From the outset we knew we wanted to organize this book around specific fad diets like Paleo and Clean Eating. For most people, a diet is a belief system about food (often named or branded) that they imagine they have freely chosen and put into practice. We knew that organizing this book around recognizable, popular diets would make the most intuitive sense to readers. Yet as we wrote, we found ourselves often repeating our ideas chapter after chapter, and this repetition reinforced one of our strongest observations: The same fears, beliefs, and fantasies underpin nearly all diets, even when the diets appear radically different. That is the central argument of this book: that all fad diets are driven by the same engine of wishes and fantasies that repeat themselves not only across diets but also across historical eras.
Rather than repeat these themes and ideas in every chapter, we’ve chosen ...
