New Nietzschean Diet Lets You Eat Whatever You Fear Most
The basics of the Nietzschean regimen are simple. The dieter exercises a painful amount of self-honesty in order to identify the primary object of his or her deepest human dread as personified by a wide-ranging group of foodstuffs. Once the dieter's Fear has been identified, he eats that food exclusively, in unlimited amounts, until the food no longer appetizes or frightens him. Having completed his gorge and transcended his fear, the dieter fasts for 20 days on water and Simple Salad. The dieter also engages in moderate metaphysical exercise, drinks eight brimming bowls of water every day, and 'opens the Gates of Dread and Fiber that remain closed to him in his Mundane Life' by taking fiber supplements.
- R.J. Hollingdale
Well, let's see...Atkins can be maddening, South Beach can be complicated, Weight Watchers is too much work. So why not a diet based on angst and fear, especially since guilt and forboding is part and parcel of the dieting experience? (Which makes me wonder if dieting isn't a Catholic concept...??)
NEW YORK—While dieters are accustomed to exercises of will, a new English translation of Germany's most popular diet book takes the concept to a new philosophical level. The Nietzschean diet, which commands its adherents to eat superhuman amounts of whatever they most fear, is developing a strong following in America.
Fat Is Dead, proclaims the ambitious title of the dense, aphoristic nutrition plan, which was written by Friedrich Nietzsche in the late 1880s and unearthed three years ago...Many Nietzschean dieters are reporting success, although some complain of side effects.
Kansas City's John Mencken started the diet in January. He lost 35 pounds, eight inches from his waistline, and many of his slave moralities. He also lost the love of his life, Marissa Hapsgood, who walked out on Mencken after discovering his involvement in a romantic triangle with a poet and a sculptress."What makes one skinny?" Mencken said. "To contemplate as with one mind two things: great fear and great hope. For when seen through a vitamin-fortified protein shake, are they not the same thing?"
Behold, you weak and spineless mortal humans. You have nothing to lose but your love handles. Just be certain that you have enough Xanax to get you through this....
