Slimming, 1967

<P>Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.</P>Data accumulated from Consumers' Association surveys are designed to be used by the consumer. The surveys are, therefore, very specific in nature and the subjects covered diverse. The Data Archive holds 19 such surveys.<br>
Readers are asked to note that, with the exception of the surveys on the Telephone Service - 69004, 69016, respondents surveyed are self selected from subscribers to the Association's magazine &lt;i&gt;Which?&lt;/i&gt; and so the surveys cannot singly be used in descriptive accounts of the British public.<br>
Surveys 69005-69012 cover various aspects of the housing experiences of &lt;i&gt;Which?&lt;/i&gt; readers who moved house in 1967 and 1968. It is here particularly important to remember that the choice strategies and the resources of &lt;i&gt;Which?&lt;/i&gt; readers are unlikely to be typical.<br><B>Main Topics</B>:<BR><br>Exercise: frequency of participation in sporting activities; whether respondents take more or less exercise when they feel no need to slim (also whether to take more part in such activities would be: easy, possible or difficult); average hours per day spent walking; including walking to work, shopping etc. (whether to walk more would be: easy; possible or difficult); average hours per day spent sitting down. Eating habits: whether respondent always eat when they have an appetite; whether they always have an appetite when eating; cooked meals with family; snacks with family and courses that family usually have at main meal.<br>
Weight history: whether respondents can attribute a cause for excess weight (12 categories); length of time they have been overweight (7 categories); weight they would like to lose; also whether respondent has or has had children. Food `beliefs': whether fruit on a diet should be raw or tinned; whether glucose drinks etc. are useful on a diet to `keep you going'; whether sweets are a good way of giving children the extra energy they need.<br>
Weight control/loss: weight control methods tried most recently (18 main categories - e.g. complete meal substitutes, weight-reducing lotions and creams etc.); source of slimming method used (e.g. woman's magazine - 11 categories); foods cut out, reduced etc. (list given); adequacy of diet (i.e. nutritional); whether regime was medically supervised; length of time pursued; weight lost; convenience of regime and hunger satisfaction. If regime involved food intake control, respondents are asked to state whether they relaxed diet rules on any occasion. Also, expenses of regime (compared to cost of normal living expenses), whether regime greatly different from previous normal habits, reasons for never trying to diet - if the case (13 categories), and finally, foods that non-slimming respondents would find irksome to restrict in intake (list given).<br>
Background Variables<br>
Sex, age cohort, occupation (i.e. housewife, mainly sedentary, mainly active, retired). Information includes: whether smoker; whether has a car; whether there is a good cook in the family; whether respondent ever looks at the Good Food Guide; whether lives alone, with friends or family (if respondent lives with others, the effects of new eating habits on self and on others is stated - i.e. inconvenience).