Super-Skinny Me: The Race to Size Double Zero

Exploring new frontiers in danger TV, Channel Four trod right to the heart of the great weight debate with Super-Skinny Me: The Race to Size Double Zero.
Following in Louise Redknapp's ITV footsteps, two journalists, Kate Spicer and Louise Burke, aimed to reach the holy grail of the extreme-dieting world, a UK size two - or in more accessible terms - the waist size of a six-year-old.
What could of served to glamourise the cause instead finally hammered home the sickening truth about the obsessive clamour of the people caught up in the Size Zero trend.
Inside two weeks the successful, grounded pair had become pallid, exhausted, jumpy shadows of their former selves surviving on a cocktail of low-calorie diets.
The strict new regimes, specially selected to shrink the women from their healthy size 10-12 jeans, were based on calorific contents of no more than 1500 a day, with a 1000 of those being burnt off through rigourous exercise, leaving them with 500 calories - the energy equivalent of a blueberry muffin.
As the pounds fell off, new much more worrying problems began to emerge as the dramatic lifestyle change took its toll on their emotional and mental states.
A clearly-annoyed boyfriend was close to the end of his tether with his new easily-exhausted, drawn girlfriend who was surviving weeks at a time on rations of watercress soup, homemade lemonade or thrice-daily fruit juices. For the second journalist, formally a tall 10st 4Ibs, her mindset radically altered leaving her teetering on the brink of an eating disorder - well after the experiment had ended.
What had changed from the press's pawing glamourisation was the harsh reality behind the protruding cheekbones and revealed decolletage - the true sacrifice that some women choose to make and others aspire to be.
The women's relationship with food became distorted and fearful as the seduction of dropping pounds pulled them further and further from reality.
At the four week point, one confessed to day-long binges follwed by punishing fasting and, on two occasions, making herself sick.
As the experiment drew to a close, one removed early for her own health, the 'winning' journalist held a party to celebrate squeezing herself into the revered tiny jeans, but what had she gained instead?
For five weeks these two women had put weight at the centre of their universe, probably with little idea what the true impact of a Size Zero lifestyle entailed.
At one point or another it has been the focus of probably 90% of the front covers of women's magazines, The Latest Celebrity Diet, Hollywood's Size Zero Stars but until Super-Skinny Me I had never realised just how many areas of a person's life their eating pattern affected.
From the flourishing, healthy young woman came two wan, morose addicts. A lack of food and unhealthy exercise had robbed them of their energy, their personality and their lives, they couldn't socialise, they took their own food to restaurants and very quickly they found it increasingly hard to go back to their own lives.
For a long time I've refused to be drawn into the risky business of crash-dieting and in many ways I am incredibly grateful to my mum for instilling a great sense of fear into me combined with a positive body image.
After the show finished, I checked out some pro-anorexia websites to see their reaction. What scared me most is that they looked to shows like this for weight-loss tips. Why couldn't they, like me, see the dangerous and sickening journey these women had taken?
Several articles have criticised the extremity of this programme but to me it can only be a step in the right direction. These are the problems that are affecting young women, and some men, nowadays, nothing can or will ever be learnt if we sweep grim reality under the carpet. What was probably cheap ratings for channel 4 for me emphasised some awful trues and until media does stop flaunting unhealthy idols a more realistic image can never be achieved.

