The Gender Politics of Dieting
It’s the new year, and naturally lots of people are thinking about watching their waistlines and perhaps atoning for some over-indulgences during last year’s holiday season, or perhaps indulgences during all of last year.
Walking through my local Borders, I noticed something pretty intriguing: one of the new diet books popular with men right now is the book Eat This, Not That, by Men’s Health editor David Zinczenko. The book has a simple yet efficient concept: making simple replacements in your food choices can save you hundreds of calories a day, and yet you still get to eat what you want to eat. For example, Zinczenko recommends eating a 540 calorie Big Mac from McDonald’s rather than a 760 calorie Whopper from Burger King or eating a Krispy Kreme donut rather than one from Dunkin Donuts to save 130 calories. Surprisingly, eating a turkey sub from Subway rather than Panera saves 500 calories! Sounds like a smart, helpful book that gives readers easy, encouraging, and realistic suggestions.
Then… we get to the women’s diet books, and everything changes. Everyone knows the hottest diet book for young women right now–Skinny Bitch. In Skinny Bitch, two former modeling agents encourage their female readers to adopt a vegan diet, and write that “soda is liquid Satan” and “sugar is the devil.” They berate their readers into dieting, and at one point, they even refer to their readers at “gluttonous pigs.” The fare on the book’s recommended food list is bland and decidedly “diet food,” and it intrigues me that the most popular diet book for modern women encourages them to adopt the culinary palates of guinea pigs.
So, look at this striking dichotomy: guys get diet books that encourage them to eat healthier while acknowledging that people are much more likely to diet successfully while eating food that is convenient and tastes good, and women get diet books that exponentially limit what food they can eat, written in a snarky, nasty, anti-feminist tone.
(There is a fantastic article that ran in the Christian Science Monitor about the anti-feminism inherent in “tough love” self-help for women, citing the Skinny Bitch books as a particularly problematic).
I think the key problem with the Skinny Bitch books is that when someone picks up a diet book, it’s because she’s feeling bad about how she looks and feels. So do women dieters really need extra berating on the body image front? Absolutely not! So, ladies, I offer you a challenge: the next time you’re in the market to buy a diet book, consider buying the one geared towards guys–Eat This, Not That. I’d make the prediction that dieters who make smarter choices eating the food they were going to consume anyway are more likely to lose more weight in the long term than the women who stop eating 90% of what they like and last a week on their radical diets.
irisira | February 4th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
I haven’t read either of the books you’ve listed, but based on the post, I don’t think either are really fantastic options. Eat This, Not That seems to tout consuming processed food that is not any better for you than the “bad” option, but just happens to have fewer calories.
Skinny Bitch, however, misses the mark too. I don’t disagree with their assessment of soda, however I do disagree with the assessment of sugar (lest of course, they’re specifically referring to refined sugar or HFCS). I especially disagree with the notion that being vegan is the “only way” to be healthy. Animal proteins as part of a balanced diet are actually very good for your metabolism.
Processed foods make people fat. And, to be fair, Subway (and Panera!) are much better fast food options than most. The from-scratch mac ‘n’ cheese recipe may have more calories than the boxed “lite” version, but your body is better able to metabolize real food rather than stuff that’s formulated to survive a nuclear blast, and therefore is less likely to make you fat.
Er … sorry. Tangent.
Good post.
Jamia | February 7th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
You Go Girl! I hate that book Skinny Bitch. I have a lot of friends who swear by it but I think the overall message of the book is harmful. I’m all about promoting animal rights, but they aren’t promoting positive body image or self-love at all. I think that dieting by its very nature is unhealthy, and the focus should be on integrative nutrition that is thoughtful, holistic, and personalized for each and every person and their lifestyle. I love Dr. Weil’s nutrition guide on his site as well as the Aryuvedic diet model. These are focused on being as healthy as possible, not on deprivation or focusing on a size goal. I’m so happy you blogged about this!
Emily | February 10th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
Interesting take on each of the books. I agree that the Eat This, Not That way of doing things may be more realistic for some people.
I do have to say though that I am a fan of Skinny Bitch. But then, I’m vegetarian. When I went vegetarian, I dropped 25 pounds. I feel better (physicall and mentally) and I have way more energy. I couldn’t possibly disagree with you more about the taste of the food. Have you tried any of the recipes? They are some of the better ones out there. AND if you don’t want to be vegan, you can use “real” cheese, milk, etc. in the recipes and you won’t be disappointed.
I applaude your idea to talk about dieting at the beginning of the year but I think you should do a bit more research/testing before you make such rash comments.