The Fat of the Land: The Obesity Epidemic and How Overweight Americans Can Help Themselves

by Michael Fumento

Book Overview

Few Americans are aware that obesity contributes to 300,000 deaths a year in America. Now medical journalist Michael Fumento --himself a veteran of the diet wars--turns his searing eye to the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140261443
• ISBN13: 9780140261448
• Release Date: September 1998
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.1" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

Consumer's Reports of Diets....

This book was incredible. Not really a "diet" book in the traditional sense, it's more like a Consumer's Reports of diets and diet books - It reviews Dr. Atkins, Jenny Craig (...), Physicians' Weight Loss (no Physicians!) - all the "gurus" and shows how the Emperor has no clothes (but plenty of fat!). It has chapters on ALL of your options - diets, exercise, surgery, drugs -(he even reviews the illegal ones!). This man read, literally, hundreds of medical journals and studies- the bibliography is 50 PAGES LONG! Do you know how much research that adds up to? Astonishing! He not only looked at the _short_ term results of all of these diets, he researched the more-important (and often overlooked) LONG term results of various methods of weight loss. Did you know liposuction isn't permanent? Do you know what happens if someone with a "tummy tuck" re-gains their weight after the operation? What about drug combo of aspirin, caffeene and...that other stuff...that worked better than Phen-Fen (without the side effects) but wasn't advertised because it wasn't a real money-maker? The other great part of this book is how he exposes the diet-industry fleecing of America, and how the "gurus" are getting rich and the Surgeon General looks the other way while we die of obesity-related diseases.....PS - I've lost 10-15 lbs and dropped an entire size (2 inches in my waist) in the past 6 months...and kept it off...

Very well written and thorough

I really enjoyed this book. I did not agree with every one of the author's statements, but I think he gave a very good, thoroughly researched account of his opinions. The main point of the book is that due to lifestyle changes over the last 30 to 40 years, living in America is like riding "a conveyor belt to obesity". He explores the various lifestyle factors which are contributing to our national weight gain, and talks about common-sense, do-able ways to change these factors. The main point of the book: you may be fat now, but you can definitely slim down and don't need a magic potion to do so. This is an excellent book to give a foundation of knowledge to help the reader make sense of all the diet and exercise information that continually bombards them, and separate fact from fiction.

The Land is Indeed Fat

Yes, folks.... Americans are officially the fattest people on earth. After hearing this I began searching the net for more information, and the name of this book jumped out at me. The content absolutely lives up to the name. This is the best book I have ever read on the subject, and I have read plenty! Most of them have been useless, some promote practices that are downright dangerous, and the information is generally so slanted and unbalanced a person is hard put to know what to believe. This is the book that puts all of that to rest. What I liked the most was its sometimes brutal but very funny approach. Michael Fumento makes his points up front and in your face, but his style is very readable and FUNNY! The best part of the book is that you can't escape the excellent research and the plain-spoken, no- nonsense approach to the information. I found myself alternately nodding my head and laughing out loud. Inside we all know the truth, and Michael Fumento has the guts to put it in print. Read this book if you want the truth. I also looked over the few books Mr. Fumento recommended, and all of them had a similar idea, namely that we need to go out there and live life instead of making food our companion and best friend. Stop living a dimished life. If your're ready to ditch the useless diet fads, this is the book for you!

A must read for anyone trying to lose weight

You may hate this book or love it, but apathy is not an option. I personally loved it. Yes, Fumento is a little crude and rough around the edges, but this is what the fat people of America need to hear. This book is a rude awakening and a wake up call. It takes away your excuses, and if you have been struggling to lose weight this book will give you hope. The new diet banter is that diets don't work, losing weight is bad for you, and its all genetic so give up and be fat and love yourself. Fumento systematically explodes these myths one by one. This book is moving, and if he comes off as less then polite, its obviously because he is sick and tired of the propaganda and hopelessness being dished out to Americans in the battle of the bulge. I should mention that I will be recieving a doctorate in the sciences shortly and I found Fumento's treatment of the scientific information presented to be well thought out, well researched and relevent. This book is a must read.

No hype - just the facts

Eat fiber and vegetables. Duh. But most "diet" plans either ignore this method, or dress it up so thoroughly it's unrecognizable. Like Fumento, I needed to lose about 25 pounds of over-30, slowing-metabolism fat. His book challenged me to drop the excuses, and I dropped the weight. His best contribution: documenting the invariable link between poor diet, excess fat (even 25 pounds), and our most widespread health problems such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes. These things correlate strongly; there's no getting away from it. What he could have done better: provided encouragement by reporting about more weight-loss successes among highly obese people adhering to a high-fiber, high-veggie diet. No, this isn't a book for those who want to feel good about fat. It IS a book for those who want to know what science says is really linked with fat. The lifestyle changes needed to get rid of fat - the simple food and exercise - are cheaper than what you're doing now, and they work. (BTW, I'm a female military officer - "in shape" before finding Fumento's book, but eating much better now, stronger and with more energy, better skin and hair, etc.) It's so simple to eat right! Please don't let the negative reviews frighten you. Fumento doesn't hate fat people, he just documents the causes and effects of fat truthfully.