Episode 2 - Thin is in: Our million dollar a day habit

Mondays at 7.30pm on W.

Intro :

Tonight we’re serving up a hot topic – diets. The quest for a better body consumes both women and men, and in Australia we’re prepared to pay for it. In fact, dieting is a habit that costs us a million dollars a day. Is it the media’s fault that we all want to be thin? Do diets work? And is a diet the best way to tackle what is the reality in Australia – a growing obesity problem?

Our host Rebecca Gibney probes into the eating habits of her panellists and guests to find out what works, what doesn’t, and why.

Our Panellists:

Rebecca Gibney, Prue MacSween, Amanda Keller, Toby Allen and Dr Rick Kausman

See panellist profiles

Our guests

Arrnott Olssen:

One of the finalists on Network Seven’s Popstars, Arrnott gained national attention for more than his great singing voice with the judges choosing to comment about his weight. Arrnott says the comments were really hurtful.

Arrnott is 27 years old and currently weighs about 135 kgs. He moved to Australia from Fiji in 1995 and says he was immediately struck by the culture shock of big city life in Sydney and also the overt sexuality of people. Gaining weight became his way of coping with his new life, and over the next two years his weight ballooned without him even realising. At his heaviest, Arrnott says he was 180 kgs. His goal now is to get down to 90 kgs.

Arrnott says it has taken him two and a half years to be really focused on losing weight. He says one of the reasons he hadn’t tackled the problem earlier is that weight loss options are expensive, for example white bread is often cheaper than brown. Because he gets bored easily, Arrnott says he finds it hard to stick to exercise routines or diets. He says if he denies himself something, he usually rebels and eats something much worse a few days later.

Emotionally, Arrnott says he finds weight loss particularly difficult. People talk about diets constantly but he finds it hard to stay motivated and exercise and eat well. He says his dieting struggles would often reduce him to tears. Arrnott says that whenever he was bored or felt let down or suffered an audition rejection he would turn to food. Now if he feels like that, he gets out of the house and gets active. He has totally changed the way he eats, and now walks everywhere with his pedometer.

Arrnott is currently being sponsored by two programs – Evolution to Well Being, which focuses on ‘the integrated pathway to your own evolution of health and wellbeing’; and Eat Fit Food, which delivers his meals. Determined to prove the Popstars judges wrong, Arrnott has lost 8-10 kgs in the last three weeks. He says his ultimate goal is to be able to go into General Pants and buy something off the rack.

Arrnott says there are definite stereotypes about his size, and that, despite his weight loss, he still suffers from people’s prejudices.

Arrnott says we need to change the notion that you have to be skinny to look good. He says if you look good you feel good. Once he had someone to make his own clothes, Arrnott says he felt so much better about himself and much more motivated to tackle his weight.

For more information on Evolution to Well Being, go to www.etwgroup.com

Sonia Amoroso:

Sonia Amoroso started her business, at the age of 22, with just $700. Her company, Cat Media, is now Australia’s fastest growing health and beauty company, turning over more than $35 million annually. Sonia was included on BRW magazine's young rich list, named Ernst & Young's Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2003 and is a nominee for 2004 Business Woman of the Year.

One of her company’s most successful products is the FatBlaster, which has over 70 per cent of the over-the-counter weight-loss supplements market in Australia. It is a supplement taken before food to help suppress the appetite, help with sugar cravings, boost the metabolism and provide more energy. Sonia says anecdotal evidence from her customers supports the product’s claims.

Sonia acknowledges her company identified a gap in the weight loss market, and created a product to fill it. Nonetheless, she says her company provides information with FatBlaster to ensure the product helps promote a healthy lifestyle, and is not just a quick fix.

Linda Chisolm:

Linda is a 39-year-old mother of three, who says she’d had a weight problem from the age of 5. She had tried everything to lose weight – the Israeli Diet, the Chicken Diet, the Lemon Diet, Weight Watchers, Easy Slim, pills, gyms, and group weight loss. But none of them worked, until she shed an amazing 57 kilos – and changed her life – to become a finalist in this year’s Slimmer magazine’s Diet of the Year competition. So how did she do it?

