Anti-Diet Books Are The New Must-Reads

"It's bikini season, people!" Have ye not heard the cries of panic and joy from every commercial, magazine cover, and Facebook ad that pops up in your peripheral vision, when all you're trying to do is take screenshots of your ex-boyfriend's super-ugly baby?!

Shut up, world. It's summer. That's what it is. You can feel free to celebrate this fact in your teeniest-weeniest, yellow-polka-dottiest bikini — but you don't get to rename all of June, July, and August for the rest of us. It's not that I resent swimwear; it's that, for me, the dog days of summer should be called Read A Book In Front Of The Air Conditioning Season. RABIFOTACS, for short.

I've wanted to write this particular column for a long time — partly for those of you who, like me, enjoy spending much of summer with your nose in a book (either indoors or on the beach). But, also because the top questions (along with "What diet are you doing?") that I get from new readers are "Where can I read more about this?" and "Where do I start?" And, as much as I want to tell you to just read my column and nothing else, I'd like to try to be a better person than that.

Forget diet books this summer, please. Once and for all, get rid of anything on your shelf that promises a Total Body Makeover or 30 Pounds Lost In (Any Number Of) Days. Instead, join me in diving into the wonderful world of anti-diet books: the kind of bullshit-free literature that talks about eating, self-image, and food in a way that doesn't insult your body and brain but instead empowers you to treat yourself and your health with kindness and respect — and also isn't boring (I promise).

Happy bikini season, and a merry RABIFOTACS to all.