There has been outstanding advancement in the medical Held which has taken place during the last few years, in arresting and finding cures for many incurable maladies, but obesity has so far successfully eluded most of them, us has cancer. The present generation is in constant quest for a remedy for (his malady. New solutions for slimming are coming up every other day, in the form of pills and potions which are also gaining entrance in many physicians' consulting rooms. Ultra modern drugs with tall claims of weight reducing effects are being manufactured by the dozens.

Crash diets arc experimented with very little effect. Stay trim devices are being manufactured and advertised in order to lure those who wish to lose weight, to go in for a trial. Health clubs that advertise fitness and weight reducing programmes are attracting young and old from all corners. Some of these programmes are no doubt effective, but they cost too much and consume a lot of energy. Sometimes except for an overall well being, they never help reduce a single pound.
It is needless to say that most of such crash programmes do not have long lasting effect. People have a genuine fear that if and when they stop such programmes, they would once again gain weight. Such an apprehension itself could prove to be counter¬productive and induce other physical disorders or a reversal to the original bloated status.


Quacks and exploiters do not lag far behind in promising heaven for making a quick buck for themselves. Gullibility being a common virtue in most people, they get lured by one or the other of these, sometimes with drastic results.


Reducing weight can be a natural activity and an enjoyable pastime for those who do not suffer from any other serious disease. They can reduce by adopting a method that suits their physical, mental and psychological needs. However, the proper weight reducing remedies are those which do not leave the individual with any bad or undesirable after effects and at the same time have a lasting effect.


For example, when a person earns wealth in a very short period or without hard work, he starts frittering it away and instead of pleasure, such wealth only gives him unavoidable anxiety. In its wake, i I also brings unwanted worry, whereby he spends most of his life with the thoughts of finding ways and means to preserve it. So the wealth which lie thought would bring him comfort and pleasure, becomes a burden. Whereas wealth earned by hard work and sweat, gives a person lasting pleasure and peace. Knowing its worth, he will not be tempted to fritter it away but put it to proper use and whenever he takes a look at his achieve¬ments in this respect, he would get a sense of satisfaction and peace. So is the case with reducing weight by one's hard efforts and maintaining it. It needs no emphasis that anything which is achieved in a haste can neither be lasting nor can be enjoyed.


Obese people who lead a fairly comfortable and carefree life, may detest the very idea of having to really toil for achieving a thing like a trim figure or good health. Their mistaken conception is, that if external help is available, they can achieve bettcrresults in reducing their weight without themselves doing anything much. Through such help though some modes of treatment is available, they require the actual participation and absolute cooperation of the individual during thecourse of treatment. This is because unless the individual realises that it is his responsibil¬ity to lose weight, the weight reducing treatment will be a total failure.


The perspecti ve of this book is to help persons, who wish to carry out their own programmes through treatment given in this book, in a few self-help methods for reducing weight, instead of depending on external help. Keeping in view the individual's otherwise general health, natural weight reduction can be achieved by some alternative therapies dealt with in this book, depending on the individual's physical requirements.


An attempt is also made in this book to remove the misconcep¬tion that crash programmes can be adopted by one and all without exception. It has also been attempted to enlighten everyone as to why such crash programmes or crash diets are not advisable for all alike, why everyone cannot be benefited by the same programme and how a dangerous situation can arise if they are carried out without caution.