diet (parliamentary bodies)

diet parliamentary bodies in Japan, Poland, Hungary, Bohemia, the Scandinavian nations, and Germany have been called diets. In German history, the diet originated as a meeting of landholders and burghers, convoked by the ruler to discuss financial problems. The imperial diet or Reichstag of the Holy Roman Empire began as a loose assembly of ecclesiastic princes and imperial cities, meeting at irregular intervals. After 1489 three colleges representing electors , princes, and imperial cities arrived at decisions separately—even over war and peace—then combined them. The emperor could ratify the whole or parts. Among the most important diets were those of Worms (1495) and Cologne (1512); see Maximilian I , Holy Roman emperor. The most important diets of the Reformation were Worms (1521), Speyer (1529), and Augsburg (1530, 1547, 1555). The diet declined in importance and after the peace of Westphalia (1648) it became an assembly of independent princes, meeting after 1663 at Regensburg as a conference of ambassadors without legislative power. For the federal diet of 1815-66, which succeeded the imperial diet, see German Confederation . The term was revived for the legislature of the German Empire in 1871, and was used until the end of World War II; see Reichstag .

The Japanese diet was established as the national legislature in 1889. Until 1947, the upper house (Peers) was appointive, the lower (Representatives) elected. Its powers were negative: no bill could become law without its approval, except in an emergency; the government could function with last year's budget if the current one was not approved; legislation was initiated by the executive. After 1947, the upper house was made elective (Councillors). Suffrage became universal, and the lower house gained precedence over the selection of the prime minister, budgets, and treaties; it can override the upper house on bills with a two-thirds majority. Most legislation is initiated by the cabinet. Since 1947 the Japanese diet, once peripheral, is central to Japan's politics; see Japan , under Government and Politics.

diet The food requirements of an organism. The foods that constitute the human diet should contain vitamins, mineral salts (see essential element), and dietary fibre as well as water, carbohydrates and fats (which provide energy), and proteins (required for growth and maintenance). A balanced diet contains of the correct proportions of these nutrients, which will vary depending on the age, sex, body size, and the level of activity of the individual. An inadequate supply of different food types in the diet can lead to malnutrition.

dieting While one can diet to gain weight, or for specific physiological needs such as allergies or diabetes management, ‘dieting’ tends to refer to the process of manipulating food intake and energy output in order to reduce body weight for health or aesthetic reasons. To reduce weight, fewer calories than the body needs are ingested, forcing the body to obtain its energy from fat stores. To lose 1 lb per week, about 3500 kcal, (the weight of 1 lb of fat tissue) must be subtracted from the diet.

But the Latin root diaeta, ‘a way of life’, more accurately describes the daily realities of contemporary dieters. Fostered by Western medical and beauty standards, which prize slenderness, a 30 billion dollar diet industry has produced a wealth of diet plans ranging from hazardous fad diets to the nutritionally healthful. Recent research has emphasized the efficacy of drug therapies such as amphetamines and leptin, but the potential side-effects continue to pose serious problems. Since the majority of people who lose weight via dieting eventually gain it back, dieting has become a constant way of life for large numbers of Western people.

Dieting, particularly in order to achieve a thin ideal, only makes sense in the midst of affluence. Where food shortages endure, dieting (versus fasting for religious or cultural reasons) holds little value. On the other hand, affluent Western societies admire successful dieters for their self-discipline and willpower, as well as for their slim bodies.

Diet regimens, including those for weight loss, have existed for centuries, but modern dieting gained popularity in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Scientists who turned their attention to nutrition in the nineteenth century began to argue against overeating. Researchers such as Wilbur Atwater and Ellen Swallows ‘discovered’ vitamins, minerals, and calories as well as an understanding of how the body converted fat into energy. From this knowledge, the ‘new nutritionists’ laid the groundwork for modern dieting. They advocated lower body weights and smaller meals, and encouraged people to make dietary decisions based on the chemical composition of food (its nutritional value) versus taste or appearance. They encouraged everyone to count calories. Though invisible to the naked eye, excess calories would pile on very visible fat.

At the same time, a new, slender ideal of beauty, especially for women, gained cultural prominence. As historian Lois Banner has pointed out, in the late nineteenth century several popular ideals of female beauty, including robust and curvaceous images, competed for public attention, but by the 1920s, the slim-hipped, small-breasted, straight-lined flapper became the popular ideal. Though the exact dimension and shape of beauty ideals have shifted, the thin standard has never waned.

Margaret A. Lowe

Bibliography

Banner, L. (1983). American beauty. Knopf, New York.
Schwartz, H. (1987) Never satisfied: a cultural history of diets, fantasies, and fat. Collier–Macmillan, London.