Health Report: If the shoe fits...
With millions of us buying low-fat ready meals and
miracle pills, it's no wonder the UK diet industry is worth
over £1 billion a year. But with Brits now the fattest in
Europe, FLIC EVERETT asks if we are wasting our money...
The shelves of every
supermarket in Britain groan under the vast range of weight-loss
products. Dieters can stock up on calorie-counted ready meals,
low-fat biscuits, low-carb bread, 'lite' crisps, herbal
slimming pills and a raft of celebrity exercise DVDs - yet the
hopeful shoppers who are piling their trolleys high with these
pricey items are usually veteran dieters. They've tried it
before, lost a few pounds and piled them all back on. So why are we
still convinced that a 400-calorie lasagne and a soap actress's
dance routine will be the miracles that help us lose weight for
good?
"I'm a sucker for anything that promises to help me lose
weight," admits Joanne Carter, 38, a full-time mum of two from
Hartlepool. "I've been trying to lose a stone for years
and there's always some new product, like lower-fat cereal,
herbal pills or an exercise DVD. I buy all of them but they never
work."
Joanne most recently tried the Dukan Diet, which restricts carbs in
favour of protein. "I lost two pounds in a week but I found it
impossible to spend hours making separate food just for me,"
says Joanne. "I gave up and now I'm back to square
one."
Joanne's not alone. The diet industry is worth around £1
billion a year in the UK alone, while 50 per cent of men and women
are dieting at any one time. A recent study by Nimble found 62 per
cent of dieters had lost more than five pounds in the past year but
failed to keep it off.
Meanwhile, 10 per cent of UK women are permanently on a diet, with
20 per cent hoping to lose
two stone or more. Just 39 per cent of those surveyed claimed to
avoid diet fads and products, which means there's a whole lot
of hopeful dieters putting their faith in an industry that needs
diets to fail in order to keep making money. The average yo-yo
dieter will fork out £542.43 a year on gym fees, special
foods, diet books, exercise clothes and DVDs. Yet by the fifth day
of the diet, two thirds will have given up. So what's going
wrong?
"The basic problem is that special diet foods are not designed
to work with your body," says nutritionist Dr Sam Christie.
"Packaged 'diet' foods are often just expensive,
overprocessed
impostors posing as a slimmer's 'friends'. They are
often far too low in essential vitamins,
minerals and trace elements." We may be seduced by the promise
of 'low-fat' food, explains Sam, but to compensate for the
lack of taste, "Sugar and salt levels can be sky-high to
enhance the flavour and extend shelf-life. Plus they won't have
slow-release carbohydrates to give you energy."
With 24 per cent of women and 22 per cent of men in Britain now
obese, it's no wonder so many of us are susceptible to
advertising for 'miracle' products, points out nutritional
therapist Marisa Peer (www.marisapeer.com) who has worked with celebrities
including Jane Fonda. "Food companies have zero interest in
helping you lose weight," she says. "We're constantly
sold carb-based products with very low nutritional value because
they're cheap to manufacture and easy to package. Years ago
people didn't eat cereal for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch
and pasta for dinner," she adds. "But the average busy
office worker will grab a bowl of sugar-packed cereal for
breakfast, have a sandwich and crisps for lunch and pasta or pizza
for dinner. Our bodies aren't designed to process all those
carbs."
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