HPE

Worksheet 1
(Introduction Tab)

Type the following table and complete the blank spaces….

You must include examples of CURRENT and OLD health fads

Worksheet 2

( Task tab)

Select 3 Health Fads from Worksheet 1

Answer the following questions IN FULLSENTENCES for EACH of the 3 fads you selected:

1. How is each fad promoted/marketed?
2. Find an example advertisement for one of the fads and insert into this worksheet
3. Explain why you think the promotion/marketing of these fads would be successful
4. Explain why you think the promotion/marketing of these fads would be unsuccessful
5. Which of the 3 fads you selected would you be most likely to try and WHY?
6. Which of the 3 fads would you be least likely to try and WHY?
7. What are the negative side effects for each? 

Zumba:

1. Zumba is a popular fitness fad marketed globally. Zumba has it’s own distinct logo, which it uses on its website, dvd’s and fitness clothes and accessories as a means of promotion. Zumba uses it’s website to market and sell its DVD's, clothes and other accessories. Xbox 360 has partnered with Zumba to sell fitness DVDs. Partnering with Xbox has helped Zumba increase it’s sale and promote the fitness fad to a wider audience.

Zumba is also marketed at local gyms and fitness clubs. Local clubs use flyers and
posters to advertise Zumba classes. Local clubs would also advertise, on their own
websites, promotional information regarding the fitness and fun benefits of Zumba.

2.  Picture: ( Zumba Xbox )

3. I think Zumba’s partnership with Xbox is a successful promotion for the business. Xbox is a popular gaming system found in many homes around the world. If someone was looking to buy or downland a fitness dvd that would work on their X Box, they would see the Zumba brand being promoted by Xbox and may choose to buy the Zumba program.

4. The use of promotion partnership from Xbox can also have it’s downside affects. Because Zumba and Xbox share the promotion of these Zumba DVD’s, it means that they also have to share the profits between themselves too. Another downside affect is that people who don’t own an Xbox may feel that they are unable to access the Zumba fitness program.

High Intensity interval training:
1. There are many types of high intensity interval training programs. Cross fit is one of these programs. Cross Fit training promotes it’s business by selling many of it’s products on line and in stores. Cross Fit sells many products such as Reebok shoes ( used for the exercise), exercise equipment, clothing and DVD’s.

Cross Fit is often used in gyms as a popular exercise program.  Gyms have to pay for using the Cross Fit trademark and programs.  A great way Cross Fit is advertised, is when several gyms give information on the exercise, by creating posters and flyers.

2. 

Picture: (A website)
3. I think the cross fit website is a great way to promote the business. It helps customers keep track of all new cross fit sporting equipment, clothing and accessories. People who enjoy Cross Fit can learn new exercises and shop online by using the Cross Fit website. Because many people tend to shop online,  the website is a great way for the business to sell their products ard earn money.  This is why the Cross Fit website is a successful business promotion.

4. There are also downside affects to the website too. People who can not access the website are made travel to a store selling Cross Fit goods.  Because not all sporting stores sell Cross Fit products, buyers are most likely to be unable to buy the products.

5:2 diet:

1. The 5: 2 diet is a popular health fad that is advertised in a couple of ways. There is an official book and many websites related to this diet that helps people to understand what the diet is, how the diet works, and how to use the diet successfully for weight loss.

2. Picture: ( A book)

3. The 5:2 diet book ('The Fast Diet' - by Dr Michael Mosley) is one successful way the diet has been promoted. The book contains information on what the diet is about and what you must do to loose weight. The 5:2 diet book is great, as it shows you step by step how to loose weight.  The book was written by a doctor who became a journalist and investigated healthy living options. Many people had seen the journalist on TV talking about the success of his diet and promoting his book.  With the diet being shown in the media as successful and the books readily available in shops, it was a successful marketing tool.  The book has become a number 1 New York Times best seller.

