The collection, too, unveils so much about the social roots of diet culture.
It was strangely comforting to read these books and be reminded of what we already know: that most of us pursue weight loss despite the fact that evidence has been clear for decades that we simply don’t know how to ensure lasting weight loss through diet and exercise. And all proclaimed that theirs was the miracle cure we’d all been waiting for-a one-size-fits-all approach to finally losing what so many ominously refer to as “the weight.” All of these books took for granted that most of us will spend a lifetime at war with our own bodies. Diet books from the 1990s recommend fat-free foods, like sugar-laden Yoplait yogurt ( c’est si bon) and Snackwell’s cookies.Īs I read one outdated diet book after the next, I was surprised by how much unexpected insight they offered into how diet culture operates. The 1980s focus on calorie counting, many frankly recommending extremely restrictive diets that verge on what most experts now would consider disordered. Diet books from the 1970s heavily feature carob, Tab, and grapefruit. The nutritional values of these foods haven’t changed over time, but these diet books are replete with food fads. And nearly all seek to universalize a stubbornly individual experience, insisting that their authors’ successful weight loss is proof positive that one person’s experience can and will work for every other person. Like so much of diet culture, these books are replete with contradictory, overconfident advice that is rarely backed up by more than anecdotal evidence.
Others insist that carbohydrates-or, as McMahon calls them, carbo-cals-are the real culprit, and that fat is nothing to fear. Some insist that fat must be cut at all costs, drenching recipes in low-fat, high-sugar ingredients. In the years since, I have amassed a commanding collection of old diet books, cackling at their bizarre proclamations about health and size. We visited a used bookstore, and I found myself bringing home copies of I Prayed Myself Slim and What Would Jesus Eat? In the coming days, I devoured the book, eagerly reading out excerpts to my family, who met them with delight. In McMahon’s meal plans, he recommends a cup of Sanka and half a grapefruit for breakfast a lone glass of Tab for lunch and for dinner, a steak, asparagus, and hollandaise sauce. Slimming Down, originally published in 1973, is a product of its time. For the rest of the day, she put on a deep voice, imitating a generic game show host, proclaiming that she was “in favor of women-in general and in particular.” My 10-year-old niece’s eyes lit up at this bizarre window into a past that felt light-years away.