The shops teem with diet, exercise and self-help books. We sample five new works
Fat Chance: The Bitter truth about Sugar by Dr Robert Lustig
Dr Robert Lustig became a YouTube sensation in 2009, when a video in which he branded sugar as poison gained more than three million hits. This book expands on this claim. Lustig describes how we have been unable to address the worldwide obesity crisis: while many overweight people manage to shed pounds, the number able to keep the weight off permanently is extremely small. Lustig says the culprit is eating too much sugar.
Dr Simon Coppack, a consultant for Barts hospital in London, believes that Lustig ignores other factors: “There is no single cause for the obesity problem. It’s fat as much as sugar, and alcohol – not to mention the lack of physical movement.”
For you:If you need the motivation to step away from the sweets and start pounding the streets.
Hell-Bent by Benjamin Lorr
Is Bikram yoga the answer to everything from cancer to depression? Or a cult run by a “narcissist“? Part memoir, part investigation, this book is about the people whose lives have been transformed by the hot-yoga style. Lorr was a convert, but later became disillusioned. Although Lorr does not know how effective Bikram is, he does an excellent job of showing exactly what our bodies are capable of, from self-healing to contortions, and how far some people will go in pursuit of bodily perfection.
For you:If you've been known to mumble "no pain, no gain" during a workout.
The Alternate-Day Diet by James Johnson
In 2000, pathologist Roy Walford proposed the idea that reducing the calories we consume could lengthen our lives (The 120 Year Diet). Now plastic surgeon James Johnson thinks he can persuade more people to reduce their calorific intake, every other day. Eat normally the first day, Johnson suggests, then on the second, drop down to 20 per cent of the calories you require to maintain your weight. This, he claims, will not just extend your life but can clear up problems such as asthma and arthritis, as well as turning on a “magic gene . . . which inhibits our ability to store fat”. Many doctors are not convinced.
For you: If you are a masochist looking for the latest diet fad.
Making Habits, Breaking Habits: How to Make Changes that Stick by Jeremy Dean
If you have already broken your new year’s resolution, this should stop you feeling too bad. Dean explains how almost half of our waking life is governed by habits and how hard they are to break. It takes an average of 66 days to create a new habit.
How does it advise you to make good habits stick? Start with small changes; do not overestimate your own willpower; be specific about what you want to achieve; don’t give up or be too hard on yourself if you skip a day or two.
For you:If you want 2013 to be the year you keep your resolutions.
Navel Gazing by Anne Putnam
By August last year the UK health service had performed more than 6,000 gastric band and bypass operations , but the practice remains controversial. After reading Anne Putnam’s memoir, it’s not hard to see why. At eight, Anne was podgy. By 16 she had hit 131.5kg (20st 10lb). So the teenager became one of the youngest patients to undergo gastric bypass surgery.
In this harrowing account, Putnam describes getting used to living with a stomach so shrunken that if she over-ate she would immediately throw up or experience excruciating pain. As an adult she is slimmer than she was. Yet she still hates her body, and exposes the personal cost of our confused attitudes towards women’s weight.
For you:If you want to put to rest the idea that being skinnier means being happier.
– Guardian service