4. One downside for using a book for marketing is that books, in general, are not as popular anymore.  More and more people use the internet to access information and don't want to spend time reading a long book for information and guidance.  Also, other authers have copied Dr Mosley's information into websites or other books.  People can access information about the diet from these sites without buying the book.  This has the obvious downside of decreasing Dr Mosley's proifits.

7. I would most likely try the high intensity interval training.  The exercises sound interesting and challenging.  I also like that it works fast.  I could increase fitness and muscle mass quickly, and this sounds appealling.

8. I am probably most unlikely to try Zumba.   I don't really like dancing exercises.  Also the exercise program doesn't appeal to me as much as High Intensity Interval Training as it wouldn't improve my strengthand fitness as quickly.

9.

High intencity interval training:

The negative side affects for high intensity interval training is the fact it's hard. You must push your body to the limits.  During High Intensity Interval Training you may feel sick, sore and uncomfortable.

Zumba:

The negative side affects for Zumba is you must be co- ordinated. If you are finding it hard to follow the choreography, you are unlikely to enjoy the exercise and might not work hard enough to get anything out of it.

5:2 Diet:

The negative side affects for the 5:2 diet comes from restricting your calories. You may feel irritable, have bad breath or feel weak and sick.

Worksheet 3

(Process tab)

Research online to find examples where Health Fads have caused death or serious illness/injury  complete the following using the information you have collected:

Worksheet 4
(Evaluation tab)

MINI REPORT

Complete a mini report that presents information you have gathered from watching Dangerous Fads (Dr Phil).

The report must include the following information and be presented in an easy-to-read and interesting way:

Types of Fads in the tv show – including details of each
Types of people who normally are involved in these fads and reasons why they want to do these fads
Side effects
Research information on the fads from the show to find more interesting facts to include in your mini report

There are many dangereous health fads in society.  Dr Phil, a famous psychologist and talk show host, talked about two dangereous health fads on his 'Dangerous Fads' episode of his television program.  

The first health fad Dr Phil discussed was 'Sun Addicts' i.e. people who regularly use tanning booths or lay in the sun to tan themselves.  Excessive sun exposure was discussed to have a bad effect on your health.  Side effects include premature ageing, wrinkling, immune suppression and skin cancer.  Basal cell carcinoma and melanomas were discussed as a very dangerous type of skin cancer which people can develop from sun exposure and can require recontructive surgery and chemotherapy to treat.  

There are some worrying statistics about tanning beds.  Research estimates that indoor tanning results in over 400,000 cases of skin cancer in the US each year.  Also, using tanning beds before the age of 35 is known to increase your risk of melanoma, by 59%. The use of tanning beds in Australia has been banned to try and reduce the rate of skin cancers.  The doctors on the Dr Phil show also recommeded that tanning beds should not be used. They also talked about the importance of sunscreen when going outside in the sun to avoid UV ray sun damage.  The Cancer Council of Australia recommends using a SPF 30+ and reapplying at least 2 hrs.

Damage caused from too much unprotected sun exopsure

(above)

The second health fad Dr Phil talked about was the diet pill Phentermine.  Phentermine is an appetite suppressant drug that people use for weight loss.  The lady guest on the show had taken the drug for 9 months and in that time had lost 80 pounds.  She discussed with Dr Phil that she had experienced side effects with the drug.  The side effects included irritability, nausea, heart palpatations, head ache, insomnia and dizziness.  The doctor on the show said that Phentermine was a prescription only drug that should only be used for 3 months.  The doctor said Phentermine was a synthetic stimulant drug which was addictive.  

According to the Phentermine websit (phentermine.com), Phentermine helps people lose weight by releasing chemicals in the brain that help you feel full and reduce cravings.  The website also says that Phentermine gives you more energy, by increasing the release of adrenaline in the body, so that you can eat better and exercise.  Since Phentermine stimulates the body to feel good, it can be very addictive and people can have trouble stopping using the drug after 3 months.  As well as the side effects spoken about by Dr Phil's guest, Phentermine can cause the serious and sometimes fatal condition of Pulmonary Hypertension.  Livestrong.com says that the risk of Phentermine use causing side effects are increased if people take the medication while using other diet medications  or when not supervised properly by a doctor.  Therefore, Phentermine use should always be closely followed up by a GP and only ever used for a short period of time.

