The Truth About Fat: Why Obesity is Not that Simple

Description

Who or what is to blame for us getting fat and ill in increasing numbers? Sugar or fat? Gut microbes or genes? Laziness or poverty? Whatever it is, it's placing a devastating burden on our healthcare system, and scientists in every field are desperate to explain this epidemic and stave off a modern health disaster. In The Truth About Fat, Anthony Warner scrutinises the explanations of academics, doctors, researchers and journalists. He lays out the best evidence available, rails against quack theories preying on the desperate and considers whether we are blaming our bodies for other people's ignorance and cruelty. What remains is the unvarnished truth about one of the great preoccupations of our age.

Anthony Warner is a professional chef and writer. A regular contributor to New Scientist and The Pool, his work has been featured in the Guardian, Mail on Sunday and other publications. He lives in Nottinghamshire, blogs at angry-chef.com and you can follow him @One_Angry_Chef.

'Warner recognises that obesity has complex and multifaceted causes and it is not - as so many persist in claiming - a collapse in willpower.' * Guardian * '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 * '[Warner] has something important to say and the more people who take him seriously the better.' * The Times * '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 * 'refreshing, humane and essential reading... The Truth About Fatoffers a nuanced, well-informed, eloquent discussion of the biology underlying obesity.' * Fortean Times * '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, author of How to Eat Better '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, author of The Book of Humans and A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived '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, author of The Idiot Brain '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 * 'Well-documented and accessible information and advice from an author who clearly loves food and cares about people.' * Kirkus *