DAME EDNA IS NOT ON A DIET, POSSUMS
Diets don’t work. You probably knew that. Right?
Well they do work – short term. But the vast majority of research shows that over time, less than 5 percent of individuals will keep the weight off. Rather, 95 percent will put the weight back… with interest.
So given that you know that diets don’t work, most of you will be sensible enough not to go down the ‘diet’ route anymore.
Instead, there is a new, far more pressing impetus for consuming weight loss products: health.
Unlike in the 80s and 90s when we were all dieting our socks off to look like Elle MacPherson, ‘health’ has become the new focus of the weight-loss industry, with a variety of products that claim to provide a convenient solution to the health risks caused by obesity.
Most of the major commercial diet companies now use celebrity ambassadors to sell their products.
The latest advocate for dieting for the ‘sake of your health’ is Barry Humphries.
Humphries is the new poster boy (along with Dame Edna) for Jenny Craig.
In a recent press release he stated: “I have a problem with food and I’m not ashamed to admit it. Don’t forget if you’re fat, you’re sick.”
Seriously? That’s almost as bad as Dicko flogging his Jenny Craig sponsorship on the Logies Red Carpet last week.
Dr Rick Kausman, Australian pioneer in healthy weight management, argues that somewhere along the line we have confused thinness with health. And I agree with him.
Studies consistently show that people who are in the ‘overweight’ category are the healthiest and happiest individuals.
They also show if you are fit and fat, you have far better outcomes (unless you are a smoker) than people who are thin and don’t do any activity at all.
So maybe this is more about what you do, rather than what you weigh?
I have researched the weight loss industry for a number of years, and have heard hundreds of stories about dieting – from young and old, fat and thin, men and women.
People who go on diets generally: 1) Go on diets again and again – the weight loss industry depends on repeat offenders; 2) Lose weight, feel great, put the weight back on, and feel awful; and 3) Blame themselves (rather than the diet) for their own lack of commitment and willpower when the diet fails.
But people shouldn’t blame themselves, because in my opinion, weight-loss diets are a bit like asking you to hold your breath for a really long time.
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25 Responses to this article
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Frances April 26, 2012
I have such a healthier relationship to my body since I stopped dieting. I had so little trust in my body when I dieted; like it was plotting to betray me and keep me fat (like making me crave doughnuts when I was restricting). I realise now that my body is pretty invested in keeping me alive, and I craved fatty sugary foods because I was starving it.
Great article, Sam.
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Julie Morgan King April 26, 2012
I’m slim and don’t exercise much because I have a chronic illness associated with pain, but I live with someone who is constantly over-exercising, because I suspect he thinks exercise allows him to keep over indulging.
If you define dieting to mean reducing caloric intake, then I’m afraid Edna is right: overweight people, especially those with sedentary, low activity lives do need to reduce their intake to be healthier. The best way to cut back is to cut back on sugar and wheat.
Everyone I know who has done this (myself included) keeps the bulge under control and lives quite normally, without feeling deprived and unhappy.
Our bodies were never meant to consume so much processed grain and sugar. I’ve learnt that the hard way: by feeling bloated, gassy and sore in the tummy when I overindulge. It takes a little while to get used to making different choices, but it’s worth it.-
Halla April 26, 2012
Julie, why pick on fat people there, out of curiousity? Surely the advice you are offering would be equally applicable to all – you said you’re slim and you follow it, so why mention that fat people ‘need’ to eat less to be healthier? Either that sort of advice applies to all or it applies to no one, surely. Insisting that fat people starve themselves won’t make the slim ones any healthier.
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dramaqueen75 April 26, 2012
All research does show that “dieting” doesn’t work in the long term.
However, what is pushing people into unhealthy weight levels seems to be processed foods, sugary drinks and large portions.
I don’t “diet” but I do avoid processed foods, especially “snack foods”, I don’t drink fizzy drinks (except beer and champagne, lol) and I have smaller portions than many people I know.
I am only five foot tall and I just don’t need as much food each days as many other people – and most people don’t need as much food as they take in anyway.-
The Huntress April 26, 2012
I’m with you dramaqueen. I’m quite a firm believer it’s not the cheese, butter or cream that is to blame for the weight gain in our society, but rather the processed foods, the McDonalds and the such. I eat what I want, when I want and as I love to cook most of the food I eat is fresh and made from scratch. I know it’s unrealistic to expect everyone to do that, but I firmly believe if you’re eating well and exercising a bit you’re likely to be in good health and sod what the scale says.