People normally follow diet fads, such as excessive tanning and diet pills for a few different reasons.  Some people might have poor self esteem and think that loosing weight or looking good on the outside will help them feel better on the inside.  Other people have addictive personalities or eating disorders and follow diet fads because of this.  People with poor self esteem, addiction or disorders are more likely to ignore warnings about fads and continue a fad even though they know it is harmful. 

In conclusion the Dr Phil episode showed that health fads can be addictive, extreme and at times harmful to a persons health.  

The pressure in Hollywood to stay slim and keep beautiful may have caught up with Gwyneth Paltrow. The 37-year-old actress followed a macrobiotic diet for 11 years but was recently diagnosed with osteopenia, an illness that can lead to the serious bone disease osteoporosis. "I suffered a pretty severe tibial plateau fracture a few years ago (requiring surgery) which led the orthopaedic surgeon to give me a bone scan, at which point it was discovered I had the beginning stages of osteopenia," she wrote on her popular online newsletter, Goop.

Osteoporosis, a common ailment among the elderly, increases a person's risk of fractures and is more prevalent among women. ''My doctors tested my vitamin D levels, which turned out to be the lowest thing they had ever seen," Paltrow said. Tania Ferraretto, an accredited practising dietitian for Nutrition Professionals Australia in Adelaide, says fad diets or extreme weight loss diets are not healthy. "You might lose weight in the short-term, but rapid weight loss diets are very unsuccessful at achieving long-term weight loss. "Often fad diets eliminate important foods and important nutrients - they are not designed to keep you healthy, they are designed for rapid weight loss, so they do put people at risk nutritionally, and as a result we often see quite severe health effects."

These effects can range from fatigue or constipation through to more serious health risks like heart disease or osteoporosis. Long-term dieters may notice dry skin and nails and hair may even start falling out, and those who lose weight too quickly may have a heart attack.

Mindfulness is the fashionable form of meditation that fans say makes you feel less stressed.

But scientists have discovered one potential drawback – it can lead you to ‘remember’ things that haven’t happened.

People taking part in a 15-minute mindfulness session performed worse than those who did not on a memory test, researchers found.

The group who had been undertaking mindfulness were more liable to falsely imagine items on the test.

Mindfulness has become popular in recent years as a way to improve mental and physical well-being. 

Celebrities endorsing it include Emma Watson, Davina McCall, Angelina Jolie and Oprah Winfrey.

An Oxford University study found that following mindfulness procedures – focusing on breathing and suspending judgment and criticism – was effective at treating depression.

Many schools encourage their pupils to practise mindfulness – but the new findings may lead to questions over whether it might be best avoided ahead of exams. 

It might also be unhelpful for witnesses trying to recall whether they saw or heard something in court.

The findings, published in Psychological Science, show that participants who engaged in a 15-minute mindfulness meditation session were less able to differentiate items they actually encountered from items they only imagined.

Brent Wilson, a psychologist at the University of California, San Diego, said: ‘Our results highlight an unintended consequence of mindfulness meditation: memories may be less accurate.

Last month’s news that Jennifer Aniston has become a veg juice devotee, regularly slugging back a concoction of cucumbers, beetroot, spinach, kale, garlic, ginger, carrots and celery, will only fuel the juicing fad. 

Because look around any high-end gym or yoga studio these days and you’ll see women swigging something that looks like it’s been scooped from a pond. This is the juice cleanse, or the juice detox — don’t ever refer to it as a diet, that would sound like you’re doing it to lose weight, whereas, of course, this is all about purifying your body.

Popular among A-listers including Salma Hayek, Gwyneth Paltrow and Sarah Jessica Parker, juice detoxes have gone mainstream, with legions of women pulping Tesco’s entire fruit and veg aisle themselves, or paying up to £40 a day — yes, really — to have supplies delivered to their door. 

