Join our A More Perfect Union Book Discussion with facilitators Joe Shepherd and Social Services Leader, Payton Barger! This book discussion group is a chance to explore, learn and understand more about social topics that might be of interest to you. This month's book pick is "Anti-Diet" by Christy Harrison. Free copies of the book (yours to keep) are available at Central Library's Upper Level Customer Service Desk for registered participants. The audiobook is available on Libby through the Indiana Digital Library. Physical copies will be available starting on March 11th. Registration is required. Coffee and snacks will be provided. 

About the Book:

68 percent of Americans have dieted at some point in their lives. But upwards of 90% of people who intentionally lose weight gain it back within five years. And as many as 66% of people who embark on weight-loss efforts end up gaining more weight than they lost. If dieting is so clearly ineffective, why are we so obsessed with it?

The culprit is diet culture, a system of beliefs that equates thinness to health and moral virtue, promotes weight loss as a means of attaining higher status, and demonizes certain ways of eating while elevating others. It's sexist, racist, and classist, yet this way of thinking about food and bodies is so embedded in the fabric of our society that it can be hard to recognize. It masquerades as health, wellness, and fitness, and for some, it is all-consuming.

In Anti-Diet, Christy Harrison takes on diet culture and the multi-billion-dollar industries that profit from it, exposing all the ways it robs people of their time, money, health, and happiness. It will turn what you think you know about health and wellness upside down, as Harrison explores the history of diet culture, how it's infiltrated the health and wellness world, how to recognize it in all its sneaky forms, and how letting go of efforts to lose weight or eat "perfectly" actually helps to improve people's health—no matter their size. Drawing on scientific research, personal experience, and stories from patients and colleagues, Anti-Diet provides a radical alternative to diet culture, and helps readers reclaim their bodies, minds, and lives so they can focus on the things that truly matter.

For those that cannot join us in person, click here for the Zoom link to join the meeting online,