Linda says she simply got sick of the yo-yo dieting, and found attitude instead! She says she realised she had wasted half her life watching her weight going up and down. Finally, she’d had enough of the pain and discomfort of being overweight, and decided she wasn’t going to waste any more energy and time on the diet merry-go-round. She took herself back to Weight Watchers, determined to make it work. With that attitude, it did. Linda weighed in at 129kgs, and today she is 72kgs.

Linda says she is very proud of her ‘astronomical effort’. She says she will now be with Weight Watchers for the rest of her life, and credits the group support for her achievement, even though she realises that the method doesn’t suit everyone. Linda now gets up every morning at 5am – not always fun she admits – to exercise. She says this is a change for life, and there’s no going back to her old eating habits.

Amy Sinclair:

Amy is the editor of the national weekly celebrity magazine NW, which most weeks features a fat/ skinny/ diet story on its cover. Stories such as “Kate Hudson – Forced to Lose 30kg in just 3 months”, “Posh Spice - Anorexic & Depressed”, “Bikini Bodies – Hot Or Not?” and “Britney Spears – My Fat Misery” are typical weekly fare
for NW readers.

For the past year, this celebrity bible has been running a weekly ‘NW Diet Club’, a double-page spread outlining, usually celebrity inspired, diets – things like the “Pussycat Dolls’ Body Secrets”, “Penny Lancaster’s stay slim tips”, “The Chocolate Diet” and “Food Combination” diets.

Amy says the Diet Club and celebrity weight focus of NW is simply a response to what readers want. She says celebrity diets are huge for the magazine industry and that her readers (90% of whom are female) love them because they are obsessed with celebrities and body image.

Amy admits some of the diets portrayed in the ‘NW Diet Club’ are radical, but says the magazine’s new diet trends’ spread is balanced by a nutrition column on the side. Amy says NW wouldn’t touch a diet advocated by a celebrity with an eating disorder. She gives the example of Geri Halliwell a couple of years ago. Back then Geri was super skinny and touting yoga as the answer, but Amy says she was cautious of putting any health advice from Geri in the magazine. Similarly, Amy says they would never advocate super skinny Hollywood actress Calista Flockhart as a look to aim for and, in fact, says her magazine would say the opposite.

Mink Sadowsky:

Catwalk model and TV presenter, Mink Sadowsky is more than aware of the irony of a debate on weight. She knows a model has to be skinny – everyone complains about it but they still demand it.

Growing up in Europe, Mink says she was raised to finish everything on her plate and still remembers getting a clip under the ear if she didn’t. She says this approach to food has stood her in good stead nutritionally.

Working in the fashion industry, Mink says her real concern is for the problems facing young girls and boys regarding weight. She says the industry offers no nutritional advice to young models, and simply fills their heads with insecurities thanks to mindless comments such as “she’s put on weight”. Mink says such a comment – always a negative one in her industry – ignores the fact that the young girl is simply growing up. She says that sadly that leads to an industry attitude of ‘there is no real place for them any more’.

Weight is always going to be an issue in her industry, Mink says, and it’s a murky area where people push the line that ‘thin is successful’. She is also concerned at the high incidence of girls who take up smoking in the belief it suppresses appetite.

What is needed, says Mink, is correct information about diet and nutrition. She says obsessive dieting, anorexia and bulimia are mental health problems. The reality is that all bodies are different, Mink says, and that exercise and good nutrition are paramount for good health.

Mink mentored some of the young models at Fashion Week, and says the fashion industry could set up a youth initiative on the dangers of anorexia and bulimia, along similar lines to the QUIT campaign for smokers. Ideally, Mink says education about nutrition should start in primary school.

Matt O’Neill:

Matt is one of Australia's leading nutrition and fitness educators. He has lectured in eight countries and is a regular at fitness conventions in Australia, New Zealand and the UK. Matt holds a Bachelor's degree in sport science and a master's degree in nutrition and dietetics. From 1996 - 2000, Matt was the Nutritionist and Senior Food Policy Officer for the Australian Consumers' Association (ACA), advocating for improved nutrition and better food labelling. He has also been Instructor Trainer for GutBusters, sports dietitian for the Sydney City Roosters Rugby League Football Club and is an International Nordic Walking Association (INWA) Master Trainer.

