I’ve seen loads of pages/companies/adverts recently for magical miracle “cures” for happiness and health.
It’s got me thinking about how much money people waste on things that are supposed to cure everything – they’ll make you thin/rich/attractive/happy etc etc. Unfortunately none of this is new, these products have been around for decades so why is it that most people don’t see that they’re buying into a fad? These companies pay millions to find new ways to convince women that their product is The One, the one that will give you the figure the media says you should have, the one that will make you soooo irresistible, the one that will bring you eternal happiness and cure all your ails.
Do any of these promised wonders exist? NOPE. The gorgeous “perfect” figure you see in magazines – photo-shopped. Can anything make you irresistible – no, sorry to break it to you but it doesn’t matter how gorgeous you are; you’re not going to appeal to everyone. Eternal happiness – no one is ALWAYS happy, everyone has shit days.
The diet industry in the UK alone is worth £2bn. That’s £2,000,000,000. This is what I imagine topdogs of diet companies to look like –
The problem with the diet industry is that if their products actually worked in the long term, they wouldn’t make any money. The best way for these companies to make money is to bring out a product which works in the short term but would keep you coming back for more, repeat business means £$£$£$£$£$. Some dieting companies have exploited this scheme very well. One guaranteed way to put weight back on is to do a starvation diet, minimal calorie intake for whatever amount of time they’ve specified – very affective, but at some point you have to start eating like an actual adult human again – otherwise you’ll starve to death. But then of course after you’ve put on weight again you’re going to want to loose that weight, so what do you do? Of course you go and buy the product that worked the first time! And round and round we go. It basically looks like this –
This is all sounding like doom and gloom, but stick with me, the positive stuff is coming!
OK so say you have actually found a diet that works and the weight stays off – now what? It’s not going to make you instantly happy, it’s not going to magically cure you of all your woes. It can help you feel better about yourself but you need to go deeper than that, break free from the pressure from advertising campaigns and celeb magazines – all they will do is find something else that you should feel bad about and that’s just shit. They make millions from creating insecurities then selling you a product to resolve them (I feel a beauty industry blog post coming).
We have to find a way to break the spell.
All-round wellness is the only way to achieve the best you. Physical, mental, spiritual* and emotional wellness can help you become the you that you want to be, it won’t give you unlimited happiness and a perfect life but it will give you the tools to enable you to achieve all of that, and more, for yourself.
*not in a “drink the cool-aid” way!
One last tip – don’t measure your sandwiches, that’s just weird.
Positive Health & Reality 