68 percent of Americans have dieted at some point in their lives. But upwards of 90% of people who intentionally lose weight gain it back within five years. And as many as 66% of people who embark on weight-loss efforts end up gaining more weight than they lost. If dieting is so clearly ineffective why are we so obsessed with it?

The culprit is diet culture a system of beliefs that equates thinness to health and moral virtue promotes weight loss as a means of attaining higher status and demonizes certain ways of eating while elevating others. It's sexist racist and classist yet this way of thinking about food and bodies is so embedded in the fabric of our society that it can be hard to recognize. It masquerades as health wellness and fitness and for some it is all-consuming.

In Anti-Diet Christy Harrison takes on diet culture and the multi-billion-dollar industries that profit from it exposing all the ways it robs people of their time money health and happiness. It will turn what you think you know about health and wellness upside down as Harrison explores the history of diet culture how it's infiltrated the health and wellness world how to recognize it in all its sneaky forms and how letting go of efforts to lose weight or eat "perfectly" actually helps to improve people's health -- no matter their size. Drawing on scientific research personal experience and stories from patients and colleagues Anti-Diet provides a radical alternative to diet culture and helps readers reclaim their bodies minds and lives so they can focus on the things that truly matter.