Encyclopedia of Diet Fads

A close examination of this extraordinary collection suggests that Americans will do almost anything to lose weight, with the two exceptions of eating less and exercising more. The current American life‐style is unsustainable, both in terms of planetary resources and in terms of the technical limitations of human physiology. This is very worrying, as the American life‐style is extremely contagious. A recent survey (Reilly et al., 2004) found Scottish children from three years old expending insufficient energy in proportion to intake, giving a strong prediction of future obesity.

Practically everything described in this book, from amphetamines to...