When women started to mean BUSINESS

'It's a man's world, but it wouldn't be nothing without a woman or girl.' Up until recently, this fact was pretty much indisputable. Men were the business brains, the big bosses, the multi-millionaire, corporation heads of the world. Then women realised that perhaps they could break away from the kitchen sink and try their hand at it - and they were pretty good.
As women sneaked their way into Britain's rich list, something new was starting on the BBC... something that was going to emphasise just how much the tables had turned. The Apprentice.When Sir Alan Sugar pitted sixteen business-hungry men and women against each other it seemed inevitable which group would fall at the first hurdle.
Suddenly, though, the supposedly 'meek and mild' females were the ideas people, the business gumption and the charm needed for a well-oiled team. After Timothy Campbell emerged the victor of series one, series two was a fierce battle in an all-female finale.
These two women had achieved what had probably a decade ago seemed the impossible. They were now the women at the top of the game, the duo to beat eight eager, hard-talking young males to become Sugar's right-hand man.
When Michelle Dewberry walked away with the hotly-contested prize she had turned around a ill-fated future into a dream role as a high-flier at multi-billion-pound company, Amstrad.
She had also opened up the market for female entrepreneurs.
The Sunday Times 2006 Rich List revealed 22 women now revelled amongst the highest earners in the creative industries, with violinist, Vanessa Mae, and author, J.K Rowling, topping their categories.
Times were shifting with thousands of business-savvy women breaking through what for years had been a very sturdy glass ceiling. For many females the world was now at their feet.
Gone had the generation of stay-at-home mums, of secretaries and waitresses, of librarians and dinnerladies with the amount of females enrolling for university courses rising and quickly filtering into the market.
Just what had changed? How had this male-dominated world become infiltrated by these intruders?
The answer for this I believe, is a simple one. somewhere along the line the desire for success and the desire for money-hungry ruthlessness had overlapped. Elsewhere, however, things were changing. Along with the move of women into the market, a culture of men were becoming more effeminate, the birth of the metrosexual. What this new group didn't possess though, were the attributes that have truly made women feminine.
It has long been female wiles that have had men fall silly all over themselves, women that have possessed skills of diplomacy and reservedness, this combined with the opportunity for a fair education and equal rights has bred a climate primed for success.
Although they may be as ruthless as their male counterpart, a woman can go about their means much more subtly, if a woman could do the same job just as well (if not better) than the new 'metro-man' then why not?

I spy...

A study out today confirms one of my personal hates - over 50% of Britons snoop in on their partner's emails and texts to see what they're keeping quiet.
Naivety it may be, but surely a relationship is based on trust, not incessantly checking through private messages, messages that can easily be misinterpreted or taken out of context.
Further, the results reveal that females are the main culprits (53%) being a third more likely to spy than blokes (39%), with a shocking one in 20 admitting to RECORDING their loved one to find out what they're up to.
When someone gets into a relationship are the people they knew beforehand supposed to become defunct? In all too many cases this happens and couples leave themselves isolated with no support network.
Surely a healthy partnership should rely on both partners trusting each other to the extent where they didn't need to check, both partners being open enough to discuss what's going on in their lives - not keep it secret.
What exactly are snoopers looking for? A message from the opposite sex? An ambiguous text? At what point does a quick rifle through become an all-consuming desire to grill your partner within an inch of their lives? Sometimes it is simply best not to know.
A text or a perfectly innocent email can easily be misconstrued taken out of context with only a few words and no explanation.
What starts as a peek could quickly spiral into an obsession fuelled by mistrust at a lover's behaviour. Why would anyone want to be on pins 24/7 wondering who he's texting or emailing?
The sad truth is if someone wants to cheat they will - no matter how closely-surveyed they are. Worrying yourself sick about what someone 'might' or 'could be' up to is a fast-track to a doomed relationship - and over half of the women in the country are guilty of it.

