Telling children weight loss injections are an easy way to slim is a big fat lie
NINETY per cent of women have been on some form of diet in their lifetime, according to research.
Well not me . . . I’ve been on a diet for 90 per cent of my lifetime!
I’ve tried them all — the depressing cabbage soup diet, the low-carb Atkins, juice cleanses and the “grapefruit diet,” which requires eating fruit or drinking its juice with every meal.
The two things they all had in common were that they affected my disgestive system in rather unpleasant ways — and none resulted in me losing weight. Not for the long term, anyway.
So, if you are currently thinking that those “miracle” slimming jabs, Wegovy and Ozempic, that everyone is talking about, are going to be the answer then you need to think again.
Because an obesity expert said last week that patients would need to be on the injections for life or risk having the pounds pile back on.
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For life? What a frightening prospect.
Especially given the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) said prescriptions for Wegovy would be limited to two years because no data is yet available on the drug’s long-term impacts.
We have all seen a plethora of previously “shapely” celebs who have lost half their body weight very quickly.
And rather than thinking, “good for them, they must have worked hard for their new body,” many of us are quietly pondering whether — nudge, nudge, wink, wink — they are on the injections.
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Because it does seem so, so, tempting, doesn’t it?
Eat what you want and inject your way to being slim — as long as you don’t mind the reported side-effects of constant nausea, vomiting and depression.
Those side-effects are perhaps why a study found nearly half of people with diabetes quit an earlier generation of the medications within a year and 70 per cent within two years.
Truth is, there is no quick fix to losing weight.
Well, other than eating less and exercising more, which sounds pretty simple but appears to be impossible for most of us to stick to.
These injections are said to give you the willpower you need to avoid over-eating.
It works by using a synthetic hormone to trick the brain into feeling full, which results in you wanting to eat less.
Constant nausea
But what kind of message does this give our kids? That you can cheat your way to being thin?
We have an obesity crisis among both adults and children in the UK.
And sending the message to youngsters that the “easy” solution to the problem is a “simple” weight-loss jab is misleading.
It would be far better to teach them in school how to cook healthy meals and do more PE.
Many schools do PE once a week, which is nowhere near enough to create healthy kids with an energetic approach to life.
We should be encouraging children to take responsibility for their own health, to move more and eat nutritious food, rather than inject themselves with an appetite suppressant.
And if you really want to lose weight you just need to, you know, eat less.
ELOISE STAR IN MAKING
HOW inspiring that Dame Deborah James’s teen daughter Eloise is “walking in mummy’s footsteps” by launching her own charity fashion range to raise money for her Bowelbabe Fund.
The 13-year-old must be nothing short of devastated after losing her mum last June, five years after the former teacher was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer.
But she is clearly her mother’s daughter.
Before her tragic death, Deborah – the presenter of the You, Me And The Big C podcast – raised £6.75million for cancer research.
That figure now stands at £11.3million and Eloise wants to keep it growing by launching her own charity collection for online fashion brand, In The Style.
The teenager says that every piece is inspired by her mother.
What a touching tribute and what an impressive young person Eloise is.
GORE BLIMEY
NO ONE would wish for another human’s physical injury but it’s hard to fully sympathise with the so-called “Messi of Matadors”, who has been seriously injured in a bullfighting incident.
Andrés Roca Rey sustained multiple injuries and bruises covering his body after being gored and crushed by a 1,100lb bull against the barriers at an event in Santiago, Spain. Yes, horrific.
But surely he has only himself to blame.
Bullfighting is one of the cruellest so-called sports out there and should be banned.
Why any person would gain pleasure from tormenting a trapped and goaded animal – and why people would want to watch in the name of entertainment – is beyond me.
If you poke a bear, you get hurt.
If you stab a bull, you get gored.
Katie’s a hol lot better
I AM continually in awe of Katie Piper, who has been through the mill in so many ways, and so deserves to be living her best life.
Which is what she appeared to be doing in a series of joyful snaps she shared of her holiday in Cornwall last week.
She’s got so much strength and so much courage it astounds me.
She is someone to look up to –a real role model.
KEIR’S DEAD MEAT
THOSE who think a Labour victory at next year’s General Election is a done deal need to pay more attention to their leader’s gift for alienating people.
After losing an army of women voters by supporting the trans lobby with statements including “99 per cent of women do not have a penis”, Sir Keir Starmer appears to be going after the veggie vote.
Only problem?
It’s an argument he can’t even win in his own home.
He raised his children to shun meat until they were ten, he revealed, and then told them they were old enough to make their own choices.
“Our boy said ‘Great’,” Sir Keir admitted. “So the moment we go out there’s a Deliveroo for Kentucky Fried Chicken or McDonald’s.”
That should have been a lesson in what happens when you try to force your right-on, unpopular views down other people’s throats.
If only Keir had the insight to learn from it.
SINEAD WAS SO UNIQUE
I’M no fan of the singer Morrissey.
But I can’t help agreeing with him that the responses to the death of the brilliant and original Sinead O’Connor are very at odds with the world’s response to her when she was alive.
After her death on Wednesday, both tragically and prematurely, a year after her beloved son Shane’s suicide, people are falling over themselves to talk about her brilliance.
Following the Irish singer’s death, celebrities and fans paid tribute to her, calling her a “legend” and an “icon”.
Then the former Smiths frontman hit back, saying: “You Praise Her Now Only Because It Is Too Late . . . You hadn’t the guts to support her when she was alive and she was looking for you.”
Sinead was a truly gifted singer, an original thinker and a brave idealist who was not afraid to speak her mind, even when her mind was full of unpopular opinions.
She battled an abusive childhood, severe mental health issues and then the tragic loss of her son.
May they both rest in peace and may her passing be a reminder to us all to be kinder to each other while we can.
SPACEY RELIEF
KEVIN SPACEY was acquitted and found innocent of sexually assaulting four men this week, after an arduous four-week trial that dragged his name through the mud and meant several years of having to put his career on hold.
His relief must be immense. Still, I’ve seen people taking it upon them-selves to cast doubt on the verdict on Twitter.
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That’s the world of social media for you, guilty even if you are proved to be innocent.
I wish him all the best in getting his professional life back on track.