Customer Reviews

The Art of Overeating: A Bellyful of Laughs About Our Food-phobic Culture

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This book takes about the same amount of time to read as eating a big box of gingerbread cookies dipped in a tub of Cool Whip and it's twice as much fun! Leslie Landis uses a bit of reverse psychology to illustrate what NOT to do if you want to maintain a healthy body and lifestyle. On the other hand, if you're looking for a quick way to put on a bunch of pounds, there is plenty of helpful advice here! This book had me rolling my eyes and laughing out loud while reading it. The illustrations and photos which are on just about every page are funny and entertaining. There's a little bit of food porn here, but most of the food photos seem to go for quantity, not quality, and I wasn't too tempted even though I've been cutting back on calories while reading it, trying to lose a couple pounds.

With so many other diet books out there telling me what I need to do to lose weight, many with complicated formulas for cutting calories, carbs, fats or whatever, this book is a down to earth, commonsense look at what made you gain the weight to begin with. It would be a good gift book for anyone starting a diet or slugging it out on a long term one. It's also a good gift type book for anyone who just likes to laugh and appreciates a tongue in cheek look at this whole business of dieting.

Walk into any bookstore and you will see an entire section devoted to health fitness and diet books. This book is hilarious because it makes fun of this multi billion dollar industry. Look around and see how close to sixty percent of Americans are over weight yet we spend more money on ads, magazines, books and television shows geared to people losing weight. Having read Why French Women Don't Get Fat, this book in a Monty Python sort of way, says the same thing that book says. But in a very funny way.

A few years ago our local PBS station did a special with Mel Brooks who in the 1950's was part of the tv show Your Show Of Shows, and he was sharing how when tv sets first came it was the best educated who could afford them, and as such,they knew how to think and didn't need a skit spelled out in full. Then as tv sets became more affordable the writers discovered that they had to explain the joke of the skit to the watcher more.

If you don't need the joke being spelled out, you will understand this book.

I'm all for having a sense of humor and using that as a tool for disseminating information to the masses who are otherwise ho-hum about most conversations about nutrition and health. But THE ART OF OVEREATING takes this seemingly brilliant concept and totally botches it by being a mish-mash of this that and everything in between. Without a central theme (besides trying to be everything to everybody) this book is a lost cause.

I don't think of "The Art of Overeating" as a "book" that was "written," but rather as a series of two-page layouts submitted by a designer trying to prove his or her versatility, aided by a copywriter who has found a vein of humor and is determined to mine it for all it's worth. The thesis here boils down to things like "Food is fun!" and "Obesity is destiny!" It's certainly nice to hear that sort of message as a balance to all the busybodies determined to make us healthy through various combinations of invasive laws and Puritanical shame. But at the same time, it's never really clear whether our copywriter means it, or if she's trying, like the author of the (admittedly much worse) How to Be a Complete & Utter Failure in Life, Work & Everything: 39 1/2 Steps to Lasting Underachievement, to make a point-that's-good-for-us by taking the opposing argument to its reductio ad absurdum. There are a few clever lines here, and I think the aforementioned designer achieved her goal, but I certainly didn't find "a bellyful of laughs." But then, there's no arguing about tastes.

Obesity is a real problem in America, but sometimes in finding solutions, some take it too far. "The Art of Overeating: A Bellyful of Laughs About Our Food-Phobic Culture" seeks to lampoon the radical diets and responses against obesity, by playing humorous devil's advocate as Leslie Landis encourages readers that while health is a good thing, completely avoiding the food you love isn't healthy either. "The Art of Overeating" is a finely entertaining read sure to bring a smile to anyone fighting their own food-based battle.

The Art of Over Eating is a laugh out loud book to be enjoyed. The advice in this book is not meant to be taken serious. Leslie Landis, MFT pokes fun at America and our obsession with food and dieting. She makes comments like if you are planning on taking a doggie bag then you better either eat it as a snack on the way home or as soon as you get home. Or when you are invited as a dinner guest, you should offer to wash the dishes by licking them off. This is so that you can still enjoy the last bits of the delicious meal. If you get caught, Leslie has you covered. Just tell the person that you believe in saving water. This way people will think you are environmentally conscience.

This book has more funny tips like this. As well as lots of colorful pictures that will have you wanting to show other people. Don't think that this book isn't just about what not to do. This book is also informative. There are some interesting food facts that I didn't know about. The Art of Over Eating is packed full of lots of laugh out loud moments to be had. Don't take my word for it. Pick up a copy of this book today and start laughing.