It must be all the double cream
I was both shocked and appalled by the article “No pain no gain” in The Sunday Times Style yesterday. Spread over four pages, this was an article espousing the benefits of crash dieting over losing weight in a more steady and sensible fashion.
First of all the title, No pain no gain, how Draconian. As it happens, I agree with them but I think I mean a different sort of pain. I’m talking of the kind you get the morning after a good run or boxercise class, when your muscles ache because you’ve had a good work out. They are talking about a constant niggling of hunger, not to mention the emotional pain felt when one inevitably falls off the crash-diet-wagon and stuffs the nearest thing resembling carbs down one’s throat. (Ouch, cardboard hurts.)
The imagery they use supports their idea of extremes. On the first double page spread there is a picture of a corset with a measuring tape pulled around the waist, straining it in. The invisible person wearing this corset seems to have a waist of approximately 25 inches. Is that the kind of measurement anyone apart from Victoria Beckham should realistically be aiming towards? (And I only say Victoria Beckham should be because that would entail putting on a few pounds.)
Now on to the thrust of the article. “New research shows that far from being bad for you, crash diets can be a safe and effective way to keep the pounds off,” proclaims the standfirst. Yes, you’ve got it, Tufts University in Massachusetts (a very honourable institution I’m sure) says it’s true so it must be.
To be fair to Olivia Gordon – the woman who wrote the piece – she does give the balancing view of Dr Peter Rowan who warns dieting and eating disorders go hand in hand (shocker) but really the damage has already been done. If someone even gets to this token section, tacked on the end of the article, they have already been lambasted with six paragraphs on the ‘joys’ of crash dieting:
“So what if we fasted for 48 hours, drinking only water, diet cola and black coffee, then munched a 400-calorie meal then fasted again for 48 hours more? We lost 1st in four days – even if it was dangerously extreme.”
It is precisely because of attitudes like this I want to get into the health and fitness sector. Somebody has to fight (and write) against all the drivel out there filling women’s heads with nonsense. Is it too much to ask for some responsible journalism where the issue of weight is concerned? People seem to forget the influence their articles can have and I expected more from Style to be honest.
The only saving grace was provided by the case study. Simon Glazin describes how he lost 7st in three months through using meal-replacement drinks in an effort to take control of his weight (21st at the time). In conjunction with his Dr and with the support of his family and friends Simon managed to turn his life around. He acknowledges such drastic action is not best-suited to everybody, “I would never suggest such a dramatic diet programme to just anyone. It worked for me mainly because it had to.”
But any good work done by this far from stereotypical advocate of ‘the right crash diet in the right circumstances,’ is promptly undone by the box-out alongside: “Crash and burn – extreme diets we love to hate” which provides a handy summary of the best crash diets and which celebrities endorse them. Thanks Style, where would I be without you?
N.B Following a comment from Olivia herself, here is a link to the online version of her article. I don’t think it illustrates the points I made about the layout, headline and strap but the writing is the same.
June 8, 2009 at 11:30 am
This is a really interesting post and one that is welcome with the onslaught of crash diets we are being faced with in the pre-bikini season. However, as someone who is also interested in challenging irresponsible journalism whether it’s regarding health or science in general, how much of an impact do you think one new journalist can really have? Do we have time for morals in this climate?
June 8, 2009 at 4:50 pm
Hi Hannah,
Thanks for your comments. I understand your concern about how much impact one new journalist can have and maybe it is limited. But that alone is not reason enough not to try and make a difference. I think in the course of our career’s we will be faced with choices concerning how we report on something and I would like to think that when it comes to issues such as the one above I will have the strength to stick to my guns. If I can’t start out in journalism with my morals in tact what chance do I have of developing any? Also, there are magazines and websites out there which are already reporting on women’s health and weight issues responsibly, so I think it is equally important to congratulate them as it is to admonish those who are not. I hope that answers your questions.
June 26, 2009 at 7:22 am
Dear Esther,
I’m the journalist you are criticising and I just wanted to say I think you have unfortunately completely misunderstood the article. The whole thing was about the misery of crash dieting – nowhere do I describe it as ‘joy’. In fact I used words like ‘miserable’ and ‘hideous’. I personally am a staunch opponent of dieting, having tried it (as I explain in my feature) when I was younger, and given up because I found it to be soul destroying.
