What do you think?
Rate this book
โรคกลม : The World is Fat: The Fads, Trends, Policies, and Products That Are Fattening the Human Race
"For more than three decades Barry Popkin has been spearheading research on how lifestyle changes affect the body composition of people around the world, His long-term studies have followed the spread of obesity across six continents, In The World Is Fat, he compares how we live today with how we lived half a century ago, through the stories of tour families, as well as his own family life from the 1950s." Ultimately, Popkin argues, widespread obesity and the chronic diseases that contribute to the bulk of deaths in the world are less a result of poor individual dietary choices than a consequence of a high-tech, interconnected world in which governments and multinational corporations have extraordinary power to shape our everyday lives.
First published January 1, 2008
13 people are currently reading
194 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
December 19, 2009
McDonald's. NutriSystem. Burger King. Weight Watchers. KFC. Jenny Craig. Pizza Hut. Dexatrim. Watch TV for any length of time and you'll glimpse, in swiftly alternating commercials, twin American obsessions: eating and dieting. But as Barry Popkin points out, Americans aren't alone in their struggles with food and fitness. The problem is a global one. The title of Popkin's book is spun off of Thomas L. Friedman's bestselling treatise on globalization, The World Is Flat.
That bit of wordplay is almost the only note of what might be called humor in Popkin's earnest and somewhat textbookish survey of what he sees as a worldwide nutritional crisis. Popkin is authoritative: He's a professor of global nutrition at the University of North Carolina, and he's spent 30 years surveying the changes in the way the world eats. “A half century ago,” he tells us, “there were less than one hundred million obese individuals and seven billion malnourished people. There are now 1.6 billion overweight and obese people living in the world, many living with the chronic diseases that contribute to the bulk of deaths in the world, while there are about eight hundred million undernourished people.”
Popkin surveys the myriad causes of this trend toward obesity: agricultural, commercial, governmental, societal, cultural and technological. As he notes, we have evolved in this direction: “We – the human species, that is – have a strong desire to discover technologies that allow us to reduce our effort and thus our energy expenditure in all spheres of life. ... In a very broad sense, you might say that evolutionary pressures have driven us to eat rich food and be lazy. And we are approaching the point where we barely have to move to flourish as a society.” (You may be reminded of the movie Wall-E, in which bloated and inert humans float above the ravaged Earth in a spaceship.)
Survival of the fattest, then. Except that, Popkin asserts, “In terms of human evolution, we weren't built to drink Pepsi, sweetened tea and lattes, and pina coladas.” And so a host of diseases – diabetes, heart problems, bone and muscle disorders, even some cancers – prey upon the obese. “The mystery is not how to stop development and modernization, but how to adjust our way of living, eating, and drinking so that we can gain from these changes – not be destroyed by them.”
The laissez-faire attitude – let them eat cake if they want to – can only lead, Popkin believes, to disaster in the form of higher medical costs and even environmental damage from the reduction in agricultural diversity. But expecting business and agriculture to reverse course is folly. As he notes, even the fashion industry, despite its preoccupation with waif-thin models, yielded to the fattening trend “in 1983 when it dropped the idea of standardization for sizing after it found that women returned to buy clothes more often if they were sized smaller, even though they were cut larger. Since then, smaller sizes have gotten bigger.”
The solutions Popkin proposes will get howls of protest from free-market conservatives, but he makes a strong case for regulations and for cutting subsidies to crops that have contributed to the imbalance in our diet. Government subsidies in the United States have resulted in “much cheaper beef, poultry, corn, soybeans, and sugar. But .... this has occurred at the expense of healthy plant foods – particularly fruits and vegetables, whose relative cost is great compared with fats, sugars, and meats in today's marketplaces.” He also proposes to tax us thinner: “In the seat-belt use and antismoking campaigns, regulations and taxation were critical.” In Popkin's scheme of things, farmers, fast-food joints, soft-drink makers, purveyor of sugary treats and, yes, consumers would pay a lot more for living off the fat of the land.
It has to be said that there are no eye-openers in Popkin's book. Much of what he tells us has been reported on widely. And there are more lively and readable books that make the same points, such as Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food. But Popkin's sober and unadorned prose, and his long experience studying the world's diet, gives a sense of urgency to his book.
