Diet rules

William Banting – Victorian

Guidelines:

• This is a low-carb diet, cutting out starchy and saccharine foods
• Avoid bread, butter, milk, sugar, beer
• NO salmon, herring or eel
• NO pork or veal
• NO Potatoes or root vegetables

On rising
A tablespoon of a special alkaline corrective cordial in a wine glass of water.

Breakfast
5–6oz beef mutton, kidneys, broiled fish, bacon or cold meat – NOT pork or veal.
A large cup of tea or coffee (without milk or sugar)
A little biscuit, or 1oz of dry toast (generally taken with a tablespoon of spirit to soften it)
Total: 6oz of solids, 9oz of liquids

Lunch
5–6oz of any fish, except salmon, herrings or eels. Any meat, but NOT pork or veal
Any vegetable, except potatoes or root vegetables
1oz of dry toast
Unsweetened fruit out of a pudding (ie cooked)
Any kind of poultry or game
2 or 3 glasses of good claret, sherry or madeira
Total: 10–12oz of solids, 10oz of liquids

Tea
2–3oz cooked fruit
1–2 rusks
A cup of tea (without milk or sugar)
Total: 2–4oz of solids, 9oz of liquids

Dinner
3–4oz meat or fish, as at lunch 1–2 glasses of claret, or sherry and water
Total: 4oz of solids, 7oz of liquids

Nightcap if required – a tumbler of grog (gin, whisky, or brandy without sugar) or 1–2 glasses of claret or sherry

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