Dieting

Ahhhh, another week, another journo looking to drop a few kilos in the limelight and yet another prime time television report on the evilness of sugar. This time from Channel 7’s Sunday Night. To date I have been reluctant to comment on the somewhat sensationalised media reports pointing the finger at sugar as the primary cause of the nation’s obesity issues. There are a few reasons for my hesitation.

Firstly, I feel as if the sugar story has been done to death over the past 12 months. Secondly, I feel as if we are somewhat arguing the obvious. And finally, it seems to be an argument in which scientific debate has been all too readily replaced with personal views—a strong-minded lawyer’s opinion and now the personal weight-loss experience of one of Australia’s favourite rugby sons.

Indeed, emotions will always generally beat logic, at least in a 3 minute television segment or within a few lines of a press release. So, here’s what I think, and I think I have a point of view that should at least be considered in this debate given that I see hundreds of people each year for weight loss.

Continue reading "Sugar isn’t evil, it’s processed foods that aren’t so sweet" »

SO there we were performing a static hold in the push-up position down at the local park when the Dog Lady first came into our lives.

We heard her before she came into view, the swoosh of her nylon track pants and the tinkling bell on the collar of her Labradoodle cutting through the early morning silence.

“Good morning!” I said cheerfully as I got to my feet. “F…....g dickheads!” she bellowed in reply.

Continue reading "Abusing us park exercisers is a lazy national sport" »

How many column inches in women’s magazines are devoted to dieting every year? Enough to cross the Nullarbor? Circumnavigate the globe? Traverse the universe?

“Get your body beach ready. Now!” “Your best body. Fast.” “Your best-ever body in four weeks.” “Shrink one size in four weeks.” And my personal favourite: “Drop a dress size by Saturday!” Really?

I should issue a little disclaimer and own up to writing many vacuous and silly diet coverlines during my 15-plus years working in women’s magazines. Seven kilos in seven days? Only joking. But you get the drift.

Continue reading "Odds and magazines are stacked against diet success" »

I have battled with my weight for the past 12 years. I’m now 40.

I thought having kids would be a turning point. I thought having a suspected heart attack in the West Indies while filming my show An Aussie Goes Calypso would be a turning point. I thought turning 40 would be a turning point.

But nothing seems to stick and I continue to jump on and off a number of diets and fitness regimes.

Continue reading "The plan to win my 12-year battle with the bulge at last" »

Yesterday on The Punch, Tory argued that Karl Lagerfeld’s rather out there recent comments were right - “sort of”.

The gist of Karl nobody-wants-to-see-a-round-woman Lagerfeld’s contribution was that the fashion world was all about fantasy so it shouldn’t be criticised if it chooses to use only skinny models with protruding bones on their catwalks, or photos that are digitally altered to make a models’ waist the size of her neck. It’s all fantasy, silly. What’s the harm?

Tory’s semi-agreement seemed rather more based on personal preference and a dislike of a recent magazine’s choice of “plus size” models.

Continue reading "Counterpunch: Body image problems are far from fantasy" »

In our body-image obsessed world, being told that you can be thinner by the weekend sounds delicious.

That was the hook Grazia magazine used in publishing the latest US diet craze in its “Thin by Friday” feature in the June issue.  NOVA 96.9’s newsreader Kristy Warner has also shared her experience of the diet on-air.

Continue reading "Medical mag calls out glossy on potentially fattening diet" »