That bit of wordplay is almost the only note of what might be called humor in Popkin's earnest and somewhat textbookish survey of what he sees as a worldwide nutritional crisis. Popkin is authoritative: He's a professor of global nutrition at the University of North Carolina, and he's spent 30 years surveying the changes in the way the world eats. “A half century ago,” he tells us, “there were less than one hundred million obese individuals and seven billion malnourished people. There are now 1.6 billion overweight and obese people living in the world, many living with the chronic diseases that contribute to the bulk of deaths in the world, while there are about eight hundred million undernourished people.”
Popkin surveys the myriad causes of this trend toward obesity: agricultural, commercial, governmental, societal, cultural and technological. As he notes, we have evolved in this direction: “We – the human species, that is – have a strong desire to discover technologies that allow us to reduce our effort and thus our energy expenditure in all spheres of life. ... In a very broad sense, you might say that evolutionary pressures have driven us to eat rich food and be lazy. And we are approaching the point where we barely have to move to flourish as a society.” (You may be reminded of the movie Wall-E, in which bloated and inert humans float above the ravaged Earth in a spaceship.)
Survival of the fattest, then. Except that, Popkin asserts, “In terms of human evolution, we weren't built to drink Pepsi, sweetened tea and lattes, and pina coladas.” And so a host of diseases – diabetes, heart problems, bone and muscle disorders, even some cancers – prey upon the obese. “The mystery is not how to stop development and modernization, but how to adjust our way of living, eating, and drinking so that we can gain from these changes – not be destroyed by them.”
The laissez-faire attitude – let them eat cake if they want to – can only lead, Popkin believes, to disaster in the form of higher medical costs and even environmental damage from the reduction in agricultural diversity. But expecting business and agriculture to reverse course is folly. As he notes, even the fashion industry, despite its preoccupation with waif-thin models, yielded to the fattening trend “in 1983 when it dropped the idea of standardization for sizing after it found that women returned to buy clothes more often if they were sized smaller, even though they were cut larger. Since then, smaller sizes have gotten bigger.”
The solutions Popkin proposes will get howls of protest from free-market conservatives, but he makes a strong case for regulations and for cutting subsidies to crops that have contributed to the imbalance in our diet. Government subsidies in the United States have resulted in “much cheaper beef, poultry, corn, soybeans, and sugar. But .... this has occurred at the expense of healthy plant foods – particularly fruits and vegetables, whose relative cost is great compared with fats, sugars, and meats in today's marketplaces.” He also proposes to tax us thinner: “In the seat-belt use and antismoking campaigns, regulations and taxation were critical.” In Popkin's scheme of things, farmers, fast-food joints, soft-drink makers, purveyor of sugary treats and, yes, consumers would pay a lot more for living off the fat of the land.
It has to be said that there are no eye-openers in Popkin's book. Much of what he tells us has been reported on widely. And there are more lively and readable books that make the same points, such as Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food. But Popkin's sober and unadorned prose, and his long experience studying the world's diet, gives a sense of urgency to his book.
October 16, 2008
Yes, yes. I know the world is fat. At least, my world is, not so sure about the rest of it. So it would have been nice to have more hard facts, research, charts and graphs rather than anecdotal evidence from the authors' life about the fattening of people he knew.
Also, the book would have benefited by having solutions to the fat problem. Barry Popkin spent way too much time counting calories rather than getting to the root of our fatness; lack of proper nutrition, such as whole grains, fruits and vegetables and a sedentary life style.
He spent what felt like a majority of time in the book discussing ways to make the big corporations (eg McDonalds and Coke) lower calories in their products rather than education for children about healthy eating.
Also, the book would have benefited by having solutions to the fat problem. Barry Popkin spent way too much time counting calories rather than getting to the root of our fatness; lack of proper nutrition, such as whole grains, fruits and vegetables and a sedentary life style.
He spent what felt like a majority of time in the book discussing ways to make the big corporations (eg McDonalds and Coke) lower calories in their products rather than education for children about healthy eating.
