I know this is a bit of a big subject and could go anywhere, but I’m moving away from diarizing my life. So let’s talk about the front page of the Times on 29th December 2018: “The Diet Fix – A radically simple way to lose weight and stay healthy forever”. What could possibly be wrong with that? Somewhere inside the Times Saturday supplement magazine is the answer to the health of the nation! Weight Watchers (WW for Wellness Watchers as of this year) will be out of business and will be bloody furious. The secrets are out and there’s no stopping every one from being slim, fit and healthy for ever.

Can we roll back a bit – FOREVER? That’s a bit of a claim. I’ll give you that in the long run we’ll have 100% weight loss due to death, but at the same time, this simple radical diet is suggesting that you can live forever. Words still have to mean something after all. But I’m not sure that “The Diet Fix – A radically simple way to lose weight and stay healthy now and live a little longer whilst at the same time better health, all things considered as you enjoy your final days and inevitable death” – or something like that.

The original diet claim hits you with simple after radically. What it’s saying is that “Right everyone. New Years Eve is coming and your going to make New Years Resolutions about losing weight, leaving the booze alone for a couple of days, eating less and getting fitter. I know I offered this to you last year, but this method will work because it’s radical and simple. Simple is too easy, so lets do something that’s new and edgy and makes you look smarter and more in to new things. Yes – all the other diets haven’t worked, but your different to everyone else. That’s why they never worked for you before. It’s because you’re the statistical outlier. This is the first step to having the new life you always wanted” I’m in!

I have the magazine front page. There’s an attractive Woman with some sushi-mi held in a pair of chopsticks and she’s looking straight at me. And what is this diet called? The NO-DIET DIET. I’m confused now. I thought this was a radical new diet. What don’t I have to do then?

1. Go to the gym
2. Count callories
3. Weigh yourself

And yes, I’ll lose weight. There’s something fishy, and I’m not talking about the sushi! I’m still can’t get away from the use of forever. I know that the details will be simply complicated. I’ve already seen pictures of three plates of food for each day of the week, and there’s small writing too!

WHY DIETS ARE SO LAST YEAR

Here we go. Cut back carbs and fill up on protein. Is this really happening again? And we don’t weigh ourselves, but we weigh our food for each meal! I’m not going to waste your time describing what these meals are. But if I did believe in the middle class, metropolitan elite, that’s who this would be the perceived target audience. And the subset of that audience would be women from 29 to 70’ish. There wasn’t anything new or radical at all. And more to the point, none of the meals over the seven days (even if you make it that far) were sushi!

Good luck with the New Years resolutions. And if you want to lose weight, eat a little, less, move more, and yes, weigh yourself. Is that too simple and radical?