7 secrets the weight loss industry will never tell you

By Michelle Anderson

There are now more diets, pills and health foods than ever before. So why can’t you seem to lose that extra padding? Finally, Graham Park has stepped up to the plate as whistleblower and in his new book reveals what the big companies don’t want you to know.

Secret 1: AN INDUSTRY BUILT ON REPEAT BUSINESS

Imagine if you owned a business where there were literally millions of people needing your services and, after they paid you to fix their problem, almost all of them needed you again 12 months later. That would be the formula for a very, very profitable business model in anyone’s book, and that is precisely the position the $60 billion weight loss industry finds itself in. No wonder new companies are opening up each day to help us all become slim and beautiful in no time.

Why would that be so? Surely if we lost weight and kept it off this would be a great thing for the industry, their credibility would rise and people would have more confidence in the majority of programs available today? Sadly the real answer is no. It is not in many companies’ best interests to have more than a token number of clients experience lifelong success after one program. Think about the effects if we all learned how our bodies worked and were able to correct the condition of being overweight with only one program. We would no longer need any of these companies and so the market would shrink along with our clothing size, which, if you happen to own a large multinational weight loss chain, may or may not thrill the next board of directors meeting or make for good news at the stock market.

Graham Park believes that the first and biggest secret of the mainstream weight loss industry is that it is actually in the best business interests of most companies to keep us coming back again and again.

Secret 2: SYNTHETIC FOOD IS NOT THE ANSWER

The weight loss industry is no different from any other business- they realise we want speed, convenience and to hear it will be easy to do. If they convince us of all these things then we will happily spend our dollars with them. Synthetic foods are a major part of the weight loss industry, and they generally show up as, ‘tasty, filling shakes’, ‘nutritionally balanced soups’ or ‘convenient and healthy low fat bars’.

Now what happens with these ’synthetic’ or ‘replacement’ foods? Do they work? Will you lose weight? Yes, they do work and yes, if you follow the directions. So what’s the problem? Even though you can lose weight in the short term, these products can and do have the potential to actually make it harder for you to keep weight off in the long term. In addition some of them can be quite harmful to your health, even in the short term.

Graham Park asks: How long do you really think you will want to stay on pre- package shakes, etc. as a permanent way of life? Once you have stopped the shakes you will have to eat something. So what eating habitats have you developed over the past few months on synthetic food? You have developed a habit of seeing food as the problem and not the solution. If you simply resume eating three meals a day (plus snacks) of what you ate prior to loosing weight, then guess what will happen? Correct – the weight will quickly comeback on as the body readjusts itself to where it was before you rudely interrupted it with those pesky shakes.

Your body is designed to eat real food and not synthetics. Your body accepts this change to a degree, but as soon as you stop your program of synthetics it responds by craving lots of real food. So the body craves and you resist, then little by little you begin eating more of the very things your body does not need (because you never really changed long term habits before) and more food in general. The body has also decided it was deprived and that as a defence/survival response it needs to store as much of the food as possible as fat. You and your body are at war.

So the reality is that synthetic foods do not work for long-term weight loss/management. Even worse, they do not work for our good continued health when compared to a traditional real food lifestyle.

Secret 3: SURGREY IS ALWAYS DANGEROUS

We are watching an explosion in the growth of a type of surgery almost unimaginable to most people until recently. There are two common methods used: bypass and banding, with banding becoming far more popular of late due to its quicker recovery time and seeming simplicity. Bariatric surgery is generally defined as surgery performed on the stomach or intestines for the specific purpose of inducing weight loss. At recent medical seminar a leading surgeon of bariatric surgery stated that ‘bariatric surgery is the fastest growing area of surgical practice today’.

Graham Park is totally convinced the vast majority of people choosing to go under the knife have their stomachs cut open or plastic devices installed inside them; do not need to do this. In fact, they would be far better served by working to change their current lifestyles and becoming healthier by using food as medicine rather than a mechanical intrusion to the body, with all its inherent risks.

‘The simple fact about weight loss surgery’, commented us consumer health advocate Mike Adams, ‘is that these patients need nutritional support, counselling and effective behaviour modification. There is no evidence whatsoever that bariatric surgery makes people healthy. There is strong evidence, however, that it makes them suicidal’.

So leave the operations for the people who really do need surgery to save their lives and we will focus on fixing our own problems by some far more effective (and fun) methods.

