The Truth About Fat: Why Obesity is Not that Simple

by Anthony Warner

Overview

Most people try out diets just to see if they work. One friend cuts out sugar, a second cuts out fat. Another mumbles something about gut microbes. Even scientists still seem to be arguing about what causes obesity, so what hope is there for the rest of us?

Anthony Warner, author of The Angry Chef, has decided to get to the bottom of it once and for all. Is obesity really an epidemic? Can you be addicted to food? Can’t you just exercise your way to freedom? And what the heck is a food desert?

You want the truth? The science, without the prejudice? You can handle it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781786077264
Publisher:	Oneworld Publications
Publication date:	02/11/2020
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.80(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Anthony Warner graduated in Biochemistry from Manchester University before embarking on a career in professional kitchens. He spent many years working in hotels, restaurants and event catering in the North West and London before taking a job as a development chef in the food manufacturing industry where he worked for over a decade developing recipes for some of the country’s best-known brands and products.

Frustrated by pseudoscience and misinformation in the food industry, in 2016 he started a blog, which led to the bestselling book, The Angry Chef and a career in journalism. Two more books and countless arguments have followed.

He lives in Lincolnshire where he continues to blog at angry-chef.com and you can follow him @One_Angry_Chef.

Read an Excerpt

I have spoken to geneticists, molecular biologists, economists, biochemists, neuroscientists, addiction researchers, psychologists, microbiologists, psychiatrists, philosophers, dietitians, nutritionists, sociologists, eating disorder specialists, medical doctors, endocrinologists, geographers, and sensory scientists. I have spoken to those who dedicate their lives to helping obese people, and to others who live with their own larger bodies every day.

Everyone I spoke to had their own specialism and knowledge, and each gave me something unique and interesting to think about. Many of them are quoted in the text, but others simply helped me increase my understanding. Although I had differing lines of enquiry for everyone, I ended each interview with a couple of common questions. I asked everybody what they thought the main reasons were that obesity continues to rise, and what might be done to bring it down.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS

A word on language

Introduction

PART 1 – THE MODERN EPIDEMIC

Chapter 1 Why do we get fat? Part I

Chapter 2 Why do we get fat? Part II

Chapter 3 Why don’t we just eat less?

Chapter 4 How fat are we?

Chapter 5 How unhealthy is it to be fat?

Chapter 6 How much does obesity cost?

Chapter 7 Why are we so afraid of fat?

PART 2 – WHY ARE WE SO FAT?

Chapter 8 Is it because of our genes?

Chapter 9 Is it because of our guts?

Chapter 10 Is it because of calories?

Chapter 11 Is it because we are lazy?

Chapter 12 Is it because of fat?

Chapter 13 Is it because of carbs?

Chapter 14 Is it because we are addicted?

Chapter 15 Is it because of our environment?

Chapter 16 Is it because we are poor?

PART 3 – WHAT SHOULD WE DO?

Chapter 17 Surgery and drugs

Chapter 18 Non-dieting

Chapter 19 How the French lunch

Chapter 20 Going Dutch

Epilogue What to do if you are fat

What People are Saying About This

author of How to Eat Better James Wong

‘Straight-up, factual and ruthlessly balanced, Warner takes no prisoners when it comes to cutting through the minefield of misconceptions in foodie media. Solid science served up with caustic wit. How can I be more like this guy?’

author of The Idiot Brain Dean Burnett

‘An essential read for anyone who constantly worries about the modern obsession with diet and weight loss, even though it contains revelations that many will, ironically, find hard to swallow.’

author of The Book of Humans and A Brief History o Adam Rutherford

‘There are few subjects more prone to fads, waffle and outright nonsense than dieting. Warner is a fiery beacon of truth, burning through every popular myth, every half-baked diet fad and the legion peddlers of pseudoscientific guff that tell us how and what to eat. Anthony Warner is not the chef we deserve, but he certainly is the angry chef we need right now.’

Editorial Reviews

‘Warner recognises that obesity has complex and multifaceted causes and it is not – as so many persist in claiming – a collapse in willpower.’

Guardian

‘There are few subjects more prone to fads, waffle and outright nonsense than dieting. Warner is a fiery beacon of truth, burning through every popular myth, every half-baked diet fad and the legion peddlers of pseudoscientific guff that tell us how and what to eat. Anthony Warner is not the chef we deserve, but he certainly is the angry chef we need right now.’

Adam Rutherford

‘A thought-provoking corrective to the idea that obesity is simply the result of eating too much and moving too little [told] with verve, mastery of the available data, and a gripping narrative.’

TLS

'refreshing, humane and essential reading... The Truth About Fatoffers a nuanced, well-informed, eloquent discussion of the biology underlying obesity.’

Fortean Times

‘Looking at food availability, health issues, the environment, and various fad diets, Warner finds that obesity is not a condition under the control of the sufferer... The author has no patience with pseudoscientific claims concerning health and diet and trenchantly attacks the assertions of trendy diets. Well written and easily read, this publication gives the reader a fresh perspective on the issue of obesity and lambastes our cultural discrimination of the obese.’

CHOICE Magazine

‘An essential read for anyone who constantly worries about the modern obsession with diet and weight loss, even though it contains revelations that many will, ironically, find hard to swallow.’

Dean Burnett

‘Straight-up, factual and ruthlessly balanced, Warner takes no prisoners when it comes to cutting through the minefield of misconceptions in foodie media. Solid science served up with caustic wit. How can I be more like this guy?’

James Wong

‘[Warner] has something important to say and the more people who take him seriously the better.’

The Times

‘Takes a honed knife to flabby theorizing about what makes us fat... A nuanced approach to a global issue.’

Nature

‘An informed book written with wit and scientific rigour.’

Daily Express

‘Takes a honed knife to flabby theorizing about what makes us fat... A nuanced approach to a global issue.’

Nature Lib

‘An informed book written with wit and scientific rigour.’

Daily Express

‘[Warner] has something important to say and the more people who take him seriously the better.’

The Times

Cheerfully profane . . . Warner takes on a host of popular ideas about how one should eat.”

—Booklist

From the Publisher

2018-10-15

The author of the Angry Chef blog seeks to expose lies and pretensions regarding fatness.

Warner (The Angry Chef: Bad Science and the Truth about Healthy Eating, 2017), a British professional chef and food writer, takes a broad view, first documenting the obesity epidemic with charts and statistics and looking at how fat we are, why we get fat, and why we worry about it or are so afraid of it. Among the many questions the author explores: Is it because of our genes, our gut microbes, the calories we consume, our addictions, our environment, or our laziness? Should we blame carbohydrates or fats? Warner then takes a hard look at some of the attempts to control weight, such as drugs and surgery. His take-home message is that there are no quick fixes; no single cure exists because there is no single cause. Obesity, he writes, is a system-level problem that calls for system-level solutions: health professionals working with dieticians and fitness experts to help individuals; public health professionals working to upgrade schools, housing, and employment opportunities in local communities, especially the poorest ones; corporations improving the foods they offer; and government taking action to reduce poverty. The author lightens his research-laden semitextbook with frequent eye-catching headings ("Everyone Likes a Nice Round Number," "Cheesecake, Cocaine, and Electrified Floors," "It's Not All About Dying, You Know") and a generous sprinkling of quotes. Often, Warner comes across as a scold, but his targets are the popular myths about weight, not the people who are overweight or think that they are. The epilogue, "What to Do If You Are Fat," encourages people to ask themselves why they want to lose weight, to stop seeing fatness as a moral issue, and to take time to enjoy eating with friends and neighbors.

Well-documented and accessible information and advice from an author who clearly loves food and cares about people.

Kirkus Reviews