I did actually end the feature saying my own crash dieting days are over and I believe in eating what you like – however, this was cut in house, along with a fact box I wrote on ‘Why crash diets don’t work’. As a freelance journalist asked to cover the work of Susan Roberts in this piece, I don’t get to write the headline, choose pictures/presentation or control how my work is cut inhouse – and certainly it probably came across as less a scathing attack of dieting than I would like.
I think if you reread the article you’ll find it is not in any way irresponsible journalism – all the facts were carefully checked and it stresses that anything under 1200 calories a day for women is not advisable. Personally, I think even that is far too little and don’t believe in diets, but I was asked to write about the research which is saying moderate crash dieting works.
I am a feminist and have very strong morals – and to that end I did try to present a balanced view, including a quote from feminist guru Susie Orbach and two doctors advising people not to do extreme diets and that they are ‘snakeoil’ – certainly the last thing I would have wanted was to encourage anyone to do an extreme diet.
We were trying to poke fun at them – for example for the Cabbage Soup diet info, I wrote: ‘The diet’s own blurb admits, “some people have reported feeling light-headed, weak, and have suffered from decreased concentration”, but don’t worry, it’s all fine, because “some who have been affected in this way felt it was well worth it, since it was only for a week and they lost considerable weight”.’ I was being sarcastic and trying to make clear crash dieting is miserable and dangerous.
Regards,
Olivia
June 26, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Hi Olivia,
Thank you for commenting. I don’t believe I ever explicitly criticised you and if it came across as such I am sorry.
A lot of the things I pointed out – such as the corset imagery and the headline – you have explained were not under your control.
I understand a final article is not just one person’s contribution but a combination of the writer, subs and designers. But it still stands the finished product came across as supportive of crash dieting.
The online version does not really give the same effect but I will link to it above so readers can make their own minds up. Sorry not to have done so earlier but I did not realise it was on the website as well.
My personal opinion (as I’m sure you have gathered from my blog) is that any media commentary on dieting and eating disorders is touching on dodgy ground.
I feel as if young women are growing up with a very warped view of what is good and healthy and a lot of this is to do with what they read and view and the mixed messages this sends out.
Again I am sorry if I did not always pick up the sarcasm you were trying to convey and I did note that you tried to balance the article: I think if the conclusion and box-out you mention above had not been cut out then this would have come across more successfully.
I hope this helps explain my stance.
Regards,
Esther
June 26, 2009 at 6:21 pm
The point is that any girl who looked at the article, read the opening lines, and perhaps was even taken in enough to read the first paragraph, would have been so appalled by what it seemed to be promoting that they probably didn’t make it to the part where the article warned of the risks of crash dieting.
Plus your eyes are automatically drawn to the infobox which gives a nice list of suggested crash-diets in case anyone who was feeling a bit podgy or body-conscious that day needed some inspiration to bascially starve themselves. If anything was irresponsible, it was the way the piece was put together – it screamed “Look, here is a corset, some recommended diets and some celebs who do it too, no go on, starve yourself pretty.”
No matter what the words actually said, everything else would be potentially damaging to women and men who were easily coaxed into thinking they needed to lose weight.
I was one of the ones who managed to make it past the first paragraph and, believe me, I still felt like the the entire article (words, strap, pic and headline) was a waste of time and seemed to back track on years of promoting happy eating and feeling happy with your body. It was like a how-to giude for anorexics, and would have been better left unwritten.
June 27, 2009 at 8:13 am
Hi,
I appreciate your comments. I just want to stress again that in NO way was I promoting extreme dieting – completely the opposite. The mention of extreme diets I myself went on when I was younger was included not to trigger anyone into trying one, but to show how absurd and dangerous these diets are. I know I’ve read many articles in my time which made me feel a pressure to diet, but as a reporter I can’t control how people might misread an article which clearly shows such diets are ‘snake oil’ and ‘miserable’ and backs this up with warnings on eating disorders and sensible NHS advice. I have written extensively on the subject of eating disorders and it’s a subject dear to my heart, so I’d just hate anyone to misread my article or take the wrong message away when my whole intention was and always will be to heap scorn on extreme diets…
Best wishes,
Olivia