10 Notable Diet Books of 2008

Around every New Year, publishing houses flood bookstore shelves with a plethora of new diet titles, hip to the hordes of repentant holiday bingers who are desperately trying to make their weight-loss resolutions stick. And there are more and more of us in that category every year. The new crop of diet books runs the gamut — from low-carb to vegan to anti-caffeine to tea-around-the-clock. Some books appear based on sound nutritional advice; others decidedly less so. TIME's Andrea Sachs explores the 10 most notable diet books of the New Year.

New Year, New Diets

Skinny Bitch in the Kitch

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By Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin
Running Press; $14.95; 192 pages

Attention, all would-be sexy babes. This is a companion cookbook for Skinny Bitch, the cheerfully foul-mouthed diet book that became a bestseller last summer after A-list celebrity wife Victoria Beckham (a.k.a. Posh Spice or Mrs. David Beckham) was photographed carrying a copy. We're talking diet boot camp here: a vegan program with no sugar, dairy, or white flour. Even coffee, diet drinks and artificial sweeteners are out-of-bounds ("Soda is liquid Satan"). And going to the gym is non-negotiable ("You need to exercise, you lazy sh–"). So, what can you indulge in? Fruits, veggies, and whole grains. If that sounds severe, the slim, glam authors make no apologies ("You cannot keep eating the same sh– and expect to get skinny"). Yes, mesdames!

— Andrea Sachs

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