An analysis of 400+ diet books

About 55 million Americans are on a diet at any given moment. Half of the country says it’s trying to lose weight. Diet and weight loss books generate about $600 million in sales each year. This isn’t anything new. Diet books have been around since the 1860s, yet obesity grew 3,900% since then. A Cornell researcher named Adrienne Bitar decided to figure out why. She analyzed 400+ diet books spanning that entire history. What she found wasn’t about food. Why only 20% of diet books are about actual nutrition. What fills the other 80%, and what that reveals about us. Why certain diets catch on while others die: sales tactics, stories, etc. The single most important metric that determines if you will actually lose fat. How to use findings from 400+ diet books for the rest of your life, without the marketing fluff. In case you missed it: On Wednesday, we ran Don’t Die: Do Pullups part II. It’ll help you do more pullups, one of the most important exercises you can do. Friday was a deep dive into GLP-1s and muscle loss, based on breaking new research. We had two great podcasts last week: A conversation with and an episode covering a surprising take on alcohol and the shaky research around social media. Listen here. Shoutout to our partners: Momentous made me feel good about supplements again. Every single product is heavily tested for purity because Momentous has contracts with professional sports teams and the U.S. military. They also sell what works rather than offering a million fringe options that don’t offer benefits. I use Momentous’ Plant Protein Powder, Multivitamin, and Creatine daily. Function Health offers 5x deeper insights into your health than typical bloodwork. You’ll learn critical information that can guide you into feeling better every day. It helped me identify a mineral insufficiency—and was cheaper than my insurance. Go to my page here to sign up, receive a discount, and pay just $340.