Diet Cults: The Surprising Fallacy at the Core of Nutrition Fads and a Guide to Healthy Eating for the Rest of Us - Softcover

Fitzgerald, Matt

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1605988294 ISBN 13: 9781605988290

Publisher: Pegasus Books, 2015

Synopsis

From the national bestselling author of Racing Weight, Matt Fitzgerald exposes the irrationality, half-truths, and downright impossibility of a “single right way” to eat, and reveals how to develop rational, healthy eating habits.

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.

About this title

About the Author:

Matt Fitzgerald is an acclaimed endurance sports and nutrition writer and a certified sports nutritionist. He is the bestselling author of more than a dozen books on running and fitness, including 80/20 Running, How Bad Do You Want It, Racing Weight, and Iron War, which was long-listed for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year and Diet Cults, also available from Pegasus Books. He is a columnist on Competitor.com and Active.com, and has contributed to Bicycling, Men’s Health, Triathlete, Men’s Journal, Outside, Runner’s World, Shape, and Women’s Health. He lives in San Diego, California.

Review:

“In this book, Fitzgerald takes aim at the long list of dietary approaches that claim to be the "One True Way" to eat healthily, arguing instead for what he calls "agnostic healthy eating." The key (which he has introduced in previous books) is a ranking of 10 categories of food, and the goal is simply that, wherever a food falls in that hierarchy, you should generally aim to have more of the foods that rank above it and less of the foods that rank below it. And you know what? I agree. You can quibble about some of the details, but this is not a bad description of the way I aim to eat. I'll eat anything, more or less, but always aiming to have more of the things at the top of the ladder than at the bottom. If you're a fellow dietary agnostic, the book is worth a read.” —Runner's World

“A delicious read. I am always amazed at how much I learn from Matt Fitzgerald's books. Diet Cults dives into the human nature, psychology, and pleasure aspect of food. I devoured it.” —Shalene Flanagan, Olympic Bronze Medalist

 

About this edition

• Publisher: Pegasus Books
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1605988294
• ISBN 13: 9781605988290
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336