" ... the ideal woman's body went from merely thin, to thin and impossibly toned, capable of running marathons, pretzeling into complex yoga positions, and breast-feeding a baby all at the same time."

"We are now so certain that every aspect of our health can be improved through diet, we can only blame ourselves when those diets fail. When cutting out gluten doesn't work, we move on to dairy, then soy. When we still don't feel better, we start reading about the evils of nightshade vegetables or peanuts. Still feel bloated, or tired, or lacking in energy--all impossible-to-quantify symptoms that may just reflect the unavoidable state of being mortal and not part superhero? Probably it's because you weren't careful enough about that gluten. Nutrition has become a permanently unsolvable Rubik's Cube."

"There's also no effort to screen dietetic students for eating problems, in the way that, say, psychology students are encouraged to be in therapy themselves. Yet several studies suggest that nutrition students have a higher prevalence of eating disorders than college students with other majors."

"And that leads to a certain hypocrisy: trying to treat a disease that's rooted in an obsession with body size by ... tracking body size."

"Food and love are inextricably linked in most families, but so are food and power."

"A study from the University of Washington found that junk food can cost an average of $1.76 per 1,000 calories, while more nutritious foods add up to $18.16 for the same amount."