Do we have the right attitude?

We’ve lost perspective on what weight loss is all about, says one nutritional therapist

WITH OPERATION Transformationback on our screens once more, and new year resolutions still fresh in the mind, the focus for many this year will be on losing weight. But with public health campaigns against obesity continuing to hit the headlines, have we lost perspective on what weight loss is really all about?

Marie Campion, a nutritional psychotherapist with some 20 years’ experience, certainly thinks so. Campion runs Marino Therapy, which treats some 100 individuals with eating disorders a week, and for her, many of the efforts to combat obesity are in effect about creating eating disorders, rather than solving them.

“The way we handle obesity, by putting a shameful stigma on very intelligent people makes it even more difficult. It’s about more than just losing weight,” she notes. “Anyone can lose weight, but to keep it off is more difficult.”

According to Campion, people don’t appropriately engage with their emotions, and instead tend to comfort eat as a way of dealing with them.

“We need to focus more on the underlying issues,” she says, adding, “We live in a society where people cannot handle emotions but we need to look at the emotions. There is no quick fix, it needs to be looked at in a more balanced way.”

Guilt and shame is another part of today’s approach to dealing with obesity, which Campion feels offers little benefit. After all, if people are told not to go and eat fast food, then they are likely to do so – and binge in the process.

“People do it secretly and then they feel shame and guilt – and they go back to the food to deal with the guilt. If someone says it’s bad for you, then you overeat because it’s a treat,” she says.

Campion has little time for initiatives such as RTÉ's weight-loss programme, Operation Transformation,arguing that the people who sign up for the show are "used by television".

The recent Safefood “Stop the Spread” initiative to get people to measure their waists is another source of frustration for Campion. It focused on getting people to stay within the boundaries of a 32-inch waist for women, and 37-inch for men.

“We have mothers of 13 year olds saying that they are measuring their waists. Again we’re saying that to be some number is to be good. We’re constantly being told that we’re not good enough, marketing is saying we’re not good enough.”

Focusing on calorie counting is also short-sighted and can be pointless, says Campion, pointing out that certain foods require more energy to be absorbed by the body, thus reducing the overall impact.

Menus which break down the calorie content of food – a growing trend in Ireland – are also criticised by Campion.

“I drink my espresso for taste, not for calories,” she says, adding that it’s a “myth” that if you eat more calories than is recommended, you will put on weight because you don’t know how many calories are used by the body in burning the food.

“Calorie counting is creating obesity because if you take a slice pan of bread for example, you don’t know exactly which slice is 90 calories and which one is 100 because every slice is a different slice. We are victims of marketing.”

With obesity on the rise among young children, parents could also improve their techniques when it comes to overweight children, notes Campion.

“If you tell a nine year old that they have to lose weight, it’s like saying ‘you’re not good enough the way you are’,” she says, adding that parents have to get children to respect their bodies. In this regard, she is a fan of families eating together at the table and discussing their day.

“We blame computers, but a child goes to a computer because the child feels not good enough. It feels safer with a computer,” she says.

The secret to maintaining a long-term healthy weight is by trusting your body.

“We’re thinking about how much to eat rather than listening to the body,” she says, adding, “If you listen to your body then you don’t abuse the body with food. Starvation and overeating are the same.”

Adopting such an approach means that the body eventually gets to a point where it is in balance, where it is functioning properly. “It’s when you say no to another piece of cake, you say ‘I would be sick if I had another piece’. The body tells you you have had enough.”

It’s also about cooking for yourself and your family. Campion runs cookery classes without weighing scales in order to encourage people to view food differently. In doing so, she has encountered people who have never actually handled a chicken breast themselves, as they instead opt for pre-prepared processed food.

“We have lost the idea of what it is to be healthy.”