Goodreads | Sariah's review

Sariah's review

Rethinking Thin: The New Science of Weight Loss--and the Myths and Realities of Dieting
by Gina Kolata

[close]

blog this review

Copy/paste the text below into your blog.

<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/315487.Rethinking_Thin_The_New_Science_of_Weight_Loss_and_the_Myths_and_Realities_of_Dieting?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Rethinking Thin: The New Science of Weight Loss--and the Myths and Realities of Dieting" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173701075m/315487.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/315487.Rethinking_Thin_The_New_Science_of_Weight_Loss_and_the_Myths_and_Realities_of_Dieting?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Rethinking Thin: The New Science of Weight Loss--and the Myths and Realities of Dieting</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16329.Gina_Kolata">Gina Kolata</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6098362?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 4 of 5 stars First off, this is not a diet book and offers no advice on how to loose weight. Instead it is an investigation into the science of weight loss, or as Kolata describes:
 
 It is about the nature of the current fixation with obesity, where it came from, and why it persists. It is about personal obsession and social obsession with body weight. And it is, in the end, about obesity—a scientific and social phenomenon that has defined our time, made some rich and others miserable, led to the elation of discover and the despair of dashed hopes when easy answers did not arise. (p.7)
 
 Fairly ambitious, and for the most part Kolata delivers. She begins by describing a study into weight loss at the University of Pennsylvania, and introduces some of the 360 obese subjects recruited to participate. The study will take two years and will compare two different diets to determine if one diet is better than another. The diets to be studied are the Atkins diet vs. the LEARN diet (which is basically a low-calorie diet). The book is divided into 8 chapters, and in between each chapter is an update of the Penn study culminating in the end of the two-year study.
 
 One of Kolata’s most interesting chapters is a history of dieting in America from the early 1800s to the present. She explains that practically every diet on the market today is just an updated version of a diet that has existed since the 19th century; this includes the Atkins diet whose early incarnation was known as “banting.” There was also a 19th century version of the Slim Fast Diet, although back then they left potassium out of the diet drink leading to the death of more than a couple people. 
 
 Kolata also devotes a chapter to how the perception of fat has altered over the years. In the late 1800s/early 1900s the performer Lillian Russell was described as the “airy, fairy Lillian, the American Beauty (p.33),” while weighing in at 200 pounds. Societies standards shifted and today the standard of beauty is for much thinner women. But Kolata asks, how realistic are those standards? As an example she uses Jennifer Aniston, who at 5 feet 5 inches and weighing 110 pounds has a body mass index of 18.3, “making her officially underweight and so thin that less than 3.5 percent of American women meet the standard (p.65).” 
 
 Kolata’s chapter on the scientific research that has been conducted on obesity is fascinating (even if I had to read a couple paragraphs more than once to fully comprehend what she was describing). Kolata describes research done into leptin’s role in appetite; and how leptin treatment has had success in treating some morbidly obese children whose bodies do not produce leptin.
 
 This is a well researched book, and Kolata discusses many important issues, such as how a persons income affects their diet and thus their weight (one of the few studies into obesity I’ve read that have actually mentioned this); the many various reason why people who loose weight almost always regain some if not all of it; and the impact of discrimination against obese people. 
 
 One of the few criticisms I have is that Kolata never defines what she means by the terms “overweight” “obese” and “morbidly obese.” And almost everyone has their own idea about what these words mean. When I hear the term overweight I’m thinking 20-50 pounds over the recommend weight for a certain height; when hearing obese I’m thinking anywhere from 60-150 pounds; and when I hear morbidly obese I think of the people who can’t get out of bed because of excess body fat. Without Kolata explaining what she means by these terms I was forced to wonder if I was accurately understand the information she was relating.
 
 I would recommend this book for anyone who has ever tried to loose weight, has ever thought about loosing weight, or who has ever offered up a comment on someone else’s weight.
 
