‘Diet and Weight Loss’ at Psychology, Philosophy and Real Life

How I eat at home now is quite different to how I ate when I was young. And yet, I don’t have a sense that my younger self wasn’t me — quite the opposite. The story of my learning which foods I like is “my” story.

It seems to me that in a complex situation, we have little alternative but to be self-regulating. To find a diet that is viable we need to take account of factors like what is available, our individual preferences and culture, and our budget.

With the psychiatric side effects of rimonabant (sold as Acomplia in Europe and as Zimulti elsewhere) turning out to be even worse than originally thought, and the effectiveness of this new weight loss drug turning out to be pretty minimal, Sanofi-Aventis has yanked it from the market following a decision by European regulators to suspend marketing approval.

The shocking mortality rate for anorexia — higher than for any other psychiatric disorder — is not due just to starvation or physical deterioration, says new research, but to sufferers committing suicide in the most violent and determined of ways.

I think that it is of utmost importance that campaigns ‘against obesity’ should not make an underclass of overweight children who it is OK to treat however we like, because the health police and media are on our side. Both teasing, and pushing overweight teenagers to diet are likely to increase the likelihood of them discovering, and getting stuck in, destructive eating patterns.