A Review: A Magic Pill
Published 12.24.2024: Again, I didn't finish Exercised, but instead I read the book. Magic Pill by Johann Hari. The following is my “review”, more accurately my thoughts while reading it. I heard a podcast interview with him, which is why I chose to read the book. The podcast (which I watched on YouTube) is called, Diary of a CEO. Overall, it’s not the podcast for me, but this interview was interesting, and it was months old.
The book goes through the science of Glucagon Like Peptide 1 (GLP-1) drugs, but also weaves into the tale of his experiences of being fat and of having fat friends and family, some of whom died from the complications of being obese.
Shelley Bovey is a name I didn’t know, but she was a big Fat Pride person in the UK, and Hari talked to her. This is after she decided to lose a bit of weight (she’s still fat, just not as fat) and she ran into the HAES (Health At Every Size) people who believe that losing weight “eradicating” yourself is never justified, weight can only increase. Well, she slowly lost 7 stone, which is almost 100 lbs. She is 5’2” tall.
This is her website, on which she has collected a number of articles. The site doesn’t allow for deep linking. Basically, she came to realize that it’s not against the body to want to be healthy and active. She actually went to a slimming club “Slimming World” — which I think is the UK version of weight watchers. She goes through how she lost her weight (in a calorie deficit) all the while noting that “diets don’t work” and that you can’t follow them for the longterm. Which is just bunk. She IS following a diet, and still pays attention to what she eats so as not to regain the weight.
Apparently after a time of stress she did put back on 2 stone, but is still maintaining a 5 stone loss. I have never been as heavy as Shelley Bovey, and I’m not going to speak for her here, but I disagree with some of her pronouncements. I don’t think you have to white knuckle it the rest of your life. I do think you have alter the way you eat, but that’s like being on a drug for a disease. Stop using the drug, and the disease comes back. I do think there’s something to the idea that the body gets used to being a higher weight, but I also think that the body gets used to being a lower weight after time.
The book is about GLP-1 drugs, and the “generic” term he uses for all the drugs in Ozempic, which I’m sure Novo Nordisk is thrilled with… They do respond to his emailed question, Eli Lily (maker of the competing Monjauro or Zepbound) does not. Hari take Ozempic (or maybe Wegovy) because he was fatter, and had a few metabolic warning signs. He’s lost weight on them, and is pleased, though conflicted about the drugs.
He almost conflates overweight to being obese or morbidly obese— just as fat activists do. But he can’t quite get there because he talks to Walter Willett and others who do not deny that weight plays a role in health. OF COURSE Kathleen Fleigal’s work gets a mention…. Fat activists have been clinging to her results for years, which claimed that overweight NOT OBESE equals the best health outcomes.
Willett disputes this, saying that Fleigal didn’t correct for smoking or the terminally ill, both of whom tend to be thinner for unhealthy reasons. She apparently redid that work and tried to account for those people and still got the same results. Willett says no she still did it wrong, but in any event, her (to my mind spurious results, full disclosure) showed that above BMI of 30 health suffered. Even the queen of compensation admitted that obese or morbidly obese is still a danger. Funnily enough, Ragen Chastain and the other apologists never mention that.
Lindo Bacon gets a mention. Apparently, the issue for Bacon is how the weight is lost, not if. (which is part of the reason Bacon was excised from the HAES movement). Basically, avoid fad diets or even the word diet, but eat healthier (and thus at a deficit) and you will lose weight. Well, DUH.
Which brings me back to Shelley Bovey, who eventually realized that the body compensates until it cannot (she reached a weight that was uncomfortable for her and so lost some weight) and smaller bodies must eat less food. Shocking, I know.
Now, does the dieted (unexercised) body eat less than the never dieted (again unexercised) body? Perhaps. I don’t have any data at hand to prove or demonstrate in either direction. But that’s also why the adage includes the phrase, move more. Smaller bodies do require less food to sustain them, but if you exercise, and particularly if you build muscle, the amount you can eat without regaining increases. NOT to the level you were eating to maintain a 100 lb heavier body, but it does increase. But herein lies the issue with people who complain they can’t go back to eating the way they did prior to weight loss without weight gain… NO YOU CAN’T. THE WAY THAT YOU WERE EATING IS WHY YOU WERE MORBIDLY OBESE.
Shelley Bovey isn’t being “maniacal” in altering her diet, she’s doing what EVERY successful dieter does. You need to eat only what sustains the body size you want to have (and Shelley Bovey isn’t thin, she’s just not as fat). Stigma is always wrong (though to be clear, it’s part of why the Japanese don’t have an obesity problem like the US does. Obesity is still mocked and commented on in Japan.), but this conflation of overweight and obese is NOT helping.
This is why she thinks that the body’s metabolism never recovers… because it DOESN’T if you don’t pack the weight back on. A smaller body has a smaller metabolism… when I lost the bulk of my weight, mostly the reason was MY realization that my smaller body needed to eat LESS than my husband’s larger body. Might not be fair, but there it is.
