FACT, FADS & FICTION

Just like fashion, health trends come and go. Jody Scott mined the Vogue archives to chart the biggest hits and misses from the past 60 years.

Just like in the world of fashion, health trends come and go. We mined the Vogue archives to chart the biggest hits and misses from the past 60 years.

SINCE ITS EARLIEST issues, Vogue has reported on the facts and fads in health, fitness and wellbeing. Some have withstood the test of time, others have been superseded by science (or just plain commonsense). You may recall the Israeli Army diet, the grapefruit diet, the spot-reducing diet, the cabbage soup diet or the Atkins diet. Back in 1977 there was even the champagne diet, which falsely claimed to be “the least fattening of all drinks, only 35 calories a glass”.

Recently our reasons for exercising and eating well have shifted from a desire to be petite to wanting to feel empowered. Conversations about health have become smarter, broader and are supported by research. We now know the powerful effect that food and exercise have on not only our bodies but our moods, energy and longevity. Women’s health issues are discussed openly and researched, and mental health is no longer considered taboo.

The wellness mind-set that permeates our daily schedules, decision-making and travel plans in the 21st century is driven by the desire to live better, longer, happier lives rather than the pursuit of outer perfection. But it’s taken decades to get here, and nothing demonstrates how far we’ve come better than the Vogue Australia archives, which are home to good, bad and just plain ridiculous health theories that filled our pages over the years.

The 50s

It’s hard to imagine a world without Lycra, let alone a time when we didn’t start our day with a workout. But a time when women rarely worked outside the home or pursued careers? Or when women’s magazines were filled with profiles about men, written (mostly) by men? Now it’s almost inconceivable, but in the earliest issues of Vogue, the women who appeared were called Mrs John So-and-so – their own first names weren’t even printed.

In the late 50s, there was little talk about exercise or nutrition, apart from eating less for weight loss and, at the start of the 60s, ads for Metrecal, a liquid, 225-calorie meal replacement drink in a can for rapid weight loss. There were also plenty of advertisements for corset-like bras, girdles and ‘appetite-suppressing’ cigarettes.

Revisiting the earliest issues of Vogue is a lesson in gratitude for the progress we have made. You could argue the transition into the workforce and more independent lives in the 60s was the most important health trend of all for women, not least for our mental health.

The 60s

Rising hemlines, bare midriffs, hipster shorts, lean shift dresses and bikinis put the spotlight on our bodies like never before. “The harsh facts about bikini-wearing: it’s either a triumph or a disaster,” declared the December 1963 issue. “You can’t get by with anything less than the highest standard of excellence. So women who’d never dreamed of working at their figures are now pulling in their stomachs, straightening their spines, doing more positive thinking about exercise – and finding that the body is contractible, reshapable, subject to improvement at any age.”

We were still struggling to think positively in 1964, because “exercise takes time more valuably occupied by other pursuits, preferably sedentary … organised exercise is b-o-r-i-n-g”. That must be why we welcomed the arrival of a passive exercise machine that involved lying prone, strapped to a table while electric currents zapped our muscles.

The ‘year of the sheer’, 1969, was also when cellulite (“the new word for the fat you couldn’t lose before”) landed in our vocabulary. “Like a swift migrating bird, the word has suddenly darted across the world. Straight out of French beauty lore, purely colloquial and totally untranslatable … up until now never heard of in Australia.”

To counter it, we suggested the protein and citrus diets. “You mustn’t eat vegetables. Or salad. Or cheese. But you can eat sweets. And you can eat as much meat, chicken and fish as you like. Four good meals a day are allowed – and a snack before bed,” it was recommended in June/July 1969. “You can lose two to three stone in as many months with the aid of pills from your doctor (if he is agreeable) but without them weight loss should be slow and steady.”

By the late 60s, we were honing in on our identity. “The Australian woman in Vogue, what is her image in 1968? She is healthy, longlimbed, clear- eyed, gloriously sun-tanned. Open, friendly, unneurotic. Sexy but not siren-ish, outdoorsy. Adventurous, feminine – almost to a fault. An impossible paragon? We think not.”

The 70s

This decade was about wild experimentation in life and fashion. To help readers make safe choices we published a comprehensive chart on “pills to pep you up, calm you, induce sleep or deaden pain”, along with a chart on their benefits and side-effects. “Not included are the illegal drugs heroin, LSD, marijuana and its stronger kin, hashish.”

