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Christian Diet Books| Thinning, Not Sinning

<p> All women, including Christian women, are susceptible to the diet industry&rsquo;s selling of thin bodies as a commodity and media portrayals of thin women as desirable and successful. Overall, diet books are the most popular category of nonfiction, worth over $1.2&nbsp;billion annually as of 2005. Evangelical Christian women believe they are obeying God&rsquo;s will when they follow a Christian diet, but in reality they are subscribing to and perpetuating the prevailing American culture of thinness. The popularity of Christian diet books began in post-World War II America and continues today. They propose to solve the problem of women&rsquo;s dissatisfaction with their bodies by offering diets based on Biblical teachings and Christian beliefs. This paper examines five Christian diet books published between 1957 and 2013: <i> Pray Your Weight Away; First Place; The Weigh Down Diet; What Would Jesus Eat? The Ultimate Program for Eating Well, Feeling Great, and Living Longer; </i> and <i>The Daniel Plan: 40 Days to a Healthier Life.</i> As long as the culture of thinness is an integral part of American society, there will be a market for diet books, and among evangelical Christian women for Christian diet books. This phenomenon is pernicious because it damages women&rsquo;s self-assurance and alters their beliefs about the way they appear to the world.</p>

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:10118622
Date16 July 2016
CreatorsAllen, Susanne Bostick
PublisherThe George Washington University
Source SetsProQuest.com
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typethesis

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