THE World’s largest study of weight loss has this week shown that DIETS DO NOT WORK for the vast majority of slimmers - and may even put lives at risk.
Now I don’t want to be the one that said I told you so - but, I told you so!
Research found that more than two-thirds pile the pounds straight back on, raising the danger of heart attack, stroke and diabetes.
Indeed it was discovered that most dieters end up heavier than they did to start with.
But the most shocking aspect of this research for me is that people are shocked to learn that they are better off not bothering to diet at all.
It has always struck me that if diets do work, then why are one in four Britons at any one time on a diet?
Why is there a multi-billion-pound diet industry feeding off people’s longing to get thin quick?
And why - and this one really gets my goat - are we bombarded every New Year with yet another dieting show or Z-list celebrity “I lost five stone in two week” diet video?
Surely if diets worked you could do one and then that would be you done - off that dieting treadmill for good!
A personal training client once said to me that she was a great believer in a certain slimming club.
“I have been using them for years,” she said.
“Every time I put a bit of weight on I just go back and it comes off again.”
But if it worked then why did she keep having to go back? Why once she had fallen off the dieting wagon did all the weight simply creep back on - bringing a few extra pounds with it?
Technically the only thing that had really lightened was the weight of her purse.
Most worrying though is that research has found that this type of yo-yo dieting is the most dangerous to our health.
Repeated rapid weight gain and loss associated with dieting can double the risk of death from heart disease, including heart attacks and the risk of premature death in general.
Such yo-yo weight loss has also been linked to stroke and diabetes and shown to suppress the immune system, making the body more vulnerable to infection.
We are fighting a rising tide of obesity which brings with it its own horrific health problems but diets are not the way to turn back this tide.
Instead of looking to faddy diet regimes that make us miserable, why as a nation can we not embrace general healthy eating, do a bit of exercise and enjoy things like alcohol and chocolate in moderation?
If we all knocked diets on the head, we could stop the cycle of demoralisation in favour a life of balanced bliss - and force z-listers to find another way to get money out of the general public.

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