 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/321138?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Sariah's review
rating:
bookshelves: science

First off, this is not a diet book and offers no advice on how to loose weight. Instead it is an investigation into the science of weight loss, or as Kolata describes:

It is about the nature of the current fixation with obesity, where it came from, and why it persists. It is about personal obsession and social obsession with body weight. And it is, in the end, about obesity—a scientific and social phenomenon that has defined our time, made some rich and others miserable, led to the elation of discover and the despair of dashed hopes when easy answers did not arise. (p.7)

Fairly ambitious, and for the most part Kolata delivers. She begins by describing a study into weight loss at the University of Pennsylvania, and introduces some of the 360 obese subjects recruited to participate. The study will take two years and will compare two different diets to determine if one diet is better than another. The diets to be studied are the Atkins diet vs. the LEARN diet (which is basica...more First off, this is not a diet book and offers no advice on how to loose weight. Instead it is an investigation into the science of weight loss, or as Kolata describes:

It is about the nature of the current fixation with obesity, where it came from, and why it persists. It is about personal obsession and social obsession with body weight. And it is, in the end, about obesity—a scientific and social phenomenon that has defined our time, made some rich and others miserable, led to the elation of discover and the despair of dashed hopes when easy answers did not arise. (p.7)

Fairly ambitious, and for the most part Kolata delivers. She begins by describing a study into weight loss at the University of Pennsylvania, and introduces some of the 360 obese subjects recruited to participate. The study will take two years and will compare two different diets to determine if one diet is better than another. The diets to be studied are the Atkins diet vs. the LEARN diet (which is basically a low-calorie diet). The book is divided into 8 chapters, and in between each chapter is an update of the Penn study culminating in the end of the two-year study.

One of Kolata’s most interesting chapters is a history of dieting in America from the early 1800s to the present. She explains that practically every diet on the market today is just an updated version of a diet that has existed since the 19th century; this includes the Atkins diet whose early incarnation was known as “banting.” There was also a 19th century version of the Slim Fast Diet, although back then they left potassium out of the diet drink leading to the death of more than a couple people.

Kolata also devotes a chapter to how the perception of fat has altered over the years. In the late 1800s/early 1900s the performer Lillian Russell was described as the “airy, fairy Lillian, the American Beauty (p.33),” while weighing in at 200 pounds. Societies standards shifted and today the standard of beauty is for much thinner women. But Kolata asks, how realistic are those standards? As an example she uses Jennifer Aniston, who at 5 feet 5 inches and weighing 110 pounds has a body mass index of 18.3, “making her officially underweight and so thin that less than 3.5 percent of American women meet the standard (p.65).”

Kolata’s chapter on the scientific research that has been conducted on obesity is fascinating (even if I had to read a couple paragraphs more than once to fully comprehend what she was describing). Kolata describes research done into leptin’s role in appetite; and how leptin treatment has had success in treating some morbidly obese children whose bodies do not produce leptin.

This is a well researched book, and Kolata discusses many important issues, such as how a persons income affects their diet and thus their weight (one of the few studies into obesity I’ve read that have actually mentioned this); the many various reason why people who loose weight almost always regain some if not all of it; and the impact of discrimination against obese people.

One of the few criticisms I have is that Kolata never defines what she means by the terms “overweight” “obese” and “morbidly obese.” And almost everyone has their own idea about what these words mean. When I hear the term overweight I’m thinking 20-50 pounds over the recommend weight for a certain height; when hearing obese I’m thinking anywhere from 60-150 pounds; and when I hear morbidly obese I think of the people who can’t get out of bed because of excess body fat. Without Kolata explaining what she means by these terms I was forced to wonder if I was accurately understand the information she was relating.

I would recommend this book for anyone who has ever tried to loose weight, has ever thought about loosing weight, or who has ever offered up a comment on someone else’s weight.

...less

Like this review? yes (5 people liked it) flag

comments (showing 0-0 of 0)

newest »

date

all Sariah's books »