There's probably already been a similar thread...I get really worried about the nations obsession with dieting and looking thin. I understand that being unhealthy is...well...unhealthy, but being fat isn't always bad, I don't know if anyone saw the front cover article of the Guardian Weekend magazine a couple of weeks ago regarding this?

I have a friend, only in her teens, who is very very thin, and has latched onto the dieting craze by being on a detox and the Atkins all at once. This is ridiculous and developing into an eating disorder, but people are obsessed with dieting all the time, in the media and everywhere. Isn't it more important to be happy with yourself?

Unfortunately there is a VERY strong impulse to conform. People are basically social animals with a stong need for acceptance and its a whole lot easier to do that by conforming to a given pack than by going your own way and wanting acceptance on your own merits.

Paradoxically it tends to be these its the very few people who don't conform that many people admire - perhaps because thats what we want to do but lack the self confidence?

dieting is a con. Diet is important.

If you have a weight problem that you wish to address you should permanently alter your diet, probably not mby much though and increase your amount of exercise.

Any temperary change in diet (ie dieting) is pointless and possibly countrproductive or even unhealthy (like your friend).

Atkins in it's entirety is extremely unhealthy.

lets not pretend we all want to look good...its up to you.

Just had this battle of diet as opposed to lifestyle change with my step daughter.
She isn't a small lass and we have feared that her health would suffer. She decided recently that she wanted to slim down for her leaving party at school and found a diet in a magazine. So happy she was to tell me she hadn't had any chocolate in the last week...until I asked her if she was giving up chocolate for life?

A bit of what you fancy in proportion is a good thing. You need to make changes in your life that are sustainable and many of these diets are not.

One point I will make is that many women who are on diets are on them because of kids...like me. I was extremely skinny before children, not because I followed this diet and that diet, but because that is the way I was, I ate like a pig, what I wanted when I wanted and didn't put weight on. Nor did I have a face like a pizza...I was that annoying woman.

I am under no illusions that I will be skinny again, but I don't want to be panting walking after me kids, I want to be able to run about with them without having a heart attack.
I have started weight watchers again which for the most part is annoying listening to neuroctic women. Alot of the scheme is common sense, because you take the points out of it and look at the food you are eating and it is everything the healthperts tell you to eat for a healthy lifestyle.

Then again - without shelling out money left right and centre I have lost over 35lbs in the last year without trying, but i guess that is just my annoying metabolism kicking in.

Here is to a size12/14 me

Moon

Originally posted by TREK
lets not pretend we all want to look good...its up to you.

Hand up everyone who'd like to be ugly.


What, no-one, most people actually feel better and more confident when they think that others percieve them as attractive. What a ridiculous idea.

Originally posted by TREK
lets not pretend we all want to look good...its up to you.

I don't know if its just me but I think theres a HUGE difference between the ideal being put forwards of skeletal thinness and attractiveness???

Originally posted by noseyrosie
There's probably already been a similar thread...I get really worried about the nations obsession with dieting and looking thin. I understand that being unhealthy is...well...unhealthy, but being fat isn't always bad, I don't know if anyone saw the front cover article of the Guardian Weekend magazine a couple of weeks ago regarding this?

I have a friend, only in her teens, who is very very thin, and has latched onto the dieting craze by being on a detox and the Atkins all at once. This is ridiculous and developing into an eating disorder, but people are obsessed with dieting all the time, in the media and everywhere. Isn't it more important to be happy with yourself?

I take your point and agree that it is ridiculous to do as your friend is doing, but at the same time being overweight is also dangerous, it puts a strain on your heart, joints and leads to a sick middle age and an early death.

Originally posted by Cyclone
Atkins in it's entirety is extremely unhealthy.
That's never been proved.

Originally posted by halevan
I take your point and agree that it is ridiculous to do as your friend is doing, but at the same time being overweight is also dangerous, it puts a strain on your heart, joints and leads to a sick middle age and an early death.