January 30, 2013
This book has lots of interesting facts, but a bit dry to read. I learned a lot of interesting things from it. He compares 4 different families across time: his own family growing up in the 50's, a Mexican family who recently immigrated to the U.S., an Indian family from the 80's when he was studying over there, and a modern Indian family. And it is very interesting to see the comparasions between how they eat and how much movement they do.
The author says there are 4 trends in the way that we eat that have been detrimental to our health: snacking, weekend eating, supersizing and eating away from home. He uses his 1950's childhood for example. (I could relate to a lot of this from my 1960's childhood) He didn't snack as a child. Maybe when he came home from school, he would get a small glass of milk, but no cookies or chips, etc. People today seem to eat more on the weekends, going out, having parties with friends, etc. Supersizing is a trend that occured during the 80's and eating away from home has become much more prevalent than it was in the author's childhood (or mine).
He talked about trends in France. You know the book: "French women don't get fat"? He attributes that to portion control and slow eating (taking a long time over a meal). Beginning in 1904, the French government played a strong role in supporting the "puericulture" movement- the care of a child before and after birth. They established clinics to teach young mothers about portion control! Not only the proper food for a growing child, but the appropriate quantity. As fast food invades the French culture, some of this is changing, but the French Government also controls the advertising directed at children. You won't find Coke in a middle school vending machine in France.
Obesity is becoming more of a problem even in developing countries as people start trending away from their traditional diets and doing less physical work.
The author says there are 4 trends in the way that we eat that have been detrimental to our health: snacking, weekend eating, supersizing and eating away from home. He uses his 1950's childhood for example. (I could relate to a lot of this from my 1960's childhood) He didn't snack as a child. Maybe when he came home from school, he would get a small glass of milk, but no cookies or chips, etc. People today seem to eat more on the weekends, going out, having parties with friends, etc. Supersizing is a trend that occured during the 80's and eating away from home has become much more prevalent than it was in the author's childhood (or mine).
He talked about trends in France. You know the book: "French women don't get fat"? He attributes that to portion control and slow eating (taking a long time over a meal). Beginning in 1904, the French government played a strong role in supporting the "puericulture" movement- the care of a child before and after birth. They established clinics to teach young mothers about portion control! Not only the proper food for a growing child, but the appropriate quantity. As fast food invades the French culture, some of this is changing, but the French Government also controls the advertising directed at children. You won't find Coke in a middle school vending machine in France.
Obesity is becoming more of a problem even in developing countries as people start trending away from their traditional diets and doing less physical work.
December 21, 2008
This was a pretty quick read for me. Popkin talks a lot about general trends in eating that I pretty much understood already. Like another person said in her review, he does spend a lot of time counting calories. He stresses cutting calories, which I agree is important, but in general it is unfortunate that this is the main way to evaluate food. He also seems to be speculating a lot about the different issues. Though he is clear when he makes a statement that it is purely his opinion, I would have liked to see him support and develop his opinions a little more than he did.
This book seems to be written for a person who doesn't know much about food trends. If you know enough about the trends he talks about, you may not get very much out of reading the book. The most interesting chapter was the last one, where he discusses some ideas for the changes that need to be made. I think more of these could have been incorporated into the book as overarching themes. This book would be good as a starting point, then readers could go more in depth by reading books such as those listed in the sources and references.
May 26, 2012
I have always been a Foodie, and I enjoy reading about how food affects our health, personally, culturally and globally. Very well written, with lots of useful information. Never having liked pop or sugary drinks, I'm happy to say that at least I don't have to work on eliminating that particular bad habit, but it is shocking to see big companies promoting their less than healthful products to small children. Who knew that in some places McDonalds buys the right to put their advertising on school report cards?
I liked Popkin's suggestions to transition to a more healthy lifestyle, but I applaud his courage to suggest that in order for big companies to change their practices they would have to be hit where it hurts, and that's of course where the money is. But that won't happen as long as we are all content to eat the unhealthy fare that is being offered to us.
I liked Popkin's suggestions to transition to a more healthy lifestyle, but I applaud his courage to suggest that in order for big companies to change their practices they would have to be hit where it hurts, and that's of course where the money is. But that won't happen as long as we are all content to eat the unhealthy fare that is being offered to us.
