Prologue | The Moment We've Waited Our Lives

Chapter 1: The Hunger-Canceling Pill: The Emergence of History's Most Successful Anti-Obesity Drug
Chapter 2: What We've Been Eating: When Did People Get So Fat?
Chapter 3: The Death and Rebirth of Satiety: The Suspicious Relationship Between Ultra-Processed Foods and Anti-Obesity Drugs
Chapter 4: The Body at Risk: If Obesity Could Turn It Back in an Instant
Chapter 5: The Poisoned Chalice: The Miracle Diet Pill: Myth and Reality
Chapter 6: Just Eat Less and Exercise: It's Not a Matter of Willpower
Chapter 7: Breaking Out of Addiction, Starting Depression: What's Happening to Our Brains?
Chapter 8: Why We Overeat: Things We Only Realized After We Knew the Habit of Eating
Chapter 9: Can I Love a Body Like This?: If I Listen to the Story My Body Tells Me
Chapter 10: If Only I Could Stop Appetite: The Day an Obesity Treatment Was in the Hands of an Anorexic
Chapter 11: Fat Pride: Don't Mark My Body
Chapter 12: A Country That Doesn't Need Anti-Obesity Drugs: Why Japanese People Don't Gain Weight

Epilogue | The Future We Can Choose

The best problem novel of 2025 that shocked the world
Stolen Concentration by Johann Hari
Exploring the heart of modern medicine's miracles
★Amazon Book of the Year★ New book from the author of "Stolen Concentration," chosen by 400,000 readers
The miracle obesity cure and the birth of a human who doesn't gain weight!

A world where everyone can lose weight is dawning? In a world where approximately 70 percent of American adults and half of the European population experience obesity issues and 80 percent of diet attempts fail, a new obesity treatment has emerged that promises a quarter of body weight loss in just six months.
This drug, which promises to help anyone achieve a slim figure effortlessly and eliminate obesity, a risk factor for serious diseases like heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, could be the savior that solves a long-held human desire? Or is it just a fleeting mirage? Johan Hari, author of the bestseller "Stolen Concentration," explores the miracles of modern medicine and unfolds a story of a healthy, beautiful body and a happy life.

Johann Hari, who was prescribed a new type of obesity treatment, begins to question why humanity needed such a drug in the first place.
And it asks what really causes weight gain, whether losing weight is just a matter of willpower, and how we should view our bodies.
To answer this question, he interviews over 100 life scientists who developed the drug, key figures in the food industry, and world-renowned scholars on the body, uncovering the scientific facts and social implications surrounding the creation of the new drug and the ensuing controversies.
In the process, we discover complex truths we've been missing about obesity, the body, willpower, and shame.

“Maybe we’ve been waiting for this moment our whole lives.”
The emergence of the most successful obesity treatment in history

There is a pattern that emerged in the 20th century.
Scientists announce a new miracle obesity cure.
People use drugs and lose weight.
More and more people use the drug, and one day a fatal flaw is discovered in the drug.
The drug is taken off the market, and for the next decade or so people become disillusioned with diet pills.
Soon another miracle drug appears and the same process repeats itself from the beginning.

But obesity experts around the world say this new drug, which uses the hormone GLP-1, is truly different.
These drugs, developed by global pharmaceutical companies such as Novo Nordisk and known as the diet pills of world-famous celebrity Elon Musk, maximize the GLP-1 hormone, which makes you feel full, and reduce hunger, showing an average weight loss effect of 5 to 24 percent.
Scientists predict that obesity treatments such as Wegobi and Maunjaro will become iconic drugs of our time, along with birth control pills and antidepressants (Prozac).

Johann Hari, who has been overweight and obese his entire life and has been warned about health problems, decides to try this 'magic pill'.
For him, who had repeatedly experienced regaining his health by cutting down on junk food and increasing exercise, only to have his appearance and health return to where they were before over time, a drug that suppressed his appetite without any effort seemed like a life-changing opportunity.

Johann Hari, who had experienced the miracle of losing more than 80 percent of his usual appetite and losing weight within a few days of taking the medication, began to experience discomfort that went beyond the nausea that was a side effect of the drug.
As he lost weight, his health improved and his self-esteem rose, but he was left with these questions:
"Why did I get fat in the first place? How did I end up needing these appetite suppressants?"

