Anxious Eaters: Why We Fall for Fad Diets

by Janet Chrzan, Kima Cargill

What makes fad diets so appealing to so many people? How did there get to be so many different ones, often with eerily similar prescriptions? Why do people cycle on and off diets, perpetually searching for that one simple trick that will solve everything? And how did these fads become so central to conversations about food and nutrition?

Anxious Eaters shows that fad diets are popular because they fulfill crucial social and psychological needs―which is also why they tend to fail. Janet Chrzan and Kima Cargill bring together anthropology, psychology, and nutrition to explore what these programs promise yet rarely fulfill for dieters. They demonstrate how fad diets help people cope with widespread anxieties and offer tantalizing glimpses of attainable self-transformation. Chrzan and Cargill emphasize the social contexts of diets, arguing that beliefs about nutrition are deeply rooted in pervasive cultural narratives. Although people choose to adopt new eating habits for individual reasons, broader forces shape why fad diets seem to make sense.

Considering dietary beliefs and practices in terms of culture, nutrition, and individual psychological needs, Anxious Eaters refrains from moralizing or promoting a “right” way to eat. Instead, it offers new ways of understanding the popularity of a wide range of eating trends, including the Atkins Diet and other low- or no-carb diets; beliefs that ingredients like wheat products and sugars are toxic, allergenic, or addictive; food avoidance and “Clean Eating” practices; and paleo or primal diets. Anxious Eaters sheds new light on why people adopt such diets and why these diets remain so attractive even though they often fail.

Genres: Nonfiction, Psychology, Science

360 pages, Hardcover

Published August 30, 2022

Reviews

[Marjorie]

2.5

[Tammy Buchli]

Years ago I worked with a woman who, every time I ate an apple (which was often as I like apples), had a comment to make - “You know that thing is nothing but sugar, right?” or “You might as well just eat a candy bar.” and so on. I always just ignored or redirected her, but now, having read this fun, interesting, and well-cited book, I finally know know what the heck she was on about.

Thanks, NetGalley, for providing an ARC copy for me to review!

[Kim]

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review an advanced reader's copy of this book.

Interested in the science of why we "diet" instead of lifestyle change. This book covers it all.

Breaking down all the diets that the world insists we try instead of making ourselves healthier and listening to our bodies. We are all different not all round pegs fit into a square.

[Cornelia Bezuyen]

Great book to provide some insight on why fad diets are so popular. The authors give a very detailed history into diet culture and help readers think more critically before deciding on a specific diet as well as help them discover the “why” they are looking for a new way to eat.

[Emily]

Full review available here: https://foodanthro.com/2023/01/30/rev...

[Susan]

I lot of detailed information on fad diets. I recommend for those interested in a scholarly read on the subject.

I am a library associate and received an advance copy from #NetGalley.

[Amanda]

Good book with a lot of useful pieces in it. Good one to read if you or someone you know has a hard time with eating or sensory issues.

[Elizabeth]

I have so issues with the book but overall a decent read.

[Beth Oehler]

Was ok. I didn’t see the point of dividing up the chapters by diet types because they are all following a similar restriction mechanism when it comes to anxious eating.

[The Atlantic]

"In 'Anxious Eaters,' the nutritional anthropologist Janet Chrzan and the psychologist Kima Cargill investigate why fad diets remain so popular even though they almost always fail to produce sustained weight loss. In academic but accessible prose, they explain that although regimens such as clean eating and paleo ban certain foods and prioritize others, food itself is pretty insignificant to our culture’s embrace of dieting. Instead, Chrzan and Cargill argue, fad diets are the logical consequence of our society psychology; each diet is a complex system of meaning intended to help us manage not our body, but our mind." – Eleanor Cummins

https://www.theatlantic.com/books/arc...

[Maude]

It took me a long time to read this book, but it was well worth it! The topic is very well covered and explained, but it is a bit academic, which might be a drawback for some readers. If you don't mind scientific and academic reading, this is an excellent book on diet culture and its myths!