Media must convey more accurate perspective on diet

Debra Stuart
CEO, Premier Global

The recent ‘Fat vs Sugar’ programme on UK TV (Horizon, BBC2, 29 Jan) was certainly good TV, but I’m not sure it dealt with the issue of diet in a way that was helpful, or indeed very balanced.

Without knowing viewing figures, it was clearly packaged up to be accessible, so I’m sure will have been watched by a lot of people – which is why I was slightly disappointed that it wasn’t able to take a more rounded approach to the subject at hand. Of course the nutritional element is important (and particularly the not-wholly-made-clear distinction between natural fats and those found in processed foods) but there are all sorts of other contributory reasons that, in reality, get in the way of people being as healthy as they should be.

The programme didn’t make reference to the psychological reasons for eating the wrong foods (food addiction, comfort eating, etc) or indeed the economic barriers. Given the scale of the UK’s obesity problem, healthy eating clearly isn’t an easy problem to solve, and my worry is that the programme may have left people with a skewed view of what sort of diet will really help them achieve better health/weight loss – which can be extremely demoralising in the long run.

I’m sure the programme never claimed to be the answer to the UK’s dietary missteps, but I do wish the mainstream media would acknowledge that diet is a far wider, more socially complex issue than whether you prefer bacon or a chocolate bar. Otherwise, even interesting programmes like this become about as useful as the next fad diet telling us to eat celery and blancmange seven days a week.

A healthy balanced diet goes far beyond choosing between fat and sugar / photo: www.shutterstock.com/PaulShlykov

The leaving process is key to retention ‘battle’

Guy Griffiths
Director, GG Fit

What a great article by Mike Hill in HCM Jan 14 (p62), looking at why members leave health clubs. If operators act on this kind of research, we might get somewhere with the eternal retention battle.

The two key areas for me in this research were members’ first few visits, and the time after leaving.

Clubs’ desire to provide perceived value for money, coupled with industry recommendations to visit three times a week, set up many new members to fail before they’ve even started. A new exerciser might be aiming to visit once a week, which can already be a big step up. If the instructor says they need to come at least three times a week to see any results, this can destroy their motivation. Once a week is better than never; if we must encourage people to come more often, let’s wait until they’ve built up the habit.

When members leave, regardless of how difficult or easy you make it, you have a duty to find out why, then re-engage them. Most established clubs have 1.5 times as many ex-members as paying members, and 25 per cent would consider re-joining (Mintel, HCM Aug 13). Sending regular communications to ex-members is a no-brainer.

Clubs have a duty to find out why a member has left / shutterstock.com/Pavel L Photo and Video

Crash diets won’t aid long-term health and weight loss

Ben Pratt
Northern tutor manager, Premier Training

I was interested to read your news story on new research that suggests a short-term crash diet can reverse the effects of type 2 diabetes (HCM Feb 14, p15).

Early speculation on the results of such a dietary trial need to be treated with caution: nothing has been conclusively proven at this stage.

Crash diets such as this often attract attention as they only require a short period of focus and promise quick results. As such, their appeal extends beyond the study’s sample of type 2 diabetics to the many people who constantly struggle with their weight.

It’s vital that the correct messages are promoted in the press; it naeeds to be made clear that this sort of crash diet won’t support long-term health and weight loss.

This 800-calorie a day diet, studied by Newcastle University, is too far below the recommended daily calorific intake – 1,950 (women) and 2,450 (men) – that are advised for good health.

In the initial trial in 2011, the diet was maintained for two months; even then, participants described how difficult it was to adhere to due to constant hunger and bouts of fatigue. In the proposed follow-up trial, the diet will be carried out for up to 20 weeks to determine safety over a longer period of time.

The experts who ran the trial suggested such an extreme diet should only be applied under close medical supervision. However, there’s always a risk that the general public may try to copy such an approach on their own in their efforts to lose weight – and risk negatively affecting their health in the process.

Our advice to diabetic individuals is to reduce sugar and starchy carbohydrate intake, avoid processed foods where possible, and return to higher quality, nutrient-dense foods as a much more successful way to reduce and even improve their symptoms. This approach is underpinned by a significant body of scientific evidence that has been published in the last 10 to 15 years.

800-calorie-a-day diet: “Too far below the recommendations for good health” / photo: www.shutterstock.com

Activity must be at the core of kids’ development

Jonathan Griffiths
UK marketing manager, Precor

Your recent news story on the lack of UK policy towards increasing children’s exercise levels (HCM Jan 14, p11) was an interesting read. With the government not taking the necessary steps to create a national strategy for activity, it seems that we as an industry need to take action and support local communities and the education sector in generating behavioural change in early years.

At the end of last year, Precor launched a whitepaper – Engaging Children and Young People in Physical Activity – in conjunction with ukactive, which showed that activity levels plummet between the ages of 10 and 15 years. This is the window we should be most worried about, as despite the fact that the positive effect of activity is clear both on physical and psychological wellness, schools are finding ways to incorporate it ever more challenging.

The whitepaper summarises the main challenges for key groups – such as girls, boys, obese children and disabled children – and then outlines suggestions on how to tackle the issues, making sure everyone has the opportunity to participate in a physical activity during the school day.
With kids’ obesity and physical inactivity levels rapidly rising, we cannot wait for the government to step in. The fitness industry can play a key role in ensuring our children grow up aware of the importance of being physically active. At Precor, we believe this should be at the core of every child’s development.

All kids must have a chance to be active during the school day / photo: www.shutterstock.com/Wallenrock