Have an eating disorder? Try our starvation diet!

15th April 2008

Have an eating disorder? Try our starvation diet!

Another diet company has joined the ranks of discredited and disreputable diet mongerers: LighterLife.

If you remember, diet book author Kevin Trudeau recently came under Federal Trade Commission crosshairs and diet-monger Heidi Diaz, founder of the much-aligned diet scam Kimkin’s, has also been in court to answer claims of false advertising. And in January, the LA Weight Loss Center closed its doors and filed for bankruptcy.

LighterLife starvation diet The British-based LighterLife program consists of drinking 530 liquid calories a day for 12 weeks. The company claims to have enabled 60,000 people to lose 42 pounds in three months. Mmm… drinking your nutrients from a straw for three months… Sounds safe, right? Not according to reports made by undercover reporters from the BBC’s Inside Out in the East.

The reporters selected two LighterLife counselors at random, posing as prospective clients. When asked about side effects, both counselors advised the worst that could be expected would be a headache. This is, despite numerous accounts of customers who have reported a loss of menstruation, hair loss, and one man who was admitted to the hospital with water poisoning after drinking too much to try and relieve constipation caused by the program. Other counselors with inadequate training - a breach of the company’s own protocol - were observed providing “professional” advice. Keep in mind, the British government recommends low-calorie diets be undertaken only under medical supervision.

It’s not coincidental that hair loss and amenorrhea are also symptoms experienced by people with anorexia - both are symptoms of malnutrition and starvation. In essence, the company is shilling anorexia as an expensive “diet” plan. But perhaps LighterLife’s most egregious and blatant breach of ethical and moral standards is this: Undercover reporters observed LighterLife employees offering the starvation diet to someone with an eating disorder.

The company does not deny this and in fact crows about its policy of allowing people with eating disorders onto the program. Bar Hewlett, a founder and director of LighterLife, claimed to Inside Out:

“The [British] National Eating Disorders Association actually sends people to us who are obese. They believe that the programme we have and the services we offer are absolutely suitable for people with eating disorders.”

The Eating Disorders Association (now called B-eat), told the BBC: “We don’t make referrals to LighterLife or any other diet.”

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 15th, 2008 at 10:40 am and is filed under Diets, Eating Disorders. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1 On April 15th, 2008, WildAngel6

said:

Thank you for sharing this. This trend is certainly very frightening. It’s bad enough that there is so much pressure out there on everyone to strive to be thin, that folks are already heading toward eating disorders. But then to add companies like Kimkins and LighterLife that teach and encourage those very principals that promote eating disorders is just appalling.

Folks, don’t endanger your health in your rush to become thin. You didn’t gain the weight overnight. Please take it slowly, and don’t starve yourselves. Being thin is not worth risking your life over.

There are plenty of healthy ways to lose weight without having to lose your health along with it.

posted on April 15th, 2008 at 11:21 am

2 On April 15th, 2008, Chickenfat

The mind boggles.

42 pounds? That’s such an exact number - is this some kind of Douglas Adams diet?

Also - I thought you weren’t supposed to DRINK YOUR CALORIES (along with avoiding those white foods!)

*sigh*

posted on April 15th, 2008 at 12:20 pm

3 On April 15th, 2008, Charlotte

This is just too depressing for words.

posted on April 15th, 2008 at 4:35 pm

4 On April 15th, 2008, La di Da

There are some terrible diets popular around here at the moment. A few coworkers are all into the Tony Ferguson weight loss “program”, where you get to eat a whopping 800-1200 calories a day, mostly from their expensive and highly processed meal replacement shakes and instant soups. But it’s OK! Because Tony Ferguson is a *pharmacist* who “saw the need for a safe and effective weight loss program”, so it’s scientific! And there are nutritionists somewhere! (I would strongly question the ethics of any nutritionist or dietician who claimed 800-1200 calories a day was safe for anyone.) The TF people promote it as good for diabetics - when the shakes are packed full of fructose (I read an ingredients panel…pretty horrifying really) and not much else besides filler fibre. You may as well have a glass of Metamucil - it’d be cheaper.

posted on April 15th, 2008 at 5:34 pm

5 On April 15th, 2008, Bri

That Tony Ferguson thing really gets my goat. As do all of these meal replacement diets. As do all diets in generally really…

I distinctly remember always being told, even by companies such as WW, that weight loss should be no more than 1kg a week otherwise it was unhealthy. Seems someone forgot to tell the other diet companies and The Biggest Loser…

posted on April 15th, 2008 at 6:08 pm

6 On April 15th, 2008, Sarah

Just more crap about how anything is better than being fat, including starvation.

I think that meal replacement schemes are more dangerous than your ordinary very lowcal diet. Not only is it a financial scam, but a physical one as well. I had some family members trying one of the new type of shakes to replace their lunch but finally got them to realise they were better off having a sandwich and yoghurt.

This type of plan also sets the disordered minset of drinkable nutrients replacing real food. Eventually real food becomes the enemy and we all know how it goes from there.

