The No Need to Diet Book: Become a Diet Rebel and Make Friends with Food

by Pixie Turner

Our obsession with being healthy and living forever has driven us to push our bodies to the absolute limits, but still every year we're being told how unhealthy we are as a population. Despite a wealth of information at our fingertips, there are still so many things we get wrong about food and health.

The No Need To Diet Book explains the reasons why diets and over exercising don't work; the problems with eating for aesthetic goals; the science behind orthorexia, food anxieties, and emotional eating, and other unhealthy habits formed by misinformation. This book will challenge our misconceptions about what is healthy, and get to the heart of it using evidence-based science.

Genres: Health, Nonfiction, Nutrition, Self Help

320 pages, Hardcover

Published March 7, 2019

Reviews

[Emily B · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this after following Pixie for a while on Instagram, and being inspired by her general ethos towards food, dieting, and body image. This book did not disappoint! It really has encouraged me to think differently about my approach to eating and food. I especially loved the chapter "Cleaning up the language of food"; the way we talk about food is so powerful, and I had never before considered the moralistic/religious slant which is so often applied to our food choices and language. Having tried dieting & losing weight a few times in my life, I've finally come to the conclusion (as has Pixie), that it simply doesn't work to follow a set of rules with the sole aim of trying to be thinner! Health is about more than aesthetics. Intuitive eating is discussed in this book too, which sounds like a much healthier attitude towards food.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book, and would absolutely recommend it to anyone who has experienced disordered eating, or for anyone who is fed up of diet culture and wants to feel more positive about themselves!

[Felicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book and at first, I really did. I’ve been looking more into intuitive eating because I’m tired of food taking up all my headspace all the time. This was one of the books suggested to me.

The first chapter was super interesting and informative! The second chapter was informative and sorta interesting, and by the third chapter I felt like I’d been rereading in a more long winded way what was said in the first and second chapter. I swear to you I kept forgetting the first SIX CHAPTERS weren’t just one long continuous and repetitive chapter.

Turner makes some excellent points. I just wish she was more concise. I also wish the author focused a bit more on the logistics of intuitive eating and less on the why you should try it. I already know diet culture is bad. I don’t need several hundred pages of it. I need to know how to free myself from it and that’s not something I found with this book.

[Anja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really explores why we eat what we eat, and the science behind it.

[Lel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really good thought provoking messages in this book, and the quizzes at the end of the chapters really let you get an idea of where you sit on certain scales. The author has a great balance of science and life experience that comes across in this book.

[Sarah Clement · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a big fan of Pixie Turner. I have seen her speak several times, and I follow her on Instagram. I am also a big fan of the ethos behind the book, so I was looking forward to reading this. When I saw the Kindle version on sale for £0.99, I knew I had to get it - what a bargain! I hesitate to write this because I do really respect Pixie and the work she does, but this book was such a disappointment. It really feels like a book written by someone who spends too much time online. Pixie got her start on Instagram, and although she is highly educated, intelligent, and qualified, this book is written like an Instagram caption. Some people might like that, but for me it just felt so shallow, and like it wasn't even really a book. There's a lot of time spent exploring the reasons behind emotional eating and shunning diet culture, but anyone who consumes that content on Instagram will recognise the arguments, the language, and the general style and approach. You might think that the book therefore comes across as "authentic" because it's in Pixie's voice online, but for me it was just...wrong medium, wrong tone, and not enough substance. As other reviewers have commented, the book is light on practical advice, so I am trying to think about who this book is for. I don't think it's for people who think that diet culture is harmful, because they don't need convincing. I don't think it's for people looking for practical steps on "becoming a diet rebel and making friends with food" as the subtitle suggests. I think it might be for people who are sort of emerging out of unhealthy cycles of dieting who haven't read much around the subjects of intuitive eating and are trying to get out of the habit of following people online who make them feel back. I am not sure that reading this book will help you, but it might get you started. And you will also support Pixie Turner and the work she does, which I think is a good thing. Ultimately, I am glad I bought it for that reason (although I wonder how authors even get paid when Amazon puts the prices so low), but the book definitely was not for me. It may be for you.

[Ellya Khristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jalan ninja menuju jiwa dan raga yang sehat, terutama berdamai dengan perspektif soal makanan itu sendiri (like, there's no good/bad food in nutrition terms, it's more/less nutritious food). Di sini juga dibahas dari segi psikologis, bagaimana media dan social media berperan besar dalam body image seseorang.

Namun konsep untuk mendapatkan tubuh yang sehat di sini rasanya masih terlalu umum, tidak ada sesuatu yang baru. Intinya ya tidak usah takut makan apapun (selain yang bikin alergi, tentunya) selama masih dalam batas AKG (Angka Kecukupan Gizi), makan ketika merasa lapar, banyak sayur, banyak gerak, kurangi stres, pola tidur terjaga, dst.

