About book The Hungry Years: Confessions Of A Food Addict (2005)
This is the story of an overweight and insatiably hungry man, who sets out to understand and conquer this hunger, and resulting weight issue (along with the more complicated issues of body image, body consciousness and societal acceptance).With pure candour William Leith lets us into his world; the world of someone who has lost control in the attempt to, by any means possible, sate that empty , hollow, hungry feeling.Leith is a journalist, and as such his research is thorough and impeccable, his conclusions eye-opening and thought provoking. He starts his journey with an interesting interview with the late Dr Atkins, and some success following his no/low carb diet, which surprisingly irks many around him.I was particularly interested in his description of the humble potatoes’ journey from field to French fry (and don’t think I’ll ever touch a crisp or chip again!)The interpretation of the economic reasons for promoting high carb and sugar diets, despite the rising obesity problems, is alarming and probably accurate.Leith speaks to many other industry figures, addicts, famous fat people, anonymous fat people, therapists, gurus and task forces, and presents us with wide-ranging perspectives on the reasons the West, and those parts of the world being Westernised, are over indulging, getting bigger, becoming more unhealthy, less happy, and apparently being encouraged to do so by media and market forces.With unhindered graphic insight into his personal relationships with food, alcohol, drugs and promiscuity we conclude that there is hope, a way out of being fat and hungry.But I would say it seems that hope will come to the individual who explores his or her own reasons for over eating, and researches for themselves what a healthy diet is.This memoir is both moving and told with great humour; I only hope this review has done its wit, depth and honesty justice.
At 19 stone, Willian Leith is fat. He flies to London to interview Dr. Atkins, who claims carbohydrates are the problem. This begins his personal food journey, exploring the belief that low-fat diets are the way to go, his problems with alcohol and drugs, and his weights through the years.This was a good book, basically. He isn't an Atkins nut, one who believes it's the be-all and end-all. He doesn't believe diets are the answer. He doesn't want to be thin, just slim.He doesn't want a quick fix, but a fix that will work.I read this book and see a lot of myself in it.Recommended for anyone who wants to know more about diets, dieting and the food companies' relationship with the customer.
Do You like book The Hungry Years: Confessions Of A Food Addict (2005)?
I was very interested in reading this book because I'm always thinking about food. I'm not a binger or a dieter but food is definitely a love festering with issues. I didn't like how Leith claims diets don't work, yet after he meets Robert Atkins, he becomes swayed and loses all his excess pounds via a low carb diet (a therapist helps him remove his excess baggage). Even though he does put some blame on the obesity epidemic on modern life which leaves us hungry and always wanting more, the carb issue still seems to be the lingering message of the book. According to Leith, carbs are the devil and so are your parents. However, blaming parents is something I can always get behind.
—Jeannette
**********3.1/5**********Obesity is the essential human problem in a nutshell—we try to make life easy by giving ourselves access to resources, and then we make life difficult by overconsuming those resources. We have more of everything than we’ve ever had, and yet we feel emptier.William Leith's voice in this book can be thoroughly heard as he shares with his readers the feelings felt by him and his interviewees. He is a genuinely good writer, for he had been able to express what being fat feels like and explain to us why people loathe being fat.
—Kim Ciara
William Leith is addicted to carbohydrates, and decides to go on the Atkins diet. Part memoir and part reporting, he explains how eating carbs makes you want to eat more carbs, and sympathetically describes how the Atkins diet can seem like a reasonable solution to that problem. There is insightful reporting about the production of fast-food french fries, and how they are designed to be addictive-- better than "Fast Food Nation." Leith unflinchingly describes the intimate details of his dieting: from the all-or-nothing thinking that characterizes the first religious days of a diet, to the self-loathing associated with going off of a diet in one great binge. While the process of dieting appears to be similar for women and men, he provides superb insight into body image issues for men. Anyone struggling with long-term weight loss will find something to identify with in this book.
—Lisa
