British mothers receive advice on sensible weight loss

I never thought I'd see the day. It seems that western governments are finally cottoning on to the fact that post-baby weight loss is a dangerous stressor for women who as they try to manage motherhood in cultures riddled with the presence of hot celebrity mums. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence is concerned that British mums are trying too hard to copy celebrity slimming techniques and are pushing for new mothers to receive official guidance when it comes to safe and effective post-birth weight loss. Doctors are increasingly worried about women who are resorting to crash diets to bounce back, perhaps unknowingly impairing their ability to breastfeed for lack of calories to produce good milk.

Rosie Dodds, of the National Childbirth Trust, said: 'The message we want to get across is for women not to rush into it. Start with gradual exercise which is free and which can boost mood and confidence - such as simply walking with the baby in the pram or in a sling. Weight loss should also be gradual because that is the best way to keep it off.

'The last thing you need after you have had a baby is some unrealistic pressure to get back to a particular size or shape. Society should value women for being mothers.'

A good point, but nevertheless is this really new information? Even when women are not pregnant they know on some level that crash dieting is never a good thing and yet, the dieting industry in the US, Australia and the UK is thriving because women continue to buy into quick and seemingly simple but dangerous schemes for dropping weight. Is merely telling new mums that crash dieting is wrong an effective solution when our globalised world relies on and upholds celebrities and their bodies as the templates for daily life?

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1152439/New-mothers-receive-official-guidance-losing-weight-giving-birth.html