Part 1: REVEALED: The Sinister Backdrop To Summer Dieting
In the past dieting was seen as a health solution for overweight individuals and a necessity for dancers, models and movie stars where appearance was paramount.
But this is no longer the case.
That’s because there’s been a seismic shift in the perception of dieting.
Dieting is now seen as a normalised lifestyle choice that’s fashionable and applicable to just about everyone.
And there’s a lot evidence to support this, for example:
As a result, people across the Western World are embarking on elaborate, quick fix and potential dangerous restrictive eating patterns in an attempt to shift those “excess pounds” and feel better about themselves. It’s the driving force behind strategies such as:
But why are we dieting?
FACT: Our definition of beauty has narrowed and our obsession with celebrities, looking “the right way” and the size and shape of our bodies has intensified.
Look around you and you’ll discover more and more people eagerly buying into the myth that “thin is beautiful”. What’s more, they believe if they achieve this look, somehow life will be better and they’ll be happier.
This subtle, penetrating media message is pressurising women (and increasingly men) to take drastic measures to achieve the right look. And it means dieting is no longer reserved for the overweight or appearance conscious professions.
Instead, dieting comes with a seductive promise to help ‘ordinary’ people achieve a highly desired, celebrated look that promises to increase their value as human beings.
As a result, there are many people habitually dieting who have no need to diet at all.
Instead they’ve become one of an ever-growing number of people for whom dieting has become a way of life and a method to ‘fix’ perceived flaws.
It seems we’re actually dieting because we’ve bought into the idea that “we’re not good enough as we are”.
And this idea is continuously reinforced into our subconscious by the following widespread cultural beliefs:
1. Thin equals beautiful
2. If you lost a few pounds life would be so much better
3. Dieting will make you feel good
4. That being a certain size brings happiness, acceptance, love
5. Being “fat” or “overweight” is unacceptable and unhealthy
6. Dieting is “cool”, normalised and the thing to do at certain times of the year
And these believes are causing:
As a result dieting is BIG business.
Back in 2010 The Guardian newspaper claimed the diet industry was worth £2bn in the UK alone. And in the US the number is even greater with estimates ranging from £20bn upwards.
And millions of people are being innocently sucked into the dieting trap. And as the statistics show, they don’t just diet once. Instead they get caught up into a never- ending cycle of losing and gaining weight as they experiment with fad after fad after fad.
It’s a shocking situation…
Damaging individuals – profiting big business
You see the problem with the mass of dieting advice and weight- loss solutions is they aren’t created to benefit the individual.
If dieting was just about helping someone to control their weight so they remain a ‘ healthy’ size that would be fine. BUT it isn’t.
Whether innocently or intentionally, advertisers and the mass media have created a problem.
The media is filled with images of airbrushed models with their flawless complexions; super skinny thighs devoid of cellulite and stick thin silhouettes with perfect breasts.
Yet despite these “role models” being a minority, these images are celebrated as beautiful and something everyone else should strive for.
As such, we’re subtly brainwashed and manipulated into believing that if only your legs were a little thinner or your tummy a little trimmer, you’ll be happier.
It means we’re being consistently told, “If you don’t look like this, you’re not good enough”. And so people are incentivised to diet to achieve the look they believe will ‘fix’ what’s wrong with them – and in turn they’ll become more beautiful, accepted, loved and happy.
These cleverly imposed attitudes and beliefs are proactively nurturing, stimulating and growing the billion pound diet industry.
And the answers we desire are cleverly packaged into a mass of widely available but ever changing commercial solutions.
It means you should not underestimate the role the media (deliberately) and society (innocently), has played in encouraging people to want to look a certain way.
You see advertisers spend mil ions on strategies that make us feel there’s something wrong with us. And wrapped up in the solutions are images and success stories that convince us this solution DOES WORK.
Discover the truth the weight- loss industry keeps hidden
But behind the excitement of the latest diet and the spattering of “proven” success stories is an undercurrent of dissatisfaction and frustration.
That’s because there are mil ions of people who have invested time, money and energy in the latest diet only to get disappointed. And what’s more worrying is these same people often end up feeling worse about themselves and their body than they did before they started the diet.
And there’s a reason for this…
The hard truth is most diets FAIL – and it’s not because you were weak- willed or lacked the motivation and staying power to achieve your weight- loss goal. The real reason is there’s no silver bullet to achieve the perfect size and that celebrated look.
Instead those seductive false promises and optimistic outcomes conceal a dark, more sinister side to dieting.
Ready to discover the truth?
Then move onto Part 2 and find out why dieting will take you to a dark side.