Yep, the Tony Ferguson shill is everywhere and now the other chemists are getting in on the deal as well. I think it is Chemart that now has their own inhouse ’specialist’. They tried to hand me a pamphlet and I had to stay calm when advising them that if I did want to lose weight then I certainly would not be replacing my real food with sugar loaded fakeshakes that cost a fortune. Scamarama!

posted on April 15th, 2008 at 11:05 pm

7 On April 16th, 2008, Liza

I tried LA Weight Loss in high school, it is such a scam and a load of crapola. I’m glad to see they closed. Though I’d like my 600 bucks back.

That LighterLife thing is scary. Liquid diets aren’t inherently bad, they just need to be used with caution, preferably under doctor supervision. It’s the 530 calories a day I’m having trouble with. That sounds like it’s so low that it would be ineffective. I would think that would be below the threshold where your body thinks it’s dying and shuts itself down.

The problem with these companies is that the employees are not medical personnel. I know LA Weight Loss hired business people and gave them brief “nutrition” training (i.e. they had to memorize the diet plan and try and sell you those bar things). If you had an actual medical issue they didn’t know how to deal with it (I was diagnosed with PCOS while on that plan, they had no clue what to do). They also don’t know how to deal with a vegetarian.

There’s nothing wrong with weight loss. But when you take someone who has an eating disorder - which is a DSM-IV mental condition - and mess with their diet that is a serious problem. Someone with an eating disorder, whether it’s anorexia or binge eating, should only consult a doctor or a licensed nutritionist about their food intake.

posted on April 16th, 2008 at 12:47 am

8 On April 17th, 2008, Andrea Wren

I have just written a number of posts on my UK blog site regarding LighterLife, which have received some very long commentary - and one which I had to unpublish, it was so hateful towards me; for my views that LighterLife may not be…ahem…safe, I was called a damaging individual.

Just a small correction, this diet programme isn’t just liquid, actually, it does include bars to eat as well (oh yum), but one person told me that they were offered a remedy shampoo in case hair loss was a problem for them. Quite staggering, really.

As well, I do believe the diet also goes on for 14 weeks - two weeks more than the 12 weeks recommended limit for a very low-calorie diet.

I’m astounded though at how many people appear to be in such thorough support of it.

posted on April 17th, 2008 at 6:47 am

9 On April 17th, 2008, Andrea Wren

May I just add, if anyone wanted to offer some support on the UK side of things on my site Chocolate and Beyond, regarding LighterLife, I’d really appreciate it. At the moment, the articles I’ve written seem to be mainly getting picked up by people in full awe and support for LighterLife, and a few experiences the ‘other way’ would be gratefully received.

posted on April 17th, 2008 at 6:50 am

10 On April 20th, 2008, Andrea

May I just clarify some points, as a person who did do LighterLife for about 6 weeks:

1. This is how it works: the first week, you do just shakes to get your body to enter ketosis. After that first week, you then add 1 bar a day instead of a shake. You can have up to 1 bar a day and up to 3 shakes and soups a day (All coming to about 500 calories). The first week is really awful. I did not think I could do it but I managed to get through and after that it got easier.

2. You must do it under medical supervision. When I decided to do to the programme, I had to get written consent from my doctor in order to proceed (and he was extremely encouraging). He also told me that he had a patient that found the programme very successful. After that, you have to visit your doctor every 4 weeks to have your blood pressure reading and ensure everything is fine.

3. It is a 14 week programme (I think) but there is a week when you need to add milk to your shakes to up your calorie intake, according to Government legislations. This is a program specifically designed for people who need to lose at least three stone. In that 14 week period you should have achieved a 3 stone loss. If you need to lose more, you have the option to continue until reaching your target.

4. I did not complete the programme because I could not drink the shakes or soups any longer as I could not stand the taste and would get sick. I therefore, got ill with health problems and was forced to discontinue as per doctor advice.

5. I do not think this is a bad programme. After completing it you are slowly re-introduced to food. I think this works for a lot of people who want to lose weight as there is no hassle of counting calories and stuff like that.

posted on April 20th, 2008 at 9:57 am

11 On April 23rd, 2008, Lindsay Scott

I would just like to defend Lighterlife. Having had a life time of addiction to food, lighterlife had been a godsend. I have to say that it does depend on who your counsellor is, and I know that initially Lighterlife only allowed people with appropriate qualifications to have the franchise. More recently they increased the price and allowed a whole host of counsellors without understanding or insight to eating disorders (I had one for a while, useless, could only quote the lighterlife paperwork.) I actually see a wonderful counsellor, who is a qualified counsellor with great knowledge and interest in addiction and food issues. She voluntarily attends lots of courses and keeps herself up to date. I think you have to have a food issue to understand how lighterlife (in the right hands) can benefit the client. There are some desperate people out there, who need this sort of help and this is the end of the line stuff for them. Its not really an alternative to people who really could manage on weight watchers and have a few pounds to lose after having children. Being seriously over weight is really dangerous, and for some of us requires drastic measures. I would rather do lighterlife than have surgery. My counsellor in Worthing may be exceptional, but it works for me.

best wishes
Lindsay

posted on April 23rd, 2008 at 3:44 am