The Latest Diet Trend Is Not Dieting: “Intuitive eating” encourages people to eat whatever they want. It might be great advice. Title of article by Amanda Mull, The Atlantic

As defined by expert Evelyn Tribole, intuitive eating “is a self-care eating framework, which integrates instinct, emotion, and rational thought.” Following are selected books that, like various intuitive eating concepts, counter the idea of dieting.

I. How Not to Diet: The Groundbreaking Science of Healthy, Permanent Weight Loss by Michael Greger (2019)

Dr. Michael Greger is known for his expertise in nutrition; in fact, he founded the Nutrition Facts website. His main emphasis: plant-based eating. Per the publisher: “But How Not to Diet goes beyond food to identify twenty-one weight-loss accelerators available to our bodies, incorporating the latest discoveries in cutting-edge areas like chronobiology to reveal the factors that maximize our natural fat-burning capabilities. Dr. Greger builds the ultimate weight loss guide from the ground up, taking a timeless, proactive approach that can stand up to any new trend.”

The trailer below sets it up further:

II. Ending the Diet Mindset by Becca Clegg (2018)

Clegg is a therapist with expertise in women’s issues and eating disorders. Check out her blog.

States the publisher: “By identifying the ten destructive Diet Mindsets, you can change your perspective on dieting and embrace a newfound respect for your body. Live a life free of obsession, and instead gain the courage to love yourself and find peace within.”

Kirkus Reviews, about the diet mindsets:

These include ‘The Deprivation Mindset,’ ‘The Mean Girl Mindset,’ and ‘The Shame-Based Mindset,’ all of which tap into potentially unhealthy personal traits as part of their base line motivations. Clegg deftly lays out descriptions of each of these mindsets and the thinking they typify. For instance, ‘The Bureaucrat Mindset,’ which can appeal to rule followers, the author characterizes as ‘Even though I want to eat this, and it makes sense to eat this, I can’t—because it is not on my diet.’ And then there’s the extremely common ‘ABC Mindset,’ which thinks: ‘If I diet, I can lose weight, and then my life will be perfect.’

III. Big Girl: How I Gave Up Dieting and Got a Life by Kelsey Miller (2016)

The title says it all. But you can also read an article at Refinery 29 that gives some backstory to the author’s creation of her Anti-Diet Project.

Adding to this, Kirkus Reviews: “Miller does take a look at some of the deeper reasons behind her compulsive eating, and it’s in these passages that her vulnerability comes through and her story becomes truly compelling. Readers will cheer for Miller to succeed on her ‘anti-diet’ diet of intuitive eating, her quest to eat according to her mindfully mined needs and desires, not according to a rulebook. It takes a lot of work to change a mindset that radically, and it’s slow going for Miller, who tends to trade one obsession for another…”

As Miller herself summarizes about her ongoing process: “I am better, but I am not done. I no longer have a clear picture of what being done looks like, and I think, more than anything, that’s the change that’s made me better. When I stopped trying so desperately to starve and burn “before” away, I finally got to participate in right now. That baggage wasn’t going anywhere. So, I’d just have to bring it with me.”