Millions of
women have a complex about their weight, even the ‘size zeros’ amongst us are
weight conscious – so regardless of the blame game directed towards the media
(rightly or wrongly so) we are living in a self-conscious and self-obsessed
society where we are all searching for the perfect body.
Whether a woman wants to ‘shed the pounds’ before her big day, or
‘kick the clump’ after giving birth - it appears that weight loss is at the
forefront of self-loathing. It can lead people to yo-yo dieting (of which I am
a serial offender) which not only makes weight loss ineffective, it arguably
sets a trap for a repeated sense of failure. Yo-yo dieting (or the yo-yo cycle)
was a term created by Kelly D. Brownell, Ph.D and refers to the constant cycle
of dieting to lose weight, which eventually (in varying and undetermined
periods of time) lead to relapse. With this in
mind, how far are we prepared to go to shed the weight that we have become so
desperate to control?
There are numerous diet plans ranging from subscription groups and
classes to personalised nutrition plans from dieticians, and more recently
companies that have jumped on the diet bandwagon including those that deliver
pre-prepared dietary meals to your front door.
This all appears to be the tame version of the norm in comparison to a
new ‘craze’ diet that has arguably swept American brides-to-be by storm. This
new diet is said to help people lose 20lb in ten days – so how safe is the K-E
Diet?
Put quite simply, the patient walks around with a K-E tube
inserted through the nostril and into the stomach for ten days where their
calorie intake will total 800kcal worth of protein and fat per day - it totally
eradicates sugar intake which shocks the body into a state of Ketosis.
According to the NHS website Ketosis is a serious condition where raised levels
of Ketones are found in the blood. The cause is often due to the effects of a
low carbohydrate diet (carbohydrates provide the majority source of our body’s
energy) – carbs
convert into glucose, which is what this diet aims to eliminate. It relies on
the body’s lack of carbs (therefore lack of glucose) and the fat is broken down
in a process called ‘fat metabolism’. The body will run off a reserve tank and
in non-dietary circumstances is said to be linked to starvation, diabetes
mellitus and alcoholism.
One leaflet offered to potential
customers has printed guidelines on how the procedure works and what the
results will be. Under the heading ‘Is it safe?’ the leaflet says ‘The K-E Diet was developed in Italy and has been used safely over
100,000 times with amazing weight loss results’ … well that totally puts my
mind at rest, if it was developed in Italy and has been used over 100,000 then
it must be a reliable quick fix – seriously, give me a break. Now I am no
doctor, and I never will be, but brief research into the risks of Ketosis has
taught me that due to the high levels of acid in the blood there is a higher
risk of kidney and liver problems – plus it is unbelievably expensive!
NOW ON TO THE TANGENT
This whole process reminds me of the Suffragettes, although they
were fighting for something much more worthwhile and less self-absorbed than a
quick fix to weight loss. Didn’t this constitute as a punishment when the Suffragettes
went on hunger strike? In fact, the women who were fighting and often gave
their lives for our right to vote sacrificed their own lives in many ways; does
this not seem to be a total U-turn?
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSmvmI77baTcqjallRALNR9NKbN9YSc8Axll7a3OEhiXmiypfCi_MG9itQzQ3oC5q4Cl_CkjjdWY5LO9X9fgC7JjgDfm-vdNFThBDRac_EyOxfwiQizzRlpj5xwJs_dlD1gJBil1PDVXU/s400/300px-Cat_and_Mouse_Act_Poster_-_1914.jpg) |
WSPU Poster 1914 |
Force-feeding through the mouth was the more common form of gavage
(force feeding), although failure to do so resulted in insertions through the
nostrils. Feeding through force had become an attempt by the government to get
ahead of a political war – the women battling for suffrage were often arrested
for smashing windows of shops and defacing public property including acts of
arson and public disorder. The hunger strike was an extremist strategy
developed by Marion Wallace-Dunlop
after being charged on 25th June 1909 "with willfully
damaging the stone work of St. Stephen's Hall, House of Commons, by stamping it
with an indelible rubber stamp, doing damage to the value of 10s". After
fasting for 91 hours she was released due to government fears that she would be
a martyr to the suffrage cause - which shortly lead to other Suffragette
prisoners going on hunger strike. However,
this soon led to the gavage initiative lead by wardens in prisons.
