ROSIE - Furious Bingham Girl!!!

Oh, I'm an angry girl today. Why does the media do it? (Sorry G). They print and publicise so irresponsibly that it makes me FULL OF RAGE. Take the article on Yahoo "health" today. The link is here - http://uk.health.lifestyle.yahoo.net/eat-candy-lose-weight.htm, the title "Nutrition professor drops two stone on snack food diet". As you can see, the link says "EAT CANDY, LOSE WEIGHT".

Grrr. Grrr. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr. What does the message give us 4 times over in the link and title alone? And you don't have to be bloody stupid to think it, either!
* Well, if a nutrition professor can do it, then it must be okay for me.
* I CAN eat sweets and lose weight.
* He dropped two stone, surely I can too?

And the above are alongside a number of other things... and, as I said, I wouldn't blame you if you DID think the above. The problem is that many people will read the title, and then flick their eyes over the remainder of the article without taking in the fact.

And the fact is?

* The dude restricted his calorie intake to 1800 calories per day (recommended daily intake for a man is 2400). If my maths is correct, this is a 25% reduction in calorie intake, way over the 15% recommended drop if you are trying to lose weight.
* Recommendations are there for a reason. Your body NEEDS the calories. If you restrict your calories excessively, your body will lose weight for a short period of time, and it WAS for a short period, only two months. Thereafter, your body clings to fat, thinking it is being starved, your metabolism slows and you GAIN weight.
* It was done under extremely controlled conditions, which is not a usual "junk food eating" condition.
* Although it took account of other health indicators, this was on a short term basis and probably only associated with the actual weight loss, rather than the food he consumed. What would have happened to his blood pressure, cholesterol levels and everything else if he had continued to eat rubbish food long term?

I would like to clarify my thoughts on the matter, as I am a bonafide nutritionist too (okay, so I'm not a Professor). This is seriously irresponsible, not only to do the bloody study in the first place but more importantly to publicise it in such a way.

The article concluded with another astute comment from Professor Haub - "I am not promoting this or recommending it; it’s just an exercise in nutrition." Well, do you think the readers will really have GOT to the end of the article? No, they're off at the garage stocking up on chocolate.

Junk food is NOT GOOD FOR YOU. Now and again, as we all agree, it is nice, (sometimes necessary) but these should be few and far between. If you eat a varied, balanced diet you should not want to binge out on crap food. For most people, eating "snack food", or binging out on junk food is not done in a controlled environment. Moreover, eating junk food significantly adds to their daily calorie intake, it would NOT reduce it as it did "Dr Haub".

For most, junk food is comfort food. I do not think there is anyone in the world who has not snacked on some choccie or eaten some icecream in an emotional way.

To almost encourage (and yes, I think the title of this article almost does that) people to eat snack food by giving them the line that you can "lose weight" is ridiculous. Anyone can lose weight if they cut their calories enough, Professor Haub doesn't have to be a professor to know that.

Nuff said. I'm off to eat some icecream in protest.