Christy Harrison

Just like THE F*CK IT DIET by Caroline Dooner but with very little swearing. Harrison is a registered dietician, and uses what she knows to convince you that Health At Every Size (HAES) (TM) is the only way to go. Lots of proof showing that diets don't work, don't last, and actually make you gain weight (NOT THAT THERE'S ANYTHING WRONG WITH THAT!). Seriously, Harrison is always bending over backwards not to offend (with constant shout-outs to non-binary-gendered people), refusing even to use show more the words "overweight" or "obese" without quote marks.

There is only a very short chapter about how to do truly intuitive eating. Like THE F*CK IT DIET, this book warns you that by "intuitive eating" we do not mean being obsessed with hunger cues, which is just dieting by another name. F*ck-it-style intuitive eating means: just eat. Whatever you want, whenever you want, however much you want. Enjoy.

Who couldn't get behind that?

Harrison gives lots of reassurance that this will NOT ruin your health. After a honeymoon phase with brownies, you will settle in, your weight will settle in, and your health will be fine - or not - but if not, it won't be because of eating the wrong things. Lots of factors contribute to health, including many beyond one's control. And dieting is about control, so that's not a message many may want to hear.

But it's true; and other things that are true are: adipose tissue itself has NEVER been proven to DIRECTLY cause health problems. It's just body tissue, after all. And: being health-obsessed, or even health-conscious at all, is not a moral obligation. There are no "good" and "bad" foods because an apple and a hamburger are MORALLY EQUIVALENT. Running a marathon and watching a Netflix marathon are MORALLY EQUIVALENT. What is "health" for, anyway? To let you live longer and more productively … to do what? Whatever is meaningful to you, THAT is the moral obligation; not health per se.

This would all be obvious if not for what Harrison terms "diet culture," the water we all swim in. We are all afraid of being or becoming "fat" and what it will mean for our status. But this sounds shallow so we cloak it in talk of health-consciousness and "wellness."

Just chuck it all. In other words, F*ck It. show less

Interesting take on diet culture. I learned a lot about the history of “diet culture” the health affects of limiting one’s food intake so one’s body can be ideal, the damage to one physical and mental health, the financial and emotional costs and the futility of trying to adapt your metabolism to a thinner you. I learned that 95% of people who diet put back the weight they lost and that bariatric surgery which limits your food intake also fails after a few months or years. The diet show more industry is closely tied to the food industry which produces and markets products based on the latest diet craze, low fat, low carb, low cholesterol, sugar free, gluten free, low calorie products.
One has to learn to live with your weight, eat healthy foods and enjoy life instead of trying to become someone else. This is a simplistic summary of a complicated topic but resonated with me. Too many people, in particular young women get caught up in the battle to be thin that they can permanently damage their bodies and their mentally health. show less

"But upwards of 90% of people who intentionally lose weight gain it back within five years."

This is one of the, if not the biggest reasons that people argue against dieting. But it's a shitty reason. Know why?

Because when many people reach their goal weight, they stop following the rules that enabled them to lose weight in the first place, and gain that weight back. It happened to me.

It wasn't the food's fault. It wasn't diet culture's fault. It was my own fault for making the mistake so show more many other people made, slacking off on the behaviors that helped me lose weight. So I had to work on losing weight again, and then maintaining most of the rules of my diet so I wouldn't have to worry about the weight coming back.

Maintaining healthy weight is a lifelong struggle/commitment. Not a fad or something you do on a temporary basis. So yes, being obsessed with diet culture is not healthy, but the word 'diet' is not a four-letter word as this book makes out. 'Intuitive eating' will never be as good as portion control and calorie/sugar/etc counting.

One of the worst things about this book is the fact that the author actually encourages people with food allergies to eat said foods, if they have a craving for said foods. Because your body is yours to do with as you wish, as the author says.

That is a dangerous and misleading statement. Technically, the author might be correct, but that doesn't mean your body will respond well to what you do with it, and there are some things you just should never do to your body regardless of cravings. Some people crave self-harm, doesn't mean they should do it.

Many parts of this book just come across as a rant, and a really long-winded one.

TLDR - this is not an actual health book. Do not read this book if you're serious about taking care of yourself. The "information" in this book is not only biased, it is misleading and even potentially LETHAL.

Yes, lethal. You could literally die if you followed the "advice" in this book.

Also, the author bitches a lot about diet culture, but says nothing about the damage caused by fast-food culture. So many HAES/Fat Acceptance proponents bitch about how the big, bad Diet Industry makes billions of dollars per year on diet fads, pills, etc etc. But the same people refuse to acknowledge that fast food/snack companies rake in FAR many more billions than the diet industry does. How many commercials do you see that shil for McDonald's and other fast/snack foods on a regular basis? TV, magazines, billboards, online advertising, etc etc. So the real problem here is not the bogeyman of 'diet culture', but HAES/the Fat Acceptance movement itself and the way they demonize anything that doesn't feed into their delusion of HAES, to the fucking point where obese people are told to fucking disregard their doctor's advice and their own obesity-related health issues in the name of so-called "body positivity" or ignore doctor-mandated diets in favor of "intuitive" eating.

ETA - There's another reason to avoid this book. Ragen Chastain - a HUGE (pun intended) FA/HAES advocate - praises this book. Review here www.goodreads.com/review/show/3143076795

Ragen claims to be an expert researcher, which was proven more than once to be a lie. The fact that she says this book is well-researched shows the opposite. She REEEEES about so-called research bias when she skews all of her own "research" in favor of HAES/FA, ignoring the effects her shitty choices have on her body.

Ragen Chastain also calls herself an "elite" athlete despite all evidence pointing to the contrary, and has been caught in countless lies about her supposed health and exercise level. It's like having a heavy smoker shill for cigarettes saying that the cigarette is what is helping them with their health. Check out the 'Dances with Facts' blog which tracks the lies Ragen tells, or check out the r/ragenchastain sub on Reddit. show less

Very well written. The first half of the book is an especially well done synthesis of research and personal experience of clients, public figures, and the author.