The Fat of the Land: The Obesity Epidemic and How Overweight Americans Can Help Themselves

by Michael Fumento, JoAnn E. Manson (Foreword by)

Few Americans are aware that obesity contributes to 300,000 deaths a year in America. Now medical journalist Michael Fumento --himself a veteran of the diet wars--turns his searing eye to the institutions, corporations, and individuals whose quick-fix weight-loss programs misinform the public while feeding a multibillion dollar industry. Scouring thousands of scientific studies and interviewing dozens of health experts, Fumento exposes the diet industry for what it is, explodes the myths of genetics and low metabolism, and dismisses the low-fat-food fib, showing how "lite" is loaded with unwanted calories and "non-fat" makes us fatter. Most important, he offers honest, healthy, and helpful information about how important it is to lose excess weight, and how to keep it off forever.

Genres: Nonfiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[James]

Fumento wrote an important book, but poorly. His tone did damage to his message. Almost every point he made is something that has either been borne out in the 25+ years since the book was published, or is something I recognize as true from my own experience. Yet the mocking tone Fumento chose to voice takes away from his very important advice about how to control one’s weight. No one likes to be mocked and it certainly seems that Fumento does more than his share of mocking people with a weight problem.

With all that being said, I recommend this book to anyone who has been on a diet roller coaster for whatever length of time. The essential truth — there are no shortcuts to losing weight and keeping it off, and doing so requires a person to harshly examine their eating habits and make the adjustments necessary. Eating less and exercising more are the keys.

[Jeffrey Falk]

While not as cogent and powerful as his writing on AIDS and COVID-19, this is an important book on a crisis that has only worsened since the book's 1997 publication. Fumento stresses that the overemphasis on fat content (including low-fat and no-fat food) as well as the downplaying of caloric intake and a sedentary society have all contributed to out-of-control obesity. (He stresses television and the Internet in particular and considers merely living in the United States a risk factor.) He goes too far in stressing the obligation of individuals to control their weight for society's sake (although with the rise of socialized medicine and "stay-at-home orders", he has more of a point than ever).

[Mary]

M. Fumento really hates fat people. In fact, he says straight up in this book that the very overweight disgust him. That's a rather shocking position to take, but Fumento, for all of this Fat Acceptance rage, does seem to care about taking a very American perspective--fat is something you do to yourself and while society doesn't make it any easier on you, there's still nothing more intimately individual than what you put on the fork that goes into your mouth. Emphasis, here, is also rather Americanly placed on "good science," although time has made some of his claims (like phen-fen's potential for good) less reliable. Still, he's very motivating in a weird way.

[Kylene]

I thought this was really interesting and a good collection of various data and studies to discover what the deal is with America and obesity.

[Gato Negro]

Good information; I especially like that the author makes details available to the reader regarding his own physical transformation among the scientific case studies and details.