Diets | One Stomach Flu Away From My Goal Weight | 2
About this episode
The episode explores the historical evolution of dieting and body image, highlighting the commercialization of health and the impact of societal pressures on women's body anxiety.
What did it take for human beings to start controlling what they ate — and why did "health" so quickly become a cover story for something else? How did a Venetian nobleman's wine-heavy calorie restriction become a blueprint for the modern diet industry? And, when tobacco companies, Hollywood, and the beauty industry all decided women's body anxiety was a market opportunity — who, exactly, was the diet really for? Peter and Afua trace the history of the human body as a commercial battleground: from the first diet books in 1558, through the birth of the calorie and the explosion of Weight Watchers, to the heroin chic 90s and the disordered eating it left behind. 0:00 The Venetian nobleman who invented calorie restriction — and still drank 14oz of wine a day 7:30 George Cheyne: 32 stone, no meat, no alcohol, and a bestselling book in 1740 14:00 Empire, refrigeration, and why cheap food created the first diet industry 21:30 The discovery of the calorie — the invention Afua still resents 25:30 Freud's nephew, cigarettes, and the moment thinness became a product to sell 31:00 Weight Watchers, zero-fat yoghurt, and the 80s: cottage cheese as cultural trauma 36:30 The 90s: heroin chic…
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