Childhood Obesity Articles
Experts Raise Concerns about Highly Restrictive LighterLife Weight Loss Plan
By Hugh C. McBride
Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen is a high-profile interior designer who has established himself as a popular television and radio personality in Great Britain – so it's not surprising that he's no stranger to the featured pages of England's celebrity-obsessed tabloids.
But when Llewelyn-Bowen and his wife, Jackie, were featured on the Mail Online website on May 18, it wasn't the designer who garnered the headlines, it was his wife. Mail Online writer Angella Johnson describes the controversial reason why:
It takes a lot to upstage flamboyant interior designer Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen. But when he stepped out on to the red carpet last week, it wasn’t his dapper outfit that turned heads but his wife Jackie’s dramatic weight loss.
The 44-year-old mother of two has shed a remarkable five stone in just five months, thanks to a drastic 500-calorie-a-day diet.
Jackie lost her weight on the controversial LighterLife diet, which involves sacrificing all solid food. Meals are replaced with shakes and soups, plus four litres of water a day.
The demanding craze has been linked to hair loss, heart attacks, disrupted periods and even death, but Jackie says it worked for her. ‘It’s a reduced-calorie programme and there are going to be potential side effects for anyone who cuts calories,’ she admitted.
For those who aren't familiar with the English weight measurement system, the five stones that Jackie Llewelyn-Bowen lost while on this highly restrictive diet convert to a loss of 70 pounds in five months. (One stone is equal to 14 pounds.)
About LighterLife
The highly restrictive LighterLife weight loss plan is not available in the United States, but it is marketed in the United Kingdom for men and women over the age of 16 who have a body mass index (BMI) of at least 25.
During the first 100 days that people follow the LighterLife weight loss plan, they don't eat any "real food." Instead, they subsist upon water and official LighterLife "Foodpacks" (soups, shakes, and meal replacement bars).
Dieters who follow LighterLife's highly restrictive weight loss program will consume no more than 530 calories per day for about three months. Many health experts advise against undertaking any diet plan involving less than 1,200 daily calories without close medical supervision.
LighterLife clients consult with "counsellors" who have been trained by the program, but who are not required to be medical doctors.
The Dangers of Calorie Restriction
Jackie Llewelyn-Bowen's dramatic weight loss drew attention to the controversial LighterLife weight loss plan, but this isn't the first time that British citizens have heard of this highly restrictive approach to weight loss. And Angella Johnson's reference to the dangers of LighterLife aren't the first warnings that the controversial weight loss plan can have a negative impact on one's health and well-being.
In an Aug. 24, 2008 article by scotsman.com writer Marc Horne, Professor Mike Lean of Glasgow University described LighterLife as a "profiteering starvation diet" with the potential to inflict significant damage.
"In a responsible society it shouldn't be permitted for companies to be marketing and profiteering in this way," said Prof. Lean, who heads Glasgow University's human nutrition department and consults with Glasgow Royal Infirmary.
Great Britain's National Obesity Forum has indicated that highly restricted diets such as LighterLife can put dieters at increased risk for gout, gallstones, and cardiac disturbances.
The British website Weight Loss Resources reports that side effects of LighterLife and similar highly restrictive diet plans can result in exhaustion, weakness, dizziness, insomnia, nausea, constipation, diarrhea, dry skin, hair loss, menstrual changes, and intolerance to the cold.
Healthy Weight Loss
Because of the extreme nature of most rapid weight loss plans, the pounds that overweight individuals shed while following the program often reappear once the dieters revert to their "normal" eating and exercise patterns.
In contrast to the drastic get-slim-quick claims of diets such as LighterLife, the Grapefruit Diet, the Cabbage Soup Diet, and other "too good to be true" plans, health-conscious weight-loss experts emphasize a long-term approach that puts well-being ahead of dramatic results.
By making fundamental and lasting changes to overweight patients' relationships with food and exercise, a safe and healthy weight loss program such as the Structure House weight loss plan empowers people to exert positive control over their thoughts, their behaviors, and their lives.
