This article looks at the work of The Weight Foundation in the UK
A campaigning weight-control charity has launched a World Beyond Dieting Week to focus attention on what it says are the often-ignored real reasons for eating, overweight and self-image crises.
Its researchers are asking all long-term dieters and everyone who is overly weight-obsessed to use the time to concentrate on their personal issues and to help the charity in its ongoing work to develop solutions for lasting and natural weight control.
Marking the event is the release of a new online self-test tool, The Hardcore Dieting Index, which lets individuals identify with common patterns of problem eating behavior and distressing failed dieting.
Manchester UK-based The Weight Foundation believes that most dieting frustration and misery is driven by a combination of emotional, cultural and commercial pressures and that dieting itself is actually more of a contributory factor in the escalating overweight crisis than a solution.
In-depth research with over 700 long-term dieters has created this unique picture of persistent dieting. Hardcore dieters are described as Swingers, Flatliners, or Lifers according to their habits. Swingers are yo-yo dieters who fail to sort out their underlying food issues. Flatliners fight a continual battle between foods they see as good or bad and Lifers cannot face even a day off their rigid regimes.
The registered charity provides mental exercises to help unpack and overcome the personal range of emotional and cultural factors which trap hardcore dieters in food and dieting misery. It campaigns against what it calls the Eating Madness - the growing obsession with all things related to food, eating, dieting and rising obesity.
Apart from occasional celebration and sometimes as a backdrop to being sociable, eating needs to be about food, not mood. Food is in all our faces, often literally, nearly all the time. We need to step back - These are the messages the nonprofit organization seeks to put over.
At present it receives the majority of its contacts from the UK, the US, Canada and Australasia but is very keen to develop Spanish, French and German language facilities. With growing momentum the plan is also to train up local weight-control mentors who can offer closer support to complement the online resource.
World Beyond Dieting Week runs from October 9-15 and is intended to become a major annual knowledge gathering and sharing event for the international struggle against rising obesity and failed dieting solutions.
It celebrates the fifth birthday of the fast expanding operation, which was begun by 46 year old motivational and behavioral expert Evans as a hobby and has developed along non-commercial lines as an alternative to commercial dieting.
Check the top 10 diets chart and find out which diet is currently the web's number 1 seller.
Malcolm Evans
Malcolm Evans is founder of The Weight Foundation which conducts dieting research and develops strategies for lasting and natural weight-loss.
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