supersize vs superskinny: what do you think about?

diletta24
diletta24 Posts: 91 Member
edited December 2024 in Chit-Chat
I watched it yesterday for the first time and I was disgusted.
Only the worst of British tv will end up on italian telly, that's what I assume. :-/

why? How could SWITCHING BAD eating habits be a positive thing? The reality show is based on entertainment (shameful) rules that do not match at all HEALTH and sense.

what do you think about?

Replies

  • TheDoctor90
    TheDoctor90 Posts: 461 Member
    That's not the point. What they're doing is highlighting how bad both of their eating habits are, they're showing two ends of the extreme and saying this isn't the way to go.

    By giving the skinny guy the big guys food, it highlights just how little he eats. Likewise with the big guy, how much he eats.
  • diletta24
    diletta24 Posts: 91 Member
    I got the impression that the "freaks circus" effect was more emphasised than the unhealthy behaviour itself.
    It's easy (obvious) to realize what is a bad eating style. Why do they add extra shocking experiences, I mean emotionally shocking,comparison, outing, ...?

    why don't they focus more on switching to healthier lifestyle and HOW? I have got my ideas:

    1. televiewers are sick and tired of hearing How they should eat, what they are supposed to eat and so on, in particular when Mike Rayner would tax their pizzas

    2. Food habits voyeurism sells more than Healthy advices, and it gives the opportunity to tell to ourselves "I eat better, I am not so scaring" (I am sure the most of viewers could relate), leading to another point: you do not need to binge secretly on cakes to make of cakes an unhealthy food. It is enough to have insuline resistance, even though this point does not include population in the freaks circus :-/

    That's why I think it is a shameful tv show.
  • Jain
    Jain Posts: 861 Member
    The presenter is a qualified Doctor, and the people in the feeding clinic are there for 5 days & get a lot more help than is show on the show.
    When they do a recap on previous people they usually have kept up the healthy eating & have improved their health overall.
    Yes it's a little like a freak show at times, but I find it a lot more watchable than things like Biggest Loser where people are pitted against one another and put thru extream exercise regimes and even dehydrate themselves to show a weight loss at the weighin
    .
    A lot of over/under weight people, and I incude myself in this, actually know what they are eating is wrong or bad for them, but they need a stranger to actually make then stop & take stock of the whys & wherefores of WHY they are eating like this. Family and friends are often too close to the problem to be able to help.
    Thats why one of the main parts of the program is looking back on old photographs.
  • springermad
    springermad Posts: 242
    I love watching it, its not just down to swapping bad diets thats not the point, the point is that it demonstrates how eating extreme diets is bad for you. Everyone assumes that if you over eat it is bad for you but by under eating it also has severe and dire consequences. As stated above already it is a qualified doctor that supervises the swap and he does step in when needed and highlights everything that is needed, at the end of the swap he gives them the correct meal plans that should be followed and you nornally see good results. x
  • madamepsychosis
    madamepsychosis Posts: 472 Member
    They obviously have to emphasise how bad the people's eating habits are. It makes good TV!

    But honestly, I like 'Supersize vs. Superskinny', mainly because it has more of a focus on overall health than a scale number and the contestants are praised for a realistic amount of weight loss/gain, such as 7lbs in six months, as opposed to shows like 'The Biggest Loser' which are all about a scale number and guilt trip contestants for 'only' losing 1lb a week.
  • cmckenzie2
    cmckenzie2 Posts: 39
    I love it. I don't think it's a freak show, like many programmes of a similar nature. I Used To Be Fat on MTV for example - that's all about the scale.

    The emphasis in SvS is on health, for the supersize person in particular. They really go to great lengths to hit home what is happening to their bodies, and there's no obsession with scales or diets - only health. As already said, the presenter is a doctor and knows what he's talking about.
  • cdpm
    cdpm Posts: 297 Member
    This show is great. Not only does it highlight (again!) effects of being overweight, but also shows the side effects of not eating enough, which I don't think is highlighted as much as it should be - especially the psychological side.

