Fat Chance: The bitter truth about sugar by Dr Robert Lustig

Scientist Dr Robert Lustig became a YouTube sensation in 2009, when a video in which he branded sugar as poison gained more than 3m hits. Now he has written a book expanding on this claim, and it's frightening.

Lustig describes how we have been unable to address the worldwide obesity crisis: while many overweight people manage to shed pounds, the number able to keep the weight off permanently is extremely small. The problem has been put down to us eating too much fat – but Lustig says the real culprit is sugar.

Globally our per capita intake of sugar has increased by 50% in the past 50 years. And while all the blame for the obesity crisis is being heaped on overweight individuals, the food and drink industry is getting away with filling us with ever more sugar.

Because sugar does not trigger the mechanism that tells our brain we need to stop eating, we carry on regardless. The antidote, Lustig says, is fibre – to move food more quickly through our bodies and tell the brain we are full – and exercise. Lustig makes a compelling case for treating obesity in the same way other public health crises have been handled, through higher taxes and reducing availability. But it's a controversial view.He even suggests banning the sale of fizzy drinks to children under 18.

Dr Simon Coppack, a consultant for Barts Health NHS Trust, believes that Lustig ignores other factors: "There is no single cause for the obesity problem. It's fat as much as sugar, and alcohol – not to mention the lack of physical movement." I am not for a moment saying that sugar is good for you but to demonise it above all other causes is pushing it."

For you: if you need the motivation to step away from the sweets and start pounding the streets.

Hell-Bent by Benjamin Lorr

Is Bikram yoga the answer to everything from cancer to depression? Or a cult run by a "narcissist"? Part memoir, part investigation, this book is about the people whose lives have been transformed by the hot-yoga style, delves into the science behind it and tackles the contradictions in an industry that seems more focused on profit than spiritual guidance.

After his first taste of Bikram, Lorr was a convert. Soon he was immersed in the weird world of yoga championships, where competitors are willing to crack ribs and pass out if it improves their performance, before becoming disillusioned by the behaviour of the movement's founder Bikram Choudhury.

Although Lorr does not know how effective Bikram is or how much of its success is down to a placebo effect, he does an excellent job of showing exactly what our bodies are capable of, from self-healing to contortions, and how far some people will go in pursuit of bodily perfection.

For you: if you are a yoga enthusiast or have been known to mumble "no pain, no gain" during a workout.

The Alternate-Day Diet by James Johnson

Ever since 2000, when pathologist Roy Walford proposed the idea that reducing the calories we consume could lengthen our lives (The 120 Year Diet), a small band of adherents have been decreasing the amount of food they eat. Now plastic surgeon James Johnson thinks he can persuade more people to reduce their calorific intake – every other day.

Eat normally the first day, Johnson suggests (but not excessively), then on the second, drop down to 20% of the calories you require to maintain your weight. This, he claims, will not just extend your life but can clear up problems such as asthma and arthritis, as well as turning on a "magic gene … which inhibits our ability to store fat".

The idea is that after a couple of weeks your body will get used to eating less. This concept will be familiar with those who watched Michael Mosley's Horizon documentary last year on intermittent fasting.

But many doctors are not convinced.. Dr Laura Wynass of the British Nutrition Foundation says: "We would be quite critical of a diet like this. If you are almost fasting one day, then you are probably mostly losing water. Losing weight would depend on you eating healthily on the days when you could eat what you like, and not turning to high-fat, sugary foods. It is better and more sustainable to eat a healthy balanced diet."

For you: if you are a masochist looking for the latest diet fad.

Making Habits, Breaking Habits: How to make changes that stick by Jeremy Dean

Old habits die hard, according to Jeremy Dean. So if you have already broken your new year's resolution, this should stop you feeling too bad. Dean explains how almost half of our waking life is governed by habits and how hard they are to break. Depressingly, it takes an average of 66 days to create a new habit.

How does it advise you to make good habits stick? Start with small changes; do not overestimate your own willpower; be specific about what you want to achieve; don't give up or be too hard on yourself if you skip a day or two.

For you: if you want 2013 to be the year you keep your resolutions.

Navel Gazing by Anne Putnam

By August last year the NHS had performed more than 6,000 gastric band and bypass operations , but the practice remains controversial. After reading Anne Putnam's memoir it's not hard to see why.

At eight years old, Anne was podgy, sweet-obsessed and her mother was already worried about her weight. By 16 she had hit 131.5kg (20st 10lb and was repulsed by herself). So the teenager became one of the youngest patients to undergo gastric bypass surgery.

In this harrowing account, Putnam describes getting used to living with a stomach so shrunken that if she over-ate she would immediately throw up or experience excruciating pain. As an adult she has not managed to keep off all the extra weight, although she is slimmer than she was. Yet she still hates her body, and exposes the personal cost of our confused attitudes towards women's weight. It's a shame Putnam never explores these pressures, focusing instead on how failing to live up to them has damaged her life.

For you: if you want to put to rest the idea that being skinnier means being happier.