Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Before I tell you my biggest gripe with this book, let me start by saying Traci Mann is a psychologist, not a nutritionist. She offers a lot of psychological strategies for eating well, and that's fine, though I think some of them are a bit off the wall. When I see a book with the title "Secrets From the Eating Lab: The Science of Weight Loss, the Myth of Willpower, and Why You Should Never Diet Again," I expect a fair amount of science. This book tells us that Mann has "discovered cutting-edge scientific insights" that are "controversial and groundbreaking." Mann absolutely fails to deliver on that promise, and she lies to us. I know that sounds harsh, so let me explain. Mann starts where a lot of diet books start - by telling us diets fail. That's fine, because people need to be reminded that losing and maintaining weight is a lifelong process. Mann reminds us that the vast majority of people who lose weight gain it back within three to five years. Fair enough and true enough. But this is where Mann begins to waffle (pun intended). Mann tells us about weight ranges and suggests we aim for the low end of our range - our "leanest livable weight." Ironically, Mann insists that "weight is not the point" while giving readers many eating strategies designed to reduce calorie intake in order to reach the weight goals she recommends. I don't know about you, but if something looks like a diet, walks like a diet and talks like a diet, it's a diet. That's my biggest gripe with this book: Mann tells us all diets fail, that we should never diet again, then suggests a diet and refuses to call it a diet. Mann hints at game-changing scientific breakthroughs and insights but gives us the same old basic diet and eating strategies. Mann offers a diet that we can (wink wink) not call a diet: It's magic! This degree of doublespeak is amazing coming from a psychologist. It's disingenuous to say that diets fail if people go back to eating the same way that got them overweight in the first place. All diets - whether they are low-fat, high-carb, or high-fat, low-carb, Paleo (Mann's preferred diet), or anything else - offer a weight loss plan and a maintenance plan. All diets and maintenance plans involve some kind of food restrictions. Mann's diet is no different. Some people might find Mann's psychological strategies helpful, though there's nothing new about those either. Let me give you a little taste of these strategies (pun intended). Mann suggests that you eat meals on smaller plates - smaller plates hold less food, therefore less calories. Mann tells us we feel deprived with a half-empty larger plate and satisfied with a full smaller plate. Mann - ever the clever psychologist - imagines that she has solved the glass-half-full and glass-half-empty dilemma by giving us a smaller glass that is full. Mann suggests that you avoid driving on streets that have your favorite junk foods - like that donut shop or bakery you love to visit before going home. If these are the kind of tricks that impress you, Mann's book might be helpful. But as for me, I'm giving this book only one star because I find it unforgivably misleading to say that people should never diet and then tell them they should diet. That's a lot of chutzpah, especially coming from a psychologist who should know something about "denial" and "cognitive dissonance." I'd like to address the so-called "myth of willpower." First, willpower is not a myth - it's a real and important part of human behavior. When people do anything that requires effort, willpower is required. Quite literally, humans can't survive without willpower. Going to school, getting good at a sport or musical instrument, working at a job, being a good parent, staying healthy and dieting, all of these require willpower. Even Mann's diet, and the application of her psychological strategies, require willpower. When it comes to dieting, it's on old cliché to say that willpower is a myth. I heard the same cliché fifty years ago, because "new" diet books want you to believe that all the other diets require willpower while the new one doesn't. I'll give Mann a consolation prize by conceding that some diets require more willpower than others. It takes willpower to resist the Siren call of excess sugar and refined carbs. I might add that it also takes willpower for authors and publishers to be a little more honest about the books they're selling. I can forgive a certain amount of marketing hype, but this book crosses the line. I encourage you to respond to my review in the comments section. If you think this book contains any new scientific "discoveries" that are "controversial and groundbreaking," please tell us what they are. If you think Mann's diet is not a diet, please explain why. If you think willpower is a myth, please explain why. And if you can think of a good reason why it's okay for Mann to lie to us - telling us we should never diet and then giving us a diet - I'm all ears.