His discussion of Japan is interesting. Apparently after World War I is when the Japanese diet changed, and mostly because they wanted healthy soldiers to go to war. But Japan, to be clear, doesn’t simply use stigma to promote weight loss (and western YouTubers living in Japan are not excepted). They also have nutrition education that is outstanding. I cannot think that such a system would work in the US.
While in Japan, they (the author and a nephew, ate very well. In doing this, Hari realized that the obesity crisis in the west is of our own making in the food that we eat. And he points to ultra-processed food, but I am still team hyper-palatable as to the cause. I think they could make ultra-processed healthier foods, people just wouldn’t eat as much of them. And again, my obese husband didn’t get that way eating ultra-processed foods, he ate hyper-palatable meals AT HOME, which we prepared. He simply ate too much.
And for the record, I don’t think that taxing foods is the way to the answer. In the end, his choice is to remain on the drugs, because for him the benefits outweigh the risk. Overall, I can respect his decision. The book is an easy read. He quotes plenty of experts, but not any studies. It gives a decent overview of the drugs and their risks. I would recommend it for anyone thinking about taking the drugs.
The podcast where I learned of the book pretty much outlined it, and I don’t know that you’d need to read it is you watched the podcast on YouTube.
I think the part where he talked about himself and how is decided to continue the drugs was supposed to be the end, but then he discusses whether or not to give them to kids.
He relates the story of a young child in CT, and how she had measured higher lipids, and were instructed to change how she ate. Which means the kid started her life eating UPF shit, and so when he parents tried to give her healthy food, she rebelled. I did it the opposite, and I was a food nazi and we made most meals at home. I was adamant that my kids were NOT going to grow up on UPF. My nieces and nephews did, and I can see the damage, depending on how much UPF they had— no details because I have no permission to share.
So he admits to having a “biting anger” about kids needing to go on the drugs. Because he only sees two options: Eat the UPF or take the drugs. What about JUST EATING DIFFERENTLY?? Parents do NOT have to feed their kids on UPF. One of my sisters did, and her kids got HUGE. Her boys have lost weight (and maintained the loss… mostly because they exercise and eat differently than they grew up. ) but her daughter lost it, but gained it all back plus. I don’t think she exercises, and she’s a chef so she KNOWS how to cook, I think her chosen specialty is hyper-palatable comfort foods.
Marketing to kids is real, but I don’t think it “made” him eat the food. That was his mother who permitted him to “hoover up” the marketed foods. His father tried to get him to eat healthily, and he refused. I think there might be something to setting the tastes early in life.
He ends with a list of books he’s read and the authors, don’t know yet if I’ll read and review any of them yet. I think the book is worth reading, even if I disagree with some of his points.
The book goes through the science of Glucagon Like Peptide 1 (GLP-1) drugs, but also weaves into the tale of his experiences of being fat and of having fat friends and family, some of whom died from the complications of being obese.
Shelley Bovey is a name I didn’t know, but she was a big Fat Pride person in the UK, and Hari talked to her. This is after she decided to lose a bit of weight (she’s still fat, just not as fat) and she ran into the HAES (Health At Every Size) people who believe that losing weight “eradicating” yourself is never justified, weight can only increase. Well, she slowly lost 7 stone, which is almost 100 lbs. She is 5’2” tall.
This is her website, on which she has collected a number of articles. The site doesn’t allow for deep linking. Basically, she came to realize that it’s not against the body to want to be healthy and active. She actually went to a slimming club “Slimming World” — which I think is the UK version of weight watchers. She goes through how she lost her weight (in a calorie deficit) all the while noting that “diets don’t work” and that you can’t follow them for the longterm. Which is just bunk. She IS following a diet, and still pays attention to what she eats so as not to regain the weight.
Apparently after a time of stress she did put back on 2 stone, but is still maintaining a 5 stone loss. I have never been as heavy as Shelley Bovey, and I’m not going to speak for her here, but I disagree with some of her pronouncements. I don’t think you have to white knuckle it the rest of your life. I do think you have alter the way you eat, but that’s like being on a drug for a disease. Stop using the drug, and the disease comes back. I do think there’s something to the idea that the body gets used to being a higher weight, but I also think that the body gets used to being a lower weight after time.
The book is about GLP-1 drugs, and the “generic” term he uses for all the drugs in Ozempic, which I’m sure Novo Nordisk is thrilled with… They do respond to his emailed question, Eli Lily (maker of the competing Monjauro or Zepbound) does not. Hari take Ozempic (or maybe Wegovy) because he was fatter, and had a few metabolic warning signs. He’s lost weight on them, and is pleased, though conflicted about the drugs.
He almost conflates overweight to being obese or morbidly obese— just as fat activists do. But he can’t quite get there because he talks to Walter Willett and others who do not deny that weight plays a role in health. OF COURSE Kathleen Fleigal’s work gets a mention…. Fat activists have been clinging to her results for years, which claimed that overweight NOT OBESE equals the best health outcomes.
