Gwyneth Paltrow told Oprah today: “I just cannot diet… It’s worth it to me to do that extra exercise so I can eat what I want and not think about it.” Turns out she’s part of an exciting new trend: “Many dieters,” the Times informs, “have made the unorthodox decision to simply enjoy food again.” Time for some anecdotes! But wait, amid the quotes from former calorie-counters who have learned to love peanut butter (well, organic peanut butter) again, there are some cold hard stats: Less people than ever (26 percent of women and 16 percent of men, according to one source) are dieting. And thanks in part to books like Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food and the damn-the-calories approach of folks like Rachael Ray, 53 percent more people are cooking from scratch, sales of organic foods have increased, and more people are engaging in what the Times calls “positive eating.” Wait, positive eating? Is that like Crazy Legs Conti’s zen competitive-eating method?
