Product Description

"The evergreen subject of American gluttony and sloth brings out the best in scientist-advocates, and the authors, while drawing on a mountain of statistics and studies, make their indictment both funny and appalling."
--Publishers Weekly

"Brownell and Horgen uncover some of America's biggest diet hazards and how to avoid them."
--Self magazine

"This is a fascinating, empowering must-read filled with practical ways to take action."
--Shape magazine

"Food Fight is . . . an important contribution to the discourse around the obesity epidemic. I highly recommend it to anyone who wishes to learn more about the role of the food industry, and especially to public health advocates looking for clearly presented research and ideas for positive change."
--Michele Simon, founder and director of the Center for Informed Food Choices

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15511 in Books
• Published on: 2004-09-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 356 pages

Download Description
"Food Fight is... an important contribution to the discourse around the obesity epidemic. I highly recommend it to anyone who wishes to learn more about the role of the food industry, and especially to public health advocates looking for clearly presented research and ideas for positive change."

About the Author

Kelly D. Brownell, Ph.D., is one of the nation's best-known experts on nutrition and weight disorders. He is a psychology professor at Yale University and the director of the Yale Center for Eating and Weight Disorders. He regularly appears in the media as an expert on obesity, nutrition, and eating disorders.

Katherine Battle Horgen, Ph.D. , is on the staff at the Yale Center for Eating and Weight Disorders.

Customer Reviews

Practical
This is more of a practical manual on how to get some change done than a page turner meant for entertainment. I laud the authors for this, but for those of us who don't have time to get out and become community organizers, I think other books offer the same expose.

Some good information but they miss the mark
There's some very good research revealed in this book however the authors ignore (or simply don't know) the true to the culprit of obesity.... processed carbohydrates. They are right on track with corporate America's involvement with our obesity epidemic however they believe fat and calories play a role in body fat...they don't. I lost 70lbs in 3 months consuming 4000-5000 calories a day, 400 fat grams per day. I simply avoided man altered carbs (not natural carbs).

Bite-Sized Solutions to a Super-Sized Problem
After reading the first few chapters of Food Fight, I thought "same old stuff." Americans are too fat, eat a poor diet, don't get enough exercise, what else is new.

After a few more chapters, I became overwhelmed with the magnitude of the problem. The fast food companies and agribusiness corporations are too powerful, health care organizations are not really interested in solving the problem, and even the schools are inundated with Channel One advertising and contracts from soft drink companies. How on earth can we even begin to address this problem? Is there any hope?

Then Brownell gets into solutions. Of course the individual needs to take responsibility and eat less, eat better, and exercise more. But communities need to demand changes, such as limits on what kind of advertising the kids see while they are in school, classes (for kids and adults) on nutrition and exercise, neighborhood walking and bicycle paths in safe places. And governments should be involved as well, providing national ad spots about health and fitness, perhaps using the anti-tobacco campaigns as a guideline.

Brownell discusses the solutions in the last part of the book, then ends with a handy summary of recommended actions. What starts as a rather depressing book turns out to be a positive, optimistic look at what we can do at different levels to tackle a growing problem.