May 20, 2012
There wasn't much new in this book, but it was interesting nonetheless. A few galling things:
1) I get a little annoyed by the nutritional idealization of the '50s. I know in many ways American diets have changed for the worse, but I also feel like the variety of vegetables, beyond potatoes and corn, that we eat now is a significant improvement.
2) Popkin definitely puts the burden of healthy shopping and cooking squarely on mom's shoulders. I guess dad is too busy eating pork rinds to be involved.
1) I get a little annoyed by the nutritional idealization of the '50s. I know in many ways American diets have changed for the worse, but I also feel like the variety of vegetables, beyond potatoes and corn, that we eat now is a significant improvement.
2) Popkin definitely puts the burden of healthy shopping and cooking squarely on mom's shoulders. I guess dad is too busy eating pork rinds to be involved.
April 22, 2010
Nothing really new here, but an easy read. Slightly out of date (touting Panera as a healthy fast food seems like heresy now) but the global perspective was awesome, as was his use of four families to make the message relevant and real.
May 2, 2012
Informative book...don't drink soda/alchohol/juice because of the majority of the calories you unconsiously consume are in beverages. That's pretty much the moral of this story. Also, modern conveniences have allowed us to be more sedentary. So move more.
December 30, 2023
This book was mentioned/recommended in another book on more or less the same subject. It's a bit dated now, having been published in 2008. There have been many advances in the science of obesity since then, but also political changes which make many of Popkin's recommendations for fighting obesity (specifically taxation of less-healthy foods and drinks) unrealistic in many countries now. Popkin makes some interesting points but I was surprised to see his excitement about gastric bypass surgery. Nearly everyone I know who has had it has gained back a significant portion of the weight lost. Perhaps the most important points Popkin makes relate to the ways "Big Food" funds organizations like the American Heart Association and the organization that certifies dietitians (can't recall the exact name). This is probably not a must-read for those interested in the subject, but you will learn a lot about dietary problems across the world.
November 18, 2022
A short book, didn’t take long to read. This is good, because there isn’t much usable information in this book. The author posits that people are fat and unhealthy because they drink sugary drinks (soda, fruit juice, flavored milks, and energy drinks) and eat low quality food such as fast-food restaurant garbage. I’m not sure the author provides much in the way of realistically fixing the problem, but maybe there is no good solution. The book is somewhat dated, going on 20 years old. For those who don’t have a lot of time to devote to reading, I’d say pass on this one.
dnf
May 12, 2022Ok, so I dropped this book halfway. There are not that many pages to begin with but this is total waste of time. I usually don't write a review if I haven't finished the book, but this was so bad I thought I need to write a warning. To sum it up the writer reminds his readers almost on every page how back in the 50's everything was better, people ate less shit and drank water. This is how you stay skinny. Now everyone eats & drinks sugar and additives and that makes them fat. The end.
April 12, 2024
Too many repetitive statistics. Boring. Too much emphasizing that the solution is based on new rules/laws making the government responsible to 'make' us healthy. Very little emphasis on personal responsibility for making good/healthy choices. Even some of the nutritional science discussed isn't great.
October 19, 2019
Too general and a bit dated
January 20, 2009
"YES, Imma A GIVEAWAY WINNER!!!!!! I received the book before the Holidays; I didn't start reading it because I couldn't resist from enjoying the festivities..starting on 1/5/09.
The author of the book traveled to different parts of the world when he was younger and made friends with different families and when he went back years later to see if life had changed for them it did even though they had more food choices and better living conditions the food choices were westernized.
I found the book to be very interesting, it basically covered eating habits of different countries and different income levels from years ago and now in today’s society even the poorest countries have taken on a westernized diet and the people are suffering now from the same diseases as people suffer here in the United States: diabetes, high blood pressure and how even the poorest countries even though they still don’t have clean drinking water, they still have coca cola… a lot of cultures in today’s time are no longer following the traditional custom eating habits, their diets mainly consist of soft drinks, sodas, processed foods & fast foods.
The author of the book traveled to different parts of the world when he was younger and made friends with different families and when he went back years later to see if life had changed for them it did even though they had more food choices and better living conditions the food choices were westernized.
