This book was sadly not for me. It was mostly just rehashing what most people already know about dieting or weight. The anecdotal stories scattered throughout the book are a little redundant in my mind. They are basically all the same. Fat: the Secret Organ by Mariëtte Boon and Liesbeth van Rossum did nearly the same as this book, but a lot better.

I read a digital ARC of this book via Net Galley.

Interesting read and informative. And thought provoking. I’m still thinking about some of the things he writes. it’s so practical and yet we make weight loss so complicated.

I had high hopes for this book but it was honestly a let-down. I didn't feel that there was anything new in the book and the author seemed to relish in debunking anything you might hope would work in the diet world even when by his own admissions there was some promise to it. He goes by "The Healthy Skeptic: and I think he puts too much weight on the skeptic part, like it would be against brand to honestly acknowledge anything. Again and again, he tells you about a study that shows that something helps you lose weight, makes you gain weight, whatever, and then every time he says something like the study wasn't big enough or it was done by a company that makes that food or there wasn't a control group... Most of his complaints could be said about literally any study currently done, so why bother telling us about the studies????? He just likes to debunk things. It's the main content of this book, and I don't even necessarily agree with many of his conclusions.

Chapters and main points include: Pick your villain (main point, there are no bad foods -- you don't have to avoid sugar, fructose, fats, carbs, alcohol, GMOs, etc. to lose weight ((he doesn't address health, just pure weight loss)) Focus on whole foods like beans and veggies and avoid highly processed foods though). Exercise myths (main point: exercise won't help you lose any weight, you'd need to do too much and you should just reduce your calories, but it will probably help you maintain weight loss later). Calorie myths (don't count on calorie counts to be correct, some things will affect your metabolism like medications, there are no negative calorie foods), Superfood Foolery (there are no foods that are especially good for weight loss), and so on. At the end he promises to say what works but it's basically eat whole foods and not too many of them, write down what you eat, eat fewer calories than you need, and exercise for the health benefit and to keep off weight you lose.

I personally had begun dieting for the first time in my life a few years ago after weight had started creeping up after the births of my fourth and fifth kids and during my 40's. I exercised and reduced my calories and already ate a whole foods, homemade, mostly organic, very healthy (in my mind) diet. It didn't really work at all and I gave up after about 6 months having lost just a few pounds that tried to come back if slipped for even a day. Then in spring of 2020 I got very sick with covid and was sick for many months. Afterwards, I was left with diabetes-like symptoms even though I didn't have diabetes to begin with, along with extremely high blood pressure and a number of other health issues. One of the only things I could keep doing that time was my voracious reading and I was reading a few keto books at the time. When I couldn't resolve my lingering health problems and my doctor couldn't either, I decided to try keto (clean keto with a focus on very healthy fats, fiber and veggies). A year after starting keto I have lost all of my extra weight and went from 142 to 114 pounds (I'm short, it's in my healthy range). My blood pressure is down to a healthy number, my brain fog that I thought was just a part of aging has reversed, I have tons of energy and I feel better than I have in literally decades.

Davis seems to have found what works for him and I'm glad it works well, but I found something that works for me that this book would have insisted would not. Nothing in the book is bad advice, but it's nothing new and not particularly helpful unless you're the type of person who thinks the grapefruit diet is really going to solve all your problems.

I read a digital ARC of this book via Net Galley.

An interesting read, taking the lid off the diet market in an honest, straightforward but unflinching way. With a deep base in actual science rather than BS, the studies and facts surrounding various diet theories are presented in a clear, easy to understand and objective way. A great, non sensationalised read. Highly recommend.

So many diets out there - and they all posit themselves as the one and only that will work. This time, try this diet, it will work where the others have failed.
Any many dieters have been there, done that, and found out that there is no magic solution. You follow the diet religiously, only to find that after a while you stop losing weight, and then it all piles back on again.

The author of this book, Robert J Davis, takes you through all the recent diet fads from Keto to low fat, Meditteranean to vegan and many more, detailing why they don;'t work on the way that the promotors suggest.
So what's the answer? Good wholefood, a balanced diet, and a commitment to lose weight the way you gained it - slowly but surely.

Nothing groundbreaking in this for me, but a useful reminder that the best diet is the one that gives you all the nutrition you need, makes you feel full, and helps you lose weight slowly yet easily and enjoyably. It's all common sense really, but sometimes it's good to have a reminder.

This is a great comprehensive read for anybody who wants a fact based tour of the dieting scene. Even though the author references multiple studies, he does a great job of making it understandable and simple.

This book provides useful tips for losing weight. It explains why diets don't work and what you can do. The general idea is that you should ditch diets and eat healthily and balanced, but it's much more detailed than this. A useful and refreshing read if you want to ditch diet culture. Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

What a breath of fresh air this book is in the overcrowded “diet” category. Everyone these days seems to have chosen a “side” in the obesity wars: keto, low-fat, Mediterranean, vegetarian, smoothies, paleo, etc. This book goes through all of the competing diet theories and the associated studies, and presents the facts as they are known today. Perhaps nothing here is revolutionary, but I believe this book can bring some much-needed common sense back to the topic. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Nothing new for most dieters out there. Nothing by to really takeaway.

Thanks to author, publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book. While I got the book for free, it had no bearing on the rating I gave it.

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review


Basically, fad diets don’t work because they’re too good to be true. What works is what we know- eat less fattening food, eat more healthy food. But some of y’all really need to hear this