We were also frequenting new ‘health food’ stores. “Nowadays we are in danger of becoming food neurotics,” reported a story called ‘Facts & fallacies about health food’. “All over the world the health food business is mushrooming. Where once an old-fashioned milk bar dispensed ice-cream sodas, now lives a pure-fruit juice bar.”

Carbohydrates became the enemy and in 1978 we suggested a high-protein diet that included replacing one main meal a day “with two ounces of roasted, salted peanuts and an orange”.

For a story about ‘The new bosom’ (high, small, firm) and how to get it (diet, exercise or surgery) in the December 1968 issue, we consulted “four distinguished US medical men, one of whom reprimanded: “Your magazine keeps women five to 10 pounds less than God intended them to be.”

The presence of bronzed models reveals we were still sunbaking. But we were starting to spruik moderation: “There is nothing wrong in loving the sun, provided you’re not greedy or possessive about it. To be appreciated, it should be taken in small doses.”

Our coverage of the sexual revolution was insatiable and included topics such as sex before marriage, the art of seduction, the mysterious location of the female orgasm and abortion. In a story titled ‘Why women panic about ageing’, we reveal there is “a violent increase in sexual desire” when women hit the age of 40. “Even in the late 40s, women who have led protected lives and suddenly meet someone who turns them on for the first time will throw everything away”. In another story titled ‘The new sexual freedom for women: do you have it? Or does it have you?’ a male psychoanalyst tells us: “Casual sexual contacts fail to enhance the sense of self, they rob the woman of her feeling of identity, of experiencing herself as a unique and specifically desired partner.” Female experts remained elusive.

The 80s

The 80s were all about high-energy exuberance. Water aerobics! Lycra! Colour! “When you’re living fit, your sense of wellbeing increases; you’re in the swim but never out of your depth,” enthused the July 1983 issue.

Womanly curves and muscle tone had replaced boyish proportions by January 1989. “The trim muscular silhouette of today’s sports women reveals a new and legitimate style of femininity,” the magazine read. “Strong women look good. Beauty is no longer tied to an appearance of underfed fragility.”

Brown rice and wholegrain pasta were back in after low-fibre 70s eating was dubbed “the poisonous diet of affluence”. But a nutritionist warned us: “Divorce begins in the kitchen. Many women bring on their own marital breakups through the way they cook and do supermarket shopping. Everybody needs vitamins and minerals from fresh foods to live healthy and long lives. The most common lack is zinc, which is essential for the sex glands, so is it any wonder why marriages break up?”

Psychiatrists predicted in the May 1989 issue an increase in the rate of women with severe depression committing suicide because “more women are working in higher-powered positions as well as carrying their traditional responsibilities”. And the New South Wales government sponsored a campaign alerting women to the dangers of tranquillisers and anti-anxiety drugs such as Valium and Serepax.

On a more positive note, seeking help for mental illness was losing its stigma, thanks to rising numbers of psychiatrists. “Forty years ago, Australia had few psychiatrists and many mental hospitals, mostly in rural settings, so if you lost your marbles you were sent to a funny farm.”

Excited by a decade of medical breakthroughs (IVF, heart transplants and lasers), in 1989 we made big predictions for the future of medicine. The accurate ones included a vaccine for HPV to prevent cervical cancer and being able to predict the sex of babies soon after conception. The more optimistic predictions included vaccines for cancer and malaria within five years; a contains-it-all food pill to replace meals, and contraceptives for men. And we wondered: “How long before we will have something for the common cold?”

We noted the rise in computers and their effect on health in January 1986 (“We are on the verge of changing from Homo erectus, upright man, to Homo sedens, seated man”) and concerns about the hole in the ozone layer and pollution were gaining momentum, so we published our first green issue in September 1989.

The 90s

The 90s was an action-packed decade when form-fitting gear showed off lithe bodies and sportswear power-walked the catwalks. Supermodels released workout videos, Pilates and Powercise studios (featuring computerised gym equipment) opened everywhere and boxing became “a perfect vent for pent-up aggression”.

“At gyms around the world women are signing on for weighttraining. And it’s beginning to show,” the July 1990 issue declared. “Models no longer have to be willowy or whippet-slim. Muscle adds definition and shape. The tiger-lithe body with spring and pounce in each step reflects the powerful role played by the new decade’s woman; a firmness and resilience, both psychologically and to the touch,” it continued.

By December 1990, we were saying: “Never in recorded history has there been a time when people have been so preoccupied with food … The one word no one uses anymore is hunger. Hunger is not why people eat.” Meanwhile, our Los Angeles correspondent reported: “Butter has all but disappeared and salt shakers have been locked up with the ashtrays.”

