Review

A weight off your mind

Diet Breaking: Having It All Without Having To Diet
Mary Evans Young
You Count, Calories Don’t
Linda Omichinski with Mary Evans Young
Hodder & Stoughton, 1995, 1996

The authors of these two books have a mission: releasing women from the tyranny of thinness. Even Royalty is not immune—the late Duchess of Windsor said ‘One can never be too rich or too thin’ and recently the Duchess of York has put her, hopefully decreasing, weight behind Weight Watchers.

The books are aimed at women but surely weight-watching is not gender-specific? Their message is plain—creating dissatisfaction with one’s body is a form of oppression and must be conquered.

In Diet breaking, there is a full discussion of the “health industry” which is the fifth largest in the US but has been a dismal failure in treating obesity with dieting. The book says women must break free from the shackles of dieting by adopting a new outlook. Improving body image is as, if not more, important than improving the body. The author lists a number of ways of making effective complaints, e.g. about items in the media or in advertisements.

Attention is also paid to preventive measures, such as taking appropriate exercise, establishing good dietary habits with children early on, and distributing the times of eating over the 24-hour day.

In You count, calories don’t, greater attention is paid to practical issues. Its theme is changing the focus from weight loss to improved health. Again, be sensible about change–‘no big jumps but a smooth slide’.

The author provides helpful hints on how to interrupt automatic eating, savouring and enjoying food, and how much to drink. Readers are encouraged to read food labels with some scepticism. Apparently the increased consumption of artificially sweetened products has not decreased the incidence of obesity.

Both books advocate lifestyle changes to cope with stress. Three words give you control of your weight—perspective, priority and perseverance. If you have been persuaded, there are international Diet Breakers networks and programme facilitators to help you.