I found the book to be very interesting, it basically covered eating habits of different countries and different income levels from years ago and now in today’s society even the poorest countries have taken on a westernized diet and the people are suffering now from the same diseases as people suffer here in the United States: diabetes, high blood pressure and how even the poorest countries even though they still don’t have clean drinking water, they still have coca cola… a lot of cultures in today’s time are no longer following the traditional custom eating habits, their diets mainly consist of soft drinks, sodas, processed foods & fast foods.
October 14, 2009
i loved this book, it puts why we eat the things we do into a new perspective. it brought to light ideas that intuitively, i've always known, but brought them to the forefront of my mind. the 3 parts that i liked the best or made me think the most:
1) "there is no way that genes. . . hormones, or even components of our diet, such as sugar and refined carbohydrates, can cause obesity without creating a positive energy balance." p.119 in other words WHAT we eat isn't as important as the total number of calories. i've been telling people this for years, but no one seems to believe me. . .
2) "the bottom line is that we need to start making changes that will encourage us to cease consuming foods with minimal benefits and that will create revenue for our nation to begin addressing obesity." p.164 i couldn't have said it better myself!
3) "obesity debilitates; it does not kill quickly." p.171 again, i couldn't have found better words. it's short, (not so) sweet, and to the point. 'nuff said.
it really made me think about the things i buy for my family to eat and the things i can do to make our lives healthier. i HIGHLY recommend this book to everyone. it was fabulous!
1) "there is no way that genes. . . hormones, or even components of our diet, such as sugar and refined carbohydrates, can cause obesity without creating a positive energy balance." p.119 in other words WHAT we eat isn't as important as the total number of calories. i've been telling people this for years, but no one seems to believe me. . .
2) "the bottom line is that we need to start making changes that will encourage us to cease consuming foods with minimal benefits and that will create revenue for our nation to begin addressing obesity." p.164 i couldn't have said it better myself!
3) "obesity debilitates; it does not kill quickly." p.171 again, i couldn't have found better words. it's short, (not so) sweet, and to the point. 'nuff said.
it really made me think about the things i buy for my family to eat and the things i can do to make our lives healthier. i HIGHLY recommend this book to everyone. it was fabulous!
October 31, 2011
Well written, interesting look at the reasons that changes in society are contributing to obesity. Some of the problems we know about, such as the growth of fast food and the growing consumption of soda. Some we haven't thought about, such as the way that food company sponsorship is devaluing the worth of the approvals granted by the American Heart Association and others (as well as the way that one association will approve something low in fat but not sugar, while another will approve something low in sugar but not fat, etc), or the way that the food association is trying to distance themselves from the problem, telling consumers that a calorie is a calorie. Some problems I didn't know about, such as the way many companies are trying to quietly improve the healthfulness of their offerings, while their competitors use that opportunity to present an even worse product and grab the vacated market share. He presents compelling reasons why legislation and top-down cultural change might be necessary to save us from ourselves and the high costs of a society increasingly prone to obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and other very expensive illnesses.
December 11, 2014
I've changed the way I look at food in the store because of this book. It's spot on about why the world (especially the United States) is fat and getting fatter by the year. The author has spent decades studying people around the world, their eating habits, their exercise (or lack thereof), and if they are fat or thinner and healthy. It is a fascinating book, not an easy read, but very informative. It also makes sense. We were all thin in the 80s, right? What happened? Sugar is added to almost everything now, and people also spin through drive-throughs like never before. We also are more lazy and loathe to move like we used to, all of which adds up to more pounds and unhealthy bodies full of poisons and disease. I consider this an essential read for anyone who is wondering why we're all gaining weight at such an alarming rate, and what we can do to stop eating ourselves into obesity and early death.
April 16, 2009
I probably would have given this a 3.5 if I could have....but I'll give it an extra .5...I think it earned the benefit of the doubt.
We're fat. If you don't think so, you're in denial. This book is an excellent primer on the reasons. None of them are new or a mystery to figure out: We are addicted to sugar (and aren't honest about how much we eat/drink), we don't have jobs that are physically active anymore, and we basically sit around getting fatter.