I think it’s important to understand that health is about more than just the nutrients in our food. As I have done in this book, with clients I try to establish an overall picture of what health is, and all the various factors that contribute to it, such as a social life, stress, sleep and so on. This helps place nutrition in context, rather than it being the sole determinant of health in someone’s mind. The goal is to reduce the power of food, so that instead of it being the centre of everything, it simply becomes one part of life, one small part of the puzzle; and to develop an understanding and practice of moderation that allows for eating a healthy diet without it becoming addictive and an impossible quest for total perfection.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book, but could be a bit long in the tooth and overly psychological for some as, although much of it is entertaining, she does at times ramble on a bit about the topics, most are all, although quite truthful, scathing against the norms we are very much used to in regards to health and weight. Her 'plan' isn't as laid out as such, but more of a 'don't think this way, instead just be accepting', which when for many who need rules for a 'diet', this 'no-diet' way might not sit well or work for those who need structure and routine. A good book though to read for anyone in the business of health and nutrition, and for all those who suffer from the 'affliction' of yo-yo dieting.

[Dafni Prodromou · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has literally changed the way I perceive food. It is a beautifully written piece, full of scientific accuracies (they are getting rarer and rarer these days), which explains why our relationship with food has been ruined and what we can do to restore it (in a nutshell!). By defining terms such as ‘emotional eating’ and ‘intuitive eating’ Pixie allows you to take a step back and rethink they way you have been approaching food. I 100% recommend it to everyone and I promise you, after reading this, that bowl full of pasta or that piece of chocolate cake won’t look as bad anymore! 🙈

[Vanessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! Very relevant and tackles in depth psychology of eating and diet. I have not personally checked the research, but the author includes a bibliography and references, and it appears credible. I enjoyed the amount of research she includes. This book is bravely written as the author addresses all modern eating beliefs, including addressing the Wellness industry, and social media. In reading this book I felt myself immediately feeling more positive about my own body and eating patterns. Easy read but very influential.

[Fiona · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is wonderfully insightful to all the elements surrounding health, diets and food. It really digs into all the beliefs that we may hold, or the language that is used to describe food and health. It truly makes you reflect on your thought processes and understandings of health. Backed up my science and studies (all referenced), this book gets into the nitty-gritty issues around health and our relationships with food.

[Rebecca House Howe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting, particularly the statistics about most people who lose weight through dieting only keep it off for a while and more often than not will regain it. Definitely helped me to think differently about food and to reject diet culture. My main complaint is that it could be a lot more concise. There was a lot of waffle.

[Jessie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sick of diets? Start here.

This is the book I needed about 3yrs ago when I was first introduced to the idea that I didn't actually have to be on a diet.

Smart. Informative. Kind. Pixie lets you in on all the secrets, facts & alternatives without the middle finger to diet culture.

[Rachel pearson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book I needed for many different reasons the last chapter is what I needed to hear and it made me really think how I see food and how I see myself . The chapters are long and impactful but can be long winded . The last chapter was perfect What really is Healthy ?
Fab work !!

[Jasmien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Na twee jaar geleden in dit boek te starten, vandaag eindelijk klaar! Super interessant boek.
Sommige delen waren niet zo vlot leesbaar, omdat het te veel een opsomming werd van wetenschappelijke onderzoeksresultaten.

[Loona Mets · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The No Need to Diet Book" introduces a fresh and very needed view on most people's current relationship with food.

[Reba Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very easy read! Great 101 for learning about diet culture.

[Alice Bloomfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

This was a really good read. The discussion, description and explanation about the difficulty in diagnosing orthorexia was fascinating. Shame her podcast ‘in bad taste’ is on hiatus.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Pixie for this book. I love the message that health should be the focus, and that it doesn't depend on weight. Thank you for the positive words of kindness and encouragement, and the solid debunking of numerous myths (did anyone else know malnutrition in the UK costs 3 times more to treat than obesity? Yeah, me neither 🤯). Thank you for the fat, defiant middle finger to all the obnoxious wellness 'gurus' who pollute our world. I was in Waterstones at the weekend, there were 3 whole stacks of shelves devoted to them. Fuck. That. I feel more positive, empowered and accepting of myself than I have in a long time, now that I have read this. I have never dieted because I can't. I have often hated myself for this. Not anymore. Thank you Pixie.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was great. I wasn't expecting such an in depth, well-researched book when I spotted it on Kindle unlimited. It's definitely one I will be recommending to a great volume of people.