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Body of truth : how science, history, and culture drive our obsession with weight-- and what we can do about it / Harriet Brown.

by Brown, Harriet, 1958-

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Da Capo Lifelong Books, a member of the Perseus Books Group, 2015.

Weight loss -- Psychological aspects.

Weight loss -- Social aspects.

Reducing diets -- Evaluation.

9780738218823 (pbk.)

9780738217697 (hc.)

xxx, 273 pages ; 22 cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: How my life changed with one sentence -- A few words about research -- Four big fat lies about weight and health -- The amazing! seventeen-day! flat-belly! grain-brain! biggest loser! raw food! diet -- Good food, bad food -- Money, motivation, and the medical machine -- The truth about beauty -- It's all in how you look at it -- Now what?

"Over the last 25 years, our longing for thinness has morphed into a relentless cultural obsession with weight and body image. You can't be a woman or girl (or, increasingly, a man or boy) in America today and not grapple with the size and shape of your body, your daughter's body and other women's bodies. Even the most confident people have to find a way through a daily gauntlet of voices and images talking, admonishing, warning us about what size we should be, how much we should weigh, what we should eat and what we shouldn't. Obsessing about weight has become a ritual and a refrain, punctuating our every relationship, including the ones with ourselves. It's time to change the conversation around weight. Harriet Brown has explored the conundrums of weight and body image for more than a decade, as a science journalist as a woman who has struggled with weight. She describes how biology, psychology, metabolism, media, and culture come together to shape our ongoing obsession with our bodies, and what we can learn from them to help us shift the way we think. Brown exposes some of the myths behind the rhetoric of obesity, gives historical and contemporary context for what it means to be "fat," and offers readers ways to set aside the hysteria and think about weight and health in more nuanced and accurate ways"--Provided by publisher.

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