the luster on their skin. Austin called it the whole and larger "health picture" in Emma, which can flourish regardless of size.

In fact, the healthy, energetic and beautiful figure in Austen's novels ranges from "plump" Harrie Smih to "integrity" of Mrs Croft in Emma, and "stout" curve of Lydia Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. In short, an attractive body can be "any form of change". Eleanor said intellectually and emotionally, this is a refreshing understanding, which brilliantly indicates our current understanding of genetic diversity.

It is Austin's thoughtful refutation of the new fashion of mass health reduction in the late 18th century, which is one of the first historical times to embrace the standard of slimming as ruthless as ourselves. At that time, the new trend of weighing oneself (on a huge scale, which is quite shameful) was fuelling a dangerous cultural obsession, which paradoxically weakened the health of many Austin contemporaries. This is an era of "tuberculous appearance". Georgian is similar to hypnosis, which beautifies the morbid and emaciated physique and tries to imitate the side effects of rampant tuberculosis. Marian dashwood was even caught up in fanaticism intellectually and emotionally. "Frankly speaking, Marianne," said her cool-headed sister, "isn't there anything interesting about the blush on your face, your hollow eyes and your feverish pulse?" ? "Although no one likes this expression of tuberculosis more than the notorious regent poet Lord Byron. Byron never gave up halfway. He was one of the first neurotic weight watchers in history. When this figure didn't meet his liking, he forced himself to measure himself with the weight hanging on the scale and let himself go on an endless hunger diet. However, Austin has repeatedly refuted the prevailing cultural trend at that time, that is, thinness itself has any real connection with "health and happiness". Just ask any funny people in Austin's novels. They spend too much time focusing on their bodies, but forget the overall situation of overall health (Mr. Woodhouse, Mary Musgrove, Mrs. bertram, to name a few). However, even today, what really causes cultural shock is what is not in Austin's novels. No one-I repeat, no one-was described by Austin as being unnaturally "thin" (a very thin regency fashion was praised) and at the same time "healthy" or even attractive. To take just one example, Lizzie quickly commented on Ms. De Boer in Pride and Prejudice (a tramp character who conforms to any fashion runway today), calling her "thin" and "morbid", and then it is unlikely that she would laugh at Ms. De Boer to attract Mr. Darcy with such an unhealthy figure. Although statements like this often confuse modern readers, we now know that Austin intuitively understands that slender appearance is a very unreliable predictor of internal biological health (as confirmed by recent body paradoxes, such as TOFI, "slender appearance, obese heart," a person's appearance looks thin, but his activity is very low, which may mask the accumulation of dangerous fat around abdominal organs. " . Because, as the original readers of Austin need to remind us, we need to remind us today that there is such a situation, as Isabella admitted in Norhanger Abbey, that is, "being pitifully thin", or confusing the decline of figure with the improvement of health. As Austin explained elsewhere, it is easy for us to "lose our health and vanity" by staring at a lifeless number between our toes for a long time. Don't be a Diner Although food is rarely mentioned in Austin's novels, she knows more about the modern "food" culture than most of us today. Just like our own era, the Georgian era is an era of excessive hedonism. Due to the improvement of agricultural technology, English food in Austin is richer than ever before, and the growing leisure class has more time to eat it. This combination has brought inevitable health risks and plunged the upper class into a small obesity epidemic. As Thomas Shor, an 18th-century physician, observed with a strange modern echo, "I believe there is no era that provides an example of obesity better than ours." Austin reflected this in her novels, and created a gourmet like Hearst in Pride and Prejudice, "They only live to eat". However, when her contemporaries advocated strict diet, Austin had other more practical secrets to solve this problem. Her novels are full of clever psychological strategies on how to eat in a satisfactory and rational way at any excessive age.

is one of her cleverest secrets, including adopting what she calls an "appropriate indifference" to food: the importance of keeping an emotional distance from food. The heroines in her novels are all famous for this. They refuse to talk, think or get emotional. For example, in Pride and Prejudice, Lizzie's brief friendship with Mr. Hurst came to an awkward halt because she refused to let him indulge in a conversation about the dazzling pleasure of French "ragou", a kind of stewed meat that he seemed to be unable to get enough of.

