I’ve come here [America] to fast for sixty days. All I’m going to do is drink juice. Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead, Channel 5 2013
By juicing I’m supercharging my nutrient intake. ibid.
No I would not say diets work. Professor Traci Mann, University of Minnesota
Helen Anderson, 26, was found dead in bed by her mother at her home in Cleadon Park, South Shields, South Tyneside on April 6.
For several months before her death, the talented musician, who played violin, piano and guitar, and once auditioned for the Northern Sinfonia, existed on a diet of just water and soup.
She lost almost six stones in weight, despite her parents, Michael and Hazel Anderson, pleading with her to eat more.
Her body was so starved of sugar it began to eat into its own reserve of fat, the inquest in South Shields heard.
This caused a metabolic chemical reaction called ketoacidosis, which killed her. Telegraph online article 28th July 2009, ‘Soup and Water Diet Killed Mother’
This is what people don’t understand: obesity is a symptom of poverty. It’s not a lifestyle choice where people are just eating and not exercising. It’s because kids – and this is the problem with school lunch right now – are getting sugar, fat, empty calories – lots of calories – but no nutrition. Tom Colicchio
It’s never been an issue for me – I don’t want to go on a diet. I don’t want to eat a Caesar salad with no dressing – why would I do that? I ain’t got time for this; just be happy and don’t be stupid. If I’ve got a boyfriend and he loves my body then I’m not worried. Adele
No disease that can be treated by diet should be treated with any other means. Maimonides
Every single diet I ever fell off of was because of potatoes and gravy of some sort. Dolly Parton
The dieting wars have got to stop. Lady Gaga
We think that the smaller digestive system in homo erectus that it was able to evolve because of the shift in diet. Freed-up energy that could then be used to power a larger brain. Professor Peter Wheeler, Liverpool John Moores University
America has now become the fattest nation in the world. Congratulations. Nearly one hundred million Americans are today either overweight or obese. That’s more than 60% of all US adults. Morgan Spurlock, Supersize Me, 2004
People were suing the golden arches for selling them food most of us know isn’t good for you to begin with. Yet each day one in four Americans visits a fast food restaurant. ibid.
They’re everywhere ... even hospitals. ibid.
What would happen if I ate nothing for McDonald’s for thirty days straight? Would I suddenly be on the fast track to becoming an obese American? Would it be unreasonably dangerous? Let’s find out. I’m ready. Supersize me. ibid.
There are more Micky D’s in Manhattan than anywhere else in the world. This tiny little island is less than 13 miles long by 2 miles wide – 22.4 square miles – and packed into that area are 83 McDonald’s, nearly 4 per square mile. ibid.
22 minutes later: I’m dying. ibid.
The toxic environment is constant access to cheap fat-laden foods. ibid.
McDonald’s stated in their own defence that ‘it is a matter of common knowledge that any processing that its foods undergo serve to make them more harmful than unprocessed foods’. ibid.
Only half the McDonald’s in Manhattan had the nutrition info posted on the wall. ibid.
Houston, Texas, the fattest city in America. ibid.
Apparently, we are not only the fattest nation in the world, but we were quickly becoming the stupidest. ibid.
Even the salads contain sugar. ibid.
In only thirty days of eating nothing but McDonald’s I gained 24.5 pounds, my liver turned to fat, and my cholesterol shot up 65 points. ibid.
Some people even eat it every day ... Don Gorske has eaten 19,852 Big Macs. ibid.
The national dish is no longer fish and chips, it’s curry. Marianne Jean-Baptiste, cited Observer 18th May 1997
It may indeed be doubted, whether butcher’s meat is any where a necessary of life. Grain and other vegetables, with the help of milk, cheese, and butter, or oil, where butter is not to be had, it is known from experience, can, without any butcher’s meat, afford the most plentiful, the most wholesome, the most nourishing and the most invigorating diet. Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, 1776
I always thought a low fat diet was the way to go ... The new public enemy number one – it’s sugar. Fiona Phillips, The Truth About Sugar, BBC 2015
You might be eating far more than you think. ibid.
Fifty litres of sugary drink a year. ibid.
Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread and pumpkin pie. Jim Davis
All religions have a tendency to feature some dietary injunction or prohibition. Christopher Hitchens, God in Not Great p37
Ho! ’tis the time of salads.’ Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
There’s a radio commercial that says a certain diet pill works three times faster than starvation. George Carlin, When Will Jesus Bring The Pork Chops?
She don’t get paid? Fucking busybody. She said to me, she said to me, You look bored, missus Taylor, I got three words for you – Barbara Taylor Bradford. I said, yeah, I got three words for you, luv – Calorie Controlled Diet. The Catherine Tate Show s2e4, Nan in hospital, BBC 2005
‘Worldwide we’re looking at approximately 350 million people with diabetes. There is no question that we’re in the midst of a diabetes epidemic.’ What the Health, Dr Robert Ratner, Netflix 2017
‘Processed meat is clearly linked to an increase in cancer.’ ibid. television news
The World Health Organisation classifies processed meat as a Group 1 carcinogen. ibid.
Today with two thirds of Americans being overweight clearly there is a food issue: in the next twenty-five years one out of every three Americans will have diabetes. ibid.
As destructive as diabetes is, it pales in comparison to heart disease … The leading cause of death around the world. ibid.
‘The number one dietary source of cholesterol in America is chicken.’ ibid. Dr Joel Kahn
Countries with the highest diary consumption have the highest rates of osteoporosis. ibid.
How concerned do we need to be about drugs in our food? ibid.
The very animals we were killing were killing us. ibid.
You’re desperate to lose weight but where do you start? With a quarter of UK adults now classed as clinically obese, the diet and fitness industry is worth a gobsmaking £6 billion every year. Big Fat Lies About Diet & Exercise, Channel 5 2022
There is one guaranteed way to help lose the pounds: exercise … ‘You’re probably not burning up as many calories as you think.’ ibid.
Those [dinosaurs] that changed their diets flourished. Planet Dinosaur 6/6: The Great Survivors, BBC 2011