Britons spend billions of pounds a year on trying to slim but studies show more than four out of five dieters pile the pounds back on – and some even again weight.
During this programme Widdy investigates the nation’s obsession with losing weight and tries to find out why so many people are willing to put their health at risk to reach an unhealthy ideal.
Could it be the celebrity magazines? Ann tackles one editor to ask why glossy mags constantly promote diets and weight loss and regularly feature celebrities with very thin body shapes.
Ann tells the programme: “Well, I’m certainly not a regular reader of the celebrity magazines.
“What I cannot believe is the nature of some of the diets being promoted. The baby food diet? The maple syrup diet? Can anyone really take that seriously?
“But an even bigger shock is the sheer level of the obsession with which these magazines promote diet, after diet. From our survey of 90 magazines, there were an astonishing 74 headlines about diet and body image on the front covers alone.”
She also jets out to California to meet Wendy Brown, extreme make-over consultant to the rich and famous, who explains to her what she would need to do to herself if she wanted to make it big in Hollywood. And she visits a plastic surgeon who presents her with the computer generated image showing her how the movieworld Widdy would look.
Closer to home, Widdy interviews Anne Diamond and challenges her about her lucrative career based on her continuing battle with the bulge.
Ann also works with psychologist Dr Linda Papadopoulos - who believes a daily diet of magazine images is harming our young people - to boost the self-esteem of a group of schoolgirls who suffer from negative body images.
