Hidden in works of philosophy are several original, counterintuitive, and astonishingly effective pieces of dieting advice. There is Bergson and his laughter diet; Plato, who blamed being overweight on democracy; and Hobbes and his diet contract. If none of these diets suit the reader there are the Four Germans, including Marx and his revolutionary diet, Hegel's dieting dialectic, Schopenhauer's women's diet, and Nietzsche's berdiet.