Rethinking Thin: The New Science of Weight Loss--and the Myths and Realities of Dieting

In this eye-opening book New York Times science writer Gina Kolata shows that our societys obsession with dieting and weight loss is less about keeping trim and staying healthy than about money power trends and impossible idealsRethinking Thin is at once an account of the place of diets in American society and a provocative critique of the weight-loss industry Kolatas account of four determined dieters progress through a study comparing the Atkins diet to a conventional low-calorie one becomes a broad tale of science and society of social mores and social sanctions and of politics and powerRethinking Thin asks whether words like willpower are really applicable when it comes to eating and body weight It dramatizes what it feels like to spend a lifetime struggling with ones weight and fantasizing about finally at long last getting thin It tells the little-known story of the science of obesity and the history of diets and dietingscientific and social phenomena that made some people rich and thin and left others fat and miserable And it offers commonsense answers to questions about weight eating habits and obesitygiving us a better understanding of the weight that is right for our bodies.