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Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher
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English
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www.ted.com/talks/sandra_aamodt_ …

WHY DIETS MAKE US FAT

Sandra Aamodt

The Unintended consequences of Our Obsession With Weight Loss

Based on her viral TED Talk, neuroscientist and science writer Sandra Aamodt explains here how the latest research contradicts what we think we know about dieting and weight loss.
We think we know the answer to weight loss: Cut calories. Eat less. We conclude that fat is a failure of willpower, perhaps supplemented by a quirk of genetics. But in WHY DIETS MAKE US FAT, Sandra Aamodt explains why dieting not only doesn’t work, but is likely to do more harm than good.

• When you diet, your brain thinks you’re starving and goes into survival mode. People who have gone on extreme diets may never lose their food obsession as a result, even if they go back to eating normally.
• The long-term failure rate for losing weight by willpower dieting is between 80-98%, depending on how you define success.
• There’s no evidence that dieting improves long-term health, while some research suggests that weight cycling, or dieting to lose weight and gaining it back, can be more dangerous than being overweight itself.
• It’s better to be fifty pounds overweight and exercise every day than it is to be at your “target weight” but sedentary.

By harnessing her knowledge of brain science and biology, Aamodt successfully stabilized her own weight at a healthy level and now enjoys a better relationship with food. Combining deep research and brutal candor about her experiences, Aamodt gives us several clues into the obesity epidemic, including new findings about gut bacteria, why bariatric surgery works, and what a real alternative to dieting and weight cycling looks like.

Sandra ASandra Aamodt coauthored Welcome to Your Brain and Welcome to Your Child’s Brain. She was the editor in chief of Nature Neuroscience, a leading scientific journal in the field of brain research. She received her undergraduate degree in biophysics from Johns Hopkins University and her doctorate in neuroscience from the University of Rochester. Her science writing has been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, El Mundo and The Times of London, among others.
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Book

Published 2016-06-07 by Current

Book

Published 2016-06-07 by Current

Comments

Excerpt on TED - Ideas worth spreading Read more...

This important book sounds a much-needed alarm about the long-term damage that dieting does to our bodies and minds. Highly recommended for chronic calorie counters and anyone trying to raise healthy, sane children in an insane food world.

Authors article on: The Truth You Don't Want to Hear About Going on a Diet: It's probably making you gain weight. Read more...

Author's article on: Why You Can’t Lose Weight on a Diet: The problem isn’t willpower. It’s neuroscience. You can’t — and shouldn’t — fight back. Read more...

interview on NPR - The Salt Blog Read more...

In this deeply researched book, Aamodt demolishes the conventional wisdom on dieting, building a compelling case that if we want to be healthier, we should diet less, not more. Essential reading for today’s weight-obsessed culture.

podcast interview on Finding Our Hunger Read more...

...Combining deep research and brutal candor about her own experience as a weight cycler, Aamodt gives us several clues into the obesity epidemic based on the latest science, including new findings about gut bacteria, why bariatric surgery works (it has more to do with your brain than your stomach), and what a real alternative to dieting and weight cycling might look like. Read more...

British commonwealth rights sold to Scribe Publications Polish rights sold to Wydawnictwo Zysk I SKA, SJ Tadeusz Zysk, Aldona Zysk French rights sold to HUGO & CIE

Finally, a scientist who bridges the gap between the emerging behavioral theories of weight loss and our current disastrous attempts to diet our way thin! I can’t wait for this to be published so I can give it to patients.