Diane Epstein and Kathleen Thompson
MacMillanUSA, 1994

Feeding on Dreams exposes the deception and manipulation that pervade America’s diet industry – an industry that preys on the pain and insecurities of its customers, risks their health, sells them short, and then blames them for its own failures. Drawing on interviews with staff and clients of the major diet centers, Feeding on Dreams measures the promises made to lure potential customers against the actual experiences of program participants. Citing programs by name, it reveals the methods used to get dieters to spend hundreds of dollars…and to return again and again, each time heavier than the last. In spite of a growing body of medical evidence that low-calorie diets are ineffectual and ultimately counterproductive, the business of selling potentially harmful diet schemes goes on as usual–unregulated and unlikely to change.

As the authors show in this book, the astounding $33 billion a year Americans spend on diet food, diet pills, and commercial diet programs is largely a waste of money. But Feeding On Dreams doesn’t stop with an indictment of commercial diet centers. In the second part of the book, Diane Epstein and Kathleen Thompson offer a realistic, workable alternative. With compassion, humor, and a bull’s-eye understanding of the dieter’s experience and mindset, Epstein and Thompson tell readers how to design their own personal program based on what they enjoy eating. Their approach takes control away from the diet centers and puts it back where it belongs – in the hands of the individual. And, unlike most commercial diet programs, it takes into account the underlying psychology of body image and the relationship between food and feelings. At once responsible, entertaining, and genuinely helpful, Feeding on Dreams enables dieters to eat healthfully, feel better about themselves, and enjoy food again.

Publishers Weekly

In 1990, according to the authors, the diet industry enjoyed sales greater than those of Eastman Kodak and Xerox combined. That year, dieting Americans spent $33 billion on pills, powders, programs and books. As this book suggests, the advertising strategies employed by weight-loss programs sell hope, implying that if you “follow the rules you will be rewarded with a perfect body and all the perks that come with it. Love. Respect. Sex. Success. Self-Esteem.” Epstein, a psychologist in weight-control counseling, and writer Thompson are scathingly critical of the profit-driven weight-loss programs that litter the airwaves and yellow pages. They juxtapose the false promises made by each major program in the diet industry with the actual experiences of customers, showing, in the volume’s first half, how and why these programs fail for so many. In the second half of the book, the authors explore the principles of what may work: take control and develop a lasting and healthful relationship with food and your body; make food a pleasure; trust your body. By offering a sane approach to weight loss, they tip the scales back in favor of the client.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Kirkus Reviews

A practical, thoroughly sensible approach to weight control written with authority and insight. Both authors have long personal experience with weight problems and eating disorders, and psychologist Epstein was a counselor at a diet center. First they expose the high-pressure marketing techniques of commercial weight-loss programs, showing why these programs fail and their potential harm to clients’ health. Epstein and Thompson examine four types of programs: liquid-fast (e.g., Optifast, Medifast), food-inclusive (e.g., Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers), structured menu (e.g., Diet Center, Physicians’ Weight Loss Centers), and support groups (e.g., Overeaters Anonymous). They assert that, besides often being expensive, these programs are unrealistically rigid, their support services virtually nonexistent, and the counselors unqualified. The alternative they recommend is to design one’s own program, based on three principles: (1) taking control, (2) accepting food as a pleasure, and (3) trusting one’s own body. The mechanics of weight control are explained briefly and simply, but the main focus is on teaching the skills needed to set up and follow a personal program. Each of the six skill chapters contains questionnaires for assessing one’s present status and a list of practical suggestions. Many of these are clearly aimed at women (e.g., “Get rid of all your fashion magazines”), a bias the authors acknowledge in their introduction. There’s a final section for those with serious problems, such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia, and compulsive eating, and there’s a special chapter for men that ends with Satchel Paige’s famous dicta for healthy living, including, “Keep the juices flowing by jangling around gently as you move.” An appendix lists helpful books and organizations. Revealing, realistic, and refreshingly jargon-free. — Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.