Matt says the challenge for both parents and children is that habits are changing in our society. It is no longer considered safe for kids to play outside alone and with parents working long hours, it’s often not possible. He says parents shouldn’t feel guilty about these lost opportunities, but should encourage their kids simply to move around more. Parents also provide ideal role models in their own eating habits – if kids see their parents eating a wide variety of healthy foods, he says they’ll follow suit. Matt says schools have an important role to play too, by offering healthy, tasty food in the school tuckshops.

You can contact Matt at: www.smartshape.com.au

Megan Baker:

Like most of us Megan loved a bit of what was bad for her. But unlike most of us, it presented her with some dire health problems. After putting on nearly 20 kgs in one year, Megan was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes at Christmas 2003. She was 17 at the time, and weighed 82 kgs. Megan’s mother, Jill, told Megan of the diagnosis. At the time, Megan thought “at least it’s not cancer, it’s not too bad”. But once her doctor explained her illness could affect her fertility, Megan says the seriousness of the situation really hit home.

From that day on Megan’s eating habits totally changed, and three months later she learned she had reversed the diabetes.

Megan says fast food had always been her weakness, but she hasn’t had a Dominos Pizza for months (she used to buy it twice a week). She also avoids walking down the chocolate aisle at the supermarket. Previously, Megan says she would order a coffee with skim milk, but team it with a piece of chocolate cake. She would also eat whole blocks of chocolate. Not that she’s totally eliminated those treats, but Megan says she now eats just small portions of chocolate.

Exercise was a hard lifestyle change, Megan says, but she now walks just about everywhere. So much so that her father worries that she’ll walk so far away she won’t have the energy for the return journey!

Megan says her determination to lose weight actually started a few weeks before her diagnosis. She had been in a shop for larger sized women with her mother, looking unsuccessfully for a new pair of boardies. When they were outside, Megan turned to her mother and said: “I never want to go back to that shop. Can you help me make sure I don’t?” Jill booked her daughter into her gym. Megan says she first noticed some weight loss whilst on holidays about three weeks later. She tried on a pair of boardies and they fitted! She says it was only a slight change but it was enough to encourage her to keep going.

Louise, Tecla and Emma Di Franscesco

Louise Di Franscesco is passionate about children’s diet and exercise habits, and says the responsibility for a child’s health and fitness rests squarely on the parent’s shoulders. Louise has no time for people who say it should be left to schools, which she says are simply a place for teaching the science of nutrition.

Louise makes lots of her own food, such as ice cream and bread, at home. That way, she knows what is in it. She makes bread every night, after working 8.30am to 6pm. She says if she can find the time to do it, anyone can!

Louise says her two daughters are chalk and cheese when it comes to food. Tecla, 11, tends to put on weight so Louise makes sure she plays lots of sports and encourages her to try new ones. Eight-year-old Emma, on the other hand, has trouble keeping weight on. She’s also very active so Louise has to make sure she eats enough.

Under Louise’s house rules the children can choose their dinner but it has to have two vegetables in it. They have to eat three pieces of fruit a day, and all of that must be eaten before there’s any ice cream. The family eats out every Friday night, but whatever they choose has to have salad with it.

Louise says her girls know about carbohydrate loading requirements for the sports they play. With gymnastics training twice a week, Emma is now learning that she needs carbohydrates for lunch plus a protein and carbohydrate snack for energy.

Weight loss, says Louise, is pretty straightforward – what you put in and don’t expend in energy stays there. Louise says she allows her daughters one hour only of the computer or TV a night, and says that as a family their aim is to get out of the house as much as possible.

So remember, no matter what your goal weight or lifestyle, the only way to truly achieve health is through a balanced, nutritious diet and regular exercise. If we’re going to have a million dollar a day habit, let’s make it an addiction to health.

Tune in to Mars Venus, Mondays at 7.30pm on W.

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