Celebrities go highstreet

When the fickle worlds of fashion and fame collide it can mean only one thing – celebrity clothing lines.
Last year saw the launch of nouveau designer Stella McCartney at H&M with Madonna’s chav-fantastic sports gear hot on the tail of its success.
Where H&M led New Look quickly followed with Kelly Brook leaping at the chance to become the face of their swimwear range for curvy girls.
With style supremos sniffing the dollars a mile-off other highstreet hotspots have jumped on the bandwagon making 2007 set to become the year of the celebrity brand.
Fashion favourite, Topshop, has struck a deal straight out of fashion heaven with ultimate comeback kid, Kate Moss, taking up the helm at the designer’s table.
The supermodel and on-off love of Pete Doherty is set to release the 80-strong range on May 1st throughout Topshop’s 307 UK stores.
Key items are reported to include waistcoats and hotpants with a strong emphasis on this season’s blokey elements suggesting strong tailoring and suits.
She is also introducing a new denims range in addition to Topshop’s existing collection, rumours are rife that she’ll give jeans a vintage twist with Kate Moss stamped across the rear.
Arcadia owner, Phillip Green, purportedly head-hunted Moss himself believing her to be the ideal face for Topshop’s celebrity designer campaign.
Tycoon, Green, said: “We want to build this into a global range.
She is a fashion icon in terms of the UK… and this is what about Topshop is all about in terms of fashion.
Our customers identify with her.”
Tough-speaking, edgy britpop princess, Lily Allen, is to step into Kelly Brook’s shoes with a summer-clothing set for bargain fashion brand, New Look.
The ‘Lily Loves’ line will hit the shops in May, a sharp rise in fortune after the somewhat dubious response to her style ideas when she first topped the charts last year with Smile.
The 21-year-old London lass will have girls up and down the country dolled up in her signature dresses and bright accessories
Sarah Walter, head of fashion communications at New Look, believes Lily will be the perfect role model for New Looks targeted audience.
She said: “She’s an absolute dress-aholic.
When she was breaking last summer we thought she was very different and everyone was picking up on her style – particularly the big prom dresses.”
Spurred by her success with her earlier sportswear line material girl Madonna is making a return to H&M with her M for Madonna range.
The 48-year-old will reveal the collection including lumber jackets, blazers, kimono dresses and sunglasses in stores throughout the UK from March.
The range is being marketed as classy fashion for all ages and Madonna has reportedly been working closely with H&M head honcho, fashion director, Margareta Van Der Bosch.
Madonna, who will also model the range, said: “I’ve made no secret of my love of fashion. Working with H&M was an exciting and new creative challenge. I’m happy with the results and look forward to wearing M for Madonna along with the rest of the world.”

Diamonds are forever?

When Shirley Bassey sang Diamonds Are Forever nobody could have ever guessed the furore the issue would still cause more than thirty years later.
With the release of Hollywood blockbuster, Blood Diamonds and hit rap remix, Diamonds From Sierra Leone, the issue surrounding the mainly buried issue of conflict diamonds has never been more poignant.
More than just a film, the blood diamond trade operating in many war-torn African nations engulfs the lives of millions of people in countries including Liberia, Angola and Sierra Leone.
The illicit trade earned its name from its deep roots in civil war where the diamonds acted as currency to finance armies, at its high in the 1990s it accounted for an estimated 15% of total diamond production, according to Partnership Africa Canada.
Despite rigorous campaigns from human rights groups, it is pop culture that has finally brought the issue to the forefront of media attention forming the base of chart-topping songs by the likes of Kanye West, Nas and Lupe Fiasco as well as films Die Another Day and current Leo DiCaprio smash, Blood Diamond.
With the trade nowadays still reckoning for around 1% of all diamond mining, according to the World Diamond Council, the issue is not one that can be solved easily.
Kanye West himself is a supporter of the cause after learning about the plights of thousands of people forced to mine the rocks and die in wars financed by them everyday.
Teamed with hiphop icon Jay-Z, West talks about conflict diamonds using his video to bring the awful realities of those affected to life, scooping him the 2006 Grammy for best rap song.
What Americans know as bling, many Africans know as years of decades of civil war. A startling two-thirds of all diamonds produced throughout the world are sold in America, with a beaming media spotlight on Hollywood’s diamond-encrusted superstars only adding glamour to millions of peoples pain.
In 2002, the United Nations and the World Diamond Council put the Kimberly Process into place, a body created to certify non-conflict diamonds, so far 72 countries have joined the scheme including 14 from Africa. Amnesty International, though, believes it does not go far enough.
They said: “We welcome the Kimberley Process as an important step to dealing with the problem of conflict diamonds. But until the diamond trade is subject to mandatory, impartial monitoring, there is still no effective guarantee that all conflict diamonds will be identified and removed from the market."
Although sanctions cause obvious difficulties for import and export, there are obvious benefits for those who exploit war-torn countries to keep the illegal mining in action.
Canadian aid group, One Sky, believe Amnesty’s ideas for strict implementation of the rules are the way forward.
They said: “Without a system of expert, independent and periodic reviews of all countries, the overall process remains open to abuse."
Thankfully, many countries are finally at peace but while millions of pounds worth of blood diamonds continue to slip through the net, think about what’s been sacrificed the next time you slip that diamond ring onto your finger.