Recently I carried two large bags full of diet books to the local secondhand store. The walk alone must have burned off at least 12 Calories. I had everything from low-budget self-published stories, right through to bestsellers like the South Beach Diet and other imitators.
I could not help thinking about how little difference these books have really made. Some are well-intentioned self-help guides, while other books are little more than money-grabbing fluff.
How many diet books grace your shelves (or Kindle, or iPad...)?
Over the past 6 years publishers have been sending me books to review. At first it was interesting - but after a few years I hit a fatigue point. The temptation to fall into cynicism was difficult to resist - there was very little new insight being written.
Most publishers would time their release date to a few days after Christmas - the "diet season". About 6 weeks later most of the books would be gathering dust on bookshelves nationwide. Despite this every year a plethora of books hit the market, and, to be brutally honest, most are the same information rehashed over and over.
The age of the "in" diet seems to be over - either that or what is "hot" falls into an increasingly shorter and quicker cycle.
To be fair there are many very interesting books that come out that offer a useful or passionate angle on diet and weight loss - but these are a minority.
There is a season for everything
I've noticed that what's popular in dieting is almost cyclical. Older diets can come back into vogue as if they were a new thing. Or older diets simply keep bringing out new editions every few years.
What the bestseller list tells us...
A perusal of Amazon's diet bestsellers shows us:
Do You Still Buy Diet Books?
Books Diets 9 Comments Anya on 26 Oct 2010None. I've never subscribed to them or their view of healthy living.
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