<p>A 1940s advertisement provided by The Advertising Archives via Library of Congress for Bile Beans, which offered the World War II generation an unsafe laxative approach to slim down _ even as the first ideal height-and-weight charts arrived.</p>
January 26, 2011
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January 26, 2011 8 p.m.
150 years of dieting fads and still no quick fix
Healthy Lifestyles
WASHINGTON - Before there was Dr. Atkins, there was William Banting. He invented the low-carb diet of 1863. Even then Americans were trying out advice that urged fish, mutton or "any meat except pork" for breakfast, lunch and dinner - hold the potatoes, please.