    Knowing that they are given a sensible diet plan to follow after the show, shows that they have received personal and professional treatment after their feeding clinic wake up call.
  • princessruthiebelle
    princessruthiebelle Posts: 165 Member
    i love it! my OPINION will be bias

    GENERALLY the 'skinny' people Do need to eat more (and eating junk food for 5 days wont do them any harm)
    GENERALLY 'supersize' people do need to eat alot less (and not eating very much for 5 day wont do them any harm)

    Its made in the uk, if it was advertising an unhealthy lifestyle then it wouldn't be allowed to be shown! its on tv so it IS for entertainment purposes, the people on it choose to go on the tv show. After a few days on the 'diet swap' they follow tailored diet plans given to them by the qualified Dr

    I wouldnt advise anybody taking dieting advise from a TV show, i think this is just a great way to highlight common eating habits and health issues, opening it up to the masses, making people struggling with eating more likely to seek help :)

    And if 'it was obvious' to recognise unhealthy lifestyle as you say, then no one would ever develop an eating disorder, be obese, comfort eat, or have a food phobia!!!!
  • LauraSmyth28
    LauraSmyth28 Posts: 399 Member
    I like the show, it's the only one on tv that shows how unhealthy UNDER-eating is as well as OVER-eating.
  • ellycope
    ellycope Posts: 80 Member
    I have to say I think it's one of the better diet/health TV shows around. As one of the previous posters said, it is one of the only ones to highlight undereating as just as bad as overeating. Also, the diet swap seems to be one of the big factors in helping the people on the show - it's only when they see their food in front of someone else do they realise just how bad it is. Also, there is a lot of medical advice on the show and they do get more help off camera. And, as someone else said, it's about sustainable weight loss rather than sudden and dramatic. Much better and more realisitic. I thnk what would make it better would be if we knew more about the individual diet plans and why they'd been given to those people and possibly getting to see how they're getting on at 3 months at home before the 6 month reveal back at the clinic.
  • huntingforhipbones
    huntingforhipbones Posts: 67
    This show is great. Not only does it highlight (again!) effects of being overweight, but also shows the side effects of not eating enough, which I don't think is highlighted as much as it should be - especially the psychological side.

    Knowing that they are given a sensible diet plan to follow after the show, shows that they have received personal and professional treatment after their feeding clinic wake up call.

    This. The show actually got me to rethink my eating habits - I used to eat like your stereotypical "superskinny" (carbs, carbs, sugar sugar sugar and diet coke) and then saw how unhealthy they were! Now I eat much more healthily (low-carbing for the PCOS) and feel a million times better.
  • theoriginaljayne
    theoriginaljayne Posts: 559 Member
    I'm kinda obsessed with this show. I basically echo what everyone else has said -- after they confront their unhealthy eating habits and milk it for the cameras and so on, they actually go on to make sustainable changes to their lifestyle. The goal isn't extreme weight loss or gain, but true health, and I really like that.

    Don't much like the newest season, though. I also wish they still did the eating disorder recovery program.
  • livi_cowgirl
    livi_cowgirl Posts: 198 Member
    All of these weight centred shows are unhealthy. But the person's health is never at the forefront of anyone's mind when making the show. It's all about getting big results. If you look at a show like the biggest loser, they put the contestants on a very strict low calorie diet and the work out routine is ridiculous. They have them working out 4 times a day! Now that may be doable while they are in the camp/house but what about when they leave and go back to their ordinary lives? Maybe they only have time for 1 work out a day and that may not be enough because of what their bodies have become accustomed to. Not to mention they get almost zero after support. A lot of these people will fall very quickly into their old routines and put all the weight back on and then some. I bet if these shows actually released their statistics you would find that, in the long run, they have a VERY low success rate.
This discussion has been closed.

Categories