Guest blog submitted by mcgregl
In the world of showbiz, body image is paramount. Celebrities live their lives in the public eye and everything about them and what they do is scrutinized. They are walking advertisements for every new quick fix diet.
When Jennifer Aniston first announced her devotion to the Atkins Diet, suddenly everyone was on it. Likewise for the South Beach Diet, the GI Diet, and the Zone.
People look at slim celebrities, find out what diet they’re on and think if they go on it, it will give them a celebrity figure.
The sheer volume of ‘new’ diets on the market begs the question: if they are all supposedly successful, why do none of them stand the test of time?
Because fad diets amount to little more than crash dieting, and for the majority of people, they simply do no work. Most of them involve excluding a group of foods from your diet. This is not sustainable or good for your health in the long-term.
“It is worth noting that up to 80 deaths have been attributed to these diets in the past,” says Irish dietitian Niamh O’Connor. “A fad diet usually results in dramatic weight loss, rather than slow safe weight reduction. There is a profound difference between these two concepts.”
She explains that rapid weight loss results in the loss of muscle and water and this leads to a reduced metabolic rate (the rate at which the body uses energy). So when someone returns to a regular eating pattern, they put on weight easier because their metabolic rate is lower than it was before the diet.
“Fad diets do not attempt to address any aspect of your health – they simply focus on weight loss, irrespective of the proportion of fat or muscle that is lost in the process,” she adds.
Recently I realized I’ve been on some sort of a diet for the past seven years. I’m 21 and have never struggled with my weight.
Why am I, along with so many others, obsessed with every morsel of food that touches my lips?
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Because they’re always promoting this image of what should be the “ideal” person, male or female? Because no one actually looks like that ideal? Because people want to be, because they promote it was being “beautiful”?
I like food. I don’t do diets. Everything in moderation.
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it’s a cultural thing amongst young women of a certain demographic. eating disorders, or “disordered eating” which is what all these fad diets, etc. are….are most prevelant with young women that are interested in high fashion! most of us are high achievers, somewhat type-A personalities who like to have control and who like to project an image of success and beauty and perfection. and what we eat is part of that.
damn…a stint in anorexia rehab actually taught me something, allegedly!
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This is funny, because right now, I’m watching an episode of “Life in the Fab Lane” where Kimora has to go on a diet.
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Depends upon the individual. I obsess not just because of wanting to lose weight (although I do…at least 40 more pounds, actually), but because my cholesterol is high despite not having a high-cholesterol diet, because as a very fair-skinned, short, small-boned woman I’m prime pickin’s for osteoporosis, because I have severe hypoglycemia (complete with collapsing in a heap if I don’t monitor my food intake very carefully) and because diabetes is rampant in my family. In other words, I obsess for the same reasons that I’ll soon be going on Chantix to quit smoking. I obsess because I have too much to live for to let a heart attack or a broken hip or diabetes take me out.
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I like to have a balanced nutrition, makes me feel like im eating to take care of myself.
Some studies have shown that you live less years if you lose weight than if you keep being overweight or obese, even with all the risks this presents. Weird huh? I think that you have to choose between living more years or have a shorter life but with higher self esteem (if you like yourself overweight then why bother).
A few months ago I read about a new eating disorder characterized by being in a diet for several years (or for the rest of your life), Cant remember the name of it, I think in spanish was something like permarexia
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The question should be “Why is everyone obsessed with posting articles and blogs about being obsessed about weight and body image and dieting”.
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@peacelove__CALLIE@xanga - ROFL!!! You’re good…
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I can’t answer that question for anyone but myself and I have never been on a diet. When I did obsess about my weight and food, I had an eating disorder. Diets were a joke to me b/c they don’t work.
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To put it simply.. the media teaches people to be insatiable. Nothing is ever good enough for society. Either too skinny, too heavy, too curvy, too flat. People are living their lives, it seems, to appeal to everybody else’s idea of perfect. Everybody just needs to learn to love what they have? Cliche, but true.
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Eat Correctly. Live Healthy. Excerise. That is what I live by.
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Maybe it’s the fact that society tells us that we have to be a certain way. It gets pounded into our heads to be skinny and pretty and to watch what we eat so we don’t get fat.
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@IfonEarth@xanga - I think of it the same way, too.
I love food.
Madly.
And yes, all in moderation.
Then again, it’s also me being super picky and going for a certain kind of food at a specific time on what I call a craze-o-meter.
Right now, it’s sushi. Everyday, if I feel like. The salmon stuff is RIDICULOUSLY good.
God help me.
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@peacelove__CALLIE@xanga - Amen! every other article on Healthkicker (another group thingie on xanga) is about calories or low fat or losing weight etc etc. I cannot stand it!
frankly, i really dont care about any of that. Yea i eat healthy but thats because I know its what my body needs not because i was told by the media, trainer, docter thats how i should be eating. I dont care about my calorie intake, or whatever. I eat and stay active. people really worry too much.
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@devil_undercover@xanga - Oooh, sushi. Okay, now I want some sushi. Grargh. No sushi places nearby.
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well a healthy way of eating is in any case better than eating junk. hollywood just overdoes it.
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People are idiots and think that by eating only two things a day can help them lose weight. What they don’t realize is that everyone’s body is different and one certain diet doesn’t work for everyone. It depends on the speed of your metabolism and how their body responds to exercise. My whole family is made up of health freaks, and the reason they are in the best shape isn’t because they go on celeb diets. Its because they know what foods to eat and what kind of exercise works best for them.
I think popular diets are for people who don’t know how to actually lose weight for themselves and are too lazy to exercise. I mean taking a walk everyday for only twenty minutes can do wonders.
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yay yay yay!
i love it when people quote dietitians. we are trained to know the scientific principles of eating and metabolism. by the end of next year, i’ll be one test away from being an RD!
i’ve NEVER been on a ‘diet,’ because i was lucky enough to have an educated mom who already knew about the whole metabolism thing. but i’m also lucky enough to have ‘skinny genes.’
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Sonme are obsessed because we are shown and told that there is only one type of beauty and that if we don’t fit that then we are unattractive, undesireable, and things of that nature. We strive to be as perfect as we can so we can reach our goals, no matter what they are.