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vesta44 April 26, 2012
Anyone who is following Jenny Craig/eating Jenny Craig’s food is on a diet – Jenny Craig is not a “lifestyle change”, it’s not a “healthy way to eat”, it’s a DIET, and it’s one that’s doomed to fail just like every other diet out there, for the majority of people. Restricting calories isn’t going to improve your health, losing weight isn’t going to improve your health. What improves your health is eating a wide variety of foods in moderation and getting enough exercise that you enjoy and will continue to do whether you lose weight or not.
I’m sorry, if Dame Edna is being paid to be a spokesperson for Jenny Craig, and talking about how great Jenny Craig is, and she isn’t using Jenny Craig herself, then how does she know JC is so great and will work? If she doesn’t have first-hand knowledge, I’m not inclined to trust her word (not that I would anyway, I know diets don’t work), but it’s rather hypocritical to tout a product you have no experience with using (which is another reason I don’t believe most celebrity commercials – how many of them actually use the products they’re selling?). -
Cate April 26, 2012
Great article, Dr Samantha. For a long time, I’ve pushed the message “healthy at any weight rather than thin at any cost” during discussions on the obese and dieting and have been shouted down and abused for suggesting that many overweight people are actually very fit and healthy. Society has been conditioned to believe the thinner is better mantra. Hopefully, that can be turned around. However, I fear that the industry of obesity is far too rich and powerful to let that happen. In the back of our heads, most of us have the very powerful belief “if only I was thinner, everything in my life would be fantastic”.
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Luke April 26, 2012
Great post Sam.
Diets flat out don’t work.
As a personal trainer I see first hand the damage caused by overly simplistic and therefore inaccurate messages from the weight loss industry in the name of selling products. I’ve seen people who starve themselves and exercise excessively and don’t get the results that they are after. The body is a lot more complicated than a simple calories in vs calories out approach.
To achieve true health requires a holistic approach. There are no quick fix solutions although some people will achieve results quicker than others.
I love the book The Essence of Health by Dr Craig Hassed which details the importance of education, spirituality, stress management, exercise, nutrition, connectedness and environment (ESSENCE). It is this holistic approach (and nothing less) that will enable people to achieve the health and happiness that we all strive for. We don’t all have to be athletes but we do all have to move to be healthy and some movement is better than others.
We were all born with different genetic potential so it is imperative that we accept health at any size but as a fitness professional my job is to help my clients explore all avenues to fulfill their potential. Most people have barely scratched the surface of what is possible because they lack the knowledge of what the different strategies are, as well as the discipline/supportive environment to implement the strategies.
The main difficulty of accumulating excess body fat is that it is indicative of your body storing energy rather than utilising it which will inevitably leave you feeling tired and run down, not to mention the difficulty of actually lugging around that extra weight all day every day. It might not impede your vital health indicators but it has to affect your quality of life. If this isn’t an issue for you, then that’s fine. If it is, then my attitude is to do something about it, don’t complain about it, and don’t accept it. Take action.
If you try to do something alone you set yourself up for failure. Working with someone who knows how to get results and surrounding yourself with like minded people and much better strategies than simply going on a diet.
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Jane Caro April 26, 2012
Not to mention how much harder it gets to stay thin with every pregnancy and every decade.
And don’t even talk about menopause.
Our bodies change as we age.
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Samantha April 26, 2012
Hi everyone,
Thanks heaps for the comments. Yes Jane I agree that as we get older our bodies change. There has been some really interesting research lately that shows that the eating disorders we once only saw in younger women, are now showing up in older women – the pressure to remain as thin as we were when we were 18 is creeping into ‘older populations’ in the form of excess dieting and over exercising.
I guess Lukes point is an interesting one too – that every body is different and needs different things. But we are sold by industry that there is an easy ‘one size fits all’ solution to weight loss (or maintenance). But we really know it isn’t that simple. There was a great article in the New York Times recently that talked about all the biological reasons for not being able to lose weight. The research basically showed that after dieting had stopped that the body really fights against weight loss. So no just a matter of it being a problem of willpower, but a biological response from your body. For those interested, here is the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/magazine/tara-parker-pope-fat-trap.html?pagewanted=allThere is a National Weight Registry that was set up in the USA (in 2004 I think) and they have only been able to find 10 000 people who have lost weight and successfully kept it off. That’s a tiny % of the millions of people who have tried to diet and haven’t been able to lose weight successfully.
