Eating the right food has a lot to do with being healthy. To stay in the groove where your figure likes to be, remember to eat wisely and well. Here's the list of basic foods you need every day so that your body gets its necessary daily requirements of vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, fats, starches and calories: One quart of milk—that equals one glass at each meal, plus one extra; a serving of whole-grained cereal; an egg a day (not less than five a week); two green vegetables and a green salad; two kinds of fruit, one citrus; a serving of meat, fish or poultry; about three pats of butter; four slices of wholewheat or enriched bread; and lastly, a potato.

There is a lot of food for thought in this chapter. It is full of admonitions to do this and don't do that. Pick and choose and find the suggestions that fit you best. However, don't get too rigid about selections. If you have got your figure in shape, then relax once in a while. Do not apply diet restrictions on any big eating holiday, like Christmas or Thanksgiving. If you do, you'll find that you are taking too much enjoyment out of your life. The thing to do is to be sensible.

If you are sensible you will sample a bit of this or that at a party—that's why the food is there. But you won't sit all evening by the potato chips, one hand in the bowl, the other popping a fresh one in your mouth. If you are sensible, you'll drink Coke and eat peanut butter sandwiches on a picnic, but you will also make sure that you don't choose those very same items next day for lunch. If you are sensible you'll share a soda with your date once in a while, but you won't ask for another and another and another.

In fact, if you are sensible, you won't have any figure problems. You'll watch yourself and catch any bulges or depressions before they have a chance to multiply. You'll be sure to see your doctor for regular check-ups so that you can be full of the old pep in order to live to the fullest the busy life that a good figure combined with a good personality gets a sensible girl.

"My skin always breaks out" "Mine's too oily.*' "Mine's too dry."

It is a lamentable paradox that as babies we nearly all have perfect skins (at a time when it really does us little good), but as teen-agers most of us are beset with one kind of a complexion problem or another. It seems a cruel state of affairs, but it is not one that has to be put up with.

I know that there are teens who think they have to be stuck with splotchy skins, just as I know there are teens who think that "baby fat" is a phase they have to live through. But both are wrong. It's just as true that teens can clear up their complexions by a routine of logical skin care as it is that teens can get rid of tubby tummies by cutting down on calories.

The two big troublemakers in skin conditions are diet and dirt. Too much chocolate and too little soap and water are the basic irritants. A program that banishes these two factors will launch any girl well on the way toward a clear and camellia-like complexion.

In the previous chapter on diet, I pointed out how important to your figure it is to eat sensibly. Well, it is just as important to your skin. A jelly doughnut will not only add pounds, it will also promote pimples. The food you eat every day will affect your complexion every bit as much as it affects your waistline.

If you stick to the daily allotments of food that were suggested to you before, you will be laying the groundwork for a good glowing skin. By eating the necessary amounts of green vegetables and fresh fruits and by lowering your intake of sticky sweets and greasy fried foods you will be doing two good turns: one to your face, the other to your figure.

Even serious skin conditions like acne can be aided by proper diet. Acne, of course, must be treated by a doctor, since it involves more knowledge than any layman has. No teen-ager should take it upon herself to fool around with acne. But a teen-ager who is so disturbed will find that one of the first things a doctor will tell her to do is to keep a careful check on what she eats. If diet can help acne, think how much it can do for the ordinary, commonplace garden variety of skin eruptions.

Stated broadly, a good complexion demands absolute cleanliness. This cleanliness can be divided into two parts: inner and outer. Inner cleanliness is what is gained from proper eating habits. It means that your body is healthy and functioning well. It means that you are free of constipation (which is the ruin of a good skin). Outer cleanliness is what is gained from the vigorous application of soap and water. And the plain truth of the matter is that in this regard some teen-agers are slackers.

It is surprising how few of us realize how essential it is to clean our skin thoroughly. We give a few swipes with the soap and we're done with it. Some of us, indeed, hardly even bother with the soap, and others (lost souls) bother with nothing at all. They even apply fresh makeup over the remains of the old.

No skin will stand up under such treatment. The pores will rebel. Dirt will get clogged up in them and sooner or later blackheads and pimples will start popping forth on all sides.

So if you are campaigning for a petal-smooth complexion, start each day and end each day with a clean skin. When you wash, pin your hair up out of the way so that you will have no scruples about scrubbing right up into the hairline. Before you begin make sure that you have the necessary equipment, a good cleansing cream, a soap that agrees with your skin and water, and a clean washcloth.

First start with the cleansing cream, which you should apply liberally and with upward strokes. Pulling down on the facial tissues will, after a period of time, tend to make the muscles go slack. As you work the cream into the skin, remember that the pressure of your fingertips helps stimulate the circulation of the blood. It is one part of the function of the blood stream, you know, to carry off the body's waste materials. If the circulation is sluggish, the wastes will collect in one spot and manifest themselves in a nasty collection of blotches before you know it.

Make sure, as you rub in the cream, that you spread it over every inch and into the crevices around the nose, mouth, and eyes. Too often these areas are overlooked. If they begin to feel neglected, they will start demanding attention, like a small child who has been left out of the conversation too long. Only instead of setting up a loud wail, they will express their resentment by breaking out.

When you have thoroughly covered your face with cream, allow it to remain on the skin for about two minutes. Just sit back and luxuriate in the cool slippery feeling that it gives. ^

Then gently begin to remove all the cream with a tissue, being careful to sop up every bit. Before you throw away the soiled tissue, take a moment to look at it. Dirty, isn't it? Did you ever guess there was so much grime on your face? See what youVe been missing?

The next step in the cleansing routine is to wash your face with soap and water. Use hot water for the soaping. The soap you choose should be one for your skin type—a castile soap for a dry skin, a soap with a drying agent for an oily skin. If you are not certain what to choose, ask your druggist for advice.

After soaping—no skimping there, please—rinse your face with cold water. The cold water will close the pores that have opened up with the application of the hot water. It is important to remember the cold water, since pores should always be closed after cleansing so that new dirt will not have an opportunity to get down deep. Twice a week, use ice cubes in place of the cold water. They do a very thorough job and besides they feel wonderfully slithery.