Force-feeding was endured by hundreds of women up until the Temporary Discharge for Ill Health Act (nicknamed
the Cat and Mouse Act) was set in place in 1913, which allowed the women to go
on hunger strike, and as they became weaker they would be released posing as
little threat to the government. However, once these women were strong and
healthy enough, they would once more be arrested and the vicious cycle
continued.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxMWfWjaepd4l-7KWaiYvunVcHeuOgN5Hkbl_jvegUeIU2LY5g_dlsxGiU7m6AQ5zePgWM7_wlXfM5U6GAqriJL5a2zLEoUVGmseyJOhFsdGJPhy4ugwX0X833qWsgGUBMhbhiaITLgiU/s400/Gavage+-+Women+Force+Fed.png) |
The Illustrated London News, April 27, 1912
|
[Rosa] May Billinghurst was born in 1875 in Lewisham, London and suffered with
total paralysis throughout her life. She became an active Suffragette in 1907
and encountered arrests and force-feeding on several occasions throughout her
life. She told in her account of how
five wardresses and three doctors pinned her down preparing her for force-feeding
which went on to create a wave of revulsion and lead this political outrage to
new depths of contempt: “[They] forced a tube up my nostril; it was frightful agony,
as my nostril is small. I coughed it up so that it didn’t go down my
throat. They then were going to try the other nostril, which, I believe is
a little deformed. They forced my mouth open with an iron instrument, and
poured some food into my mouth. They pinched my nose and throat to make me
swallow”.
BACK ON POINT
Although my comparison may seem a little extreme, it
strikes me that what it once meant to be a woman in Britain now means something
completely different. The Suffragettes fought a militant battle to gain a
glimmer (at that point) of gender equality for women and the Suffragists
spearheaded non-militant campaigns to give women a better quality of life – different
tactics led to one combined effort at gaining the women’s right to vote.
Whereas the modern day woman is arguably so wrapped up in self-image and media
ideologies that she has sought comfort in a practice that resembles that used
by the government as a matter of punishment and degradation to women prisoners.
Perhaps my understanding of this new ‘revolutionary’
diet is weak and my comparison to gavage is graceless, but I believe that the
idea of having a tube inserted into the nostril and being fed a meager 800kcal
per day to lose weight as a quick fix is incredibly vain and devalues what
being a woman stands for.
At what point did we transcend beyond being proud of
who we are and valuing our self-image? I sympathise with anyone who is in a
constant state of unease about their appearance - as I mentioned before I am a
serial yo-yo dieter and struggle to maintain a healthy and balanced diet, but I
do not think that any promised ‘quick-fix’ is the answer. There are large
health risks to many things that we do in life, but the health risks associated
with the K-E diet are arguably an act of vanity.
Over and out. Weez
Information used in this blog can be accessed at: -
Aurora Metro. (n.d). Marion Wallace-Dunlop.
Retrieved 05 08, 2012, from The Suffragettes:
http://www.thesuffragettes.org/map/outer-london-boroughs/ealing/marion-wallacedunlop/
Archives Hub. (n.d). Autograph
Letter Collection: Letters of Rosa May Billinghurst and Dr Alice Ker.
Retrieved May 09, 2012, from Archives Hub:
http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb1069-29?page=1#id590539
Kelly D. Brownell, e. a. (1986).
Understanding and preventing relapse. American Psychologist , 41(7),
762-785.
NHS. (n.d). NHS Choices.
Retrieved May 09, 2013, from Ketosis:
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/ketosis/pages/introduction-old.aspx
Purvis, J. (1995). The prison
experiences of the suffragettes in Edwardian Britain. Women's History
Review , 4 (1), 103-133.