Someone on the yo-yo diet blog yesterday stated that they felt totally justified missing dinner so they could have a glass of wine (paraphrasing). I just find that really really sad.
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Dr Rick Kausman April 26, 2012
Great article Sam. There is no question we have lost our way as a society on this issue. A real shame that Dame Edna has chosen to propagate the myth that dieting and anything that is code for dieting – for example the commercial weight loss industry, or as Deb Burgard would say, the weight cycling industry, is of any benefit. As a society we are focussing on weight instead of wellness.
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princessnowhere April 26, 2012
“So maybe this is more about what you do, rather than what you weigh?”
Revolutionary!!! You have to ask yourself how much money the diet industry is making on the back of the Government-sanctioned co-opting of “fat” to be synonymous with “health”. Of course it is how capitalism works: don’t solve a problem in a way that makes people truly happy and healthy, create or foster a market for products and services. In this case, because it’s a futile process for some fat, healthy people; the market is virtually guaranteed forever.
I wish I could say I’m fighting it. Some days I am, but it’s just so pervasive. It’s so hard to focus on physical and mental health with all this noise and shaming; sometimes you just collapse under the pressure and truly start believing you’d be thinner and healthier if you counted calories. Forcing people through this cycle of self abusive thoughts and actions is the antithesis of health.
Oh and hey dramaqueen75 and The Huntress, I think you have missed the point. How can you read this article and then go “Oh of course diets are wrong BUT I have the truth about why people are fat!”
You must accept that just as there are skinny people who eat predominantly junk and are sedentary, THERE ARE FAT PEOPLE WHO EAT PERFECTLY HEALTHILY AND EXERCISE WELL. I am one of them. Think before you put forward “your way” and ask yourself if you are being helpful or prescriptive – the latter is assuming everyone is the same and can be as thin as you if they try hard enough. That attitude is no better than the diet industry.
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Seana Smith April 26, 2012
Lots of good points here. Samantha, could you refer me to some of the research about people putting weight back on after losing it? Although I know it’s a high figure 95% seems too high, it doesn’t fit with what I see in my life ie lots of mums who have lost weight and kept it off for a long time.
I’m not one of them!! But I did slowly lose about 8kg recently and feel SO much better for it. I’d never give up my cellulite though, it’s part of who I am!!
I do love the aim of just eating real food and being active… it is the answer… but for myself I first had to learn to STOP putting weight on… which is different from losing weight… and for me is all about understanding why I overeat and over drink and then trying new strategies and habits. Often wonder why there isn’t a strong health message just about NOT PUTTING MORE WEIGHT ON.
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Vanessa April 27, 2012
I’ve been dieting for 30 years and have yo yo’ed my way to obesity. It all started with Jenny Caig in 1988 when I wanted to lose weight for my upcoming wedding. I remember them talking me into lifetime membership because, and I’m paraphrasing here, “you know that most people will need to keep coming back because they put the weight back on.” Trouble is I began suffering from Bullemia not long after starting JC. It took 10 years to get that under control. My psychologist back then told me to never diet again but of course I did. Then I had 10 years of infertility programs and all the drugs and disappointments that come with that. Then the loss of two babies… My comfort was food. I am yet to find a way to stop using food for comfort even though I have seen numerous psychologists, spent years on WW and other diets. When I look back, the only times I felt truely healthy was when I was training hard in sport. Sport has been my one and only saviour. When I read or hear people talk about obesity as if the cure is SO easy, I get very frustrated. It is definitely not easy. The other day I was told that all I need to do is drink lite milk and rub cucumber on my celulite and my obesity will just melt away. Seriously? I am a healthy, happy mother and wife who has stopped dieting and I am proud of myself. This article has just reminded me that I need to get out and do more walking so thank you.
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Samantha April 27, 2012
Hi Seana, There is a good systematic review by Traci Mann of longitudinal studies which was published in 2007 and concluded:
“In the studies reviewed here, dieters were not able to
maintain their weight losses in the long term, and there was
not consistent evidence that the diets resulted in significant
improvements in their health. In the few cases in which
health benefits were shown, it could not be demonstrated
that they resulted from dieting, rather than exercise, medication use, or other lifestyle changes.”So it might be that your friends have lost weight because of reasons other than dieting?
