Really interesting and thought provoking

I watched a really interesting program last night (I'm in the UK) about a uk actress/presenter called Claire Sweeney who took part in an experiment for a documentary about the effects a bad diet and lack of exercise can have on your health.

Claire is very health conscious, eats a healthy diet and works out religiously. At the beginning of the experiment she was a healthy weight and very physically fit with no health problems. For the purpose of the experiment she was measured, weighed, took part in a fitness test, body fat % measured (although it was using a scale so accuracy is debatable) and had a health check by a doctor (blood pressure etc).

Then for the next 6 weeks she basically ate what she wanted when she wanted and did no exercise.

The results were really shocking....in just 6 weeks she gained 2 stone in weight (stone = roughly 14lbs), went from a UK size 10 to a 14, her body fat % went from 22.6 to I think 30, she put on inches all round but a massive 10 inches on her waist. Her fitness level was greatly reduced but what concerned her most was that her blood pressure went into the high blood pressure category and the doctor said if it stayed that high she was at very high risk of heart attack or stroke and therefore would be eligible for medication to control it.

Apart from the obvious health implications, her weight gain clearly effected her emotionally. Her clothes no longer fit, her confidence started to plummet....specially as many of her friends were shocked by her change in appearance.

I honestly couldn't believe the change in her after just 6 weeks, it was a real eye opener. It wasn't as if she was actually binge eating, just eating what she wanted, when she wanted it.

After filming the documentary I'm pleased to say that Claire went back to eating a healthy diet and exercising and is apparently just working on losing the last 7lbs.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article- 1102012/How-Claire-Sweeney-piled-stone---purp ose.html

http://www.itv.com/PressCentre/ClaireSweeneys BigFatDiet/Ep1Wk0209/default.html