Secret 4: NO MORE MIRACLE CURES, PLEASE

Every week we see articles and headlines screaming at us about the latest ‘weight loss miracle’, or about research that will allow us to eat pizza and loose weight or at least never put on any fat. It is human nature to want a quick fix solution, that’s why we love microwave ovens and instant coffee, fast food and faster broadband connection. The simple truth is that it is going to take a little time to fix the problem we have created for ourselves.

Some of the pills will help you loose weight by suppressing your appetite, but they all have side effects. They all create the reverse effect the moment you stop using them-that is, once you stop your body breathes a huge sigh of relief and begins to quickly accumulate fat just in case you ever try and starve it again.

Just as with surgery, pills and potions are a short-term answer to a long term problem. Think about it for a moment: it takes us years and years of overeating and drinking, of neglecting our health everyday to get to the point of obesity. Yet for some totally irrational reason we think a chemical can fix us in a few weeks. Leave the diet pills and the potions for the people who want to be victims, not for those of us who see weight loss and vibrant good health as our next adventure in life. That simply would never have happened with diet pills and ‘miracle cures’. Graham Park is a living example.

Secret 5: FOOD IS NOT THE ENEMY

Food is not the enemy that weight loss companies tell us it is. It is actually our best tool in effective weight loss. It is the closest thing to a ‘miracle cure’ that we have. For those of use wanting to loose weight, food is our friend on the journey to becoming slim. The simple realty is this: food is fuel. It works just the same as the fuel in our car; without it we will die, and without high quality food we will simply never function at optimum levels.

I realise we are not cars, but I am trying to emphasise the point that food is the answer to our weight problems and not the enemy at all. Once again, learn to think of food as fuel, fuel to live, fuel to perform at our best, fuel to age more slowly, fuel to eat our selves slim (sounds much more fun than starving). Fuel (food) does not have to be boring. Just because it is good for use does not mean it cannot be tasty or fun, and allow us to enjoy a social life and travel freely.

Secret 6: EXERCISE WON’T DO IT

Graham Park once threw a small office party when his gym membership expired. He wasn’t going anywhere, he was just happy not to have to feel guilty about NOT going to the gym.

You do not need to exercise to lose weight effectively. In fact, in many cases strenuous is actually counterproductive to weight loss.

First, they get so hungry because of all the energy they are burning up that they have real difficulty staying on the eating program that was working so well before. Next they injure themselves or get sick with a cold or flu due to their body going into shock from the level of sudden exertion. So, am I saying you never need to exercise? No, I am not. You do need to do regular physical activity to keep the weight off and to maximise your health. Regular physical activity is essential for good health and a long enjoyable life.

Contradictory? No, not at all. If you are more than say 5-7 kg overweight and try to exercise yourself thin, you are setting yourself up for failure and frustration. You would need to exercise for several hours each day in order to lose large amounts of weight. If you are heavy, then taking up a strenuous exercise program could even be dangerous. As ‘The Biggest Loser’ contestants sweat it out in the gym, concerns arise from John Hopkins Arthritis Centre (USA) that joint pain is strongly associated with

body weight, meaning that more movement equals more pain.

At the start if a weight loss program it’s best not to change whatever physical activity you are doing until you reach the goal weight that’s been set for you.

Secret 7: YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE ON DIETS FOREVER

When considering losing those extra kilos, one of the most discouraging things for many, is the prospect of spending the rest of ones life on a perpetual cycle of diets; trying desperately trying to keep weight off.

Graham Park, Author, was not different before he lost his 43 kilos.

In the long term we simply can not stay on some calorie-deprived program forever. On the other hand a well-designed controlled eating plan can help you lose the weight and then transition you back into a sensible but more flexible lifestyle that you can and most likely will maintain for life.

The key is to take a phasic approach, one where you understand there are three parts to successful weight loss as far as food intake goes.

The weight loss phase

This is where you can take up an eating plan that is designed to help you lose weight by controlling portion size and by eliminating addictive/reactive foods. This phase should only last until you reach you personal goal weight, and it is important that it causes reasonably rapid weight loss (within healthy levels).

The stabilisation phase

Once you have achieved your goal weight, there is a strong temptation to ‘go wild’ and simply revert back to old habits. Do not do this! Instead, amend the plan you have been on by increasing the amount and variety of foods that you consume every few days and observing if you suddenly gain weight.The stabilisation phase lasts two to three weeks.

The rest of your life phase

This is not a diet in the sense of losing weight, etc, but more a lifestyle choice that you

now understand. Eat good healthy natural foods and enjoy life, don’t skip meals.

Enjoy you food and plan to enjoy quality meals.

7 Secrets the Weight Loss Industry Will Never Tell You by Graham Park is available in all good bookstores.

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