It sounds terribly good for you — just masses of fruit and vegetables all juiced together, filling you full of vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants. But while if you’re doing it Aniston-style and eating normally for most of the week, it probably won’t do you any serious harm, the truth is that a juice regime that lasts several weeks — or even just several days — could actually be wreaking all sorts of havoc on your health. 

To start with it’s unnecessary. Your body doesn’t need to detox, your digestive system doesn’t need to rest, and if you’re seriously worried about your diet and your health, you need to make long-term changes.

‘Juice fasts are simply not sustainable,’ says Natalie Jones, a spokesperson for the British Dietetic Association. ‘So if you’re doing it for health reasons, there’s simply no point. Any weight you lose, you’ll put straight back on again, possibly with extra because short-term, low-calorie crash diets like this mess around with your metabolism.’

You’ll undoubtedly feel hungry as you’re not consuming any of the fibre that helps fill you up, and don’t even think about exercising. 

‘You might be getting a quick sugar rush,’ says Natalie, ‘but you’re not consuming any carbohydrates, so exercising, or even normal daily life is going to be almost impossible. You’ll feel light-headed and exhausted.’

Stomach aches are also a common side-effect of the juice fast. 

‘With no fibre in your diet, even after a couple of days, constipation will become a problem, and in the long term, your cholesterol levels could be affected as fibre helps keep them low. So if you’re not getting enough fibre, your cholesterol could shoot up.’

If that’s not miserable enough, you could find that your net calorie intake is higher than if you were eating normally. Because while juicing gives you the same level of vitamins as you’d get from eating the whole fruit or vegetable, your body isn’t using any energy to break down the food so calories from the natural sugars in the juice aren’t offset by those usually used in digestion.

And while you’re undoubtedly getting lots of vitamins, Natalie says that’s not as great as it sounds.

‘Vitamin C is, of course, good for you, but beyond a certain point, more isn’t any better for you. And, if you’re only drinking veg and fruit juices, you’re missing out on a lot of other nutrients such as calcium, protein, vitamin D, essential fats and so on.’ 

diet, even after a couple of days, constipation will become a problem, and in the long term, your cholesterol levels could be affected as fibre helps keep them low. So if you’re not getting enough fibre, your cholesterol could shoot up.’

If that’s not miserable enough, you could find that your net calorie intake is higher than if you were eating normally. Because while juicing gives you the same level of vitamins as you’d get from eating the whole fruit or vegetable, your body isn’t using any energy to break down the food so calories from the natural sugars in the juice aren’t offset by those usually used in digestion.

And while you’re undoubtedly getting lots of vitamins, Natalie says that’s not as great as it sounds.

‘Vitamin C is, of course, good for you, but beyond a certain point, more isn’t any better for you. And, if you’re only drinking veg and fruit juices, you’re missing out on a lot of other nutrients such as calcium, protein, vitamin D, essential fats and so on.’ 

nutrients can have a knock-on effect on your appearance, too. 

According to renowned trichologist Philip Kingsley, if you plan to juice for a couple of weeks, you should also plan to see your hair fall out about two to three months later. 

‘I’ve seen it many, many times,’ he says. ‘Women come to see me with what appears to be unexplained hair loss, and then, when you trace it back, it turns out that they were on some extreme juice fast a few months before. 

‘It’s quite simple, if your body isn’t getting the nutrition it needs, it powers down the processes that it considers as being not essential to life, and one of those is hair production.’

But it’s not just your hair that will suffer. 

‘Juicing for anything longer than a couple of days will have a profound effect on your skin,’ says cosmetic dermatologist Dr Sam Bunting. ‘Not only might you find that your skin dries out as you’re not getting any of the essential fatty acids it needs, but if you’ve already got a tendency to dry skin anyway, you may find that you start to develop patches of eczema as the barrier function is compromised.’

And there are long-term issues too. 

this cause the body’s insulin levels to spike and crash which initially causes break-outs, but over time, this insulin cycle alters the structures of collagen and elastin in the body, making them stiffer, and causing skin to look prematurely old.’

