Waistland

Deirdre Barrett, the author of Waistland, is a psychologist at Harvard, so I probably should have known this book would give me a lot to think about. Barrett argues that the reason we are a nation of overweight people is because our lifestyles changed as soon as we developed agriculture hundreds of years ago. She believes that if we return to a diet characteristic of the first humans, we will be lean, fit and healthy, as she believes we are supposed to be. I could definitely see where she's coming from on a lot of points, but the book did make me feel guilty because I'm certainly not on a raw food diet, or a calorie restricted diet as Barrett suggests. I also felt that she was a little extreme in her thinking; of course, these are her convictions, and it's our own responsibility to decide whether or not we are going to agree with them or not. It's definitely a good read, well-written and thought-provoking. I'll probably continue to feel guilty about not being on the raw food diet, but I don't think I'm going to change my ways--I just don't have enough willpower! (And besides, then I wouldn't be able to look at the awesome recipes in the Taste of Twinsburg blog anymore!)