The word diet had a very contextual meaning when the ancient Greeks coined the word diaita. They saw this as a mode of living in which food was just one of the elements that they had to get right in order to be well. Just as important was exercise, work, and plenty of sleep. Lest we give them too much credit for being so holistic, they did set us up for an underlying pathology. They venerated the male body, lean and muscled, which women weren’t thought to be able to attain. “So, the onus on diet and having an ideal body,2 it’s always been a much more difficult concept for women,” says Louise
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