Willett disputes this, saying that Fleigal didn’t correct for smoking or the terminally ill, both of whom tend to be thinner for unhealthy reasons. She apparently redid that work and tried to account for those people and still got the same results. Willett says no she still did it wrong, but in any event, her (to my mind spurious results, full disclosure) showed that above BMI of 30 health suffered. Even the queen of compensation admitted that obese or morbidly obese is still a danger. Funnily enough, Ragen Chastain and the other apologists never mention that.
Lindo Bacon gets a mention. Apparently, the issue for Bacon is how the weight is lost, not if. (which is part of the reason Bacon was excised from the HAES movement). Basically, avoid fad diets or even the word diet, but eat healthier (and thus at a deficit) and you will lose weight. Well, DUH.
Which brings me back to Shelley Bovey, who eventually realized that the body compensates until it cannot (she reached a weight that was uncomfortable for her and so lost some weight) and smaller bodies must eat less food. Shocking, I know.
Now, does the dieted (unexercised) body eat less than the never dieted (again unexercised) body? Perhaps. I don’t have any data at hand to prove or demonstrate in either direction. But that’s also why the adage includes the phrase, move more. Smaller bodies do require less food to sustain them, but if you exercise, and particularly if you build muscle, the amount you can eat without regaining increases. NOT to the level you were eating to maintain a 100 lb heavier body, but it does increase. But herein lies the issue with people who complain they can’t go back to eating the way they did prior to weight loss without weight gain… NO YOU CAN’T. THE WAY THAT YOU WERE EATING IS WHY YOU WERE MORBIDLY OBESE.
Shelley Bovey isn’t being “maniacal” in altering her diet, she’s doing what EVERY successful dieter does. You need to eat only what sustains the body size you want to have (and Shelley Bovey isn’t thin, she’s just not as fat). Stigma is always wrong (though to be clear, it’s part of why the Japanese don’t have an obesity problem like the US does. Obesity is still mocked and commented on in Japan.), but this conflation of overweight and obese is NOT helping.
This is why she thinks that the body’s metabolism never recovers… because it DOESN’T if you don’t pack the weight back on. A smaller body has a smaller metabolism… when I lost the bulk of my weight, mostly the reason was MY realization that my smaller body needed to eat LESS than my husband’s larger body. Might not be fair, but there it is.
His discussion of Japan is interesting. Apparently after World War I is when the Japanese diet changed, and mostly because they wanted healthy soldiers to go to war. But Japan, to be clear, doesn’t simply use stigma to promote weight loss (and western YouTubers living in Japan are not excepted). They also have nutrition education that is outstanding. I cannot think that such a system would work in the US.
While in Japan, they (the author and a nephew, ate very well. In doing this, Hari realized that the obesity crisis in the west is of our own making in the food that we eat. And he points to ultra-processed food, but I am still team hyper-palatable as to the cause. I think they could make ultra-processed healthier foods, people just wouldn’t eat as much of them. And again, my obese husband didn’t get that way eating ultra-processed foods, he ate hyper-palatable meals AT HOME, which we prepared. He simply ate too much.
And for the record, I don’t think that taxing foods is the way to the answer. In the end, his choice is to remain on the drugs, because for him the benefits outweigh the risk. Overall, I can respect his decision. The book is an easy read. He quotes plenty of experts, but not any studies. It gives a decent overview of the drugs and their risks. I would recommend it for anyone thinking about taking the drugs.
The podcast where I learned of the book pretty much outlined it, and I don’t know that you’d need to read it is you watched the podcast on YouTube.
I think the part where he talked about himself and how is decided to continue the drugs was supposed to be the end, but then he discusses whether or not to give them to kids.
He relates the story of a young child in CT, and how she had measured higher lipids, and were instructed to change how she ate. Which means the kid started her life eating UPF shit, and so when he parents tried to give her healthy food, she rebelled. I did it the opposite, and I was a food nazi and we made most meals at home. I was adamant that my kids were NOT going to grow up on UPF. My nieces and nephews did, and I can see the damage, depending on how much UPF they had— no details because I have no permission to share.
So he admits to having a “biting anger” about kids needing to go on the drugs. Because he only sees two options: Eat the UPF or take the drugs. What about JUST EATING DIFFERENTLY?? Parents do NOT have to feed their kids on UPF. One of my sisters did, and her kids got HUGE. Her boys have lost weight (and maintained the loss… mostly because they exercise and eat differently than they grew up. ) but her daughter lost it, but gained it all back plus. I don’t think she exercises, and she’s a chef so she KNOWS how to cook, I think her chosen specialty is hyper-palatable comfort foods.
Marketing to kids is real, but I don’t think it “made” him eat the food. That was his mother who permitted him to “hoover up” the marketed foods. His father tried to get him to eat healthily, and he refused. I think there might be something to setting the tastes early in life.
He ends with a list of books he’s read and the authors, don’t know yet if I’ll read and review any of them yet. I think the book is worth reading, even if I disagree with some of his points.