Move over, Atkins and South Beach: antidiet books are the new diet books. Lately I've noticed a slew of what might be called weight management, rather than weight loss, books landing on my desk, reinforcing the ever-growing sentiment that diets, at least in the traditional sense, don't work. But changing your eating habits does.
People like Maria Langer, who I heard interviewed on NPR the other day, are admitting that the diet books they bought over the years turned out to be a waste of money. But the publishing industry is filling the void with books about how to stop dieting and keep off the weight, among them Naturally Thin: Unleash Your Skinnygirl and Free Yourself from a Lifetime of Dieting by Real Housewives star Bethenny Frankel and The Big Skinny, an instructive memoir from a woman who learned to keep off the pounds without dieting. For more on the trend, read more.
Other very recent additions include The Skinny by Louis J. Aronne and Master Your Metabolism by Jillian Michaels (stay tuned for more on that), both of which purport that managing your body's chemistry and metabolism is far more effective than dieting. Similarly, some of my favorite food books of the past year, including The Daily Fix by Alexa Fishback, have focused not on short-term fixes but on changing your eating habits for the better, for good.
I'd even put in this category Michael Pollan's books The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food, which have changed many people's eating habits more than any old diet book could. What's your favorite antidiet diet book?
Karen Walker
Cheap Monday
Del Gatto
I haven't read any of these, but I can say I look and feel better when I eat, fresh, local, organic (if it's an option). Basically if I eat REAL food.
1I like "In Defense of Food". It just makes a lot of sense; people started getting fat when they started eating processed crap and not eating actual food anymore. If you eat a diet that's pretty rich in fruits, veggies, eggs, free-range meats, etc., you don't even really have to count calories or do anything like that. I don't really count exact calories, but I don't limit my intake of vegetables, fruit, lean protein, etc. And it's very easy to maintain my weight eating that way...plus, my health couldn't be better: I have nice skin, nice hair, my cholesterol is awesome, and I have energy all day long.
2i agree that diets DONT work. in high school i dieted and played soccer and lost 30 lbs. when i entered college & stopped playing soccer, i gained 60 lbs even tho i still ate diet foods. i realized it was the exersize, not the dieting, that attributed to my weight loss. since i stopped my splenda addiction, eating sugar-free foods, and counting calories, i've lost 20!
3Thank god. I am so tired of dieting books! Well, let's see here. Currently I'm reading 80/10/10 by Dr. Doug Graham which is a raw vegan lifestyle "diet" which he's done for 30 years. Somewhat extreme, but based on very good principles. I've also read Natalia Rose's books which are based on a less strict style of a raw food diet, like eating chocolate and wine still haha.
I have read excerpts from "Naturally Thin" and intend to buy it soon. I really do believe you don't need to deprive yourself to be your ideal size (whatever that is)...it's just finding what works for you.
4I'm doing the 'Skinny b*tch' lifestyle which is basicly becoming vegan. I must say it really works I went from 67kg to62 in less than a week and I'm feeling good, healthier!
5The Omnivore's Dilemma is an amazing book. I'm surprised Pollan is not a vegetarian, after all he's seen.
6YAY to the other anonymous person!
I'm about 80% 20%. Meaning I'm 80% raw vegan, and 20% cooked vegan.
Kris Car ( I don't think I'm spelling her name right) The women who did the doc "Crazy Sexy Cancer" advocates this kind of living. I think she's writing a book about it, if she hasn't already.
Natalia Rose is awesome, but chocolate doesn't have be cooked. Cacao is the raw chocolate bean, which is actually a nut that looks like an almond, and you can get it in most health food stores. Its yummy. Amazing drizzled over raspberries.
I eat all raw till dinner, and then I'll have a huge salad with some baked vegan goodness. I want to make a point, however, that none of my cook vegan things contain soy or anything like soy. It's not the wonder food people make it out to be, and I wish that there was more mainstream information made about this for consumers.
In the summer I'm 100% raw, so my percentage fluctuates. It's just so much easier in the summer because so many great things are in season, and I can go and pick them myself!
Raw is amazing! This way of living has changed and bettered almost every aspect of my life.
7Mark Bittman's Food Matters, along the same vein as Pollan's books. But I love that t has recipes from a wonderful chef.
8I think this is a great concept. They tell people to eat what you like, but use common sense. It helps set free a lot of health-oriented people who have food phobias due to other popular yet strict diets.
9*applauds* I'm sick of seeing my friends on diets one day then feeling worthless because they failed it the next. Diets don't work, period. I'm a health nut, so I eat a lot of fruits & veggies and I never had a weight issue.
10Thanks for the mention. I was rather tickled to be on NPR.
I blogged about The Flat Belly Diet. I think it -- like many other fad diet books -- is a scam designed to separate desperate overweight women from their money.
The solution is reduced calories, increased exercise. A change in eating lifestyle. Eat less, take walks. Be smart about eating. Stop eating crap.
I want to read The Omnivore's Dilemma. I think there's a lot of smart stuff about food and eating in that book.
11The best books I've read on this subject are Overcoming Overeating, The Rules of Normal Eating, and books by Geneen Roth.
12Michael Pollan's books are amazing and I highly recommend them to anyone. I'm really interested in Mark Bittman's Food Matters although I figured it'd probably be more of the same.
13I know it's been said a few times already, but it's worth saying again..."In Defense of Food" is an amazing book. It's loaded with information, and still a very enjoyable read. If you don't have time for the book, you should at least check out his rules for eating.
14has anyone watched THE BIGGEST LOSER? You know the show where obese people try to lose the most weight? was just wonderrrriiing....
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