When anyone wishes to grow stout he will do well to ignore all that has been said in the preceding article on obesity. That which principally causes obesity will be well adapted for him. Milk and, particularly, cream and butter are easily digested and readily assimilated fatty foods. In my own experience I can say that I have not met with a single case in which I was not able to increase the weight of the patient when using large quantities of the good rich milk which I have at my disposal here in Carlsbad, together with cheese and an ample quantity of meat and carbohydrates.
Rich milk is well adapted for a fattening treatment, and is best when mixed with cream, as I am in the habit of doing; I also order cream to be taken with zwieback, and plenty of butter on white bread or zwieback,also 4 to 6 eggs daily; fat meats, such as goose, duck, pork, and fat chickenswhen two kinds of meat are eaten at midday, the lean meat should be first eaten and afterward the more fatty onetogether with tapioca or rice. For those who are fond of potatoes, they may be prepared as a schmarren, then some flour food with plenty of sugar and cream ; / of a liter of dark Bavarian beer or a little sherry, port, or Malaga wine (such patients are often convalescents after some exhausting disease, or persons predisposed to tuberculosis, etc.). Instead of beer or wine, milk would be more healthful and fattening. To improve the taste of the milk, and make it even more fattening, the yolk of an egg and two teaspoonfuls of cream may be added to each glassful. I find it very advantageous when a handful of raisins or currants and z or 2 pieces of dried banana are taken after the midday and evening meal. They are readily tolerated and very fattening.
From 1 to 1 1/2 liters of milk and / liter of cream should be taken daily in the manner above described. At each meal plenty of butter should be eaten, and at noon and in the evening cream cheese (Gervais). In persons who tolerate milk well, fattening treatment is invariably successful when a combination of foods as described above is made use of daily. In the intervals between meals it is not advisable to take anything except milk, perhaps mixed with a little cream, and a single piece of zwieback. I lay great stress upon the use of raisins, dates, figs, or dried bananas, and chocolate at the end of the meals. I find that dried currants and seedless raisins are better tolerated than the other dried tropical fruits, except perhaps the banana. Little exercise should be taken, but the patients should be in the open air (in the shade) as much as possible.