If you have read my articles, you know I am always pointing out how the diet industry is multi-billion-dollar industry. $60 billion to be exact. Let that sink in. Think about the diet books, plans, bars or supplements you have purchased, all to lose weight. You just move on from one to the next, since one never seems to last very long or only gives you results for awhile and then seems to stop working. See, this is the idea behind all of it. The more you keep chasing, the more money you will spend.
But where does this leave you? It leaves you stuck in the traps of an industry that is made up of weight loss programs, pharmaceutical companies that push weight loss drugs and supplements and these other companies that have mastered wrapping up their diets and programs in “health” and beauty. It has preyed on the feelings of insecurity, never being enough and the disdain for your body.
Here is the truth. No matter how these messages are pitched to you, about your health, taking care of yourself and your body, these companies do NOT care about you, as a person. They care about the money you spend with them. None of these products or plans are long-term solutions. They are all quick fix schemes to get you hooked and to keep on spending. It might be hard to admit that you have been played by this industry, but it is the truth.
Just look at when the BMI standards came out. BMI is a simple math equation that divides your weight into your height (squared). It does not consider bone size, structural build or muscle mass. It was actually refuted by scientists because it was never designed to be used on an individual for diagnosis, but to pool a population of people. But it was picked up by doctors and insurance companies because of the simplicity of the equation. And when the International Obesity Task Force designed the parameters of BMI, guess who the two largest funders of this task force were? Two pharmaceutical companies who only had weight loss drugs on the market. Those that once would have been considered “normal weight” were now considered to be “overweight.” Look how widely used BMI is. It really makes you look at the propaganda that is associated with it. Just like the tobacco industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the diet industry falls right in line.
It is time to see through the masks that the diet industry wears. You can not have a peaceful relationship with food and still be at war with your body. You must think about all the messages you are sent to assure that you will have to fight really hard to find this. Because when you do find peace, you stop spending. The industry loses one more customer that is not buying into weight bias or stigma. Just think of what could happen if we all could do that.
