What did Vogue actually recommend women eat in 1977 — and why did it make one food writer cry in the

bathroom? How did the Greeks turn a six-pack into a moral argument? And, has the human obsession with

controlling what we eat ever really been about health at all?

Peter and Afua trace the long, strange history of dieting — from ancient Greek athletics and Roman

feast-and-purge excess, to medieval starvation saints who turned self-denial into a radical act of female agency.

0:00 Vogue’s 1977 Wine and Egg Diet — and what happened when someone actually tried it

6:30 The diet industry’s dirty secret: it was never about nutrition

9:00 Peter on fasting, cranky emails, and what not eating teaches you about your relationship with food

14:30 Ancient Greece: when abs were a moral statement, not just an aesthetic one

19:30 The manosphere’s Spartan fantasy — and what the Greeks would actually make of it

23:00 Rome: the inventors of binge and purge culture

24:30 When Christianity enters the chat — and fasting becomes holy

26:00 Catherine of Siena: the medieval starvation saint who used hunger as protest

30:00 Anorexia mirabilis — holy anorexia, and why Peter is wary of projecting modern diagnoses onto the past

32:00 Why medieval peasants weren’t dieting — they were just trying to stay alive

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Stay connected with Legacy:

Instagram: @originallegacypodcast

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Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas:

Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com

Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.

legacy.supportingcast.fm

Stay connected with Legacy:

Instagram: @originallegacypodcast

TikTok: @legacy_productions

Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com

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