Never Satisfied: A Cultural History of Diets, Fantasies, and Fat

Abstract

This light-hearted historical account of dieting is devoted to explaning the cultural fit between shared fictions about the body and the reducing methods of the era. Discussions are as follows: dieting and history; ritual and romance of dieting; men, women and fat; thin body and the Jacksonians; buoyant body (obese) in Victorian America; the balanced body at century's turn; regulated body (fasting, slow chewing of foods, calorie counting, and thyroid pills); measured body (calorie controlled); physiological effects of obesity and body types; dieting and marketing profits; overweight children and dieting; and a weightless body. A bibliography is included