Oh, Oprah, not again... "surrendering your weight"
On the cover of O magazine a few months ago? "A Miracle Course in Weight Loss (That really works!)" (BTW, I saw this month's with another set of weight-loss "secrets." If the last one worked so well, why do they need to keep running diet and weight-loss tips??!) Warning, triggering...Cue eye-rolling, and yet, with the power Oprah has to influence so many people, it never ceases to amaze me that she is still looking for the miracle of weight loss... Oh, and there were no studies, randomized or otherwise to prove that the "method" in this article works.Oprah writes about her "fear that keeps showing up as fat," and how the "unconscious mind will put the weight back on." Maybe Oprah puts the weight back on because she restricts (one episode she chirped about "no carbs" and gorging on lettuce with lemon juice...) Regaining weight is the predictable result of dieting between 85 and 90% of the time. It's physiology....Once again she sets readers up for failure, "The results will come only from your full dedication and commitment to the process." Gee, how refreshing, so if it doesn't work, like with every other weight loss regimen, it's your fault. Basically the woman writing the book and featured in the article talks about spiritual giving-over of your self-hatred, relying on God and when you do that, the weight will simply disappear.The brazen ignorance of physiology is breathtaking. Emotional eating may lead to weight gain for some, but resolving those emotional issues, whether it's through "God" or a therapist does NOT guarantee weight loss. Some will lose weight, some will stay the same, and some might even gain weight when eating competence improves. And never mind the assumption that just stopping the "emotional eating" will result in competent eating. (A great "how-to" for eating competence for adults is Secrets to Feeding a Healthy Family-Satter.)Because, no, your body is NOT "merely a screen onto which your thoughts are projected" or personality traits. The article swerves dangerously here for me. If you're fat it's an outer sign to all the world that you are weak, emotionally shrunken, lazy etc. This isn't Chaucer, where the pox-marked ones were evil, and those with clear skin and beauty were that way because of their inner virtue, and yet, that is what is implied. "...learning to love Not-Thin-You, for she is nothing other than a product of fear, and fear, being the absence of love, is a call for love." This reminds me of middle-school math. a=b , b=c, therefore a=c. If you are fat you are unloved. You are unlovable. So love "Not Thin You" not to love her, and embrace this body and this world, but so you can get rid of her...The letter to "Not-Thin-You" (180 pounds btw) describes her as unable to do cartwheels, doomed to wear flats, shouldn't "rock the dance floor," only to brag about how now she has avocados in the fridge, dreaming of 100 sit-ups and will soon say Good-bye to NTY...I suppose I will spare you the rest, though I have crazily circled and exclamation-pointed several other paragraphs.Just seems like more self-hating drivel, and so, so sad to me... And now I can throw this pile of steaming shame into the recycling bin...1/11 addendum: Ellyn Satter's Newsletter on the topic of "emotional eating"