However, Austen is not puritanical about food-far from it. As proved by her personal letters, she fully enjoys the pleasure brought by food, but she also knows the trap of diet, that is, she produces a deeper and irrational romance about food and puts it outside the "proper position" in life. Consider the fate of Dr. Grant in Mansfield Park. His emotional eating habits and subsequent gluttony led him to his grave early (one of the few characters who died in her novels). Modern research confirms Austin's intuitive wisdom. Just like Pavlov's reaction, just thinking about food at inappropriate times (that is, even if you are not hungry) can actually trigger the pancreas to secrete insulin, which sends a powerful hunger signal to the brain, leaving you in an almost irresistible psychological corner of craving. So Austin insisted on never being too sensitive to food. Marianne and Eleanor even refused to stay in a small hotel for too long on the rational and emotional dinner menu. However, although Austin fully encouraged this spiritual diet, she never encouraged actual dietary deprivation. On the contrary. Austin has mastered something that science only began to understand in the 195s. This biological fact remains unnoticed by most modern dieters: that is, the only way to stop being obsessed with food is to start eating in a satisfactory way. This may seem contradictory, but no one can cheat their natural hunger hormones for too long (explaining why low-calorie diets are usually doomed to failure), and Austin certainly ensures that her heroine eats in a completely and naturally satisfying way. Although Catherine Moran may be mentally abstemious about food, she is proud of having a "good appetite" in northanger abbey. She only eats when she is hungry, even late at night after the dance. Emma Woodhouse, in turn, respects nature's call for food and promises in time that "if she is hungry, she will bring something to eat."

However, Austin's simple reminding people to eat regularly and without guilt is as revolutionary today as it was in the early 19th century. In fact, the trend of the times is just the opposite. Lord Byron sarcastically said, "Women should not be seen eating and drinking." This reflected the sexist sentiment at that time, and he thought that the natural behavior of eating was somehow an immoral cause. This is one of the earliest cultural fashions denounced by Austin in her teenage story "Love & Friendship". In her novels, she constantly refutes that this fashion's walking prescription matches with health research. The research objects are those groups that adhere to the lifestyle closest to regency (such as some Amish communities in Canada). Although their diet is rich, their obesity rate is far lower than that of the general population, thanks to their standing by Anne Ellio in persuasion. 4。 Cultivating "taste in nature"

For me, one of the most unexpected aspects of Austin's health guidelines has become one of her most unexpected and effective methods-Jane insists that a natural and healthy diet itself requires a natural dose for one day. In her novels, not only outside, absorbing the refraction benefits of sunlight and fresh air is actually a specific medicine (for example, Jane Fairfax is persuaded that she can jump into Emma's plot as long as she suggests adding her health to more fresh country air). In contrast, other characters locked in it will eventually suffer a mysterious decline in overall happiness. Today, many readers still feel that Austin's natural prescription is somewhat romantic and mysterious (no wonder, according to today's statement, as a healthy diet, it is usually limited to the correct way of eating and exercising), but modern research has begun to realize that nature is indeed an essential nutrient, as Austin firmly believes. "I suggest you go out: air is good for you," Sir Thomas said confidently in Mansfield Park.

Since the famous hypothesis of biological tropism (which holds that human beings, as a part of nature, need regular physical contact with nature to thrive) in the 198s, Austin has repeatedly called for reconnecting with nature-in the seaside of Lyme, in the hills of Devon, or in the gardens of Pemberley-with fascinating new ideas. Recent interest in Japanese forest baths, the importance of sunlight in regulating our happiness and hormone levels, and the modern harm of "sick building syndrome" (countless health risks of spending too much time indoors) have all found historical similarities and signs in Austin's novels. After all, Jane fully grasped the original and broader meaning of the word diet. Diet is not just food, it comes from the Greek diaia, which means "lifestyle", a life that has obviously become better by developing Austin-style "taste in nature".

Bryan Kozlowski is the author of Jane Austen Diet: The Secret of Austen's Food, Health and White-hot Happiness, which was recently published by Turner. He is a