Skinny People Rarely Diet

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The researchers at the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab maintain a list of people who have done something fairly unusual in today’s world: They’ve been a healthy weight for their entire lives, never fluctuating more than five or 10 pounds, barring pregnancy.

The purpose of the Global Healthy Weight Registry, essentially, is to share the secrets of not getting fat with the rest of us. It’s just another way that scientists are trying, mostly in vain, to help curb the obesity epidemic.

The Food and Brand Lab recently released another ream of data from the 147 registry participants. Here’s the surprising thing: Nearly half—48 percent—said they don’t diet. Three-quarters of them “rarely” diet. These people are thin, and have been thin their entire lives, yet they have never so much as perused the Jenny Craig website.

(phildate/iStock)
phildate/iStock
Olga Khazan
Olga Khazan
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