Gérard Apfeldorfer is a physician, psychiatrist and psychotherapist, and the author of such highly successful works as Maigrir c’est dans la tête, Maigrir c’est fou, Les Relations durables and Mangez en paix!
Jean-Philippe Zermati is a physician-nutritionist and a behavioural therapist specialising in eating disorders. He is the author of Maigrir sans régime and Maigrir sans regrossir, est-ce possible?; the co-author, with Gérard Apfeldorfer, of Dictature des régimes, attention!; and the co-editor of Traiter l’obésité et le surpoids.


What are the risks of falling for allegedly ‘miracle’ diets, with their crusading approach to slimming and their empty claims of unreasonable weight loss? Why are so many people duped by such promises? And what does all this tell us about how our society functions?
This concise, incisive work examines how and why people fall for and believe in such ‘miracle’ diets; the analysis of the mechanism underlying their belief shows why slimming can be dangerous.
We know the dangers are real: they concern eating habits as well as emotional behaviour. We know we cannot play around with our health with impunity: if we keep alternating weight-loss programmes with periods of excessive weight gain, we will harm our own health as well as the well-being of everyone around us.

• Gérard Apfeldorfer and Jean-Philippe Zermati, two highly successful authors, reveal the dangers of ‘uncontrolled’ diets and show us how to eat healthily.