Deprecated: mb_convert_encoding(): Handling HTML entities via mbstring is deprecated; use htmlspecialchars, htmlentities, or mb_encode_numericentity/mb_decode_numericentity instead in /var/www/html/wp-content/plugins/super-cool-ad-inserter/inc/scaip-shortcode-inserter.php on line 37
I’m not sure why I tuned it to this weight-loss show, I Can Make You Thin, on TLC, but I know why I kept watching. I was hooked when host and British self-help guru Paul McKenna looked straight into the camera and said, “I’m talking to you through your television.”
I’m a sucker for that kind of retro hucksterism, and sure miss the days when TV preachers would holler at you to lay your hands on the television screen so they could transmit blessings and healings. (And, not surprisingly, while this show isn’t an infomercial, McKenna has plenty to sell at his Web site, where I also learned that the dude is a hypnotist.)
McKenna’s bitten off quite possibly a bigger task than eternal salvation: getting Americans to trim down. Not by dieting — “This is not a diet,” he said helpfully, adding “diets don’t work,” to a cheering studio crowd of folks-for-whom-diets-have-not-worked.
His gimmick is to — in just FIVE SHORT WEEKS (step right up!) — retrain us all to think differently about food and eating.
Fair enough — good eating starts with the mind, for sure — but I wish Mr. McKenna the best of British luck. He’s clearly underestimated Americans’ astonishing capacity for selective information.
For instance, one of the Four Golden Rules we learned on episode one was “Eat what you like.” Now, that comes in tandem other restrictions like portion control, method of eating, and, in a later episode, exercise. But like the dog that only hears its name in your stream of babble, I’m wagering folks just heard “eat what you like … and lose weight.”
McKenna, who has a smooth delivery further enhanced by his vocal similarity to dreamy Battlestar Galactica villain Gaius Baltar, gave us all “homework.” Needless to say, except for the “eating what you like” part, I blew it off.
I was also supposed to empty my cupboards of foods I had bought out of earnest but don’t want to really eat (rye crisps, butternut squash); not eat while reading or watching TV (unthinkable: TV is my primary dining companion); and put my fork down after each bite (I’m already eating on the couch while watching TV and have nowhere to realistically lay my dirty silverware).
I’m as self-selecting in my self-improvement as anybody.
But, I’ll tune back in, because there’s something goofily compelling about this show. (I might have been hypnotized.)
In the coming weeks, through my TV, McKenna is going to help me with cravings (yup), emotional eating (sure), “supercharging” my metabolism (why not?) and most cultishly, a “unique visualization technique to help [me] gain confidence and self-esteem.” Bring it on.
Plus, like all weight-loss shows, we get to follow along with selected participants, who, because they are on a TV, tend to do remarkably well. Though, McKenna took the most bizarre “starting weight” — the total of the studio audience. How meaningless is that!?
Of course, in fine print during the credits we get: “This show is for entertainment purposes only.” Or, as I preach in my new plan, I Can Make You Smart — “watch what you like.”
This article appears in Mar 13-19, 2008.
I just wanted to post something after reading this article. Being someone who was on their first diet at 5 months old, I can say from experience that diets don’t work. My wife told me about this show and I decided to watch while I worked at night. The first episode struck a cord with me because I have always wondered why I eat more than I need and usually until I’m stuffed, so I just decided to do the first round of “homework”. I put my fork down after each bite and actually tasted my food. I chewed my food until it broke down instead of swallowing chunks of food like I usually do. I noticed I was eating about 1/3 of the food I usually was eating, but I was enjoying food much more. I was still eating everything I always was before (even fried food and chocolate desserts) and was feeling better every day. I believe it’s been 3 weeks now and I have lost 10 pounds without any effort which is amazing. The great part is that I know I won’t gain it back because I would have to eat unconsciously for a full month to gain it back which is pretty much impossible at this point. I also noticed that my heartburn has pretty much disappeared which I’m pretty sure is because my stomach isn’t working so hard all the time. I highly recommend this series to everybody… thin or overweight. It’s just good practice and will likely help with long term health issues as well.
In the same vein of “thinking” yourself to better eating, you might want to check out Brian Wansink’s book MINDLESS EATING. He makes his living figuring out how and why we eat what we do — and it’s his studies that Paul McKenna is referring to when he did the stale-popcorn trick or the hamburger-size experiment. Wansink’s book is pretty repetitive (dare I say padded?) but it’s worth checking out of the library for some eye-opening (if obvious) insights into eating better brain-first.