“Why has our culture become so incredibly fat?”
Our sense of fullness stolen by ultra-processed foods

Throughout human history, obese people have generally been a minority.
Then, starting in the late 1970s, the trend began to change rapidly.
Johan Hari, who was tracking the cause of the rapid increase in obesity worldwide, realized that it was not because our self-control around food suddenly decreased or because our genetic makeup changed and we started gaining weight rapidly.
Rather, we discover a fundamental cause: a major change in the food we eat.
The change in our food supply system, which has replaced fresh, natural foods with processed foods made with various chemicals, and the resulting miserable eating habits have led us to obesity and overweight.

While observing lab rats who couldn't control their appetites when faced with cheesecakes high in fat and sugar, Johan Hari realized that this behavior was similar to human behavior and began to analyze the principles of ultra-processed foods that make us want to eat more the more we eat.
Ultra-processed foods, made with a combination of various chemicals that have nothing to do with real food as we know it, make us chew less, cause problems with blood sugar control, lower our protein and fiber intake, force us to drink rather than chew, undermine our sense of fullness, and lead to overeating and obesity.
Gerald Mand, a nutrition professor at Harvard University, says:
“There is something wrong with the food we eat.
It's a food designed to tell you to keep eating it.
“Originally, our body should tell us to stop eating.”

The irony is that the new obesity treatment that has just been released is made using hormones that provide extreme 'satiety', which is the opposite of the principle of ultra-processed foods.
In other words, we've been eating foods full of food additives that have been thoroughly destroying our sense of fullness for the past 40 years, and now we've created another chemical drug that will restore that feeling of fullness.

“Is this a problem that can be solved by willpower alone?”
Why the advice to eat less and exercise is wrong

Wouldn't all problems be solved if we just exert our willpower?
For a long time, we've believed that being overweight is a result of a lack of self-care, and that anyone can lose weight with just exercise and a healthy diet.
Johann Hari says that this social convention is in line with the Christian tradition that considered gluttony a sin and required punishment to overcome it.
A similar mechanism operates in modern society.
This is a culture that only praises those who succeed in extreme diets and exercise, and an atmosphere that places personal responsibility for a fat body.
Ultimately, we become trapped in the mindset that being fat is shameful, that we beat ourselves up, and that we should be punished for failing.

There was a pattern that was familiar to Johann Harry as well.
First, you eliminate certain types of foods, such as carbohydrates, and then you reduce your food intake and increase your exercise.
Then you will lose weight.
Then the angry hunger returns and everything falls apart.
You feel ashamed and repeat to yourself, feeling like a failure.
'Why do I have so little willpower?' I kept trying, failing, blaming myself, hating myself, and the vicious cycle continued.

But scientists have come up with a completely different opinion.
The idea that obesity can be overcome through willpower, such as exercise and diet, is wrong, ignoring structural factors such as changes in the food industry and living environment, the emergence of ultra-processed foods, and "food deserts" that make it difficult to access healthy food.
They criticize the culture that blames individual willpower and makes people feel inferior, and view obesity as a social disease, urging us to look back on the environment around us and improve it.

“What risk will you choose?”
Between the risks of obesity and the risks of drugs

Of course, obesity itself is a fatal disease and can lead to over 200 complications, including heart disease and diabetes.
While Johan Hari acknowledges that new obesity treatments are indeed the most effective tools for urgently needing to address obesity quickly, he argues that our society's tendency to easily solve the problem of obesity with medication needs to be curbed.

He points out that the drug's abuse in a social climate that promotes weight loss and pressures people to be fat can lead to problems like anorexia and the reinforcement of beauty stereotypes, while also reminding people that the drug can cause depression, suicide, and other unknown long-term health risks.
That's why we suggest that rather than choosing between the risks of obesity and the risks of medication, we should seek better solutions.
Drugs may help with weight loss in the short term, but they have limited potential to improve individual health and change social structures in the long term.

Can we regain control of our bodies and minds?
How to Create a World Without Obesity Drugs

"Magic Pill" is a book that changes the frame of the long-standing debate surrounding obesity and our bodies, helping us think more clearly about eating habits, diet, and physical and mental health.
At the center of the debate surrounding new obesity treatments, Johann Hari expands the view that obesity is not simply a matter of individual choice, but a complex problem intertwined with social, cultural, and biological factors.
It reflects on the way we eat and consume, and the food culture and industrial structures that shape it, offering profound insights into a healthier and more sustainable life.
Can we regain control of our healthy bodies and minds?
Let's begin a story that will change our bodies, minds, and the world with 『Magic Feel』.