Diet Cults

Summary:

From “The Four Hour Body,” to “Atkins,” there are diet cults to match seemingly any mood and personality type. Everywhere we turn, someone is preaching the “One True Way” to eat for maximum health. Paleo Diet advocates tell us that all foods less than 12,000 years old are the enemy. Low-carb gurus demonize carbs, then there are the low-fat prophets. But they agree on one thing: there is only one true way to eat for maximum health. The first clue that that is a fallacy is the sheer variety of diets advocated. Indeed, while all of these competing views claim to be backed by “science,” a good look at actual nutritional science itself suggests that it is impossible to identify a single best way to eat. Fitzgerald advocates an agnostic, rational approach to eating habits, based on one’s own habits, lifestyle, and genetics/body type. Many professional athletes already practice this “Good Enough” diet, and now we can too and ditch the brainwashing of these diet cults for good. (Summary and cover courtesy of goodreads.com)

Review:

I really enjoyed reading this book and was pleasantly surprised that it was easy to pick up for something that I was expecting to be pretty dense.  I like that Fitzgerald goes through and explains the pros / cons of the thinking of each diet “cult” and why people started to think one or another could be beneficial.  I think the main weakness of the book is that the author seems to pick the most extreme examples of one “cult” (ex. Raw vegans rather than vegetarianism).  This paired with a lack of a systemic analysis makes me warn readers that this is more of an overview of broad trends rather than the end-all, be-all scientific review.

Another aspect that isn’t addressed is that many people really struggle with moderation (abstainers vs moderators’ idea), which is something I can relate to – particularly in times of stress.  Ultimately his message is to go with whatever works the best for you, but I think that would have been an interesting topic to explore.  Despite that, I found the book interesting, has provoked a lot of conversations for me, and is something I have definitely been thinking about while grocery shopping!

Rating: 5 stars!

Who should read it? Folks interested in learning a little more about their eating