Travis A. Weisse tells a new history of modern diets in America that goes beyond the familiar narrative of the nation’s collective failure to lose weight. By exploring how the popularity of diets grew alongside patients' frustrations with the limitations and failures of the American healthcare system in the face of chronic disease, Weisse argues that millions of Americans sought “fad” diets—such as the notorious Atkins program which ushered in the low-carbohydrate craze—to wrest control of their health from pessimistic doctors and lifelong pharmaceutical regimens.
Drawing on novel archival sources and a wide variety of popular media, Weisse shows the lengths to which twentieth-century American dieters went to heal themselves outside the borders of orthodox medicine and the subsequent political and scientific backlash they received. Through colorful profiles of the leaders of four major diet movements, Health Freaks demonstrates that these diet gurus weren’t shady snake oil salesmen preying on the vulnerable; rather, they were vocal champions for millions of frustrated Americans seeking longer, healthier lives.
eBook - ePub
Health Freaks
America's Diet Champions and the Specter of Chronic Illness
- 272 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
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Information
Topic
MedicineSubtopic
Nutrition, Dietics & BariatricsTable of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Contents
- Illustration List
- Introduction: The Mise en Place
- 1. A Farewell to Chitterlings: Dr. Alvenia Moody Fulton, Soul Food, and the Advent of Black Veganism
- Entremets I: Ceding Healthy Food
- 2. Zen and the Art of Macrobiotic Maintenance: Michio Kushi, World Peace, and a Cold War Treatment for Cancer
- Entremets II: Quacking under Pressure
- 3. Death’s Door People: The Pritikin Program and the Natural Antidote to Aging and Debility
- Entremets III: The Gastro-Medical Industrial Complex
- 4. Let Them Eat Meat: Dr. Atkins’s Complementary Medical Revolution and the American Blood Sugar Epidemic
- Conclusion: Life, Death, and the Future of Dieting
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- Index
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Yes, you can access Health Freaks by Travis A. Weisse in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Medicine & Nutrition, Dietics & Bariatrics. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.