Sure, it goes in way more detail than that, but it's worth the read if you're just starting to think about all of this. If you've read on this topic before, it's pretty basic, but a pleasurable read none the less. Written well and argued convincingly...worth the read for all of us as a good reminder of what we're doing and why we're doing it.
We're fat. If you don't think so, you're in denial. This book is an excellent primer on the reasons. None of them are new or a mystery to figure out: We are addicted to sugar (and aren't honest about how much we eat/drink), we don't have jobs that are physically active anymore, and we basically sit around getting fatter.
Sure, it goes in way more detail than that, but it's worth the read if you're just starting to think about all of this. If you've read on this topic before, it's pretty basic, but a pleasurable read none the less. Written well and argued convincingly...worth the read for all of us as a good reminder of what we're doing and why we're doing it.
November 1, 2009
4 ดาวสำหรับแง่มุมใหม่เกี่ยวกับความอ้วนที่ไม่ได้โทษบุคคลที่กินซะอย่างเดียว
การกินอาหารของมนุษย์เปลี่ยนแปลงควบคู่กัประวัติศาสตร์ตลอดมาตั้งแต่ยุคหิน ไม่ว่าจะประเทศไหนก็ตาม
หนังสือเล่มนี้พาไปรู้จักกับ
- ประวัติศาสตร์โดยย่อของอาหารในยุคใหม่ อเมริกา อินเดีย เม็กซิโก
- พฤติกรรมของคนยุคใหม่ที่นำมาซึ่งแคลอรี : การกินของว่าง, การกินอาหารช่วงสุดสัปดาห์, การเพิ่มไซส์, การกินอาหารนอกบ้าน
- ยุคหลังยังมีกำเนิดของเครื่องดื่มต่างๆ ซูเปอร์มาร์เก็ต และน้ำมันพืชราคาถูก
- นโยบายระดับประเทศต่างๆมีผลกับความอ้วนอย่างไร, อุตสาหกรรมอาหารที่ได้รับการยอมรับทั้งหลายนั้นดีจริงหรือ
- และอื่นๆอีกนิดหน่อย
2 ดาวสำหรับช่วงน่าเบื่อๆครึ่งเล่มหลัง เกี่ยวกับอันตรายของความอ้วนต่อสุขภาพ
การกินอาหารของมนุษย์เปลี่ยนแปลงควบคู่กัประวัติศาสตร์ตลอดมาตั้งแต่ยุคหิน ไม่ว่าจะประเทศไหนก็ตาม
หนังสือเล่มนี้พาไปรู้จักกับ
- ประวัติศาสตร์โดยย่อของอาหารในยุคใหม่ อเมริกา อินเดีย เม็กซิโก
- พฤติกรรมของคนยุคใหม่ที่นำมาซึ่งแคลอรี : การกินของว่าง, การกินอาหารช่วงสุดสัปดาห์, การเพิ่มไซส์, การกินอาหารนอกบ้าน
- ยุคหลังยังมีกำเนิดของเครื่องดื่มต่างๆ ซูเปอร์มาร์เก็ต และน้ำมันพืชราคาถูก
- นโยบายระดับประเทศต่างๆมีผลกับความอ้วนอย่างไร, อุตสาหกรรมอาหารที่ได้รับการยอมรับทั้งหลายนั้นดีจริงหรือ
- และอื่นๆอีกนิดหน่อย
2 ดาวสำหรับช่วงน่าเบื่อๆครึ่งเล่มหลัง เกี่ยวกับอันตรายของความอ้วนต่อสุขภาพ
Read
February 14, 2014The fat , real truth
The book “the world is fat “by Barry Popkin is very eye- opening, historical, and just plain real. He supports some of his arguments with families he has known. He makes it clear that your ethnicity may play an important role in your life style. Some may tend to eat less health than others. The book explains so much that you begin to realize how much of problem obesity is becoming. I absolutely agree in the arguments he makes in his book. People, obesity should not be taken lightly, the illness is real aggressive. I believe that the sign popkin gives us is that we must take action before it is too late. As our world progresses, so will our bellies.
Read
August 28, 2009Alright! Free book from the GoodReads Gods!
