Lollipop Gate! (appetite supressing)
I will try not to get too ranty in this post (if that’s even a word).
I was horrified when I saw last week Kim Kardashian promoting an appetite suppressing lollipop – as many others were.
I have no real opinion, either positive or negative of the Kardashians, not being a follower. I’ve seen the odd episode of Living with the Kardashians over the years and heard or seen things on the internet like the infamous photo with the champagne glass but this last week made my blood boil.
The majority of Kim Kardashian’s 111 million Instagram followers will be young girls who look up to her and probably inspire to be like her.
Promoting a product that supposedly suppresses appetite is problematic on a number of fronts. (Whether it works or not I don’t know and don’t particularly care – the message is the issue).
Promoting the idea of appetite suppressing is wrong. Hunger is a real cue from our bodies telling us that it needs fuelling. It implies that eating food is wrong, you lack will power if you eat and should be doing what you can to avoid eating – total restriction.
I personally have had to learn to recognise the hunger cue – so much of the time we eat when we’re not hungry; for emotional reasons, to clear our plate, to a timetable, mindless eating, – recognising when I’m hungry and when I’m satisfied are feelings I’ve had to relearn to pay attention to.
Bearing in mind in the UK we spend 500m/year to stand on scales at slimming clubs, and that BEAT state approximately 1.25million people in the UK suffer from an eating disorder, promoting the idea of suppressing appetite just feeds the fire to fuel a growth in these statistics.
It adds to the feelings of not being good enough as we are and will contribute to a disordered relationship with food.
As Megan Crabbe AKA Bodyposipanda points out the fact that this latest product is in the form of a lollipop is itself problematic. Lollipops are consumed more by children than adults, a sweet, not the same as using a diet pill and are primarily viewed as harmless. These are the group we should be encouraging to nourish and move their bodies without judgment, without feeling guilty and promoting acceptance. It has been raised that as a mother, would Kim want her own children to eat these?
Come on Kim, you can do better than this.
Also, my attention has been drawn to the latest Slimming World ad using the slogan “be gorgeous with Slimming World”. Of course, you can’t be gorgeous unless you fit the “ideal”!! Yoyo dieting has been shown to have medical implications of its own. As I’ve previously written about, my own personal experience with SW was not positive – it led to bingeing, feeling deprived, eating for the sake of it, feeling ashamed and like I’d failed, and ultimately putting on more weight after.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to lose weight but we really need to start promoting this to be done in a mindful, sustainable, inclusive way and focus more on health – both emotional and physical – rather than just a number.
If you’re hungry – eat and if you fancy a lollipop have a lollipop ☺️
References:
https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/media-centre/eating-disorder-statistics