Richard Carl Lehman
In 1944, we were not allowed to hang out at the beach unless we applied sun protection. We ate well then despite the shortages: healthy picnic lunches like egg salad sandwiches, veg sticks and a cookie. Sitting in the sun, we waited the prescribed hour before even thinking of getting in the water as that would cause cramping and drowning.
Our parents did many things to keep us healthy, like roll a window down a smidge to let the Salem cigarette smoke escape. Even though doctors prescribed the better “Kool” cigarette, lung cancers shot up.
By 1996, smoking on airplanes stopped, and a few friends made statements about cutting back while hoisting a double gin on the rocks. Too much meat was bad so during a time in the ’70s, it was popular to substitute nuts, grains and salads. Several of us took this on, and while driving on Broadway one day, a wonderful aroma wafted into the car. We in unison shouted, “Screw it!” and turned right into Dick’s Drive-In.
Diet and supplements were a huge craze. Nutra-Bio was like SlimFast with meal replacement drinks. A coworker friend declined to eat lunch with us and when we returned we saw three empty bottles of it in the waste basket. Cabbage soup diet, or the grapefruit diet, intermittent fasting, the one-day diet, the Atkins, the MIND diet, the Russian Air Force diet, going Paleo, detox diets, the magic-bullet diets, keto, the 5:2 diet, and many other flawed, quick-fix dietary protocols.
In 1087, William the Conqueror partook of the first recorded liquid diet by taking to his bed and consuming nothing but alcohol; 860 years later, we have the Drinking Man’s Diet.
A tall gal friend from the “410” Health Club (Rossellini’s) worked in marketing, fashion and runway modeling. She was on the grapefruit, which entailed eating a whole grapefruit before, during and after a meal of protein and limited carbs. She was thin all right; we saw her wave to us when she went by in an ambulance. Later, she said she was light-headed and had almost passed out.
A doctor friend who worked out at our gym downtown (Schmidt’s) was on some weird fad diet. He decided to eat only plain canned tuna fish and lettuce and stuck to it for a few weeks. When he showed up at the gym the other members suggested he add a third item: Double-Mint chewing gum. When this gym closed, we found a new one further away from the office but it meant extending our lunch by 30 minutes.
When we presented it to the art director he said he’d consider it and then eventually joined with us. It was called “Harry’s Gym,” across from the Paramount theater. Harry Swetnum gave us a lot of good advice. We asked how to lose fat and gain muscle and after relating to him what a typical meal might be he said, “Cut it in half!” He also got us on many supplements like brewer’s yeast and 10 to 15 capsules of other products.
Nowadays, it’s Denali Fitness for us where we try to keep in shape and socialize at the same time. Luckily our health has cooperated, and we are also happy to walk the neighborhood for extra oomph.
Those early years basking in the sun, we applied Glacier Cream invented by a chemistry student. It was the first product to include a sun protection factor, though the SPF was only 2. Another product we applied was developed by the Army Air Force and was basically a dark red veterinary petroleum to which cocoa butter and coconut oil were added. It was the precursor to Coppertone suntan lotion. It actually worked, as three days later we were tanned, not burned. Those who wished a faster tan applied baby oil, which tended to burn, especially in water.
Since everyone seemed consumed with getting those medically inadvisable tans, they turned to sunless tanning products like Man-Tan, Sudden Tan and Coppertone's Quick Tan (aka QT). Mystic Tan was a spray tan with the resulting colors not always complementary, and the odors were strange with all of them. A friend at work had a girlfriend who was a stewardess and spent a good deal of time in Southern California. She and her roommates hit the roof for topless sunbathing, but the traffic helicopters buzzing overhead was annoying.
The friend was anxious to try this Man-Tan, which guaranteed a tan in just hours. He generously applied it from a man-sized tube, and the next morning it was all we could do not to laugh. The skin around his eyes, ears and other areas like his hands were dark orange, which made him look like a raccoon. He couldn’t get rid of the color even after showering several times.
Karen and I were certainly addicted to sunbathing our first 30 years of married life and spent many vacations in sunny spots like Hawaii. Since the sun has ravaged our bodies with various skin cancers and liver spots, we have gotten out of the habit of laying out. It seems weird to go there with long sleeve 50 UPF shirts, medical grade sunscreens, hats and sunglasses. Umbrellas and shade would surely ignite the Aloha spirit of music, food and breezes while soothing the souls.
Instead, we shall fully appreciate our Northwest air and be soothed by the upcoming spring.