Damage to collagen will also affect your teeth, as it’s collagen fibres that hold them in place. But, even if you manage to retain your gnashers, juice diets are seriously bad news for them, as Dr Uchenna Okoye of London Smiling points out.

‘Juice from vegetables and especially from fruits, which tend to have a higher acid content, can damage the enamel of your teeth in exactly the same way that a fizzy drink would. We consider the acids in fruit and vegetables to be “good” but that’s only in the context of eating the whole thing, not when you’re drinking a super-concentrated juice.’

And the same holds true for the sugars in your juice.

‘Fructose is a natural sugar, but to the body it’s still just a sugar, so too much of it will cause cavities as the bacteria in the mouth feed on it.’

If you are going to drink juices, even just as part of a balanced diet, Dr Okoye recommends always using a straw and never ever brushing your teeth straight after drinking as the sugar and acid softens the enamel of the teeth so you could actually be doing more damage. Ideally she suggests brushing teeth before drinking a juice, and using a fluoride toothpaste which will strengthen the teeth. 

So, a lack of energy, a messed-up digestive system, prematurely aged skin, rotting teeth and hair loss — hardly the healthy, cleansed body that juice devotees are aiming for, is it? 

‘By all means have a juice as one of your five a day,’ says dietitian Natalie Jones. ‘But any more than that simply won’t give you extra benefits, and could actually end up doing you more harm than good.’

During HPE this term, I have researched a lot about diet, exercise and other health fads.  This essay will summarise what I have learnt from this research.  I will then discuss a better strategy for long term good health outcomes.

Health fads are often something individuals will follow with great interest for a short period of time.  Health fads change with time and an older fad will often be gradually forgotten and replaced with something new.  Health fads can often have no scientific evidence supporting their health benefit claims.  Some health fads can also be dangerous if they are extreme.

Companies spend a lot of time and money getting people to try their health fads.  They market these fads using books, DVDs, the internet, sporting wear and other promotional goods.  Some companies, such as the Cross Fit brand and Zumba, sell their programs to gyms around the world.  In this way, they have many people trying and using their product and they make large profits.

Some health fads I have researched include excessive tanning, high intensity interval training, low calorie diets, and diet pills.  I have learnt that excessive tanning causes skin cancer and melanoma.  Australia has banned tanning beds due to the risks of tanning.  High intensity interval training can improve a person’s anaerobic fitness, but is an intensive form of exercise that can make you feel sick and weak as you are pushing your body to its limits. The use of diet pills can have side effects such as irritability, nausea, heart palpitations and dizziness.  If the pills are not used correctly, they can be very dangerous to a person’s health.  Low calorie diets do lead to weight loss, but they have side effects.  People following low calorie diets can often be irritable, have bad breath and feel weak/sick.  There have been cases of people dying due to low calorie diets and other health fads, such as diet pills and steroids.

A better strategy for long term good health, rather than health fads, is to do regular exercise and eat a balanced and healthy diet.  The Australian Department of Health states that being physically active is essential for good health.  The department recommends that adult Australians should do up to 5hrs of moderate intensity activity a week and up to 2.5 hrs of vigorous intensity exercise per week.  The guidelines are that adults should spread this activity over each day of the week and that adults should try to do muscle strength training at least twice a week to achieve long term good health benefits.   

A good diet is also essential for long term health.  The National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia provide dietary guidelines for better health and wellbeing.  There are many guidelines, but in general they suggest:  drinking plenty of water; eating 5 serves of vegetables and 2 serves of fruit per day; eating plenty of wholegrains, lean meats, legumes and low fat dairy products.  They suggest limiting processed, sugary, salty and fatty foods and consuming only small amounts of sugary/alcoholic drinks.  

In conclusion, health fads are often short lived and extreme.  A healthy diet and daily physical activity is scientifically proven to prevent disease and maintain a healthy body weight.  A balanced diet and some daily fun physical activity is more easily achievable and less extreme than health fads.