Ideologies I Didn't Think I Had

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, it is a highly interesting, casually written metanalysis on a subject we all hold near and dear. Reading this book can help you get a bit closer to yourself.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Matt, he is a no nonsense, objective, kind critic of all the diet dogma out there.

What does Stephen R. Thorne bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He got some of the science terminology wrong, but other than that, he was a solid voice for a story of this type.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

After Matt debunked veganism and fasting, it made me realize that I had some beliefs that I had given too much weight. I love that I had to change my view on these diets because of objective information.

24 persone l'hanno trovata utile

More of the same

This author starts off well, giving rich, historical history of the evolution of human diets - which were most successful, etc. However, he veers off into the land of blaming the victim, as others before him. Weight loss failure is due to poor motivation and will power. He ignores the major role that food manipulation and marketing/sales and availability contribute to the issue. Especially the role that dense calories and the intended mass addiction to sugar that has been imposed on the global community. If these issues are not part of the conversation then it's just a passive chat. There is no true enlightenment.

16 persone l'hanno trovata utile

Finally!

I have read and tried every major diet book written in the past 30 years. Finally one makes real sense. I can live with this. Time to put these silly books away, dust off my old jogging shoes and get on with life.

15 persone l'hanno trovata utile

Eye Opening

Positive and rational information presented in a way for everyone to understand. It's not a diet book. It's not a lifestyle book. It's book of rationality, science and reason. It could save life however because so many people yo-yo and/or get stuck in a diet cult where it endangers their lives. This book may help!

10 persone l'hanno trovata utile

There is no silver bullet

A cult is defined at a high-level as, “a misplaced or excessive admiration for a particular person or thing.” Cults exist for nearly anything or anyone, and they do not have to be religious focused. Matt Fitzgerald intention with his book “Diet Cults: The Surprising Fallacy at the Core of Nutrition Fads and a Guide to Healthy Eating for the Rest of Us” is to point out the many different diet cults, their leaders, and why so many people blindly follow them with little or no long-term success. The book is quite well narrated by Stephen R. Thorne who has narrated other diet books along with a variety of other genres on Audible. If you are a person who gets swept up by every diet fad or craze that comes along, this book will help show you that every one of them has been just that, a fad that has died and quickly replaced with something else. Often it seems that is the intent of such cults, make their money and move on to the next. What is even more surprising is the level of effort and marketing that food companies will go to allowing them to quickly cash in on the latest diet craze.

Questions around dieting and the importance of things such as protein, carbohydrates, olive oil, sugar, fasting, juicing, sports drinks and many others are discussed in this book. We also see research around the super food industry and how it is often touted as the food that will save us all. Foods such a wine, chocolate, and even coffee are just a few of the ones covered in the book. We also see things like pomegranates and acai fruits as the new high priced wonder food we are all told to consume to make us healthy. Mr. Fitzgerald does a decent job with his research into the people and reasons many of these fads took off as they did. He provides various reasons why a given diet or practice can often be debunked when we look at science of how the body works and burns calories.

As with many religious cults, the author points out that most diet cults also have a set of “must” and “must nots” that define the given cult. You can only eat like a cavemen (paleo), you cannot eat carbs (Atkins), you must eat a specific amount of oils (Mediterranean), or you must not eat any refined sugars (sugar busters), etc. People in general want to have a system telling them what they can and cannot eat, and most of the diet cults do just that. They provide a list of the “dos” and “do nots” so people are better able to measure their progress or success when compared to the cults standards. The author, in this book, concludes that there really is no “best” diet for any one of us. There are many internal and external factors impacting our ability to put on and take-off weight that a single diet cult may work for some for a period of time, but not others. There are genetics, regional diets, family upbringing, etc. All of these items influence in one way or another how we consume and process what we put in our mouths.

I will say I found some of the book’s research to be quite biased in his conclusions and at the end he provides his own ideas for the best way people should eat. These are not really a diet per se, but more guidelines that may help people to make informed decisions with selecting foods to eat. There is no food excluded, but as with Weight Watchers point system, the authors system has a similar food weighting scale. I do have a few issues with the author’s use of the Bible and his lack of theological context or his use of proof-texting to make his point; mostly this involved the Jewish diet or their wandering in the desert when God provided them mana to eat. I also wanted to point out that there were a few placed in the book where vulgar language is included, these relate to quotes from others and not the author himself. However, these could have been removed from the book as they were unnecessary.

What the book seems to conclude in that there is no single diet that works for everyone. Each person needs to find the right foods and exercise that helps them achieve their weight goals. Can you take the best of each of these cults if they work? I think the author says yes in this book. He is claiming that a single diet cult that cuts a specific thing (carbs, sugar, etc.) may not be enough for long-term success. However, increasing exercise, reducing overall calorie intake, and eating foods that can be broken down and processed by the body are all good things to accomplish. Losing weight is difficult and it takes time and effort, there is no silver bullet that will get you to your weight goal while eating pizza and ice cream in front of the TV.

9 persone l'hanno trovata utile

Great science with some caveats

SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW!

I found that this book had great information in it and I really got a lot out of it and then found myself thinking at the end - when the author resorted to a "game" with a "point system" - how very cultish of him! It just all boils down to that. It was that thought that I had as I listened to the last chapter. I don't want to play the game!

But other than that I really liked the historical and analytical information he provided. Downgrading him for being just like everyone else in the end. Very disappointed at that. I was really expecting more than that from this book.

7 persone l'hanno trovata utile

tells us what we need to know

Would you consider the audio edition of Diet Cults to be better than the print version?

yes

What was one of the most memorable moments of Diet Cults?

explains why people who diet don't lose weight

What about Stephen R. Thorne’s performance did you like?

very smooth

Any additional comments?

tells the truth that people do not want to face

7 persone l'hanno trovata utile

Tells it like it is!

This book really puts in perspective all the diet books on the market! I enjoyed it very much!

6 persone l'hanno trovata utile

Great Read

Fitzgerald knows his stuff and it makes complete sense for his reasoning behind all those diet cults and what not to do! Worth listening to for sure!

6 persone l'hanno trovata utile

Full of modern "science"

I wanted to like this. I so enjoyed Fitzgerald's Caffeine. He starts by quoting Scripture, and cites more, even in Chapter 6.

But, he is being deceived by antiscience. We, as humans did not develop, nor did we evolve, from anything, certainly not any monkey. Nor is the earth more than 7,000 years old. If you have a Bible, and you read it, to teach any other idea is nothing short of blasphemy.

All that aside, the story of a raw food diet leaving someone constantly hungry and unsatisfied, and insatiable is TRUE. Cooked food, eaten hot, is essential to health. Hot, savory soup, even when it is no more than the water in which you boiled your vegetables, has more nutrition available to the body than a pound of carrots. Carrots are one of those foods where the nutrition is less usable when raw. A light steaming releases the vitamin A in a form our bodies use.

I liked also his point that a diet of a single food can drive a person nuts. It's true, try eating nothing but a plain, undressed boiled potato every meal for a week.

A well rounded diet, filled with variety, and with nothing forbidden, and all food groups included, is what you require. You don't have to like it. You just have to eat it. If you really dislike cows' milk, drink goats' milk. Or cheese, butter and fermented dairy, like yogurt. If you don't like chicken, eat beef. Not a fan of peanuts? Try lentils. Just do not exclude groups of food, for any reason, and within each group, select a large variety, and prepare your victuals in different, interesting ways.

5 persone l'hanno trovata utile