November 12, 2008

Skinny Schemes: Skinny Water

When it comes to marketing ploys, the weight loss industry is full of them. Just like get rich quick schemes are known as just that–schemes, get thin quick schemes work very much the same way.

There is no such thing as a miracle business that does not take time to build or manage and miraculously you’re making tons of money and there is no such thing as a pill, food or drink where, if taken, you miraculously lose all of the weight you’ve been wanting to shed for so long. The weight loss industry is an $81 billion or so industry and the industry did not become so lucrative by making people lose weight; if it had, they would have no customers because they would be skinny after a certain amount of time and they would have no need for the product. The weight loss industry has become one of the largest industries in the United States alone for one, simple reason–Giving people false hope. If you want to lose weight, no matter how little or how much, this industry possesses several thousands of different products to choose from and no matter which one you pick, there is a high percentage failure rate. While the failure rate is well-known, the blame (surprisingly enough) does not go to the weight loss industry or even to the company who manufactures the product you were using to aid in weight loss; the blame is on you. You didn’t try hard enough, you didn’t stick to it long enough or you lost the weight and gained it back (plus some) because you weren’t using the product as a crutch. What these companies do is make consumers dependent upon them not for a few months or for a few years, but for life; it has been drilled into our heads that if you are using a product to aid in weight loss, you must stay on that product for the amount of time you would like the weight to stay off and even then, there is still a high percentage rate that it will not work and it is not your fault, but the fault of the entire weight loss industry.

The only effective way to lose weight is to do it the healthy way–No pills, foods or drinks specifically manufactured for weight loss, but eating a healthy amount of calories for your body type and exercising regularly and doing one or the other is as ineffective as doing neither.

Losing weight takes dedication, hard work and time and coincidentally, those are the three things that people are most afraid of so the weight loss industry tries to fool consumers into thinking that they only need their product. ‘If you buy this, you will lose weight.’ Sadly, people are falling for these gimmicks all the time and yet another weight loss product has emerged and even the name sounds a little fishy.

Skinny Water is a flavored water with the tag line ‘Get Skinny, Stay Fit’ and with just that, we begin to see the holes in this assumed weight loss miracle water.

First of all, any water that claims to make you lose weight before your eyes is a ploy; if you want water with no fat, no calories and no sugar, go to your faucet and behold the beverage that can aid in your weight loss. By drinking at least 8 glasses of water a day and exercising regularly, you can effectively lose weight, but a flavored water looking for those desperate enough to believe that weight loss can come in the form of a hip drink already endorsed by celebrities (Kristen Bell and Nicollette Sheridan.)

So what’s actually in these supposed miracle drinks? Splenda, which is a sugar substitute, fruit flavoring to make the five different flavors of Skinny Water, including, peach mango mandarin, passionfruit lemonade, acai grape blueberry, goji fruit punch and raspberry pomegranate, and the green tea antioxidant, EGCG, said to help tame your metabolism. While it is true that green tea is great for your health, containing a great deal of antioxidants, but instead of taming your metabolism, green tea is used to speed up your metabolism, making you hungry so you can effectively eat a healthy, six small meals per days equaling the calorie intake best for your body type.

Skinny Water is not only doling out false information to people looking to lose weight, but they are giving people false hope; Skinny Water’s website implies that just by drinking their beverage you will lose weight and sorry to say, but your body is smarter than that. Your body is complex and it takes a great deal to effectively lose weight because our bodies are still reacting to our lifestyles and to the lifestyles our ancestors lived very long ago when humans didn’t know when their next meal was coming or where it was coming from, so your body stores the fat you eat from your food so if you did have to go hungry, your body could effectively sustain itself. While it’s true that we (hopefully) no longer live in those times, the way our bodies work simply are not up to speed and are still functioning the only way they know how–And no weight loss gimmick is going to make that go away.

By Holly

5 Comments

Posted in Fitness , Health & Fitness

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About the Author: Holly Ord

In addition to being the Founder and Editor of Woman Tribune, Holly Ord is a freelance writer, web designer and developer, feminist activist and blogger, and hopeless video game addict. She lives in Northeastern Pennsylvania and has been blogging on liberal politics and gender equality on her personal website, Menstrual Poetry since 2007.

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5 Comments on Skinny Schemes: Skinny Water / Add Your Comment

Pashmina Shawls says:

November 13, 2008 at 8:54 pm

You say false hope and you are right. Thing is, people love buying false hope. They want a quick fix of hope – buy a drink and it might be the start of your weight loss era. People who want to lose weight but have been unsuccessful for many years in doing so are always looking for a catalyst to change their life, and marketers know this. That’s why they sell items as “radical” and “breakthrough” and use false advertising.

Acai Energy Pie Stew says:

January 19, 2009 at 5:00 pm

What’s with the “guilt” thing on the label? It reads like Skinny Water adds to your guilt when you drink it.

Maybe I should just sell attractive, skinny labels for people’s drinking glasses at home. Then they’ll feel like they’re drinking something worthwhiel

Katy says:

November 26, 2009 at 10:18 am

People will always try to find the easiest way to lose weight, therefore a lot of them will keep on trying “magic pills” and stuff like that. In my opinion the only effective way to reduce weight is to optimize eating behavior and to know about nutrition. It is more about what you then how much you eat.

R Bailey says:

December 7, 2009 at 9:18 am

We have been ‘taught’ in our society to always look for the ‘quick fix’.
If your always on a diet it’s time to make life style changes.
Biggest change you can make is eliminating sugar. This will do more for your health than anything else you can do.
We as a society consume over 100lbs of sugar per person. The body at best needs 75lbs.
As a way of eating and as a way to health look at a ‘low glycemic diet’. It’s not hard and it works!

Alison Moore Smith says:

December 22, 2009 at 1:52 pm

Spot on. Thanks for pointing out what SHOULD be obvious, but is not! Now I am off to drink some tap water!

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