Rethinking Thin: The New Science of Weight Loss - and the Myth and
Realities of Dieting
Gina Kolata
At Amazon.com
Tiny URL
http://tinyurl.com/yszvrl
Long URL
http://www.amazon.com/Rethinking-Thin-Science-Loss-Realities/dp/0374103984/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-1684018-2132957?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190677298&sr=1-1
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review.
New York Times reporter Kolata may be the best writer around covering
the science of health. Here she offers an eye-opening book that
questions all our received wisdom about why we get fat and the health
hazards of those extra pounds. In chapters equally entertaining and
dismaying, Kolata (Flu) traces the history of dieting fads back to the
19th century; discusses our changing ideas about the ideal body (thinner
and thinner); and, most importantly, explains how genetic and
biochemical understanding has (at least among researchers) replaced the
view of obesity as a lack of self-control.
Most dramatic is Kolata's recounting of Jeff Friedman's groundbreaking
search at Rockefeller University for the "satiety factor," a hormone he
called leptin that tells our brains when we're full.
The science alternates with moving chapters in which Kolata follows a
group of people in a weight-loss study who are trying desperately to get
thin—a quest that, as Kolata makes increasingly clear is sadly futile.
In her final—and perhaps most surprising—chapter, Kolata blasts those in
the obesity industry—such as Jenny Craig and academic obesity research
centers—who are invested in promoting the idea that overweight is
unhealthy and diet and exercise are effective despite a raft of evidence
to the contrary. This book will change your thinking about weight,
whether you struggle with it or not. (May)
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I have read the first few chapters and learned a lot.
Among other things.....
* "Eat less, Exercise More" is an ancient saying that hasn't worked for
well over a thousand years.
* Banting and his "Letter on Corpulence" had massive detractors at the
time. The medical community said there was no basis whatsoever for the
working of the diet, and individulals penned poison pen letters against
the giving up of those classic tasty carbohydrate foods.
* Until recently, there has been very little scientific research on the
mechanics or chemistry of weight loss.
* Whenever there is anything that is (temporarily) successful/popular,
there is a renewed effort to replace it with something new, and this has
gone on for about a century.
It may be of interest to a few here.
Jim