Re: Slimming World--anyone tried it ?
Originally Posted by
Flowerpower
->
The weight losses are amazing and it's NOT a diet it's a healthy eating plan.
Flowerpower,
Slimming World, and for that matter Weight Watchers and all the others are businesses plain and simple. They make money from weekly subscriptions/memberships and from proprietary materials.
Eating healthily is not in the least bit difficult. It does not require anyone to pay weekly subscriptions, it does not require people to get together with other people and it does not require any specific regime, diet, eating plan or otherwise.
All of that is a load of complete nonsense but such baloney exists because every business
has to have a USP, a unique selling proposition. Something to distinguish it from competitors and allow it to tailor its products and services.
Nutrition advice is available freely all over the internet. Here's an example:
http://nutrition.getfit.com/tips/
The bottom line is simple. People tend to fall into one of two groups.
1 - The people who genuinely, determinedly
want to lose weight and thus
will simply change their bad eating habits to good ones of their own free will
2 - The people who like the notion of losing weight but have not yet reached the mindset of really understanding nutrition and genuinely wanting to change habits. People in this category tend to dabble in temporary eating changes, eating styles, diets, plans etc
My opinion is that people in category 2 are the ones that jump from one miracle diet to the next, from one weight loss club to another, and invariably they find that they never ever succeed because all they are doing is
temporarily changing eating habits. Again, in my opinion, the weight loss clubs like SW and WW don't help here because they create the perfect environment for temporary change, making the weigh-ins a public affair rather than private so that people try hard to
temporarily change their habits so the next weigh-in isn't bad. In the end many people I am sure, stop going because they know deep down they aren't
permanently achieving weight loss success.
Studies show of course that temporary eating changes and diets don't work and invariably result in people putting any lost weight back on in the subsequent 1-2 years, often putting more weight on than they had before.
Good eating habits and good nutrition should be a personal thing and something you do because you:
a) Understand the importance of it
b) Understand the consequence of eating badly
c) Understand the futility of diets, plans and fads
d) Understand how businesses seek to profit from processing foods and selling crap
e) Understand how Nature operates and the bounty it provides
f) genuinely want to
In addition I would say that anyone genuinely wanting to lose weight requires a basic grounding in food education, again which is all available freely online. This should include:
- Understanding what triggers hunger
- Understanding the dangers and role of sugar
- Understanding the dangers and role of processed foods
- Understanding that the food industry and labelling laws are corrupt and seeking to maximise profit at the expense of your health
- Understanding fats, cholesterol, carbohydrates
- Understanding the health benefits of many specific foods and herbs
and so on
Slimming clubs are imo a part of the problem, not a solution.