She's already very slim, as she's a ballet dancer. There's no danger of her being overwieght by anyones standards. SHe's doing this crazy 'drinking loads of water' detox thing...but she's drinking a huge amount...and then just eating red meat. It's absolute madness.

Originally posted by evildrneil
I don't know if its just me but I think theres a HUGE difference between the ideal being put forwards of skeletal thinness and attractiveness???

Sorry, I must have missed where that idea was put forwards. Can you point it out for me?

It certainly sounds like this specific problem has some sort of self image problem.

It hasn't been proven because there have been no scientific studies performed on it, certainly none that prove it's healthy either. Most nutrionists who have no vested interest in it have expressed strong opinions that indicate that according to nutrional science as we currently understand it, the atkins diet is extremely unhealthy in the long run.
There is also the anecodotal evidence of 'dr' atkins dyeing clinically obese and diabetic from a major coronary infarction.

Originally posted by Cyclone
Sorry, I must have missed where that idea was put forwards. Can you point it out for me?

Pick up any teen magazine and look at the adverts...

lets clear this up then.
I do not edit any teen magazines.

I advocate being of a healthy weight, ie within the weight range a health professional would advice for your height and age.

I do not advocate being either over or under weight.

Controlling your diet (not dieting) is part of maintaining a healthy weight, as is exercising.

Being within your ideal weight range increases your life span, makes you feel healthier and makes you look more attractive, which at the end of the day most of us would like.

I agree that the media's obsession with extreme thinness causes problems for some people, but that is no reason to reject all together attempts to maintain a sensible weight and level of health.

I agree entirely - the trouble seems to be two-fold. Firstly weight control has become an aesthetic rather than health based concern and the second is that people are after quick fixes and so turn to things like Atkins using it in situations where it wasn't designed to be used. The best way to controll weight is to do just that - controll it not have periodic crash diets which screw up your metabolism and make it more difficult to maintain a healthy weight!

But the thing with the Atkins diet, is that it does actually work, but nobody is really sure why. There has been resarch done about it, but it is so far inconclusive.

Yes there is evidence that it causes all sorts of unhealthy side effects, but there is also plenty of evidence that mobile phones cause cancer. Nobody seems to be too bothered about that...

Atkins does work work but was designed to work with morbidly obese people under medical supervision for a short term not for people to loose a few pounds! But wirking alone isn't really a valid aproach to things like diesting - aomebic dysentry is a pretty effective way of loosing weight but I wouldn't recomend it!!!

The media is absolutely obsessed with dieting lately. Its on every tv show and every newspaper. Atkins, Slimfast, Weight Watchers. Celebrity Fit Club, Fat Club, endless documentaries.

Its got to the point where my 8 year old son is worrying about his weight and checking the number of calories in everything in the fridge.

Originally posted by evildrneil
Atkins does work work but was designed to work with morbidly obese people under medical supervision for a short term not for people to loose a few pounds
I don't remember reading that in the book.

Can anyone come off the Atkins diet without putting on the weight again?
I thought that as soon as you start eating carbohydrates again the metabolism cannot readjust and so the pounds pile on.

The atkins diet just sounds so grim anyway - loads of meat, cheese and fat and no carbs - I couldn't survive without toast:)

If people are thinking of dieting there is a diet called the GI diet. It's better than Atkins and has had good reviews from the medical professionals.

I'm not very up on it but I believe it has something to do with your blood sugar levels. Apparently it's very good for diabetics.

I believe it's more of a long term lifestyle change rather than a short term diet. The only downer is that you can't eat eggs or milk chocolate.

Originally posted by Sidla
I don't remember reading that in the book.

and your surpised. They are selling something here. If you bought a book on used cars from a used car sales man, it wouldn't point out that the one he's trying to sell you is actually two write-offs welded together. Atkins is the same (apart from the welding).

If your thinking about dieting. Don't. Just alter your existing diet gradually. Reduce the size of portions, introduce more fruit & veg, reduce the things that you know are bad.
And most importantly, increase the amount of exercise you get.