Our planet is in the grip of an obesity pandemic. More than a billion people worldwide are overweight and over 600 million are obese. We live in an obesogenic environment in which it is much easier to get fat than to stay fit. How has this come to be? Who is to blame? What can we do? In Fat Planet, Dr David Lewis and Dr Margaret Leitch examine the social and psychological causes of the obesity pandemic in order to answer these questions. They use ground-breaking research to highlight the behaviour of corporations that relentlessly promote foods high in sugar, fat and salt, and show that these ‘junk’ foods have shockingly similar neurological effects to hard drugs. They consider the prevalence of food cues which unconsciously stimulate our desire to consume. And they debunk the myths of fad diets and slimming pills, suggesting practical, easily implemented strategies for sustainable weight loss. The evidence is clear: our problem with obesity must be addressed or we will face catastrophic consequences. It is not too late to change.

The average size of human bodies all over the world has been steadily rising over recent decades. The total count of people clinically labeled “obese” is now at least three times what it was in 1980. Fat Planet represents a collaborative effort to consider at a global scale what fat stigma is and what it does to people. Making use of an array of social science perspectives applied in multiple settings, the authors examine the interplay of weight, wealth, history, culture, and meaning to fat and its social rejection. They explore the notion of symbolic body capital—the power of non-fat bodies to do what people need or want. In so doing, they illustrate the complex and quickly shifting dynamics in thinking about fat—often considered personal yet powerfully influenced by and influential upon the broader world in which we live.

The writing of this book was both a spiritual and intellectual journey. It took more than ten years to complete while having to be revised and updated constantly. This is no-holds-barred literature where the author says what he means and means what he says! He does not mintz his words. The Conscious Planet thinks outside the box and breaks all the rules of traditional thinking. Sometimes this information can be brutally honest or painfully real. This author is not trying to win any popularity contest. He tells it like it really is and doesnt care what anyone thinks! The Conscious Planet is what the government and big corporations who control it dont want you to know! It is the truth about the truth and nothing but the truth, so help me ! In the modern world, people only know what multinational corporations want them to know, not what they should know! And it is this tainted knowledge which is creating a society of pathetic drones, who like poor doomed sheep, are too busy just trying to survive to see that the wool is being pulled over their eyes while being led to slaughter! Because these corporate imperatives are being paid for at the expense of the future of mankind! Before you patronize any product, be conscious about what its doing to your health, to the earth, and how it will affect future generations. Skeptics have warned the author that this book will receive nominal success, that it represents a small niche market, and not everyone would be interested in such literature. And in retort to this assertion, it should be acknowledged that yes, it is sadly true that not everyone would be interested in this book because the information herein may not pertain directly to their life or general well being. So in understanding, who would be interested in this book, lets narrow it down by eliminating the types of individual who would not directly benefit: x 1. People who are immortal: Yes, these people might not care about this book: heck, if you were immortal, you might eat Twinkies and cheese-burgers all day long. 2. People who have another planet to live on: This is true: why would they care if the world goes to hell in a hand basket? See Ya! Well, lucky them: however, for the other seven billion people who inhabit the planet earth who are not immortal, and who dont have another planet to live on then this book is absolutely the most important book they may ever read! Become a part of The Conscious Planet

Engaging science writing that bravely approaches a new frontier in medical science and offers a whole new way of looking at the deep kinship between animals and human beings. Zoobiquity: a species-spanning approach to medicine bringing doctors and veterinarians together to improve the health of all species and their habitats. In the tradition of Temple Grandin, Oliver Sacks, and Neil Shubin, this is a remarkable narrative science book arguing that animal and human commonality can be used to diagnose, treat, and ultimately heal human patients. Through case studies of various species--human and animal kind alike--the authors reveal that a cross-species approach to medicine makes us not only better able to treat psychological and medical conditions but helps us understand our deep connection to other species with whom we share much more than just a planet. This revelatory book reaches across many disciplines--evolution, anthropology, sociology, biology, cutting-edge medicine and zoology--providing fascinating insights into the connection between animals and humans and what animals can teach us about the human body and mind.

How did sugar grow from prize to pariah? Acclaimed historian James Walvin looks at the history of our collective sweet tooth, beginning with the sugar grown by enslaved people who had been uprooted and shipped vast distances to undertake the grueling labor on plantations. The combination of sugar and slavery would transform the tastes of the Western world. Prior to 1600, sugar was a costly luxury, the domain of the rich. But with the rise of the sugar colonies in the New World over the following century, sugar became cheap, ubiquitous, and an everyday necessity. Less than fifty years ago, few people suggested that sugar posed a global health problem. And yet today, sugar is regularly denounced as a dangerous addiction, on a par with tobacco. Masterfully insightful and probing, James Walvin reveals the relationship between society and sweetness over the past two centuries— and how it explains our conflicted relationship with sugar today.

An intimate and darkly comic memoir of a woman who does a 180 with her body. In the opening pages of Passing for Thin, Frances Kuffel waits at the airport to be picked up by her brother, Jim. He strides past her without a glimmer of recognition because she barely resembles the woman he is expecting to see. Jim had last seen her when she was 188 pounds heavier. What follows is one of the most piercing explorations of the limits and promises of a body since Lucy Grealy’s Autobiography of a Face. With unflinching honesty and a wickedly dark sense of humor, Frances describes her first fumbling introductions to the slender, alien body she is left with after losing half her weight, shining a light on the shared human experience of feeling, at times, uncomfortable in one’s own skin. Buoyed by support from a group of fellow compulsive eaters she deems “the Stepfords,” Frances adjusts not only to her new waistline, but to a strange new world—the Planet of Thin—where she doesn’t speak the language and doesn’t know the rules. Her lifetime of obesity had robbed her of the joys of lovers, a husband, children—and even made it impossible to enjoy a movie, when standing in line was too painful, or travel, when airplane seats were too small—and hadn’t prepared her for the unexpected attention from strangers, the deep pleasure of trying on a tailored suit, the satisfaction of a good run on a treadmill, or for the saucy fun of flirting and dating. She joyfully moves from observer to player, while struggling to enjoy the freedom her new shape has given her. As Frances gradually comes to know—and love—the stranger in the mirror, she learns that this body does not define her, but enables her to become the woman she’s always wanted to be.

The innovative guide that reveals how eating more fat—the smart kind—is the key to health, longevity, and permanent weight loss. For years experts have told us that eating fat is bad. But by banning fat from our diets, we’ve deprived ourselves of considerable health benefits—and have actually sabotaged our own efforts to lose weight. Though they originally came from vastly different schools of thought about diet and weight loss, renowned nutritionist Jonny Bowden and well-respected physician Steven Masley independently came to the same conclusion about why so many people continually fail to shed pounds and get healthy. It all comes back to a distinction far more important than calories vs. carbs or paleo vs. plant-based: smart fat vs. dumb fat. In Smart Fat, they explain the amazing properties of healthy fat, including its ability to balance hormones for increased energy and appetite control, and its incredible anti-inflammatory benefits. The solution for slimming down—and keeping the pounds off for life—is to “smart-fat” your meals, incorporating smart fats with fiber, protein, and most importantly, flavor. Bowden and Masley identify smart fats, explain what not to eat, and provide a thirty-day meal plan and fifty recipes based on the magic formula of fat, fiber, protein, and flavor. It’s time to unlearn what we think we know about food. Getting smart about fat—and everything you eat—and learning to smart-fat your meals is the only solution you'll ever need.