Why Diets Make Us Fat

Everything we know about dieting and weight loss is wrong.


In Australia, two out of every three adults is overweight. We think we
know the answer: cut calories; eat less. We conclude that being fat is a
failure of willpower, perhaps supplemented by a quirk of genetics. Yet
research shows that losing weight by willpower alone is almost
guaranteed to fail in the long run. In fact, there is no evidence that
dieting improves long-term health, and some that suggests yo-yo dieting
is more dangerous than being overweight.


Combining deep research and brutal candour about her own experience as a
yo-yo dieter, neuroscientist Sandra Aamodt explains the science of the
obesity epidemic, 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.