In January 1990, cigarette ads were finally banned from newspapers and magazines, so to celebrate we published ‘Quitting the habit’ and lamented that giving up smokes was like leaving a bad best friend.

We also wanted to quit television in favour of “being human again”, because too much screen time made us “feel drowsy, bored, sad, lonely and hostile”. Cue watching hypnotic videotapes of flickering flames to combat stress (yes, really).

Sales of new high-tech home ovulation kits boomed, because “the trend towards fewer children has gone hand in hand with the acknowledgement that having children early can seriously damage a woman’s career prospects”.

We also explored the connection between our mind, body and immune system and how to find our flow – a pleasurable state of absorption in a task – for peak productivity and performance. The 90s were a bit exhausting, so it’s not surprising the June 1999 issue announced fashion’s new mantra was “om”.

2000s

We adopted new-age methods for the new millennium and celebrity crushes became the new life coaches. Thank wellness maven Gwyneth Paltrow for macrobiotics and seasonal detoxes; Madonna for alerting us to yoga’s body-sculpting potential; and Christy Turlington for anti-smoking campaigning and a yogic attitude. “The doing of yoga isn’t just about being on a mat,” Turlington explained in our January 2003 health, sports and fitness issue. “It’s about being on a photo shoot and being polite and sweet to everyone and not getting involved in the backstabbing, bitchy atmosphere. It’s about being uplifting …”

But it wasn’t all Zen. Action girls took up rock-climbing, kitesurfing, snowboarding, mountain-biking, stand-up paddleboarding and other adventure sports. “Women want to have fun and play, but they want to try something new, do something they see as

adventurous and challenging. It gives them a sense of escaping,” we said in January 2003. Spin studios and hybrid workouts like yogalates also kept us busy.

We fuelled it all by spending big on antioxidant superfoods promising superhuman effects.

But some of us were stuck at the office – in June 2000 we asked: “Are you addicted to work?”, reporting that “Time and space outside work is terra incognito – we haven’t the slightest idea how to use it.”

Online, we saw an influx of self-anointed gurus sharing their own “health journeys” and anecdotal advice that dietitians and doctors were kept busy debunking.

2010s

Our pursuit of good health is now one of the world’s biggest and fastest-growing industries. It includes travel, beauty, nutrition, fitness, real estate, preventative and complementary medicine, workplace medicine and spas.

Dietitians have been kept busy as detox diets, juice cleanses, smoothie bowls, veganism, ketogenic diets, paleo diets, Mediterranean diets and all types of intermittent fasting (5:2, 16:8, 18:6) compete for our attention.

Workouts are getting shorter as we discover the efficiency of high intensity interval training (HIIT) and lifting weights to rev up our metabolisms.

We’ve also tapped into apps and devices designed for tracking our periods, fertility, heart rate, activity and much more. Yet we are also looking to ancient solutions for our 21st-century dilemmas, including Chinese herbs and medicinal mushrooms for adrenal and immune support, sound healing and forest bathing for stress relief and earthing to rid our bodies of electromagnetic radiation.

Science keeps on revealing the previously unknown benefits of deep sleep and we also have a healthy new respect for rest, scheduling low intensity steady state sessions (LISS) between our big workouts and visits to recovery studios offering infra-red saunas, ice baths, LED light therapy and compression, as seen in the June 2019 issue.

Beauty, health and wellness are merging. If you feel good on the inside, it will show on the outside. “It seems the anti-ageing miracle we hoped to find in a jar actually lies in our minds,” we reported in February 2018. And since science has shown stress directly affects our rate of cellular ageing and risk of chronic disease, we noted the rise in mindfulness and meditation in May 2014 and the trend for taking time out from nonstop notifications, text messages, emails and social media, which all raise cortisol levels.

That same year we reported we’re learning to live harmoniously with our symbiotic others, the trillions of microbes residing in our digestive tract and on the surface of our skin, nurturing our inner gardens with prebiotics and probiotic supplements, fermented foods and drinks such as kefir and kombucha. Otherwise, climate change has become the other pressing health concern, driving us to make choices that are good for us and the planet, including meat-free Mondays, sustainable fashion and toxin-free products.

As for the 80s prediction that we would be popping contain-it-all pills instead of meals? It turns out the opposite is true. The more we learn about nutrition, the simpler the question of what to eat becomes. The message now is: eat like your great-grandmother. And skip those fad diets.