Susie Orbach Michael Mosley
YES We both agree that there is a crisis around food and bodies. I know your motives aren’t cynical. I don’t dispute the sugar and refined carbs argument, but what worries me is the seductive thrust of your latest book: that you can lose weight fast by reprogramming your body. You are appealing to the same people who bought your first book. But did they learn? Did they change their life? If only. If only the perfectly reasonable advice you proffer were of use to more than a few. It all sounds sane and welcoming.
Indeed, the stories of blood sugar levels slashed, energy returned, illness replaced by health and vigour, depression banished, would enthuse anyone troubled by their weight. But this victorious narrative in which the beast of appetite is slain by the judicious reduction in food and in type of food eaten is not, as experience shows, borne out. Diets don’t work. You know that. I know that. The researchers know that. The publishers know it. You didn’t sell 250,000 copies of The 8- Week Blood Sugar Diet and a million copies of The Fast Diet because diets were successful. You sold them because diets fail. There is panic where food, fat and fitness are concerned.