Today, on Book Talk, we’re lucky enough to host John Robbins and discuss his new book, Why Americans Are Fat and How We Can Lose Weight.??John isn’t just a respected writer, he’s also one of the rare celebrity authors writing about science today.?

Thanks for having me, Rebecca, but I’m hardly a celebrity.?

That’s very modest of you to say,?considering that your four books have sold a total of 7 million copies worldwide, and they’ve been translated into 12 different languages.??What makes people so fascinated with your work??

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Well, people read my books because more than 60% of Americans are overweight or obese, and other countries are facing similar problems.??Basically, we all want to know how to fix things.?

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We certainly do.??I’ve read your new book, and it’s fabulous, especially when it comes to the way you make difficult science easy for laymen to understand.??That’s no small achievement.?

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I’m glad to hear you find my work accessible, because I was worried when I wrote it that discussing the science might make the book more suited for a specialist audience.??(7) My last book was written primarily for the medical community.??But this time, I want to help ordinary people take control of their weight.?

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And how do you suggest they do that???Can you give us the basics of your advice for people who want to lose weight??

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Briefly, (8) I argue that every person needs to consider their metabolism and eat what suits their body’s needs.??I don’t advocate one single diet.??Some people should eat more carbohydrates than others.??And different people need different amounts of protein and fat.?

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But you do have some recommendations for everyone, including eating ten servings of vegetables and three of fruit a day.??We’ll talk about those recommendations next, but now we need to take a short break for a message from our sponsor.