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Samantha April 27, 2012
Princessnowhere and Vanessa:
Thanks so much for sharing your stories. This is such a tough issue to talk about – and so rare to find a forum to talk about this safely. So many of these discussions end up in a ‘you’ve got to lose weight’ ‘don’t tell me to lose weight’ debate. But I think the more people who are brave enough to share their stories, the more we will realise that these experiences are common to so many women (and men) and we need to support rather than shame each other.
It also reinforces to me that every person is an individual and every experience is different!!
Thanks again.
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Elizabeth April 27, 2012
I agree with Frances: ditching the diets was a great choice to make for my health. Since I stopped focusing on weight I am more active, I have better mental health, and I enjoy all kinds of foods.
Often overlooked in these discussions is the toll that dieting and self-loathing can take on mental health — and that is a huge cost to our society, not to mention people’s wellbeing.
I’d love to see health promotion always take into account what is holistic and realistic, not what is producing short term ‘results’ and supporting the diet industry.
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Hoot April 27, 2012
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Tara Nipe April 27, 2012
I don’t understand why, except for fatphobia, the dialogue still hasn’t changed from weight loss to improved health and well-being, regardless of size.
If exercising was seen as an ends in itself, rather than a means to weight loss then maybe fat people (I’m one) would not only be more comfortable with the idea of it, and not stop when their weight doesn’t dramatically drop, because the improvements in well-being, BP, blood glucose and lipids, insulin resistance and risk of diabetes would be the goal.
Of course, having exercise gear and equipment more readily available in plus sizes would help (I have to get exerc ise bras from the UK if I want to be able to run without pain), and gym staff who are supportive about achieving fitness instead of weight-based goals would go a long way, too. And, while we’re at it, improve the state and safety of public parks – every dollar spent there reduces lifestyle related disease. And focus on fitness instead of mandated weigh-ins for students.
We should all be eating well (more minimally-processed foods, fewer highly processed foods, to the point of comfort not satiety), but focusing on calorie restriction is unhelpful and contributes to the atmosphere of fat-based prejudice. Once health gain rather than weight loss is the goal, a slice of chocolate cake becomes a sometimes treat instead of a trigger for despair, self-loathing, and abandonment of all things healthy. Should incidental weight loss occur then that’s great for those people who have joint or back pain that’s aggravated by weight (which is far from all joint and back pain sufferers), but it’s not the aim.
This shift in focus would not only result in a healthier population but would free up millions of dollars currently going to peddlers of programs that have a known failure rate well in excess of anything we’d tolerate in any other industry. But that would mean ignoring the weight loss lobby of diet programs, pharmaceutical companies and bariatric surgeons, and require the increasingly hysterical fat phobic fearful to rethink their prejudice.
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Samantha April 30, 2012
I found it interesting that this was the message from the Jenny Craig execs:
“The Jenny program is the perfect first step. It’s important to understand the program is not a diet. Each person is provided with a support system second-to-none, regardless of whether they are megastar or not.
After an in-depth meeting with your own Jenny consultant where your medical history is discussed, a tailored eating plan and exercise recommendations are given. Each week of your journey you will check in with your consultant to discuss your progress.
This is the difference and it’s a system that’s proven to work.”
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Samantha April 30, 2012
PS… I wonder how ‘progress’ is measured?
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Lara@This Charming Mum April 30, 2012
Very pleased you have raised these points. Some important distinctions need to be made in the discourse on this issue.
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Lexi May 15, 2012
You can’t say they don’t work and mean they don’t work for everyone.
I have lost (and kept off) 25kgs.
I have 15 more I would like to loose.
This has been through diet (mostly) with a small concentration on exercise. If I worked out more, I would see greater results, and faster.
I don’t deny myself anything – I make choices – Healthy choices, and I am thinner (and happier) for it.The whole “One size doesn’t fit all” mentality works both ways. I can diet and live life happier than when I was fat and unhappy.
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january May 30, 2012
Apparently Barry Hunphries has lost about 18kg already…. from someone who knows someone who knows him…..
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tracey June 12, 2012
I can no longer take Jenny Craig seriously after seeing the ad with Dame Edna. I felt confused about what message they were trying to put across to us becuse they had both personas advocating for them and I think the general public are already confused enough about weight loss and the industry in general.
