Having finally had a chance to sit down and watch all four episodes from this BBC 2 series back to back (the joys of Sky+), it’s worth reviewing what Mr. Jacques Peretti had to say after delving deep into the belly of the weight loss world. Whilst we don't normally recommend sitting on your backside for hours on end, we nobly did it for you and reviewed the key messages here so that you could use that time on moving and being generally healthier and happier! What did we learn?
Diets don’t do it
Jacques was quite scathing of some of the larger
weight loss companies in his earlier episodes, sometimes fairly although
sometimes the reporting was a little on the sensationalist side and arguably
not always a balanced view.
At balance we’d certainly agree that heavily
processed shakes, bars and meal replacements is not the key to long-term
success. Interestingly though, having spoken to some people who use them
recently, they said that it helped them to ‘kick-start’ their weight loss,
increase their motivation and then adopt healthy lifestyles to maintain it. One
of the balance values is in empowering people to find out what works for
themselves, and whilst you won’t find us selling you a powdered mix to add to
milk or water instead of having breakfast any time soon, we do recognise the
value for some of getting things moving to help motivate them. Remember though
the story of the hare and the tortoise!! And remember that if you do go down
this route it’s not a long-lasting solution, so you’re only going to have to
make yet another change at some point to maintain it.
Fit doesn’t necessarily mean thin
The piece on exercise in episode 2 is worthy of
some attention. It is certainly true that exercise on its own may not be THE
solution to weight loss, but then again, as the world’s population grows larger
day by day, it is fairly clear that no one single solution has been found, or
ever will be!
Jacques’ negativity towards exercise for weight
loss was clear, although he did rightly point out that there are numerous other
reasons for moving from a health and wellbeing perspective. He also neglected
one fundamental point when looking at exercise; type! The focus of the show was
very much on cardiovascular workouts, which certainly can make the heart
healthier and increase fitness. They also burn calories so can have a part to
play in a balanced exercise routine. However, resistance or weights training
received little or no attention, yet there is evidence to show that it reduces
fat levels and also improves insulin sensitivity, decreases risk of falls and
improves cardiovascular health in everyone from athletes to elderly adults an
type 2 diabetics! There was a very nice piece about the 'fat but fit', showing
a couple of ladies who were super-fit but overweight; it emphasised that
fitness was key, even if you were overweight. OK, so the exercises they were
given weren't always the safest or most appropriate in terms of injury risk,
but they were moving!
The science says is also clear in showing that
exercise helps to keep weight off, so when it’s combined with a healthy diet
you can get some pretty good results. Exercise should form part of a holistic
approach and the focus should not purely be on weight loss but on changes in
shape, energy, self-confidence and health as well. Do this and weight loss will
come anyway!
What tastes sweet may not be so neat
There was a short but interesting piece in one
episode around sweeteners. Jacques pointed out that rats eating them
surprisingly gained weight, when it would be assumed that consuming less sugar
would lead to weight loss. In an interview with a scientist, she noted that in
human beings there was a change in a part of the brain called the amygdala when
consuming sweeteners like aspartame. It seemed change occurred in the brain
with regular consumption of sweeteners and that this could actually lead people
to eat even more calories as it created a weaker response to sugar.
Weight gain and weight loss has numerous reasons
Peretti brilliantly portrayed the complex interplay
between society, the food industry, the medical world, drugs companies, the
media and fitness industries. We could take a cynical view of many of these,
but that's not what we're here to do. All we ask is that you go on your own
journey through weight loss, ask yourself the questions:
• Will
what I am about to do make me fitter and healthier?
• Will
it help me to lose weight and keep it off?
• Is
it helping me to gain a realistic view of what I can achieve?
We don’t
think that the diet toothpaste or magic weight loss soap fits into this
category!!
Think,
eat, live, move, and balance your life, balance your scales J
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