Weekend Watching: Super-Skinny Me, the Race to Size Zero

FitSugar — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 02:00:00 -0800

These days, so many activities are described as extreme, and unfortunately dieting is not exempt from this categorization. Two British journalists decided to explore the realities of extreme dieting by subjecting themselves to the techniques used by celebs, and they captured the highlights of their journey (or demise) on film for the BBC documentary Super-Skinny Me: The Race to Size Zero.

To read what this fascinating documentary is all about, just read more

The hour long program is the conceptual inverse of Super Size Me, instead of eating and eating these women diet, fast, and exercise, exercise, exercise. These women work so very hard to drop enough weight to fit into UK size zero, the equivalent of a US size four, and they have six weeks to reach their super-skinny goal. They try the Master Cleanse (aka lemonade diet), protein shakes, watercress soup with nothing else, and colonics (the scene is actually quite graphic and very unglamorous). This extreme relationship to food truly disrupts their lives and relationships, and one becomes borderline bulimic; although, I do believe the supervising physician does a good job of intervening.

Even more interesting than the actual dieting is the epilogue of the show when we catch up with the journalists two weeks and five weeks after their experiment is over. The pounds return quickly for one woman, perfectly illustrating the dangers of yo-yo dieting and the other journalist is still wrestling with her food issues. It is so sad to see.

This hour-long program really hammers home how unhealthy, both mentally and physically, extreme dieting truly is. I do fear some women will still find the final super-skinny results appealing and block out the dangers of this type of dieting.

This program is fascinating and totally worth an hour of your time. It airs tonight, Dec. 2, on BBC America at 10:00 p.m. EST/PST. Watch it and let me know what you think.

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Healthy Dose Link Time!!!

FitSugar — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 12:30:00 -0800

There are body image shows a-plenty airing soon on BBC America. – Weighting Game

The holidays should be merry stress-less. – Vital Juice Daily

It may be time to rethink your relationship with soy products, since soy is not as healthy as you think. – Back in Skinny Jeans

New to Yoga? Join the crash course for beginners. – About: Yoga

There are 28 things health experts forgot to tell you. – HealthBolt

Need to jumpstart your fitness this holiday season? Start by learning to say "no." – That's Fit

More reasons to walk away from the table. – Fitness Fixation

Check out the new 45-minute music mix Extreme Dream to fuel your next workout. – FitPod

Subway is going green. – YumSugar

How does fried cheese make you feel? Sunny can tell ya. – Sunny's Shape Up Blog

To get back to his Swingers weight, John Favreau use his wife as a secret weapon. – iFit & Healthy

Valerie Bertinelli checks in with People about dropping 40 pounds. – The Skinny Website

The unfortunate relationship between running and weight gain . – Complete Running

A little critique on some holiday eating tips: no food left behind . – Elastic Waist

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