I am very, VERY bothered at Wrigley's chewing gum co.
The other day I saw an Extra Gum commercial (that I can't find anywhere on the internet to post here) advising people to "chew on a stick of their <5 calorie gum to curb cravings of high-calorie snacks." It was outrageous.
"Hungry? Skip that meal! Chew some gum and lose weight and look fabulous!" (and by fabulous they mean fulfilling all the [HARMFUL, UNREALISTIC, and plain FUCKED UP] 'beauty' standards played out like "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey at the karaoke bar, if not more).
I was outraged.
Really? Wow.
I was reminded of this awful commercial as I was sitting in my eating disorders class and we were going over types of disordered eating (that are not necessarily yet diagnosed like anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa). We got to a type called the "chew and spit" which is self-explanatory.
The professor began describing the physical consequences of this type of disordered eating about how chewing and spitting messes up your body functions because your body assumes you are eating and gets really messed up if you don't actually swallow the food you were just chewing.
Jackie asked me, "So, what about gum? Does it do the same?"
I responded, "Hmm...interesting" and OHSNAP the commercial just flashed back in my head.
Someone raised his hand and beat me to telling the professor about it.
She looked shocked and said she had never seen it.
Other people nodded saying they had and on NBC's The Biggest Loser , they advised contestants to chew gum rather than "giving in" to snacks such as donuts, twinkies, chips, etc.
Now, I am all against processed flours, preservatives, and high fructose corn syrup, but "replacing snacks" can be easily confused with "replacing meals with a stick of gum. Hooray!"
Upon searching for the video of this horrendous and dangerous piece of advertisement I came upon this LA Times article in the health section which ENCOURAGES this obviously disordered eating behavior as a "quick and easy" way to loose weight and "be healthy."
If you're counting calories, a stick of gum is miles better than a Twinkie. A stick of Wrigley's sugar-free gum contains 5 calories, about as many as a small stick of celery. A stick of regular gum typically has about 10 calories -- still not a lot, especially if you're the type that makes a single stick last for an hour.
A recent study funded by Wrigley suggests that gum really can help people go easy on higher-calorie snacks. Researchers at the University of Liverpool fed 60 young adults lunches and snacks on four separate days. On half of their visits, the subjects chewed two sticks of gum (either regular or sugar-free) in the hours after lunch. The subjects said they felt less hungry after chewing gum. And when they were offered cookies, chips and candy three hours after lunch, the gum-chewers consumed an average of 36 fewer calories. The type of gum didn't seem to make any difference.
Oh and the studies make this seem totally safe and legit. Scary.
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This commercial has me steaming too, mostly because the two I have seen feature already thin women contemplating the evil cookie or pizza, and triumphing over their choice to chew gum instead.
Having recovered an eating disorder, I feel like Wrigley's stole this replacing food for gum tactic straight out of my high school journal I kept while I was anorexic. Disgusting.
These commercials used to be about replacing a cigarette with a stick of gum. That was a positive message, because it was about curbing cravings for something really unhealthy. Now they're making it like getting hungry in the middle of the day is unhealthy when it's totally natural. Honestly, I think it's just as bad to skip snacks as it is to skip meals. If you're hungry, eat. Instead of skipping the snack altogether, eat a healthy snack. I like to eat crunchy fruits (like apples), vegetables, or nuts. I find them just as satisfying as potato chips or pretzels, but they're much healthier.
That is just ridiculous. I mean, I kind of get the message, because sometimes I'm like "OMG I want something sweet RIGHT NOW even though I just ate a fulling, delcious meal. Should I go by 2 donuts and feel sick after or obsessively chew at a peice of fruit-flavoured gum?" Then yeah, I'd chew some gum as opposed to eating something I'm craving that makes me ill, but if you're hungry, you should eat. Duh. Also, I'm not sure how true this is, but a teacher in jr. high told me that when you chew gum, you salivate more (like when you're actually eating) so your body thinks it's about to be nourished. When you don't ingest anything, your body becomes confused and ultimately wanting hourishment more than it did before.
I agree with what you're saying... it also reminds me of the "light" and "fat free" foods thing: Although these foods have fewer calories, they also have fewer vitamins so your body craves food again sooner, because it's getting short of vitamins and minerals. Also... well, generally there is a higher content of chemicals and preservatives and all that. And it forgets that, well, maybe we sometimes need fat in our diets. (Doughnuts and twinkies fairly excluded...)
Anyway, slightly off topic, but this post reminded me about first year university - I spent half a semester when my meal card ran out and I couldn't afford to replenish it (eating healthy on campus cost double to triple what eating junk cost, too). I substituted full meals with gum and cigarettes in an attempt to cut down on costs. And got ridiculously sick as a result. But the experience caused me to develop a hatred for gum. I just can't chew that shit, especially on an empty stomach - it makes me feel nauseous.
Haha. Unless their gum is like Willy Wonka's three-course meal (without the turning blue part, of course) I'll stick to actual food.