salmonread's review against another edition
3.0
interesting book about how much of our eating isn't about hunger (and how much of our hunger isn't about food). this description combined with the title might make it sound like a diet/self-help books, but it's not. instead it's an easy to read summary of social science research. the results of the studies lead to lots of useful tips to help reign it in a bit.
hannah8ball's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. Excellent ideas, told in a humorous way. However, by the end, things started feeling repetitive. Some of the science in it also feels dated. The good news is the book is relatively short, so it wont take too much time to get through. I'm going to implement a few of his ideas for eating.
mjsteimle's review against another edition
5.0
Fascinating! This book is all about the environmental cues that lead us to eat more. It operates on the premise that when we drastically change our caloric intake we notice. Either we feel uncomfortably fully or deprived. However, we fail to notice increases of 100-200 calories a day, which is what leads to gradual weight gain over the years. By being aware of the environmental cues, we can alter our environment and habits in order to avoid weight gain or gradually lose weight.
fiddleysticks's review against another edition
1.0
I didn't enjoy this book. Most of what it had to say was common sense, and the general gist of it I have no issue with. But I didn't like the author's "tone of voice" at all, and from time to time I felt he moved away from the area of his expertise, and that really showed!
The book was interesting enough, but I don't think it has much to offer anyone who comes to it already having a fairly clear knowledge of food and nutrition.
The book was interesting enough, but I don't think it has much to offer anyone who comes to it already having a fairly clear knowledge of food and nutrition.
bethgiven's review against another edition
2.0
This information must have trickled down into magazine articles and blog posts these past twelve years, because I didn’t find a lot of new information in this book, just advice like “put the candy dish on the other side of the room!” or “pour your snacks in a separate container and don’t eat from the bag!” And while this book teaches how to cut calories, but that doesn’t translate to weight loss as easily as the author claims. It was interesting, however, to learn how his food labs tested hypotheses and reached conclusions, and there were some good stories (like the army cook who dyed his lemon jello red to make cherry flavored).
emp1234's review against another edition
4.0
I usually find books written by researchers somewhat interesting, but often bogged down in the minutiae of how the experiment was conducted, all the numbers, blah, blah. Wansink did a great job of writing to a general audience and giving you enough background to know that the experiment was valid and then presented the real world results. Plus, it had quite a bit of humor in it. He's a professor and I'll bet his classes are engaging. In terms of the actual content, this book definitely made me think about food in a different way and I realize that some of my long held beliefs (people eat comfort foods primarily when they are sad) may not be correct. There were absolutely some good, concrete take-aways after reading this that I believe will help with my eating patterns. I have already recommended this book to friends.
adambroud's review against another edition
1.0
This book is more about the psychology of why we eat the way we do than how we should eat or how to diet. Of course there are some suggestions along the way of how you can change your habits to diet without noticing.
There are a few times when the book does seem to vacillate between a psychology book and a diet advice book. I would actually list that as being one of the weaknesses of the book. another weakness is that some of the introductions and transitions seem contrived.
Over all I really enjoyed the book mostly because all claims were backed by studies and presented in an entertaining way. With my interest in psychology and my preference for this style of writing, I would guess that I rated the book higher than the average person; however, there are still several points that I've mentioned to friends who have also found it interesting (especially the study that showed strong correlations between personalities and soup preference).
8/18/15
I'm editing my previous review and changing my previous 4/5 star rating to 5/5. I reference this book frequently, I've lent it to friends to read, and I think about it when I go to eat. This book has influenced me enough that I feel like I should bump up the rating. It's a great book with a lot of great lessons.
10/8/18
Well, it was revealed a few weeks ago that the author of this book engaged in p-hacking, so I'm not really sure how much of this book is true anymore. This is incredibly disappointing because some of the studies might be legitimate, but who knows? So, I'm sadly changing my review to 1/5 stars.
There are a few times when the book does seem to vacillate between a psychology book and a diet advice book. I would actually list that as being one of the weaknesses of the book. another weakness is that some of the introductions and transitions seem contrived.
Over all I really enjoyed the book mostly because all claims were backed by studies and presented in an entertaining way. With my interest in psychology and my preference for this style of writing, I would guess that I rated the book higher than the average person; however, there are still several points that I've mentioned to friends who have also found it interesting (especially the study that showed strong correlations between personalities and soup preference).
8/18/15
I'm editing my previous review and changing my previous 4/5 star rating to 5/5. I reference this book frequently, I've lent it to friends to read, and I think about it when I go to eat. This book has influenced me enough that I feel like I should bump up the rating. It's a great book with a lot of great lessons.
10/8/18
Well, it was revealed a few weeks ago that the author of this book engaged in p-hacking, so I'm not really sure how much of this book is true anymore. This is incredibly disappointing because some of the studies might be legitimate, but who knows? So, I'm sadly changing my review to 1/5 stars.
ettic's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
This is a fantastic book. Please please please, do yourself a favor and read it. It will open your eyes to how our society and environments are tailored to make us mindlessly graze and eat the worst foods for us, but it also tells you how you can use these same tricks to help make eating better easy. Eating healthy has always been simple (veggies, fruit, whole grains, and lean protein) but it isn't easy. This book makes it easy.