Key Takeaways:

• Surveys dieting crazes and shifting body ideals across history to show that our obsession with weight is deeply cultural, not just medical.
• Explores how fatness has been moralized—as laziness, sin, or lack of self-control—revealing the shame and fantasy structures under modern diet culture.
• Helps readers see contemporary weight-loss fads as part of a long-running cycle of hope, guilt, and disappointment around food and bodies.