Review forthcoming. As I am an extremely healthy person -- healthy, let's say to the point of obsessive pathology -- I happen to have very strong feelings about fatness in general, its psychosocial generation, and its social* effects. If you anticipate being offended by strong feelings on those topics, I recommend you steer clear of this space in the future.
*Notice the consistent qualification "social." I could care less about what you do individually. To each his own donut.
Review forthcoming. As I am an extremely healthy person -- healthy, let's say to the point of obsessive pathology -- I happen to have very strong feelings about fatness in general, its psychosocial generation, and its social* effects. If you anticipate being offended by strong feelings on those topics, I recommend you steer clear of this space in the future.
*Notice the consistent qualification "social." I could care less about what you do individually. To each his own donut.
May 14, 2010
Quick interesting read about obesity trends not just in the US but in Mexico, India and around the world. It strengthened my resolve to give up drinking soda and made me re-think about how much sugary juice let my kids drink. My one issue was I did not agree much with what he thought were solutions. Way to much reliance on governmental policies, consumer activism etc. How about people taking some responsibility and eating less and exercising more. I did enjoy seeing how our food consumption has changed over the last few decades.
December 3, 2010
This short, easy read was a great overview of the many causes that are causing many humans to become overweight/obese. It was also a great historical look at how certain foods/drinks found their way into our collective diet.
The book also reinforced my conviction that I will never become a Registered Dietitian (RD) because the accrediting body is funded by people in the food industry! When the beverage industry or sugar farmers have a say in what Americans need to eat or drink to be healthy, something has gone terribly wrong.
The book also reinforced my conviction that I will never become a Registered Dietitian (RD) because the accrediting body is funded by people in the food industry! When the beverage industry or sugar farmers have a say in what Americans need to eat or drink to be healthy, something has gone terribly wrong.
December 10, 2015
Yes, another book about obesity (because I was working on a project on this topic). Barry Popkin is one the world's leading authorities on the subject, and while he's written a lot of rigorous academic articles on the subject, this book--thankfully--is anything but academic. Instead, its a surprisingly personal and highly readable account of a topic that, in one way or another, affects us all: our diet. He also provides a global perspective on a topic that most American writers on the subject leave out. Highly recommended for those who have an interest in the topic.
March 15, 2016
Informative and interesting, but it was difficult to keep my attention on this book as the author repeated himself a lot (for a book of only about 180 pages, it took me FOREVER to get through it). Also a lot of the "evidence" of yesteryear's diet was actually anecdotal stories from the author's own childhood - which, while interesting, doesn't make for the most scientifically convincing arguments.
February 23, 2009
I wanted to like this book and learn from it. Unfortunately, neither of those really happened. It seemed like a bunch of tidbits of research thrown together in a huge hurry. I understood and appreciated the main points expressed by the author, but I thought the book as a whole was poorly executed, vague and self-serving.
July 12, 2009
A pragmatic book that looks at societies as a whole are getting fat. Like other reviewers say here, I don't see a lot of new facts in here. He points out the usual suspects: food industry, fast food, sugar, and modern lifestyle.
Sorry, he didn't offers any silver bullet solutions but guess what? There probably isn't one. He can't be faulted for that.
April 1, 2013
Although I didn't read the whole book consecutively, I have read enough of it to understand the develop,met of our world diet and the implications of this in western society. This book looks less at the science of obesity, and not of the personal or emotional problems but at the reasons why, at the consequence of this and at the worlds history.
June 26, 2015
It was a pretty quick read. For the time I bet it was ground breaking and thought provoking. But it's about 5 years old now, so a lot of this stuff is just common knowledge(at least to me).
However, I felt that it wasn't portrayed seriously enough and didn't quite give a call to action like I had hoped for.
It did have nice stories in it though, so it was a fun read.
However, I felt that it wasn't portrayed seriously enough and didn't quite give a call to action like I had hoped for.
It did have nice stories in it though, so it was a fun read.
December 29, 2008
I won this book from First Reads and let me say - I wouldn't have picked it up otherwise.
I get it, we're fat. Some points were thought-provoking and I definitely will remember some facts to toss into conversations but this book would have been a much better magazine article...
I get it, we're fat. Some points were thought-provoking and I definitely will remember some facts to toss into conversations but this book would have been a much better magazine article...
Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews