July 2009 Club Email

Hi all,
Here's the Harcombe Diet Club news for July...

Thank you so much for signing up, buying books and for your queries – however you came to be on this email list. Please feel free to unsubscribe at any time if you don’t want any more updates.
I’ve just come back from a fascinating 3-day conference in Liverpool run by the “Association for the Study of Obesity.” Here are the things that I found most interesting:

Most amazing fact: A person with a BMI of 35 has 93 times the risk of developing Type II diabetes than a person with a BMI of 21. A BMI of 35 is also not breathtakingly high – 1.2 million people in the UK currently have a BMI of over 40. An average height woman (5’4”) who is 14 stone 7lbs has a BMI of 35 and an average man (5’9”) who weighs 17 stone has a BMI of 35.
Most interesting comment: One of the highlights of the conference was the opportunity to receive presentations from two obese people – sharing their experiences. One had had a gastric bypass and the other was waiting for one. The former said in his presentation “There are some people who are fat and happy, but I don’t know any”. My experience and findings would support this.

The big news in obesity is surgery. The Liverpool team is the most renowned and active in the UK and they are performing 1100 surgical weight loss operations a year. The NICE (National Institute for Clinical Excellence) guidelines say that people with a BMI of 40 or higher can be considered for weight loss surgery. That means 1.2m people ‘qualify’ already and that also means 10,000 people in the Liverpool area alone. 1,500 people are being referred to the Liverpool weight management centre each year, so this team simply cannot cope with demand, let alone clear any back log. If you have a bright child, wondering what career they should go into, weight loss surgery is the answer! Obesity is not generally a light-hearted topic, but there was one ‘fun’ moment when one of the speakers said about weight loss surgery “well, if you connect your oesophagus to your anus, of course you will lose weight.” This does quite nicely describe what the surgery options are, however, - bypass the digestive tract, shorten the digestive tract, and/or constrict the operation of the stomach in some way. We don’t know what this will do to vitamin and mineral absorption in the body, let alone the long term effects of surgery. Why would any government pay for operations like this before considering (in my view) less radical options such as banning transfats and sugar – the ingredients in the products that are the main cause of obesity?

The last ‘acceptable’ ‘ism’. There were some outstanding presentations on the psychological aspects of obesity and how ’fat’ people are seen and treated by society. The evidence that there is discrimination against overweight people is irrefutable and overwhelming. From childhood studies into weight and early school performance to discrimination in the workplace – evidence is widely available that overweight people don’t do as well at school and aren’t given the same opportunities at work. A Personnel Today journal (2007) survey of 300 senior managers and directors in business revealed that 79% of respondents considered it acceptable to discriminate (not hire/not promote) against overweight people. Their reasons? “These people are clearly weak-willed, lazy and out of control”. I see an overweight person and see (most likely) a calorie-counter and a victim of the wrong advice. The last thing I see that person as is weak-willed.
Childhood obesity: There was a jaw-dropping prediction from the childhood obesity expert at the conference – an adolescent who develops Type II diabetes is unlikely to see their 50th birthday! The psychological aspects of childhood obesity were also sobering. One brilliant study, done by Strauss & Pollack in 2003, involved 90,000 children across over 120 schools in the US. Children were asked to name their friends (they could name as many as they liked) and the results were then mapped onto a picture. This picture had a mass of white dots in the middle with high numbers of friend links going TO these white dots and a mass of black dots around the outside, with just one or two friend links for these people. The white dots were normal weight children and the black dots were overweight children. So much for fat and popular, let alone fat and jolly. This is cruel stuff. The final interesting comment in the area of childhood obesity was the view expressed that whether it is genetic or lifestyle (i.e. nature or nurture) “whenever I see an overweight child walk into my clinic I know that an overweight parent, or two, will follow.”

What I’m up to:
1) The biggest news by far for June was getting onto the Amazon best seller list. In the w/c 14 June 2009, “Stop Counting Calories & Start Losing Weight” spent 5 days in the Top 20 and the recipe book was in the Top 100. We were over the moon! A huge thank you to all of you who helped put it there. Books do drop off the list as quickly as they jump on, but we know that we’re knocking on that door and every article is a chance of getting back on the list.

2) Another wonderful highlight of the month was lunching with the producer of “Britain’s Biggest Loser” and the hunky trainer, Richard, from the programme! Fingers crossed to see if anything comes from this.

3) I did another ‘walk the pavements’ day with my wonderful publicist, EdenCancan, in London. We met Closer, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Good Housekeeping, Psychologies and Red Magazines and an article for Glamour followed the same day. I’m in the October edition analysing the diets of a 4 women - size 8/10/12 and 14 – and 1 male. All with a view to see how they can eat more healthily, not just lose weight. It is really interesting to see what real people eat on a daily basis. Especially different sizes and genders.

4) I’ve had two features in “Heat” magazine in June. The second one was quite funny – it was an article on Kerry Katona having put on two stone since January and the dangers of yo-yo dieting. There was a cosmetic surgeon also quoted, talking about what liposuction actually is. The trouble is, the surgeon and I had our pictures and words mixed up, so my friends were texting me to ask “Since when do you know anything about liposuction – you faint at blood tests?!”

5) I’ll be sending you all the weekly diet tips that go to the media each week. The first one was on “How to lose or maintain weight on holiday”. There’ll be another one next weekend. I am doing youtube videos on most of these (www.youtube.com/zoeharcombe) if any of you prefer to view them, rather than read them.

Don’t forget - if any of you have any before and after pictures – we’re really happy to get you payments from magazines for them (the bigger the difference, the more they pay)! Our first case study Laura, is getting ready for a make over and photo shoot for “Closer”, any day now!
A request from my publisher and publicist – please can any of you who like the diet go on Amazon and leave a book review! I have thousands of email testimonials and about 8 reviews on Amazon! Thank you SO much.

We’re having a heat wave in the UK at the moment. If it’s hot where you are, cut back on carbs in the heat – it’s a great way to stay cool and lose weight at the same time. Carbs provide immediate energy and make you feel warmer. Salads, cold meats & fish will keep you cool and hunger-free.
All the best – Zoë x